N.C. 107: pain, but eventual gain

story co-written with Jake Harkey Part 2 of the serial of stories published in The Sylva Herald on Jan. 24 edition The N.C. Department of Transportation plans to reconfigure N.C.107 through Sylva’s commercial corridor for safety reasons. In the summer of 2021 NCDOT began work on the road.  According to Sylva lawyer and roads activist […]

Jackson County Veterans Day Parade

The Jackson County Veterans Office held a Veterans Day parade on Nov. 11 in downtown Sylva. The cloudy skies did little to deter over 100 locals as they lined the streets to cheer on their hometown heroes. Sheila Setzer, the director of the Jackson County Veterans Office, started the Veterans Day Parade in 2015, which […]

Jackson County is looking in tourism priorities for this year

Story originally published in The Sylva Herald, Feb. 15 edition. Tuesday Feb. 7 the Jackson County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation from Nick Breedlove, director of Tourism Development Authority. Breedlove presented the board with updates on capital projects, tourism numbers and campaigns. The TDA released its capital project policy in 2022 with certain projects […]

Pinnacle Park’s new therapy trail; destressor for students

On March 11, 2022 Sylva’s Pinnacle Park welcomed a new trail to it’s trail system. The first of it’s kind in North Carolina, Pinnacle Park’s therapy trail is more than a hiking trail. It is for relieving stress and getting in-touch with nature. The trail models a Japanese form of therapy called “shinrin-yoku” or “forest […]

Sylva to celebrate Greening Up the Mountains

The mountains are greening up and the festival celebrating it is back in Sylva.  The streets of downtown Sylva will be filled with music, foods and vendors on April 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to celebrate spring and the new green growth of the mountains.  The Greening Up the Mountains Festival is a heritage […]

Weekly old-time music at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Sylva

Rhythmic, rocking fiddle tunes that make a body want to tap their foot, if not break into dance; local musicians played these old-time tunes from 6:30 to 9 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 29, at the weekly old-time jam at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Sylva, NC. Six local musicians sat in a circle on the stage, taking […]