To visitors, the noise seems strange and maybe even concerning. To folks in Canton, it sounds like home.

When Pactiv Evergreen shuts its doors in a few short months, about 1,000 employees will be out of work. And while that number is devastating, it doesn’t begin to show the full picture.

On Aug. 10, 2012, I took on my first assignment for The Smoky Mountain News. It was the “Papertown” album release show by Haywood County bluegrass sensation Balsam Range.

“The mill.” In Canton, as in hundreds of other towns across America, that was the only description needed to describe the factory that drove a small town’s economy, which generations depended on for their livelihood and some for their very identity. 

When the Pactiv-Evergreen packaging plant in Canton closes this spring, 1,000 people who thought they’d secured steady work to last a lifetime will be looking for new jobs. 

It’s 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Southern Porch restaurant in the heart of downtown Canton. Less than 24 hours ago, the mountain community received word that its century-old paper mill would close this summer.  

In less than three months, Pactiv-Evergreen’s Canton mill will cease operations after more than a century of serving as the cultural, economic and geographical center of the tiny Haywood County town of Canton. 

After more than a century of serving as the cultural, economic and geographical center of the tiny Haywood County town of Canton, Pactiv-Evergreen’s Canton mill will cease operations at some time during the second quarter of this year. 

Despite strong opposition last year, Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood) has again filed a bill that if passed would bring partisanship into some of Western North Carolina’s municipal governments.

When Canton officials and administrators met for their annual budget retreat last year, Town Manager Nick Scheuer’s presentation was riddled with question marks — signs of uncertainty after widespread flooding caused more than $18 million in damages to town infrastructure and killed six.