As the days grow warmer and the landscape ripples with color, a growing treetop chorus drives the message home — spring is here, and new life is thriving.
The show begins sometime in March, as hatching insects and growing plants allow the hardy songbird species that have braved winter in the Smokies to shift focus from their own survival to that of the species as a whole. It’s time to mate, and time to nest.
“One of the advantages of being a year-round resident is they often get to be the first ones there when the conditions are right for them to start getting enough food to reproduce,” said Julianne Geleynse, science communicator for Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
These birds — Carolina chickadees, northern cardinals, Carolina wrens and eastern towhees, to name a few — are the first to start staking out a territory. While some species maintain their turf throughout the winter, most boundaries break down during the cold season. When spring arrives, males spend their time flitting around the borders of their newly established kingdom, belting out songs that sound delicately whimsical to human ears but send a strong message to their peers.
CHEROKEE, N.C. – The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) is standing in support of federal legislation that will protect a sacred site in South Dakota. During the regular session of Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) on Thursday, April 4, 2024, representatives unanimously passed Res. No. 177 (2024) that states the EBCI “supports the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act (S. 2088, H.R. 3371) and calls on federally recognized tribal nations across the United States to support the Act and calls on the U.S. Senate to pass the Act and move forward enacting it into law”.
Kolanvyi (Big Cove) Rep. Richard French said he met recently with Frank Star Comes Out, Oglala Sioux tribal president. “They asked for our support in this because they mentioned our Senator (Thom Tillis) and how he was blocking all these bills.”
“When we met with them in D.C., they even went to speak with him, and he told them that they needed to go check with the chairman of the Lumbee – asking their permission and it didn’t set well.”
Rep. French added, “President Star Comes Out’s words were, ‘We will not give in. They will not hold us hostage. We’ll wait them out. We’ll be here longer than they will. We’ve been here for years, and we’re not going anywhere.”
H.R. 3371 was agreed to by a voice vote on Sept. 20, 2023. The following day, it was read in the Senate and referred to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
In a column on his website, Congressman Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), who submitted the legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, called the Wounded Knee Massacre “a dark stain on our nation’s history”.
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – On the evening of Thursday, April 11, two Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) members, Davy Arch and Driver Blythe, gave a presentation on the history of Cherokee mask making at the Mountain Heritage Center at Tali Tsisgwayahi (Two Sparrows Place) on the campus of Western Carolina University (WCU).
Blythe, a graduate student at WCU pursuing his Master of Arts in History on the Cherokee Studies track, spoke about the importance of preserving the art of mask making.
“This is more than an art. There is cultural, traditional, ceremonial, and spiritual aspect to this art,” Blythe said. “Masks were used for more than just selling at a craft store. They painted a picture in dances, they were doctored for protection, and offered a visual gateway into storytelling.”
Arch, a tribal elder and mask maker for 50 years, shared his experience on what it means to be a mask carver.
Unemployment in the Asheville metro area has remained flat over the past year at 3.1%, according to February numbers from the N.C. Department of Commerce. That puts Asheville’s unemployment below the national average of 3.9% over the same period.
Over the past year, Asheville saw growthamong its construction jobs, professional services, hospitality and health care industries. At the same time, the city saw a reduction in the transportation and manufacturing fields.
More than 80 local employers in advanced manufacturing, health care, hospitality and more will have the opportunity to connect with career seekers Wednesday, April 17, during the WNC Career Expo.
Hosted by the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and Mountain Area Workforce Development Board, the event will be held at the Davis Event Center at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center at 761 Boylston Highway in Fletcher from 11a.m.-4p.m.
Without a doubt, the first few years of the 2020s are a rough ride for the nation’s hospitality sector, and Asheville’s Foodtopia is no exception. The National Restaurant Association’s 2022 State of the Restaurant Industry report offers a somewhat sunny forecast of growth, but staffing shortages, supply chain breakdowns, rising food costs and other factors continue to make the industry’s road to pandemic recovery a rocky one.
Yet strolling along downtown Asheville’s restaurant-lined streets or driving down West Asheville’s busy Haywood Road corridor, what one observes through café windows and at bustling outdoor tables is activity and expansion, not struggle and scarcity. In characteristically tough mountain fashion, Asheville’s community of resilient, innovative restaurateurs and bar owners is steadily going about the business of turning its seemingly endless supply of pandemic lemons into lemonade — probably sweetened with local honey and accented with herbs from nearby farms.
Many savvy chefs and owners are building on their COVID-19 pivots to reimagine and reinvigorate their business models for the future, in turn providing Asheville diners with exciting new outdoor dining spaces, streamlined service models, a wealth of delicious takeout options and more. Additionally, while a scant handful of Asheville restaurants closed in the past two years, countless fresh concepts have opened and more are sprouting up every day. Truly, there’s never been a more optimal time to pull up a chair and take a seat at Asheville’s bountiful table. The menu is better than ever!