Long road to recovery ahead for Waynesville’s post-Helene businesses
Although Waynesville's Frog Level was decimated by floodwaters, the Main Street business district was spared.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
A region largely dependent on the tourism industry is now asking a question not heard since the COVID-19 pandemic — how to support retail and hospitality businesses that depend on foot traffic while respecting public safety guidelines and strained infrastructure across the region.
“There is an extraordinarily large misconception going around the county that the [Tourism Development Authority], all on their own, made a decision to push a message that said, ‘Please don't come to Haywood County this week,’” said Corrina Ruffieux, executive director of the Haywood County TDA. “That decision came from North Carolina Department of Transportation, from the governor, from the state tourism office, from the Haywood County Board of Commissioners, from emergency services and from the Haywood County Sheriff.”
The TDA, Ruffieux told a meeting of the Downtown Waynesville Commission on Oct. 10, was simply the messenger.
Hurricane Helene swept through the region Sept. 27, inundating areas in all four of Haywood County’s municipalities plus Lake Junaluska, cutting power, damaging water and wastewater infrastructure, washing out roadways, severing internet and cellular communications with the outside world and washing out bridges.
While some areas fared OK — Waynesville’s Main Street business district, for one — other areas like Waynesville’s Frog Level remain devastated.
The good news, Ruffieux said, is that Haywood County is in much better shape than it was a week ago, with power, water, communications and shipping services coming back online. Now, the message to visitors is simple.
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“’Hey visitors, thank you for caring about us. We'd love for you to come, but we want you to know the facts before you come.’ And let me tell you, knowing the facts is huge, because we are doing a disservice to our emergency workers, to our neighbors who have experienced devastation, including right down the hill in Frog Level, and to our visitors when we say, ‘It's fine, just come,’” she said. “It is not fine. There's a reason the Frog Level bridge is closed today.”
The reason is that although the bridge looks fine, just two weeks ago it was submerged beneath raging waters of the normally placid Richland Creek and is now structurally compromised. There are many such cases across the region, so officials from NCDOT are asking people to use Western North Carolina’s roadways for essential travel only.
Haywood County is technically still under a state of emergency, and citizens are subject to a 9 p.m. curfew. Pisgah National Forest and the Cataloochee Valley remain mostly closed, and the North Carolina section of the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed indefinitely.
Those major attractions bring millions of year-round visitors to the region; a recent study indicated that the Blue Ridge Parkway alone is responsible for pumping $1.4 billion each year into rural communities where motorists stop for gas, food, lodging and entertainment. That revenue supports thousands of jobs and contributes to sales tax collections that end up in county and municipal budgets.
Leaf season, when visitors from across the world come to marvel at the brilliant fall colors across Southern Appalachia, is especially important to the local economy; one business owner who spoke at the DWC meeting said that being closed the past two weeks was the equivalent of being closed for three months.
The disruption in Haywood County will also have an effect down the road.
David Francis, the county’s top economic development official, acknowledged that people were upset that the popular, longstanding Church Street Art and Crafts Festival slated for this weekend was canceled, but tempered those complaints about the cancellation with a dose of reality.
“I understand. It's an important event for all of us. If I was there, if I had to make that decision, I would have made the same decision,” said Francis, who is now the president of the Haywood Chamber of Commerce. “When you go to the airport to pick up cadaver dogs, you make the same decision. When you go and feed 150 emergency folks that are here, you make that same decision. When you still have active search and rescue looking for folks, you make that decision.
And I know it's a painful decision.”
There is, however, some good news that also paints a portrait of resiliency and determination. The Apple Harvest Festival, held in downtown Waynesville, will proceed as scheduled on Oct. 19. The festival draws thousands of people each year, but will be scaled back somewhat because 42 of the 140 vendors contacted said they weren’t coming — a reflection of the damage Helene did to their inventory and operations. An additional 20 vendors still can’t be contacted, Francis told The Smoky Mountain News.
The impact of Interstate 40’s closure near the Tennessee line will have an impact not only on the festival, but on travel and tourism to Haywood County for the foreseeable future.
Business owners who attended the DWC meeting were by-and-large respectful and understanding, but the reality of owning a shop, stocked to the gills with fall merchandise in anticipation of the hordes of visitors who for now aren’t coming, produced an air of warranted desperation among some.
Ann Walsh, co-owner of Ava & Arden, an upscale home, garden and apparel shop on North Main Street, admitted to feeling “guilty and selfish” in complaining about her own business losses during the public comment portion of the meeting, but pressed the DWC to plot a path forward.
“Last week, we didn't have any internet service,” Walsh said. “One person walked in on Thursday. I was like, ‘Thank you so much for being here.’ I made $17 that day. I am down 40% over where I was last October … I know when people have lost everything it is hard to stand up here and say that. We need to try to figure out a way to promote.”
Walsh mentioned that she’d already seen ads from communities that weren’t hit as hard as Haywood County was, including Bryson City and Highlands, inviting visitors to partake in their offerings. Waynesville doesn’t want to lose hard-earned market share.
“Bottom line is, we need customers,” said Becky Trump, co-owner of Olde Brick House.
Trump pushed for measures to attract online customers but decried what she said was the “poor” state of the DWC’s website, downtownwaynesville.com.
“Looking at the website, on the ‘plan your visit tab,’ there's a photo of [Frog Level Brewing]. They're not even in the [municipal service district, which comprises the DWC’s mandated area of service]. There are many broken links on this page, leaving the visitor without directions of how to get here, how to park here,” she said. “The ‘things to do’ tab, each category has only one listing … If you keep scrolling down for the local directory, it’s missing numerous businesses, at least 19 within our red light to red light section, and almost every business in the MSD that's not between the red lights is not being shown … the ‘events’ tab, there's no greeting to the visitor to give any information of our current status, letting them know our stores are open. Nothing is pointing out open roads and bridges, providing a positive outlook, rather than ‘roads closed’ information.”
Ideas floated by business owners and the nine-member DWC board included targeting the day-tripper demographic, especially with many lodging establishments full up with first responders form across the state and the nation. Spencer Tetrault, co-owner of Axe and Awl, encouraged businesses that hadn’t already to integrate their wares with e-commerce sites. Francis suggested a marketing campaign to residents of nearby Buncombe and Henderson counties. Board Member Joyce Massie wants to see — and hear — more live music, on more days, on Main Street.
“These musicians are really looking for places to perform right now,” Massey said.
After nearly two hours of discussion, the DWC board made several motions, all of which passed unanimously. One was to start a “shop downtown” campaign. Another was to pursue Massie’s musical musings. The last was to issue a press release.
Board Chair Dave Barone said the DWC needs to focus on salvaging what it can of the next three to six months, utilizing unified messaging. He reiterated Ruffieux’s statement that things in Waynesville, Haywood County and Western North Carolina are getting better, week by week, but there would be setbacks, and the town’s business district would persevere.
“This is not going to happen overnight,” Barone said.
