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. 

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. 

Elizabeth and Quintin Ellison will share their poetry and photography book created with the late George Ellison, “Land of Blue Shadows: Mountain Life in Verse & View,” at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville. 

Since 1932, the ashlar veneer of the Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville has borne silent witness to memorable events in local and national history — the Great Depression, World War II, Korea, the Civil Rights era, Vietnam, 9/11, Afghanistan, the Gulf Wars and most recently the county’s first LGBTQ+ Pride celebration — but a gathering on Flag Day, the same day President Donald Trump celebrated his birthday with a military parade in Washington, D.C., may prove to be just as enduring. 

I get asked about it after every protest I’ve been to, from Andrews to Asheville, from Chicago to Washington, D.C., and everywhere in between. 

Rally attendance is one of the most debated aspects of any public gathering — be it left, right, center, secular or spiritual. At outdoor venues that don’t use ticketing and don’t have fences or walls to contain the crowds, estimates can be even more difficult. 

Next week, award-winning graphic novelist Andrew Aydin will return to Haywood County to help kick off an ambitious new creative endeavor — one that aims not only to elevate overlooked Appalachian voices but also to preserve the stories of Hurricane Helene’s survivors in a way that’s never been done before. 

It happened to me, again. Somebody stole my laundry. All of it. And it wasn’t even in the dryer yet. They ran out the door of my neighborhood laundromat in downtown Waynesville with two loads of wet clothes, never to be seen from or worn out and about one more time. 

To the Editor:

On May 22, the House of Representatives voted to pass a budget bill (The One Big Beautiful Bill) that drastically cuts America’s clean energy tax credits. Make no mistake: these cuts will hurt North Carolina and the Town of Waynesville if they become law.

To The Editor:

Do you believe that our country deserves better than this current administration? Do you feel fearful, angry, hopeless or powerless at times? Do you wish there was something you could do to bring about positive change? Then come join your voices with ours on Saturday, June 14 at noon at the Haywood County Historic Courthouse for “Hands Off Haywood — No Kings Rally.”