Outdoors
Locals can save on golf at Lake Junaluska
Full-time residents of Haywood, Jackson and Buncombe counties can save money playing golf at Lake Junaluska Golf Course with a seasonal rate discount card.
With the purchase of a $50 discount card, residents can save $9 on 18-holes of golf with a cart, $4.50 on nine-holes of golf with a cart and $5 off each nine-hole round walking the course. The discount is good May 1 through Oct. 31.
Word from the Smokies: Peregrine falcons soar from brink of extinction
With striking white-and-gray plumage, yellow beaks and talons and powerfully compact bodies, peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) are beautiful birds in any posture. But they’re downright magical in the air — aerial acrobats capable of reaching 200 mph as they dive down onto their prey. For Johnson City, Tennessee, ornithologist Rick Knight, such sightings are especially rich in meaning.
Smokies plans prescribed burns
The National Park Service plans to burn approximately 180 acres in Wear Cove Gap (north of Metcalf Bottoms) and 243 acres in Lynn Hollow (near the Top of the World community) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Weather permitting, burn operations may begin as early as March 25 and may continue through March 31. These prescribed fires will help to safely reduce fuels, maintain resilient natural systems and protect communities along the park boundary.
HCC hosts Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s Meet
Haywood Community College will host the annual Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s Meet on Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28. Each year, the event is held at a different location, and in 2026, HCC will welcome seven collegiate teams to campus for two days of competitive lumberjack events. This event is free and open to the public.
Lake Junaluska switching to summer swim vouchers
Lake Junaluska is now offering a new summer swim voucher instead of its traditional Summer Activity Pass to improve swimmers’ experience and value. The new vouchers — similar to a punch pass — can be purchased in increments of 10 to 50 visits, with unused visits rolling over to the next year.
Single day passes can still be purchased for $10 each per person.
Youth backpacking ministry joins Lake Junaluska
Lake Junaluska and Wilderness Trail, a long-time adventure and backpacking ministry, have joined forces to launch a new satellite program at Lake Junaluska June 6–11.
Based in Troutdale, Virginia, with an office at First United Methodist Church of Waynesville, Wilderness Trail has a 39-year history of leading backpacking trips for middle school and high school students in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in Virginia.
NCDA&CS announces grant opportunity for value-added processing of agricultural commodities
Applications are now being accepted through April 13 for the N.C. Agriculture Manufacturing and Processing Initiative, which was created to fund and promote the establishment of value-added agricultural manufacturing and food processing facilities in North Carolina. The program includes $4.3 million in available funding to support eligible projects.
HCC hosts boater safety courses
Haywood Community College’s Department of Arts, Sciences and Natural Resources and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will offer four opportunities for boater safety courses in spring and summer 2026. Classes will be offered April 1-2, May 13-14, June 3-4 and July 29-30 from 6-9 p.m. on the HCC campus in the Walnut building, room 3312. Participants must attend two consecutive evenings to receive their certification.
Word from the Smokies: Artistic duo creates unique interpretations of Smokies scenes
Charlotte Rollman swears she used to be shy.
“I did art so that people would like me,” she said, telling the story of how, as a fourth grader, she once drew money and passed it out to her classmates, who then “really liked me.”
But when John Adkins met the woman who would later become his business partner, shyness was nowhere to be found among his first impressions.
