The electric lawnmower the Town of Waynesville bought in 2024 is paying off, according to Outdoor Maintenance Supervisor Michael Noland.

At the time, the purchase kicked up some dust, with some residents arguing that the additional expense of buying an electric mower instead of a traditional gas-powered lawn mower was wasted taxpayer money.  

In this day and age, when the world seems to be one chaotic situation after another, all while the incessant white noise and constant distraction in the digital age peels away our sanity, I find a genuine urge to head for the mountains and hit the trails. So, I do so, happily. 

Americana/folk singer-songwriter Woolybooger will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 3, at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley. 

The second annual “Great American Bash” will feature Americana/rock sensation The Brothers Gillespie and The Borrowed Band (country/western) on Saturday, July 5, in the parking lot of The Scotsman, located at 37 Church Street in downtown Waynesville. 

A cherished gathering of locals and visitors alike, “Art After Dark” will launch its 2025 season from 6-9 p.m. Friday, July 4, in downtown Waynesville. 

An Asheville law firm has filed a civil suit on behalf of two minor female clients alleging that the girls were sexually abused while employed at a Bojangles fast food restaurant near Lake Junaluska in Haywood County. 

In a move more than a half-century in the making, the Town of Canton has announced the pending purchase of a key parcel of land where it plans to construct a new, state-of-the-art flood-proof wastewater treatment plant — ending a long chapter of dependence on a private system operated by the now-shuttered Pactiv Evergreen paper mill and setting the stage for a bold economic redevelopment of the historic site.

It starts the same way, most times — sirens in the distance, a frantic call, a body on the floor — but what happens next in Haywood County might soon look a lot different, thanks to a bold plan to reshape how local government responds to the addiction epidemic. 

Ellen Pitt has dedicated the last two and a half decades to combatting drunk driving in Western North Carolina, and the one of the latest fronts in that fight involves her quest to get courts to use continuous alcohol monitoring bracelets for defendants in “high-risk” DWI cases. 

Haywood County is reminding local business owners that the county’s tourism development authority is conducting a survey to assess recovery progress, current needs and ongoing challenges in the wake of Hurricane Helene.