By Diana Conard • Contributing writer | Courtney and Spencer Tetrault established Axe & Awl Leatherworks six years ago as an online business. Coming from two rewarding yet demanding careers, this required a leap of faith and a whole lot of grit. Now, they are taking another leap of faith to pursue a much-anticipated dream of opening a storefront on Depot Street in downtown Waynesville.

The outdoor industry has for years been on an upward trajectory in Western North Carolina, and a regional branding campaign unveiled May 18 aims to boost it even further. 

The Haywood County town of Canton hasn’t always been a major tourist destination, but with downtown revitalization well underway and a major mountain biking park about to open, all that’s about to change, and a group of concerned citizens want to make sure the town takes full advantage of the interest soon to come. 

Things are going so well at two of Haywood County’s best-known industrial employers that they’re both hiring and expanding, making them eligible for the county’s economic development incentive plan. 

The last time Americans lived through a global pandemic, the field of employment law wasn’t nearly as developed as it is today. That’s led to an overwhelming number of unanswered questions surrounding the rights and obligations of both employers and employees when considering the massive COVID-19 vaccination effort currently underway. 

When spring sprung in 2020, so did the Coronavirus Pandemic, forcing farmers to make life-altering decisions in the face of an unknown future. A recently published survey  of Southern Appalachian farmers shows that those decisions built a reality that was better than anticipated but still full of challenges. 

In the depths of The One Stop in downtown Asheville on Saturday, members of the Travers Brothership and Abby Bryant & The Echoes were setting up and sound checking for that evening’s inaugural “Blue Ridge Blues Jam.” 

Apple was once a small business that was started in a garage by two college dropouts. It was the pipe dream of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to make computers small enough to fit in people’s homes or offices. We all know how the story ended, but it’s important to remember how it began. 

By Laura Lauffer • Contributing writer | During the holiday season, we often recognize and appreciate the farmers in our community for the abundance of food on our tables. Three women farmers in the region shared their farming experience during this challenging year, what it means to them to farm as women and how they continued to grow and distribute their goods to the community in the challenging times of COVID. 

By Boyd Allsbrook • Contributing writer | This year’s post-Thanksgiving weekend of shopping holidays will be unlike any other. This should come as no surprise when one considers a market made unpredictable in the wake of a global pandemic, large swaths of the consuming public now reticent to venture outside and their consequent move to the safety of purely online vendors.