The deadline to register for the November General Election is 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11.

Voters can register at the county’s board of elections office or at the local DMV. Online registration is available with a valid North Carolina driver license. 

The National Park Service (NPS) continues to assess conditions and to address damage following the impacts from Hurricane Helene in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Today, park staff are prioritizing assessments of high use roads and trails as well as radio repeaters and historic structures throughout the park. 

From the Tennessee state line to about mile marker 4 of Interstate 40, the two eastbound lanes are either gone or partially gone. In addition, there are about three other damaged locations in an 11-mile stretch leading to Fines Creek Road (Exit 15). 

Since 2006, Haywood Waterways Association (HWA) and the Haywood County Environmental Health Department, with grant funds, have repaired 200 failing septic systems in Haywood County through the Septic Repair Program.

Schools around the region will be closed beginning Sept. 29 following flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.

Western Carolina University announced Thursday, Sept. 26 that the 50th Anniversary of Mountain Heritage Day daytime festival, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 28, is cancelled due to hazardous weather from Hurricane Helene. 

The change of season, especially to autumn, is always a welcome and refreshing time for me. Traveling diminishes, darkness encroaches sunlight and you hunker down into the coziness of cool mornings and hot drinks.

The 112th annual Cherokee Indian Fair will be held Oct. 1-5 at the Acquoni Expo Center site, located at 1501 Acquoni Road in Cherokee. 

A special stage production of Agatha Christie’s legendary whodunit “The Mousetrap” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27-28, Oct. 4-5, 11-12, 17-19 and 2 p.m. Sept. 29, Oct. 6, 13 and 20 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. 

Presented by the Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC), the “Fashion for the Arts” fundraiser will be held from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, at the Waynesville Inn & Golf Club. 

Jackson County Americana/folk duo Bird in Hand will perform at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, at Mountain Layers Brewing Company in Bryson City. 

The 16th annual ColorFest will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, in downtown Dillsboro. 

Regional rock/jam group Arnold Hill will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, at The Scotsman Public House in Waynesville. 

There will be a contra dance class offered from 6:30-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. 

A cherished gathering of locals and visitors alike, “Art After Dark” will continue its 2024 season from 6-9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, in downtown Waynesville. 

Rick Childers will share his debut novel, “Turkeyfoot,” in conversation with Meagan Lucas at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. 

Fall is a beautiful but busy time in the Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains National Park visitors should plan their trips and expect crowds, traffic congestion and limited parking throughout the park. 

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names voted to change the name of Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi.

Kuwohi is the Cherokee name for the mountain and translates to “mulberry place.” In Cherokee syllabary, the name is ᎫᏬᎯ.  

New rules adopted by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) have shifted the timing of the western zone black-powder and gun seasons and increased antlerless hunting opportunities in many western zone counties. 

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) will implement Delayed Harvest Trout Waters regulations on 34 trout waters beginning Oct. 1.  

The Lake Junaluska Golf Course is hosting a Junior Golf Program for boys and girls under age 17 from 4-5:30 p.m. each Wednesday Sept. 25 - Oct. 31.

Haywood Community College, in partnership with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are hosting an event on the campus of Haywood Community College to celebrate our national conservation heritage.

WNC Sierra Club Political Co-Chair Ken Brame will discuss what is at stake for the environment in this fall’s election. He will advise voters on how to make an environmental difference at the WNC Sierra Club meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 2. 

The staff of the Smoky Mountain News won 20 combined advertising and editorial awards, including a combined 13 first-place honors, at the 2024 North Carolina Press Association annual awards banquet. Awards were won in Division C, the largest division for nondaily publications. 

The Cherokee Indian Hospital Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the well-being of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians by strengthening the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority and the clinics that comprise it, has a new endowment at the North Carolina Community Foundation that will provide ongoing support for hospital employees. 

District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch today said a Haywood County jury recently convicted a Bryson City man on seven criminal charges in connection with trafficking in illegal drugs. 

Rogelia Vega Evans, 26, of Lexington, North Carolina was sentenced to 180 months in prison for engaging in sexual contact with a minor by force in Cherokee, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. 

Haywood Regional Medical Center announced the launch of a convenient walk-in mammography clinic at the HRMC Breast Center, located on the second floor of the Outpatient Care Center at 581 Leroy George Drive in Clyde. 

A beloved long-time Western North Carolina tradition, the 50th annual Mountain Heritage Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. 

Country megastar Jamey Johnson will hit the stage for a two-night stand Sept. 20-21 at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.

Born in Alabama, Johnson set his sights on music after seeing his idol Alan Jackson perform live in concert.

Folkmoot USA will present world-renowned American cellist and composer Michael Fitzpatrick at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville. 

Rising Americana/old-time ensemble The New Quintet will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville. 

A special production of “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19-21 and 2 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. 

A community jam will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, at 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. The jam is facilitated by Larry Barnett of the Sawmill Creek Porch Band. 

The following are the Cradle of Forestry’s fall events: 

Sept. 28: National Public Lands Day

Times: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission: Free 

After 34 years of service to the state of North Carolina, Cameron Ingram, executive director of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), has announced his retirement effective Dec. 31, 2024. Ingram has served as NCWRC executive director since August 2020. 

Over the last couple of weeks, the drought has expanded in Western North Carolina, and it now covers all of Haywood, Swain, Jackson and Macon counties. There was widespread rain over the last week, but it remains to be seen whether that precipitation cut into the drought. 

Join Haywood County’s Misfit Mountain Animal Rescue for the second-annual Pigs & a Blanket Festival & Campout this weekend.

The event will be held from 1-8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at the animal rescue at 922 Incinerator Road in Clyde.

Experience the wonder of winter this season during a Ski Lake Junaluska Winter Youth Retreat in the mountains of Western North Carolina. 

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will host two family-friendly events to recognize National Hunting and Fishing Day, an annual celebration promoting outdoor recreation and conservation. 

The following are winners in the N.C. Mountain State Fair’s opening weekend poultry, rabbit, sheep, goat and beef cattle categories from the Smoky Mountain News coverage area: 

Judy and Ed LaFountaine, wife and husband, are the 2024 recipients of the Junaluska Leadership Award, an honor bestowed annually during Associates Celebration Weekend at Lake Junaluska, which was held recently at the new Warren Center. 

Started in 1992 by Morrill Worcester with the donation and placement of 5,000 wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery during the Christmas season, Wreaths Across America has grown to state and national cemeteries holding ceremonies of their own across the country to “remember, honor and teach” about our veterans — remembering not their deaths, but their lives in service to our country. 

Smokies Life has announced the publication of “George Masa: A Life Reimagined,” the first comprehensively researched biography of the visionary Japanese photographer whose dedication to art and conservation helped spur the national park movement in the Great Smoky Mountains, as well as the creation of the Appalachian Trail. 

The Highlands-Cashiers Center for Life Enrichment (CLE) will host its annual Highlands Porchfest music festival from 1-6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, in Highlands. 

The Main Street Sylva Association will host its “Social District of Sylva Celebration” from 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at Bridge Park and throughout downtown Sylva. 

Americana/bluegrass act Appalachian Smoke will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Swain Arts Center in Bryson City. 

The annual corn maze and pumpkin patch will return through Oct. 31 at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. 

Presented by the Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC), the annual Haywood County Studio Tour will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22.