The annual Front Street Arts & Crafts Show will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 13, in downtown Dillsboro.  

Dozens of booths lining Front Street will display handmade items from regional artists and crafters.

Starting a business is difficult and inherently risky. Doing so in an urban area replete with resources is easier than doing so in a rural area with fewer guardrails. 

During a visit last week to Haywood County, North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall touted a state program that hones in on rural areas in hopes to provide more resources to budding entrepreneurs.  

Mountain Credit Union has announced the promotion of Suzie Shook to Chief Executive Officer, following the retirement of Amy Woody, who had served as CEO since September 2020.

Shook brings more than 30 years of credit union experience to the role, having dedicated her entire professional career to Mountain Credit Union since joining the organization in July 1993 as a Member Service Representative. 

Wanona Tara, a hospitality industry executive with more than 30 years of experience, has joined the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center as director of sales. 

In her new role, Tara is responsible for all group sales at Lake Junaluska, including lodging, food service, conferences and media services. She also will serve on the center’s operations, revenue and extended executive teams. 

A special April 9 Tribal Council session was entirely dedicated to a single resolution meant to protect a general contractor by asserting an easement for the right-of-way over leased Qualla Boundary properties involving “a reasonable and common ingress, egress and utilities.”

While the resolution reiterated a clause that had already been established, the meeting exposed a growing rift, present also at the April 2 regular meeting, between business interests and tribal members.

Over the past decade or more, Western North Carolina Republicans have proven that the only candidates that can beat incumbent Republican congressmen are other Republicans. Adam Smith talks like someone who has already settled on that outcome and is now working backward to make it inevitable. 

“What conservative voters in the United States want to see is Republicans have the intestinal fortitude to do what they said they were going to do,” Smith said. 

We never thought that Micromanager of the Year would become a repeat award, but here we are.

This year’s micromanagers of the year are the members of the Fontana Regional Library Board of Trustees.

As the board continues to handle complex big-picture issues without the guidance of an attorney, some members are also finding time to dictate how staff members conduct day-to-day business.

Nineteen new small business recovery projects in Western North Carolina have been awarded grants totaling $13.8 million through the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program. 

The Pisgah and Cherokee National Forests are inviting outfitter and guide companies to apply for permits to operate on the Nolichucky River. The Forest Service has released a prospectus for new permits covering rafting, kayaking and other whitewater activities along the section of river shared by North Carolina and Tennessee, open from mid-May to late October. 

To the Editor:

The Haywood County Board of Commissioners has been transferring $75,000 annually, since 2018, to Buncombe-Asheville Chamber of Commerce for a “Joint Economic Development” initiative to attract businesses and jobs to Haywood County.