Jackson County Americana/folk duo Bird in Hand will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at Mountain Layers Brewing Company in Bryson City.

The road less traveled has always been the way for husband-and-wife duo Bird in Hand.

The 29th annual Swain County Heritage Festival will be held May 23-24 at Riverfront Park in Bryson City.

Live music, clogging, heritage demonstrations, artisan vendors and much more.

The 23rd annual Strawberry Jam festival will be held May 17-18 at Darnell Farms in Bryson City.

The Darnell family celebrates their locally grown strawberry crop.

A community jam will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 15, on the front patio of the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer or anything unplugged is invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. 

I’m sitting alone in the cockpit of the boat anchored at Cape Lookout National Seashore off the coast of North Carolina in the early morning, and I’m about to write a column about tourism. Sipping my coffee, though, I’m distracted as a cool May breeze rattles the halyards. 

Prior to its appropriation by communist regimes, International Workers Day — May Day — was first commemorated in honor of Chicago workers killed while striking for an eight-hour workday.

You might think people don’t care about local government, but sometimes you’re reminded that they absolutely do.

Bryson City’s town government was served a stark reminder of that concept this year when the town proposed significantly raising the water rates. 

Haywood County rock/country act Outlaw Whiskey will perform as part of the “New Year’s Eve Party” at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31, at Unplugged Pub in Bryson City. 

“The Polar Express” train ride will roll down the tracks on select dates from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in downtown Bryson City.

Climb aboard one of the powerful locomotives and historic train cars as it departs the Bryson City Depot for the North Pole to pick up Santa Claus himself.

Jackson County Americana/folk duo Bird in Hand will perform at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29, at Mountain Layers Brewing Company in Bryson City.