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July 1-7, 2026 Vol. 28 Iss. 05

CONTENTS On the Cover: July Fourth, Independence Day, always gives folks around Western North Carolina a reason to celebrate. This year brings a special meaning to the holiday, as it’s the nation’s 250th birthday. Along with giving you all the information you need to go out and enjoy the semiquincentennial in The Smoky Mountain News coverage area, SMN also reflects on what it means to be an American in this time. (Page 24) Jackson County TDA photo

News Searching for The Black Hole ..........................................................................................4 For EBCI leaders, America 250 is a historical reckoning ....................................11 SMN hears thoughts from around WNC ahead of Independence Day ..........15 Three new state laws affect K-12 and higher education ......................................18 Rep. Edwards offers appropriations update from D.C...........................................20 Cooper talks Helene, affordability in Asheville ..........................................................21

Opinion A hope that the enlightened win the day....................................................................22 This should frighten you ..................................................................................................22

A&E Fourth of July in the Smokies..........................................................................................24 ‘A Celebration of Community’ in Hazelwood ............................................................26

Outdoors

July 1-7, 2026

Word from the Smokies: Diverse partners, united efforts ....................................32 Four tips for a safe Fourth of July in the Smokies....................................................35

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ACCOUNTING & OFFICE MANAGER: CONTRIBUTING:

Scott McLeod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . info@smokymountainnews.com Greg Boothroyd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . greg@smokymountainnews.com Micah McClure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . micah@smokymountainnews.com Jack Snyder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jack.s@smokymountainnews.com Tyler Auffhammer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tyler.a@mtnsouthmedia.com Amanda Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . amanda.b@smokymountainnews.com Maddie Woodard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . maddie.w@smokymountainnews.com Jamie Cogdill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Kyle Perrotti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . kyle.p@smokymountainnews.com Lily Levin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lily.l@smokymountainnews.com Garret K. Woodward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . garret@smokymountainnews.com Alex Perri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alex.p@smokymountainnews.com Jamie Cogdill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . smnbooks@smokymountainnews.com Jeff Minick (writing), Susanna Shetley (writing), Adam Bigelow (writing), Thomas Crowe (writing)

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AMERICA 250

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Searching for the Black Hole

A skirmish between a colonial militia and Cherokee warriors was waged in Western North Carolina in 1776. But where exactly the battle was fought is a matter for debate. BY KYLE PERROTTI NEWS EDITOR ensions had been rising between colonial settlers and Cherokee people in the Great Smoky Mountains for a while before Col. Andrew Williamson raised a militia to invade the land west of the Blue Ridge escarpment. Over the course of almost a century prior to the American revolution, the Cherokee had maintained a strong, trade-based relationship with the British government. As revolutionary sentiments rose from a simmer to a boil, that relationship grew into a military alliance. All the while, colonists were increasingly moving west of the escarpment into the “frontier,” territory that was supposed to be off limits. Attacks against settlers encroaching on Cherokee land became more frequent, and

the colonial government grew concerned. Among the charges in the Declaration of Independence was that King George III “excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an

undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” This sentiment was echoed in a letter from John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, to the North Carolina Council on Safety.

“The Congress having received information from the State of North Carolina that the Cherokee have committed hostilities against the inhabitants thereof, and that the President of that State had thought proper to carry the war immediately into the heart of the enemy’s country,” Hancock wrote. “I am directed by the Congress to inform you of their request, that you will afford all necessary assistance to, and cooperate with the State of South Carolina in carrying on with vigor the intended expedition.” Leading the expeditionary force in North Carolina was Brig. Gen. Griffith Rutherford, the namesake of the Rutherford Trace, which his band of almost 3,000 militiamen used to move through Cherokee territory, burning villages as they went. Williamson headed up the South Carolina force. After waging a campaign of terror through that colony

toward the end of the summer of 1776, he moved north, expecting to rendezvous with Rutherford at Nikwasi, near present-day Franklin. The plan was for the combined force to march toward the Valley River to the west, but Rutherford had left before Williamson even arrived. The colonel and his militia took off on their own, using Cherokee trails to traverse the rugged terrain. According to the book “A Demand of Blood: The Cherokee War of 1776” by Nadia Dean, diary accounts from militiamen describe that on Sept. 19, they entered a long valley surrounded by mountains. The militiamen had seen the signs of Cherokee warriors in the area, so they knew they may be walking into an ambush. They tightened ranks, riding two-by-two as the valley narrowed. Musket balls rained down

from both sides of the ravine. Warriors clad in loincloths and covered in red paint rushed down to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the vanguard. Militiamen found cover where they could and returned fire with their own weapons, including swivel guns — small cannons mounted on the backs of horses. Smoke filled the ravine, making the Cherokee warriors seem ghostly amid the sounds of gunfire and war whoops echoing off the surrounding mountains. The militiamen, with their superior numbers and weaponry, tried to push up the sides of the ravine to shore up the front line. According to Dean, after about an hour and 45 minutes, the battle fizzled out. The war-

heritage. He’s also a history buff and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution whose family in the region goes all the way back to that era. Queen poured us some coffee and ushered me into his dining room, where a long hardwood table was covered with piles of pamphlets, photos, documents and brochures tied to Revolutionary War history. Along one side of the table were two easels he’s using in a future presentation on the American Revolution in North Carolina. The loquacious statesman and I spoke for two hours, during which he laid out his interpretation of the battle, which largely mirrors the narrative Dean set out in her

SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS AMERICA 250

A sign along Wayah Road in Macon County marks a potential site for The Battle of the Black Hole. Bob Scott photo

THE PREVAILING NARRATIVE I got the idea for this story as we considered what kind of America 250 coverage we wanted in The Smoky Mountain News. I thought about doing something on the Rutherford Expedition. I came across some articles about The Battle of Coweecho River, also known as the Battle of the Black Hole or the Battle of Dark Hollow. That felt like a good bet. I set to work a week before deadline thinking the assignment would be straightforward, but I had no clue what awaited me. My first stop was the Waynesville home of Joe Sam Queen, a former state senator and representative, who has long been an advocate for preserving the region’s cultural

book. We also spoke about the impetus of the Rutherford Expedition and the long-term ramifications of militia incursion into Cherokee territory on the direction of the revolution. Alongside Wayah Road, just up the valley from the Lyndon B. Johnson Job Corps camp in Macon County, is the sign marking the site of the Battle of the Black Hole. It features the headline “Cherokee defeat.” The Kate and Joe Sam Queen Family Foundation owns 12.84 acres nearby, land Queen told The Smoky Mountain News was soon to be developed. “We have a very strong interest in finding and preserving that battlefield, and we want to work with local, state and national authorities,” he said. Queen noted that the weekend before the 250th anniversary of the Battle of the Black Hole, there will be a commemoration hosted by the Sons of the American Revolution, including a reenactment. Dean and Queen have both brought in archeological teams to preform surveys, but no discoveries have been made. I walked the stretch Wayah Road in pursuit of something that looked like the dark woods where all that death had occurred 250 years ago. The prevailing theory is that Col. Williamson’s men marched along the creek into the valley, which narrows to the west. The Cherokee and their loyalist allies

SEE BLACK HOLE, PAGE 6

July 1-7, 2026

riors, initially successful in their ambush, likely ran out of ammunition. They retreated to higher ground, leaving confused militiamen scrambling to regain their bearings and assess the damage. Records vary on how many were dead and wounded on each side, but estimates are as high as 13 militia dead and 18 wounded to four Cherokee warriors killed. The site of the battle along Macon County’s Wayah Creek described in Dean’s book is now identified with a historical marker noting the “Battle of the Black Hole.” However, different theories regarding the location are emerging, begging the question, where did that fateful skirmish play out?

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BLACK HOLE, CONTINUED FROM 5

Seagle said he went down to his spot with a metal detector, and it pinged all over the ravine. He didn’t want to dig without the right tools and archeological expertise, so the area remains undisturbed. I told Seagle I’d be interested in seeing his site. He warned me it’d be a tough hike, and I thanked myself for wearing hiking pants and boots that day. Under the condition I don’t make the spot public, he showed me a map and offered precise directions to the top of the ravine from which he argues Cherokee warriors launched their ambush. I should stop at the top of the ravine, he cautioned, since going all the way down could

recency bias from having just talked to deVille and Seagle, a sort of placebo effect, but I could sense it. A vibe. It felt like the perfect spot for an ambush. I later came to realize the real threat during my hike was tiny but ubiquitous. As I drove back to Haywood County from Macon, I noticed no fewer than 30 ticks crawling on my clothes. Fortunately, my wife was able to remove the half-dozen embedded in my legs and abdomen with surgical precision despite a somewhat uncooperative patient. Hunter S. Thompson be damned. Real Gonzo Journalism is practiced in the bush.

July 1-7, 2026

AMERICA 250

SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

allegedly executed their ambush in one of the tightest areas, and the fighting spilled back through the ranks to the east toward the current Job Corps site. As I walked through the fields along the creek, avoiding a few backyards and a couple of large rat snakes, I put myself into the militiamen’s boots, trying to see what they saw. Where the creek winds back toward Wayah Road is a narrow ravine that seems to match the spot Dean described in her book. There sits the marker for the Battle of the Black Hole.

home, and we set up a meeting for that Thursday at the museum. There, he introduced me to Seagle, a wiry mountain man with a handlebar mustache and a dry sense of humor. The three of us talked about the battle in general terms before nailing down on the heart of the matter. Seagle, 76, has family going back generations in the mountains and has long had an appreciation for local history. The notion that the Battle of the Black Hole may have occurred in Swain County arrived to him as conjecture. A woman told him that when she was growing up and would go hiking with her father in

Joe Sam Queen has been hard at work researching North Carolina history during the American Revolution. Kyle Perrotti photo

THE SWAIN COUNTY THEORY When I began working on this story, SMN owner and Publisher Scott McLeod recommended I speak with John deVille, the executive director of the Macon County Historical Society and Museum. I saw deVille the next Monday night, June 22, at a Fontana Regional Library Meeting. He sat next to me, so I mentioned my interest in the battle. He said I need to speak with his friend, Donnie Seagle. “That battle may not have even been in Macon County,” he said. “It may have been in Swain County.” Had I been paying attention instead of anxiously waiting for the FRL meeting to start, I would have done what any sensible journalist would consider and asked a follow-up question. Something along the lines of “What?” probably would have worked. I messaged him that night as soon as I got

Swain County, he would remind her at a certain point that they were standing where The Battle of the Black Hole was fought. As Seagle began to accumulate primary and secondary sources, he felt like the rumored battle site matched the accounts he’d found, since the ravine is steeper and narrower than what’s seen at Wayah Creek. Seagle put together a binder, each document neatly separated by dividers. Much of the evidence that supports his theory was gathered by a man around 1873, at the behest of a historian in Wisconsin who was researching the greater history of an officer involved in the campaign. The mileage documented in the militia’s logs was used to determine the distance it traveled once it entered North Carolina at Rabun gap. That mileage about lines up with both the Wayah Creek and Swain County sites. Where Queen and Dean were unable to find evidence of the battle at Wayah Creek,

be treacherous. “They’ll have to bring a helicopter from Fort Bragg to get you,” he said with a slight smile. The hike was serious. It was hot as hell and too humid for the devil himself. Although I got some extra water and a Snickers bar for good measure, I didn’t have my usual daypack with emergency supplies. I made my way down through the dense brush and woods. Because there wasn’t a well-trodden trail, I was nervous about snakes in some of the tall grass. Off my game, the noise of a heavier animal 50 feet up the mountain jarred me. Deer? Bear. Predator? I summoned all the bass I could muster and shouted “hello” into the darkness, and whatever it was went on its way low and heavy up the mountain. At the top of the ravine, I put myself in the shoes of a warrior watching the column of militiamen approaching. It may have been

THE NANTAHALA WOMAN In my feverish attempt to paint a full picture of the battle ahead of a mockingly tight deadline, I’d reached out to archeologist Brett Riggs before I even spoke with DeVille and Seagle. Riggs is an archeology professor and researcher at Western Carolina University well known for his work with and advocacy for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. I’d been told Riggs can be hard to reach since he’s out in the field a lot. When I talked to him, he was working at a site in the mountains where Rutherford and his men had camped while torching Cherokee towns up and down the Little Tennessee River. I asked him what he thought of Queen’s and Seagle’s differing theories. They were both wrong, he opined. Riggs proposed a third location in a

AMERICA 250

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ravine in the upper Nantahala River Valley. According to the diary of a militiaman present for the Battle of the Black Hole, shortly after the fight, as they were marching, a couple of men shot and wounded a Cherokee woman. The militiamen killed the wounded woman, an act of mercy according to the diary. Riggs said that woman was painted like a man — like a Cherokee warrior. He added that around 1851, a traveler documented that a Cherokee man recalled that his mother was killed in the fight. At that time, the Cherokee man said they’d lived in Nantahala. “Now, that’s not to say that that’s necessarily exactly where they were from, but it points up to there,” Riggs said. While Riggs isn’t certain his theory is correct, he feels confident that neither the Wayah Creek nor Swain County spots are likely where the Battle of the Black Hole took place, based on his reading of topographic descriptions in primary sources. He specifically said the rugged Swain County site doesn’t make sense, arguing that the militia wouldn’t have used that route to get to the Valley River. “That’s not a place you would go to cross the mountains,” he said. “The goal of those troops was to get across into the Valley River [area], so it’s like, where are your usual suspects?” But that doesn’t mean that Seagle’s pinghappy metal detector was malfunctioning. Based other accounts, Riggs believes there was another skirmish in that spot that has become confused through lore to be the Battle of the Black Hole. That fight, whatever it may have been, could even date back to the fraught Montgomery or Grant expeditions of the early 1760s. “This stuff was going on constantly,” Riggs said. “Just because somebody has indicated there’s a fight somewhere doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the Black Hole.” “If they don’t show up in the EuroAmerican accounts, we don’t know anything about them,” he added. “But they might show up in some Cherokee tradition.”

July 1-7, 2026

IN SEARCH OF TRUTH

Donnie Seagle points out where he believes The Battle of the Black Hole was fought. Map blurred to protect location. Kyle Perrotti photo

Many of those interviewed for this story were enthralled by the prospect of uncovering the truth of the Battle of the Black Hole, but they were also frustrated by the lack of concrete information to clue them into the right spot. “Why do we not know anything about this battle? It’s because the victor writes the history, and we didn’t exactly win this battle,” Queen said. “They gave us a first-class black eye.” Riggs said that identifying the spot once they come upon it would be relatively easy. There should still be thousands of lead rounds embedded deep in the soil, and ground-penetrating radar can indicate the spot where the dead militiamen were buried, apparently in a swampy area somewhere near the site of the battle, according to one militiaman’s diary. However, Dean, the author of “A Demand of Blood,” told SMN that the site could have been

developed, and the mass grave may have already been destroyed. “All up and down Wayah Road … there are a bunch of cabins built in the 1960s, and they had a bunch of fill dirt,” she said. “And the Job Corps site had previously been a government site built before laws were in place to report the discovery of graves.” Riggs lamented that this may be the fate for some sensitive archeological sites across the region as homes spring up all over the mountains. “This place is becoming more and more attractive for development, and that’s how [these sites] are lost; that’s how they’re destroyed,” he said.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS AMERICA 250

Nadia Dean. Donated photo

July 1-7, 2026

The question remains, will the site ever be confirmed? Right now, “it’s lore encrusted on lore encrusted on lore,” deVille told me. Dean spent eight years working on her book before its publication in 2012, poring over primary sources and learning from respected Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians historian Lamar Marshall. To think that the Battle of the Black Hole played out in a different spot could be a tough truth to confront, but she said she would happy just to know for sure. Although Seagle’s opinion differs from what’s in her book, Dean said that when she met the man about a year ago, she respected the work he’d put into researching the battle. “He had worked on it beyond what I did,” she said. “I’m happy someone has taken enough interest to go further with it,” she added. While Dean and Queen, Seagle and Riggs have differing opinions on the site of the battle — opinions they all feel strongly about — there is one thing that binds them. It’s the thing that drives many historians. There is value in uncovering something nobody else has found before, but there’s even more value in simply knowing the truth. Seagle put it concisely.

July 1-7, 2026

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For EBCI leaders, America 250 is a historical reckoning

and tended to the land thousands of years prior to both 1776 and white settler contact nearly three centuries earlier. Cherokee societies, therefore, were already advanced amid a fledgling America. “There were thriving economies, there

were trade economies that existed between tribal nations,” said Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Michell Hicks, adding, “if I looked at the Cherokees, and how our society was in 1776; we were very advanced in a lot of ways.” Cherokees around that time resided in simple yet sturdy mud and thatch houses. Tribal leadership was semi-organized, with a more robust structure of governance at the local level. Town leadership included a peace chief — also the chief priest — a war chief and a council, and women often held power-

July 1-7, 2026

SEE EBCI, PAGE 13

AMERICA 250

EBCI artists confronted the complexity of being members of two sovereign nations. Lily Levin photo

signing of the Declaration of Independence ful diplomatic and political positions. was rife with Cherokee destruction. In comparison to the Cherokee’s time “Elders and women and children were immemorial, the timeline of the United harmed in very bad ways — [when thinking States “is just a blip,” noted Condill. of 1776] you think about the decline of As a result, she said, “American identity Cherokee land based on settlers and greed is fragile, and so who we are as Americans has always been a question through that 250 and gold,” said Hicks, noting that Thomas Jefferson referred to Indigenous folks as years — ‘How does the world see us?’” “merciless Indian Savages” in the Declaration The MoTCP exhibit, “Unrelenting: of Independence. Cherokee People and the American Revolution,” however, seems to pose an alternate inquiry: How do Cherokees set the record straight with the world? A response to the overarching narrative of America 250 — featuring mainly contemporary, though some archival, works by artists generally hailing from Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee Nation — “Unrelenting” is the tribe’s most publicfacing reckoning MotCP Executive Director Shana Bushyhead Condill discussed with the past twowhat went into the ‘Unrelenting’ exhibit — and how it contextualized and-a-half cenAmerica 250. Donated photo turies. Condill said the In September 1776, in response to idea of a museum showcase was sparked at Cherokee attacks against settlers living on an Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums conference in 2022, when par- what was, by treaty, Indigenous land — as well as to prevent a British ally from becomticipants were encouraged to engage with ing a threat militarily — North Carolina America 250 out of a desire for more Brig. Gen. Griffin Rutherford led patriot Indigenous representation. troops through the Cherokee town of “Something just wasn’t feeling aligned Noquiyisi, burning it to the ground. To comthere,” she said, explaining that she along plete the mission, now known as Rutherford with other attendees formed an alternate Trace, the rebel militia pursued the same “Native 250” group. “People were using the word ‘celebrate’ all “scorched earth” policy in another 35 Cherokee villages. By 1783, the Cherokee the time,” she said, “and for us, it was really had lost more than 50% of their original terimportant to have an intervention in that, ritory, some of which had been ceded to and say, ‘From a Cherokee perspective, it’s state and federal governments well before going to look different than the American the American Revolution. memory narrative that we learn about in “That preservation of sovereignty is school.’” something that will forever be the first thing In fact, during the American Revolution, the Cherokee had sided with the loyalists as a that we’re fighting for, forever,” Condill said. Unfortunately, historical accounts of means of survival. King George III’s Cherokee perspectives and cultural knowlProclamation of 1763 had prevented white edge during the Revolutionary Era are slim settlement in Appalachia, though colonists to none, especially by way of secondary consistently invaded Cherokee lands, disresources. Even primary documents were writgarding the policy. Tribal leaders theorized ten in Anglicized Cherokee — and used sevthat in return for their support, Britain eral different names when referring to a sinwould better enforce the 1763 law. gle person, said Condill. “There were lots of promises being made “To restore some of that meaning into by the British that were protecting this place, the words is really important,” she said. which is, of course, our most important— That means finding out the document’s it’s all through everything we do and who we true translation and the Cherokee name of are as Cherokee people,” said Condill. the individual to whom it refers. Since its founding, the United States has “Unrelenting” features a letter from seized Indigenous peoples’ land and autonomy. For example, the year that marked the

SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

BY LILY LEVIN STAFF WRITER s crowds gather and fireworks explode to mark what to some is a purely celebratory moment, America 250 arrives for others as a complicated, dissonant occasion. In Western North Carolina, Eastern Band of Cherokee leaders— many of whom exist within the latter group — juxtapose the holiday’s origins with tribal history, disrupt incomplete national narratives and discuss the complex experience of being Indigenous in America. Nation-state and Indigenous historical incongruence perhaps begins with the mere idea of a “semiquincentennial,” as quantifying time runs counter to Cherokee memory and lifestyle. “We still struggle with historians … wanting to put a time period on Cherokee history, and for us there is no time period. It’s time immemorial,” said Shana Bushyhead Condill, executive director of the Museum of the Cherokee People. That’s because Indigenous folks had lived

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EBCI, CONTINUED FROM 11 Kituwah to Benjamin Franklin, the content of which was likely recorded through a translator. Kituwah — the namesake of the EBCI Mother Town — had written about the “importance of being a woman and giving life,” Condill said. But beyond that, “It’s hard to know how to pronounce her name, or what she said,” she told The Smoky Mountain News.

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Tribal Council member Shannon Swimmer identifies as Cherokee before American. Donated photo Swimmer personalized that perspective. “I always identify myself as a Cherokee person first, before I even think of being American. I mean, even whenever I travel abroad, it’s like, ‘I’m Native; my tribe is based in the United States,’” she said. Plus, the national anthem of Cherokee — sung in the Cherokee language — is infinitely more meaningful to Swimmer than that of the United States of America. Other family members feel a strong connection to Cherokee music, too. “I think about my granddaughter, she’s five, and she loves singing Cherokee songs, and it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful to see her want to listen to that in the car,” said Swimmer. “She’s growing up in the culture, and she knows who she is as a young

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The 1800s also came with a host of settler policies — namely, the Trail of Tears — aimed at Cherokee displacement, removal and territory cessation. According to Condill, the Trail of Tears wasn’t a side effect of American independence but rather a direct result of it. She spoke of “the necessity of Indian removal to the goals of an expanding nation,” noting that “stolen land and stolen labor” were the basis of the original colonies as well as westward expansion, a product of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny refers to the Founding Fathersera white settler belief in a God-given right to Indigenous homelands, which were seen as wasted due to lack of cultivation. Trail of Tears architect Andrew Jackson, through the Indian Removal Act of 1830, realized a plan first articulated by Thomas Jefferson. While the EBCI reside on original Cherokee homelands, unlike many other Indigenous tribes, the Qualla Boundary is nowhere near the size the tribe’s ancestral territory. Hence, Condill said the idea of a semi-quincentennial should also apply to a well-known historical movement. “I would argue that we’ve been fighting for civil rights since our founding,” she explained. For example, Indigenous people did not gain citizenship until relatively recently. “You go back to Native Americans being citizens of the United States, and that timeline is not 250 years,” said Hicks. It’s closer to 100, thanks to Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. “For some people, [1924] might seem like a long time ago, but it’s not really that long ago. When I think about my grandma — who was alive until I was in my 40s — that she was born in 1921, and she was actually born a non-citizen of this country,” said

Tribal Council member Shannon Swimmer. Even as Indigenous Americans were considered U.S. citizens, states blocked their right to vote throughout the next two decades. Plus, experts caution that various governments are once again using tactics aimed at Native disenfranchisement. But while EBCI members today are legally considered U.S. citizens, some still struggle with what it means to be an American — and if they’d like to adopt that label at all. “I think that sense of belonging and what it is to be American is super complicated for Native people. We are always citizens of our own tribe, primarily, is what I would say. And then there’s some native people who just completely push back against being American at all. And then there are certain native people who are incredibly proud to be American,” explained Condill, adding that “native people serve [in the military] in the highest capacity of any ethnicity” due to the Indigenous value of protection.

all these things are our way of reinventing to some level the stories and the legends that we’ve been handed down that never leave Cherokee woman. She’s only five, but she’s us,” said Hicks. already learning.” The longevity of this wisdom has to do with the method in which it is told. OVING FORWARD “[Our history is] still able to be spoken and passed down generationally through EBCI Tribal Council member Shennelle oral history, regardless of if you want to Feather outlined the past 250 years through a personal lens, describing the complexity of attack our history books or change the change the narrative,” Feather noted. July Fourth through the intersection of trauDrawing upon the past for perspective, matic oppression and relative privilege, of Condill expressed gratitude for the present historical struggle and contemporary moment. “When people are saying someacknowledgement. thing like, ‘It has never been worse,’ I’m like, “I think the phrase that describes how I feel as an Indigenous person who’s still living ‘Oh, well yes, it’s been way worse, actually, on her ancestral homeland and whose family in our history,’” she explained. Still, she clarified that the status quo has never been removed from their ancestral homeland — I think that’s an important dis- should not be accepted at face value, nor should its new and pressing challenges. tinction to have, because that’s not the case “I think people recognize that the [250th for many native people to America … is that anniversary] can be a moment of reckoning we are still here. So, in that sense, after the as well, and a call to action as to who we are removal and after colonization and the and who we want establishment of to be as a country, this government, I and so that to me think that phrase is exciting,” rings so true,” she Condill told SMN. said. Self-reflection Indeed, even requires listening as those in power to and learning continued to pracfrom frontline tice a strategy of communities — Indigenous “civiand ensuring they lization” through have a say in decithe mid-twentieth sions that affect century, Native their livelihood. culture prevailed. Condill On a national described herself scale, the Native as “one of those American people that have Relocation to believe in our Program, implefounding ideals mented in the and that we can early 1950s to be better than promote assimilawe’ve been in the tion, encouraged past, and that we tribal members to [as Cherokee peoleave their reserPrincipal Chief Michell Hicks frames EBCI history ple] have to be at vations for cities as one of struggle through oppression. File photo the table to be like Los Angeles, able to make Denver and Chicago. those changes.” However, citizens of various tribes built Transformation often begins at the local strong communities within urban centers, level. Swimmer suggested those wanting to which in turn emboldened their resistance honor Indigenous voices start by researching to federal mandates. The historic 1969-1971 which tribes previously inhabited their city Occupation of Alcatraz by the Indians of All or town. Moreover, one could correct the Tribes — a group demanding the island, dominant narrative of American history by then surplus federal land, be returned to its challenging community tributes to problemoriginal Indigenous inhabitants — was but atic figures. one example. In North Carolina, Rutherford County Meanwhile in Western North Carolina, generations of Cherokee children from 1881- was named for Rutherford’s Trace leader Griffin Rutherford — and Jackson County 1954 were forced to study at boarding schools and punished for any speech uttered for Indian Removal Act signee Andrew Jackson. in their native tongue. EBCI tribal council in late 2020 unaniToday, the EBCI offers interested mously passed a resolution changing the Cherokee speakers both a freestanding language academy and a comprehensive second Jackson County namesake to eight-term EBCI Principal Chief Walter Jackson, sendlanguage learners’ program. ing it to the desks of county commissioners. Other tribal members are reconnecting Despite support from then-Jackson to their heritage through art. “It’s amazing to see how young artists are Commissioner Gayle Woody, the board did not pass the proposal, leaving Jackson evolving, and they’re really rebuilding some County’s namesake as the seventh U.S. presiof the old ways, whether it’s pottery, dent. whether it’s carvings of rock, stone, wood,

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Word on the street SMN hears from folks around WNC on their thoughts ahead of Independence Day

Local sisters sitting on a bench in downtown Sylva. Xyla (pictured on the left) recently graduated from high school and will be attending Southwest Community College in the Fall. Harmony (pictured on the right) works at Food Lion.

JOSEPH TANG

SMN: How do you feel about the United States’ upcoming 250th birthday? Harmony: Honestly, I don’t think about it very much. For the Fourth of July, I always just think about fireworks. SMN: What are your favorite Fourth of July traditions? Harmony: Fireworks. Cookout. Xyla: Usually, it’s just a family get-together with family that we don’t see often. Sometimes we’ll go out, see fireworks. Sometimes we’ll get our own fireworks. I think [250 years], it’s just been such a long time. People don’t realize the significance of it because it just seems like a day of celebration; no one really thinks about why. SMN: What does patriotism look like to you? Harmony: I don’t think about it much. I guess it’s just being grateful and proud of where you come from and where you live and how far the nation has grown. It’d probably be easier to realize how important it is if you saw how things used to be in the past or see how it is in other countries. Xyla: I’m really grateful. I don’t really live in fear like I know [people] in other places do, so I am grateful for that. But, you know, it’s kind of hard to have an opinion myself because there’s just so many factors of how we were made. SMN: Where do you see this country in the

Larson and Dorsey are visiting Bryson City from Spartanburg, South Carolina. SMN: How do you feel about the United States’ upcoming 250th birthday? Jacob: It feels pretty good. Heather: My youngest son is active-duty Marine Corps, so we’re pretty patriotic. We have lots of decor at home. Bryson City is a little patriotic as well, and we’re riding the train today and just doing cool American pastimes. SMN: What are your favorite Fourth of July traditions? Jacob: We watch fireworks. Heather: That’s mine, too. We have a pretty large fireworks display in downtown [Spartanburg], so I’d like to see that, or stay at home, and the neighbors shoot them off a lot. SMN: What does patriotism look like to you? Jacob: Helping people and helping whoever needs to go somewhere. Heather: Supporting our military, supporting our government, our leaders, showing pride, flying flags. SMN: What are your hopes for the next 250 years for this country? Jacob: This train will still be here. Heather: I’m kind of hoping things somewhat stay the same. Yeah, how much better can it get, honestly? I hope that everybody can figure out how to get along. Even if there are differences, just get along.

July 1-7, 2026

A local dad, playing with his daughter at the playground in Bridge Park in Sylva. Smoky Mountain News: How do you feel about the United States’ upcoming 250th birthday? Tang: It’s really cool to think that a country like this has lasted as long as it has. It’s the oldest democracy in the world, or something like that, so it’s quite an achievement. I hope it can last. There’s a lot of things that are dividing the country now, and there’s also problems from within, problems from without. So, let’s see how it goes. SMN: What are your favorite Fourth of July Traditions? Tang: We usually have a barbecue family get-together. We like to see the fireworks when we can go out to the parades. Ever since [my daughter] was born, it’s become a little different.

JACOB DORSEY AND HEATHER LARSON

Enjoying a coffee in downtown Bryson City. The two just bought a home in the area. SMN: How do you feel about the United States’ upcoming 250th birthday? Lonnie: I think it’s absolutely awesome. I think it’s hilarious that the country is going in the way it’s going right now, when your mother and daddy and fathers and brothers all fought for the country to be free, and now look where it’s going. I’m against everything that’s going on, as far as the communists and all these towns and all the crime going on, but I thank God that we got Donald Trump for our president. I thank God the country is going to straighten out through his administration. Of course, somebody else might feel way different, but I have kin folks, and you had kin folks die for this country, so 250 years is a miracle. We are here, and so far, fairly free. Freedom is everything. SMN: What does patriotism look like to you? Lonnie: It means freedom. It means I can do and come and go as I please, and I love the country because our forefathers fought to make it free. And I’m a patriot because I want to be free. I want the world, and I want the country, to be free. I want to do what the country needs me to do. John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country,” and I feel this way. What can I do? Rita: Loving your country, and it’s so sad when they burn the flags, and they tear things up, and people worked, and they tear things up, and that’s not patriotism; that’s not helping your people. SMN: What are your hopes for the next 250 years for this country? Lonnie: My hope is it’s going to continue to get better, but my fears are that in 10 years from now it’s not going to be. That’s what my fears are. They’ve always said that they’ll overtake us from within. We will be turned communist from within, and it’s starting. It’s been going on for a while, but now it’s really big time, and my fears are that we’re going to lose the country 10, 20 years down the line. But my hope is, of course, for it to be like we are standing here talking, sitting here having coffee. I’m afraid that won’t be here 20 years from now. Rita: That the conservative people will stand up, the Christians will stand up to what’s happening, and if they don’t, we won’t be here.

AMERICA 250

BY ALEX PERRI STAFF WRITER head of the country’s 250th birthday, The Smoky Mountain News traveled to cities and towns in our coverage area to interview folks on the street about their thoughts on the nation’s semiquincentennial, Fourth of July traditions and patriotism. The following interviews have been edited for clarity and length.

XYLA AND HARMONY SEAGLE

through a screen and not have anyone know who you really are, and it’s easier for people to disagree or just be against each other. As much as I feel like there’s always this negativity, I feel like there’s more positivity, and that we will, I hope, become more united and grounded into working together. Through social media, we get to see people’s points of view, and we have the freedom to share that kind of information.

LONNIE JONES AND RITA SCHAEFER JONES

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Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, The Smoky Mountain News hit the streets to see what folks thought about the upcoming celebration.

next 250 years? Xyla: I feel like the way it’s going with AI and technology, I think that’s not good for us, personally. I think we’re slowly getting less in touch with just being connected. I mean, you go into a fast-food restaurant, and now you don’t even have to talk to a person to order. If you talk, you go to a screen to order, and they’re slowly eliminating any kind of contact. I don’t know how to put it, but human beings need community to be successful, and I feel like it’s slowly destroying us. So I don’t know. I have no clue where we would be. Who knows? Harmony: Social media and the Internet have made it a lot easier to say your opinion

KEVIN CALLOWAY Standing outside the Franklin County Courthouse, like he does on most Thursdays, to

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STREET, CONTINUED FROM 15 protest what he calls the rise of fascism in the United States. SMN: How do you feel about the United States’ upcoming 250th birthday? Calloway: I think we’re in a very bad way. We are under a corrupt government at the moment. It’s one thing after another that’s coming down, that’s taking something away from the American people. We’re not helping the American people. We’re putting more people in poverty, we’re putting more people under the risk of losing a home if they have one, because they can’t afford medical bills if they have them. I recently had one last year, and 17 days in the hospital cost me a quarter of a million dollars. Most working people in this area can’t afford to get a flat tire. It’ll set you back, and you could possibly lose some things. So, I mean, these are the things that we need to take care of. SMN: What prompted you to come out here today with your sign? Calloway: I try and come out here roughly every Thursday. I missed the last two because I was out of town, but I’m tired of it. My government thinks that I’m a terrorist. My government doesn’t like what I’m doing and wants to throw me in jail for disagreeing with them or questioning them. That is not America. People

are getting run over for doing what I’m doing. People are getting shot for doing what I’m doing, and I’m just making a stand. I don’t know that our elections are going to help us this time around. We’ve got too much money in our elections. We’re spending trillions on wars, and we’re losing the battle at home. SMN: How long have you been coming out here? Calloway: Off and on, three months coming out here, getting a lot of that good Christian love, getting my fair share of abuse. You know, people come by, and they flip me off. I don’t understand what they can argue with about this. They don’t want to have a discussion about the sign. They call me a racist, they call me a traitor, and I ask them what fascism is, and they can’t tell me. I said, “So you’re for fascism, correct?” And they can’t answer that. They just call me an idiot, or tell me that I’m gay, and I need to go home and get a job, or something like that. SMN: What does patriotism look like to you? Calloway: Just showing up, be a good neighbor, take care of your community, let your neighbor love who they want to love, be the person they want to be. If they want pink hair, let them have pink hair. It’s not hurting me. It doesn’t make me afraid of them. I think just be yourself and be unto to others. That’s patriotism. Performative flag wearing, waving, cross

bearing, that’s not patriotism. That is the white sheet in broad daylight, as far as I’m concerned. SMN: What are your hopes for the next 250 years for this country? Calloway: I hope we get rid of this Epstein class, this billionaire class, these people who have all the money and are leaving us out to dry. We’re not going to have anything. They’re going to have their little bunkers. They need us. They’ve got to have us to build. I hope we can learn that we’re all the same. We all got out of bed this morning at some point. We all want to have the best day we could possibly have in front of us, without crazy worries or anything like that. How am I going to get fed today? How am I going to get to work today because my car broke down and I don’t have enough gas? My hope for the next 250 years is that we get back to what they tell me America is supposed to be all along — a neighborly society where we’re good to each other. They keep telling me we’re supposed to be that. I think it’s time we get that.

PAIGE LAWSON Visiting Waynesville with her family from Charleston, South Carolina before she attends Camp Ton-AWandah in Flat Rock. SMN: How do you feel about the United States’ upcoming 250th birthday?

Lawson: I’m really excited. I feel a lot of pride in my country. I’m proud to celebrate 250 years, even though I’ve only been here for 14. I’ll be at camp celebrating with all my friends. SMN: What are your favorite Fourth of July traditions? Lawson: At camp, we have different stations you can go to, and it’s like trivia, and you learn a lot. And then at the end, we have fireworks and bomb pops. SMN What does patriotism look like to you? Lawson: Pride in your country. SMN: What are your hopes for the next 250 years for this country? Lawson: I hope that we can all come together and just fill the country with joy, because I think we need a lot of happiness right now.

VIJAY AND MARTHA MICHAEL Visiting Waynesville from Salisbury, North Carolina. SMN: How do you feel about the United States’ upcoming 250th birthday? Martha: It’s a wonderful milestone and time to remember the nation’s history. Vijay: Me being the first-generation immigrant, it’s absolutely wonderful. SMN: What are your favorite Fourth of July traditions? Vijay: Eating a lot of food. SMN: What does patriotism look like to you? Vijay: I’m very conservative, so my patriotism is very different

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from [Martha’s]. To me, America is the greatest country in the world. I came here with nothing from India in 1969, and here I am. Martha: I echo what he said about it being the greatest place to live, and I haven’t proved it yet, but I’ve gotten information that I could have had an ancestor on the Mayflower. Vijay: She’s also a Daughter of the American Revolution.

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Local couple, enjoying a sunny evening in downtown Waynesville. SMN: How do you feel about the United States’ upcoming 250th birthday? Jim: Very excited, very excited. I mean, we’re very patriotic. I really, really love what the Trump administration is doing to try to lift up the country by hosting events everywhere and really trying to bring patriotism to the forefront and all the things in our country’s history. Cindy: Well, 250 is a landmark, obviously. In 1976, I watched the fireworks down in D.C., so to me, to see this far ahead, where we’re advanced, I mean, it’s incredible. SMN: What are your favorite Fourth of July traditions? Jim: Nothing in particular. We just enjoy watching fireworks and watching our grandkids play with sparklers.

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Martha: The patriotism that I think about is different today than the old days, and I don’t like how the word is used and then portrayed. Vijay: Patriotism seems like almost far-right white conservative, you know, Klan-type people. That’s not patriotism. It’s not Jan. 6. SMN: So, what does it look like to you? Vijay: Honoring the flag. Martha: People come here. Why do they come here, giving up everything? Vijay: They work so hard to get this thing going. SMN: It’s very cool that, [Martha], your family goes back so far and yours, [Vijay], is just beginning here. That’s quite a melding. Martha: Well, that’s just one side of my family. The other side, which no one will speak about, I don’t know anything about, but my grandfather, he was in the KKK. Vijay: It’s all the different, the good, bad and ugly of the United States. SMN: What are your hopes for the next 250 years for this country? Martha: I hope it turns back around, and education, now it’s falling far behind. Other countries are far better ahead. Vijay: And it’s okay to teach things that were wrong here in the United States; there’s no point in hiding. In the next 250 years, I hope we’re doing better than we’re doing now. Martha: You know, 250 years ago, we wouldnt be sitting here together, married 56 years [as an interracial couple].

Cindy: We’re going to try to come down to Main Street and watch the kids do the parade. When our daughter was growing up, we did the little Fourth of July parades in our neighborhood. They were awesome. SMN: What does patriotism look like to you? Jim: Patriotism to me is honoring the flag. Just honoring what our forefathers did, the sacrifices that they made, so that the country could thrive. Self-reliance. Just supporting our troops, supporting the military, supporting the police, you know, that type of stuff. Helping the neighbors. Cindy: Just how remarkable our freedoms and our country are. I mean, it’s amazing. Yeah, we have issues, but I mean, the World Cup being here, and all the Europeans that came in, they’re like, “Wait a minute, we thought America was just full of grouchy people, and rude people and whatever.” No, that is not us. Jim: Somebody had a real good comment, if you want to have a real bad outlook on America, listen to the news. If you want to love America, just get out and travel. Don’t listen to the news because, generally speaking, the truth of it is, in the mainstream media anyways, it’s disheartening to me how negative so many of them try to be. Just try to find the good. Cindy: I think that, actually, patriotism is looking for all the good because there’s a ton around. SMN: What are your hopes for the next 250 years for this country? Jim: My main hope is that this country can continue to be a God-fearing, free democratic republic. That is what our forefathers founded and launched as a free nation. I hope that we can hold to that because there’s a lot of threats right now domestically. Some people that are not socialists, they’re communists, are starting to get a foothold and are getting louder and louder and louder. It’s not here yet, but you’ve got to keep an eye out. I wish they’d put God back into schools and such, because it seems to me, I mean, I’m 71 years old, and when they took God out of the public school system, I think there’s a direct correlation of some of the negative stuff in the downturns and things that have been accepted now. Cindy: I’d say kind of the same thing. Because we’re downtown and it’s Pride, there’s a Pride parade evidently up here. Live your life; enjoy your freedoms in America. No one that I know of does not like you for who you love or whatever. So just enjoy, live your life, work hard, have a good time. Jim: Don’t try to shove it on everybody. I wish we had a Veterans Month honoring veterans, rather than your sexual orientation for a month. Cindy: Which no one really cares [about your sexual orientation]. At least in my world.

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BY LILY LEVIN STAFF WRITER orth Carolina House Republicans on June 24 overrode four vetoes from Gov. Josh Stein, three of which — SB 153, SB 558 and SB 227 — became law under the sponsorship of Republican Representative Kevin Corbin (RMacon). Even as the state still has not passed a budget, leaving school systems in limbo without proper funding, each new policy could have far-reaching impacts on K-12 and higher education, potentially influencing campus-wide administration while restricting instructional content. For the most part, SB 153 is about punitive immigration enforcement. A four-part bill, one of its provisions states that certain agencies, such as the State Highway Patrol, must now enter into 287(g) agreements. The partnership requires full cooperation with federal immigration enforcement while mandating officers to identify the citizenship status of an individual in custody and provide ICE with that determination. The provision of the bill applicable to education takes a page out of the Trump administration playbook by prohibiting UNC-system institutions from enacting “sanctuary” policies that restrict ICE and CBP activity on campus beyond what is federally permitted. Western Carolina University currently provides a framework for interactions with immigration agents, directing faculty and staff to con-

with a wide spectrum of identities and backgrounds. SB 558, coined “Eliminating ‘DEI’ in Public Higher Education” claims that “so-called ‘DEI’ programs promote a worldview that demands people, especially young students, judge others based on their race, sex, or other factors and attack true diversity of thought, stifle opportunity, and stoke division.” The policy makes it illegal for public higher education institutions, including community colleges, to do such things as “engage in or advocate for North Carolina’s General Assembly overrode three of Gov. Stein’s vetoes discriminatory practices”; “endorse on bills that will shape the education system in the future. File photo divisive concepts” and have a paid staff position, maintain an office or, with certain exceptions, offer a prerequisite course with work that “include[s] promoting discriminatory practices or divisive concepts.” Discriminatory practices are defined as, except allowed under federal law, “treating an individual differently solely to advantage or disadvantage that individual as compared to other individuals or groups, excluding an individual from employment … [and] excluding an individual from participation in an educational program or activity.” Divisive concepts include, among other beliefs, the idea that a race or sex is “inherently superior”, “a meritocracy is inherently Educational institutions are the focus of the other two racist or sexist” and “the rule of law does not exist but pieces of legislation. So is DEI — diversity, equity and incluinstead is a series of power relationships and sion — a method of addressing systemic barriers to access, struggles among racial or other groups.” SB 558 from the racial wealth gap to the gender pay gap, through likely affects faculty more than administration, policies and practices that promote participation of folks tact the public safety department and Office of Legal Counsel and Institutional Integrity to ensure the properly authorized release of any requested information. No state public university appears to have declared itself a “sanctuary campus.” However, in Western North Carolina alone, there have been several student-led demonstrations challenging ICE access to campus or advocating for a “sanctuary” designation. Under SB 153, it’s illegal to pursue either option.

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cially since it limits the teaching of certain not only because it generally concerns the things — for example, the racist and sexist classroom, but also because throughout basis of meritocracy — but permits the recent years, higher education has already opposite. adapted to politically motivated legislation. “That can constitute viewpoint discrimiUNC in September 2024 shut down its nation,” he said. Office of Diversity and Inclusion and termiRussell pointed out what he saw as ironic nated 20 employee positions after the Board of Governors discarded a 2019 policy requir- within the legislation. “The language of the law is saying that it ing system schools to hire DEI staff and prohibits compelled speech — it is actually meet diversity-related benchmarks. compelling speech in its own way, because Trump executive order 14173, signed in it’s compelling educators to endorse or avoid January 2025, demanded universities receivthese particular viewpoints that the legislaing federal funding eliminate all DEI proture is now deemed divisive,” he said. grams and requirements. In response, the Several years ago, New Hampshire had its UNC Board of Governors instructed system own version of a divisive concepts law, which institutions to suspend mandatory DEI was struck down in 2024 as an unconstitucourse requirements. tional limitation on instructional content. Indeed, Southwestern Community Russell doesn’t think the state should be College described SB 558 as one of many dictating what professors instruct because policies it adheres to. faculty should have primary responsibility “As with any legislation affecting higher for curriculum, subject matter and methods education, the College reviews new legal of instruction. requirements and continues to ensure its policies and practices comply with applica“Faculty,” he told SMN, “are distinctly ble law. Our focus remains on serving stuqualified to exercise this decision-making dents and fulfilling our mission to the comauthority in our areas of expertise.” munities we serve,” wrote Public Relations A PEN America report in early 2026 Director Tyler Goode in a statement. found that 23 states in the past five years Haywood Community College President have passed laws restricting content taught Shelley White told The Smoky Mountain in higher education. North Carolina joined News that at the time of executive order that group in 2023 with the passage of anti14173, HCC reviewed its policies and pracDEI bills HB 8 and SB 195. tices to ensure comSB 227, pliance. ‘Eliminating “DEI” in “The language of the law is “I think the Public Education’ biggest addition to includes a list of divisaying that it prohibits that for us is going to sive concepts and discompelled speech — it is be that the state criminatory practices board of community that is identical to SB actually compelling speech colleges is being 558. The law prodirected now, I think, hibits public school in its own way, because it’s by this legislation to units from “providing compelling educators to create a policy that instruction on diviwill ensure that that sive concepts,” parendorse or avoid these reporting requiretaking in certain proparticular viewpoints that ment is met for all fessional developcommunity colment-related actions the legislature is now leges,” she added. that “[include] or The reporting [advocate] for divideemed divisive.” requirement is, in sive concepts or dis— Vincent Russell fact, a requirement criminatory pracnot to report. tices” and maintainThe State Board ing an office or holdis directed to “adopt a policy prohibiting ing a position with responsibilities including community colleges from establishing, main- said concepts or practices. taining, or otherwise implementing a process Further in the document, the text clarifies for reporting or investigating offensive or that SB 227 does not limit teaching of “the unwanted speech that is protected by the impartial discussion of controversial aspects First Amendment, including satire or speech of history” or the “impartial discussion of the labeled as microaggression,” the bill reads. historical oppression of a particular group of It’s unclear whether hate speech would be people,” a phrase potentially insinuating that considered part of this policy, as it does not sharing a moral belief of a controversial subspecify what is considered satire or microagject — i.e. “slavery was bad” — could constigression. tute a violation. However, the 14th Amendment states “We believe the law leaves educators with that all legislation must explain what “congenuine questions about how to apply it, duct is [legally] sanctionable and what is since, for example, it restricts instruction on not.” certain concepts while expressly and approAccording to the American Federation of priately preserving the teaching of difficult Teachers, anything less constitutes a due history,” NC Superintendent Mo Green and process violation. State Board of Education Chair Eric Davis WCU American Association of University wrote in a June 25 joint statement. Professors President and Co-Founder Representative Kevin Corbin and Vincent Russell said AAUP is also concerned Western Carolina University did not about the constitutionality of the law, esperespond to a request for comment.

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BY KYLE PERROTTI NEWS EDITOR he Appropriations Committee of the United States House of Representatives has passed its 12 bills for 2027, clearing a major hurdle toward getting the 2027 federal budget enacted. The appropriations committee has 12 total subcommittees. Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents NC-11, encompassing the westernmost part of the state, is a member of that committee and serves as the vice chair of the Subcommittee for National Security, Department of State and Related Programs. Each subcommittee creates their own appropriations bills. Those bills go to the full committee for “markups,” essentially a series of amendments. That’s where the process is now. Next, the full committee will vote on the individual bills before they come before the House. After a House vote, they go to the Senate, which will likely propose changes. The House conferences with the Senate to work out the differences, and then there’s a vote in each chamber to pass the final budget. Edwards said this cycle marks the first time in years that the appropriations committee has passed all 12 subcommittee bills. In the past, he said, failure to do so led either to government shutdowns or an omnibus bill thousands of pages long that “no one had the time to read.” “Usually it would come up immediately before a holiday like Christmas or New Year’s, and then folks would vote and make bad decisions,” the congressman said. Edwards discussed the bill that came out of the Subcommittee for National Security, Department of State and Related Programs, which has a slated allocation of $47.32 billion, down $2.69 billion from this year’s

budget. According to a report from Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (ROklahoma), even with the cuts, the NSRP bill “maintains robust funding for our allies like Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Taiwan and counters adversaries such as the Communist People’s Republican of China, Iran, Cuba and drug cartels — including those designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” The report touts the cost-cutting measures by enhancing efficiency and oversight while eliminating or prohibiting funding for “unauthorized programs” and “Biden-era executive orders on climate, gender, DEI and other extraneous and radical programs that undermine American foreign policy.” Edwards said that the committee cut “fluff and unnecessary spending that did not align with the needs or wishes of the American people.” “We were spending money to buy condoms in third-world countries, for example, and to perform drag shows in third-world countries,” he said. “We were plowing millions of dollars into countries that hate the United States, and so we put together a bill that is much more lean that rewards our allies and makes a statement worldwide that if you’re a friend of the United States, then we’re going to stand with you; if you’re an enemy or a foe of the United States, then we’re not going to.” While many of the subcommittees cut back from last year, one subcommittee is calling for a marked increase. Amid the ongoing hot-and-cold conflict in Iran, the defense budget is slated for over $1 trillion, an increase of $234 billion over last year. Democrats in the Defense Appropriations

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July 1-7, 2026

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Rep. Edwards offers appropriations update from D.C.

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Subcommittee have decried the ballooning budget in the face of cuts to other programs during a time when many Americans are struggling to keep up with cost-of-living increases.

perfect spending bill and thinks there’s more room for cuts to get the budget “back in line,” but he also said that he receives top-secret briefings on the United States military’s defense capabilities relative to that of our adversaries. “I can say with great confidence that we have adversaries that are advancing their technologies at a far greater rate than what we’ve been able to do here in the United States,” he said. “If we want to continue to be our own country and protect our freedom, we’re going to have to make substantially larger investments in our defense,” he added. Edwards said that as a member of the Appropriations Committee, he is able to select some certain projects in the district to fund. He said that in the 12 spending bills that were passed, Western North Carolina will receive over $20 million for such projects. When it comes to Helene relief, Rep. Chuck Edwards is a member of Edwards had praise for Homeland the House Appropriations Committee. Donated photo Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen, whose department oversees FEMA. Mullen took over after former “The American people overwhelmingly Secretary Kristi Noem was fired. During her oppose President Trump’s war with Iran. Instead of listening to their concerns about the tenure, FEMA came under scrutiny as she instituted a policy requiring that any FEMA cost of living and holding President Trump funding request over $100,000 must be peraccountable, this bill doubles down on the sonally signed off by her. President’s war of choice by providing the However, as of now, there isn’t any addiDepartment of Defense with over a trillion tional Helene relief money in any of the approdollars. It’s an unprecedented sum that comes priations bills. at the cost of funding for our nation’s educa“North Carolina will continue to be reimtion, workforce training, and international bursed under the Stafford Act for the elements diplomacy,” Defense Appropriations under FEMA, USDA, Federal Highways, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Betty the other agencies that are tasked with helping McCollum (D-Minnesota) said in a release. us out in a disaster,” Edwards said. Edwards said there’s no such thing as a

Cooper talks Helene, affordability in Asheville

against national corporations with deep pockets, greater buying power and the ability to underbid local businesses, and we’ve spent decades investing in this community.” Weinerth spoke after Blakely and wondered whether her college-age son would be part of the first generation of Americans to be financially worse off than their parents,

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citing the growing cost of living in North Carolina. “Our grocery bill has gone up about $300 a month, our gas $200 a month and our utility bill, our Duke Energy bill has doubled since 2022. So this is unacceptable, and we need to make stuff cost less,” she said. After the event, Cooper spoke with the Smoky Mountain News about how he would address Hurricane Helene recovery efforts, if elected, as the second anniversary of North Carolina’s costliest natural disaster approaches. “We need to continue to fight for federal funds, so that the infrastructure of the area can be built up. When you’re talking about clean water, when you’re talking about reinforced roads, when you’re talking about bridges, many of them private — it’s a real challenge to make sure that Western North Carolina is fully recovered,” Cooper said. Additionally, he said it is important for state leaders to announce that “Western North Carolina is open for business” to generate more tourism spending in the western counties that depend on those dollars, which dropped significantly in the western counties that rely on it post-Helene. Cooper touted his 2023 passing of Medicaid expansion in North Carolina as one of his major achievements in tackling rising health care costs as governor and said Whately’s support for the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill, tariffs and the war in Iran are “adding costs to most everything people buy.”

July 1-7, 2026

Released on Thursday, the Catawba College-YouGov poll shows Cooper leading the former Republican National Committee Chair Whatley, who bears an endorsement from President Donald Trump, 48% to 34%. The last Democrat North Carolinians elected to the U.S. Senate was Kay Hagan in 2008, when Barack Obama turned the state blue. Despite promising polling numbers, Cooper said he knows he has a tough fight ahead of him. “In almost 40 years, we’ve only had two Democratic U.S. Senators, and oftentimes the Democrat would be ahead, ahead, ahead, ahead, until they weren’t,” Cooper said. “So, what we need to do is to energize ourselves to make sure that we win this race.” Cooper’s Asheville stop was one of several campaign events across North Carolina as part of his “Make Stuff Cost Less Tour,” where he has discussed the rising costs of healthcare, groceries and utilities. Over 100 supporters packed into the Buncombe County Democratic Party Headquarters to meet with the candidate and hear his plan to help flip the Senate in the Democrats’ favor. Before Cooper, two Western North Carolina locals, small-business owner Namurah Blakely and working mom Christine Weinerth, took the stage to tell the crowd how the rising cost of living has affected their livelihoods in recent years. “The cost of health care for our employees is up (and it’s up) for our own family,” Blakely said. “Meanwhile, we’re competing

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BY ALEX PERRI STAFF WRITER resh off a new poll showing him with a 14-point lead over Republican Michael Whatley in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race, former Gov. Roy Cooper rallied supporters Friday during a campaign stop in Asheville.

20+ + YEARS

Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

A hope that the enlightened win the day I

This should frighten you To the Editor: What do you think about Trump’s proposed, massive arch which would overshadow Arlington National Cemetery? One D.C. resident commented, “It’s really the tragedy of Trump’s vanity,” explaining that the rows of white headstones at Arlington should be the focal point, not some towering arch glorifying Trump. For me the most obvious (and pathetic) symptom of Trump’s delusional vainglory was his Trump-Jesus post. It clearly revealed how Trump sees himself; but more so, how he wants us to see him. In his feeble attempt to explain away blasphemy, Trump clarified, “It was me being a doctor.” Well, that was both laughable and a lie. The picture spoke for itself. Being one of several whose core job is to

country of 2.5 million people, that little treatise sold more than 100,000 copies and was a kind of literary powder keg. Among my favorite lines, one that I’m sure resounded all the way back to London: “Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.” He was a philosopher with a gift for common language. Of sins, warts and flaws, sure, this country has plenty. Those famous lines “all men are created equal” from the Declaration was a call to arms for the white men of the time. Of course, we now like to count the number of signers of that document who owned slaves (41 of 56) and how women were Editor the property of their husbands at the time and weren’t guaranteed the right to vote until 1919. And, of course, there’s the genocide of Native Americans. No one really knows how many were here prior to European “discovery,” but it’s safe to say millions died from diseases and warfare after we came to North, Central and South America. At this moment in our history, it’s safe to say we are at a crossroads. Of course, other generations likely felt the same. I would argue that from past upheavals, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, we fought through the travails

Scott McLeod

tend to look for the good in things. So, with all the warts staring back at me, I’ll mark the 250th anniversary of this country’s founding and our American Experiment with more than a little pride. I’ve done a bit of travelling, and there are some great places and interesting people out there, but I’ll count myself as fortunate to have been born in the U.S. I’ve always like to take pen to paper, to write my opinions about things. Been doing it since middle school. And I’ve known since that time that in this country, expressing my thoughts about our political system won’t get me killed. Be a smart ass and disagree with a history teacher in school, it might land you in detention or perhaps suspended. Do the same in China and suddenly government agents come to your house and want to know where those ideas are coming from. There are not many places in the world where free speech is as protected as it is here. That singular freedom has shaped my life. In fact, some of the most celebrated writing in the English language came from our forefathers and their political writings. Over on our book page (Page 31), Anne Bevilcacqua writes about the wording in the Declaration of Independence, which is really what we celebrate on this holiday. Marvelous stuff. I’ve always been enamored of the writer Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet “Common Sense” came out six months before the Declaration and really set the stage for it. In a

ended up on the right side of history. Our system helped us do the right thing despite some bad people and some horrible decisions. These are fraught times. A government unable to solve the big or small problems, politicians completely dependent on big money donors, a population confronted with so much information that truth has become more slippery than ever. And a president who stokes division at every turn. As they say, the fish rots from the head down. So now the kind of divisive rhetoric that just a decade ago was unheard of is now the currency of the realm even at all levels of government. I would dare say all three of my children — ages 33, 30, 27 — would have opinions vastly different from mine on this subject, the celebration of this country’s 250th and what it means to be an American. It seems that pride in the best of what this country offers is being overtaken by frustration and anger at its current state of affairs and what that will mean to their lives. Being the glass-half-full person, the optimist, I’ll point to history. We’ve fixed many of the founding flaws, have beaten back tyranny, have come to this point in history after violent upheavals and enlightened ideals. As the experiment continues, I’ll pray that the best and most enlightened ideas will eventually win the day. (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnnews.com.)

LETTERS publicly flatter Trump, Scott Bessent — our Treasury Secretary — announced a commemorative $250 bill featuring (you guessed it) Trump. If the Treasury Department was serious about issuing a commemorative note, careful thought would determine the face-side depiction … maybe an image honoring Americans who actually built our nation, like the entire enslaved population, for example. It is tragic indeed, to watch the physical destruction of Washington as Trump rebuilds the capital in his image, and his image is everywhere. But more tragic is the fact that so many Americans still can’s see who Trump is. No one should forget or dismiss Trump’s post of himself as a Savior, wrapped in white robes, surrounded by adoring white people with eyes lifted in rapture — to him. Trump as Jesus. His post. This should frighten you. Faye Kennedy Whittier

Air the laundry. The Smoky Mountain News encourages readers to express their opinions through letters to the editor or guest columns. All viewpoints are welcome. Send to Scott McLeod at info@smokymountainnews.com or mail to PO Box 629, Waynesville, NC, 28786

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Fourth of July

DILLSBORO • The “4th of July America 250 Veterans Parade” will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 4, on Front Street. The procession will travel down Front Street, beginning at Webster Street and ending at the new Dillsboro Town Hall, just past Depot Street. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit discoverjacksonnc.com/events.

FONTANA VILLAGE • The “Fourth of July at Fontana Village” will be held at 10 p.m. Saturday, July 4. Live music, food, games, parades, contests and more. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit fontanavillage.com/upcoming-events.

in the Smokies

FRANKLIN

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR othing says summer more than the Fourth of July with friends and family. In Western North Carolina, we celebrate Independence Day with gusto. Between majestic fireworks, sizzling hot dogs and hamburgers, cotton candy, games, live music and craft demonstrations, there’s a little bit of everything for any and all. So, grab your lawn chair, cooler, sunglasses, sunscreen, adventurous spirit and enjoy this special day and weekend — it’s all here and yours for the taking.

Lake Junaluska. File photo

of family-friendly fun — from concerts to fireworks to floating wish lanterns. The holiday weekend will be full of activities, as well as time to soak up summer enjoying the lakeside swimming pool, a round of golf or mini golf, a cruise on the Cherokee IV pontoon boat or a canoe, kayak or paddleboard rental. For more information and a full schedule of events and activities, visit lakejunaluska.com/signature-events/independence-day-celebrations.

BRYSON CITY • “Bryson City Freedom Fest” will take place downtown from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, July 4. The 31st annual Bryson City Rotary Club “Firecracker 5k” will kick off at 8 a.m. Everett Street will be closed for arts/crafts vendors, food trucks, restaurants and more. Live music (10 a.m. to 10 p.m.), children’s activities and more. Fireworks will be launched at 10 p.m. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit greatsmokies.com/freedom-fest.

CANTON

Lake J celebrates July 4th • The “Independence Day Celebration” will be held June 28 through July 5 at the Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center. The annual celebration features a weekend

• “July 4th +1” Independence Day celebration will be held on Sunday, July 5, in Sorrells Street Park downtown. Festivities begin at 6 p.m. Food trucks and vendors will be onsite. The Canton Splash Pad will also be open for the kids. Fireworks at dusk. Free and open to the public. For more information, click on visithaywood.com.

CASHIERS

• “Macon County’s America 250 Celebration” will be held July 3-4 at various locations around the community. Athletic events and a free concert on the town square Friday, July 3. The “Patriotic Parade” and other activities will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 4, on Main Street. The Macon County Recreation Park will host activities starting at 4 p.m. Saturday, July 4, with fireworks and live music at 10 p.m. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit franklin-chamber.com/events/macon-countys-america-250-celebration.

• “Fireworks Extravaganza on The Green” will be held from 6:30-10 p.m. Friday, July 3, at The Village Green at the crossroads. The Nick Breedlove photo evening features a festival, food trucks/vendors, live music from Commodore Fox, dancing and more. The highlight will be a fireworks display at dusk. Rain or shine. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit villagegreencashiersnc.com/event/fireworks-extravaganza-on-the-green.

• The “Freedom 250 Festival & Parade” will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 4, at the Historic Beal Center Courthouse Square. The parade begins at 10 a.m. There will also be games and activities for the community. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit claychambernc.com/freedom-festival.

CHEROKEE

HIGHLANDS

• “4th of July Powwow” will be held July 35 at the Old Acquoni Expo Center. Hosted by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the event features a three-day explosion of authentic Indian music, dancing, food and festivities. visitcherokeenc.com/event/20264th-of-july-powwow. • “4th of July Fireworks” will be held at 10 p.m. Saturday, July 4, at the Old Acquoni Expo Center. Join the community for an unforgettable evening of patriotic festivities as vibrant bursts of color dance overhead, illuminating the surrounding mountains. Free and open to the public. visitcherokeenc.com/event/2026-4th-of-julyfireworks.

• “Skyline Summer Fest” will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, July 3, at the Skyline Lodge. Guests of all ages can enjoy festive activities including a bounce house, face painting, balloon artists, lawn games, live entertainment and patriotic crafts throughout the day. The celebration also features an allyou-can-eat summer cookout menu. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit skyline-lodge.com. • “Independence Day Celebration” will be held downtown from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 4. There will be an array of community events throughout the day at the

HAYESVILLE

SEE JULY 4, PAGE 26

HOT PICKS BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

The “An Appalachian Evening” series will welcome The Resonant Rogues at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 4, at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville.

Ode to 250 years of Old Glory, ode to being an eternal optimist

Hosted by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the “4th of July Powwow” will be held July 3-5 at the Old Acquoni Expo Center.

The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce will host the “July 4 Fireworks & Festivities” from 310 p.m. Saturday, July 4, in downtown Sylva.

2 3

“Bryson City Freedom Fest” will take place from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, July 4, in downtown.

4 5

As part of the “Concerts on the Creek” summer music series, rock/reggae act Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, July 3, at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva.

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everyone getting their way, for compromise is the only avenue of resolution, it’s the foundation of our democracy. Shit, I don’t want to get everything I ever wanted when it comes to laws, etc. I don’t. I want to meet somewhere in the middle, so that me and you (and you, too) are protected. Call me naive. Call me an idiot. I don’t care. I aim to extend a handshake to any and all, always willing to sit-down with anyone who wants to take the time to learn and connect with me (and you, too). To that, it irks me so deeply that face-to-face communication is a lost art in the 21st century, which is why one of my subconscious things is to start one (or three) conversations with a stranger every single day. Try it. It works. And it’s vital to our survival. In closing, I’m 41 years old. I’ve traveled more miles than I could ever count or remember. I’ve interviewed thousands of kind folk, from all walks of life and backgrounds, and written just as many stories about said subjects and topics galore. I’ve seen sunsets in South Dakota, Texas and Kentucky that’ll make you cry happy tears, and I’ve swam in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with that same feeling of goosebumps and gratitude. Don’t forget that you’re alive and in the world, in this moment right now. Don’t forget that you’re human. Happy Birthday, America. Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all. To note, in this haphazard economy (and mounting truck repair bills), if you’d like to throw a few pennies into Garret’s coffers to propel his adventures, feel free to make a donation via Venmo (@GarretWoodward-3) or PayPal (@YoBroDobro). If you need the last four digits of his phone number, it’s 04-3-2. Much thanks and sincere appreciation in advance. Any amount offered will keep the truck on the road, gas in the tank, the words in these columns flowing freely, and his simple sanity intact for the time being.

EVENTS

July 1-7, 2026

and someone who travels this wide land within our borders extensively, continually interacting with people, places and things that make up the incredible diversity of opinions, languages, religions and whatnot. We’re a melting pot and we should be proud of that. Oh, and don’t forget, ello from New Harbor, Maine. It’s your neighbor isn’t out to get you, nor is your Tuesday morning and it finally stopped local newspaper/media outlet. raining. Cloudy and a slight breeze from Heck, the other day, I crossed paths by the nearby Atlantic Ocean, which can be seen chance with this wondrous soul from Mongolia from the front porch of my friend’s humble at the Sierra Nevada Brewing taproom in Mills abode here on the coast. I’m up here chipping River, where we became fast friends and talked away at this bluegrass book, and also seeking wildly, happily about the beauty of America. solitude. So, yeah, it’s not lost on me (and never will be) To preface, over the last week or so, I’ve about where I come from and why I choose to driven solo from my apartbe a journalist for this fine ment in Waynesville to publication. Always be curiJacksonville Beach, Florida, ous. Always show compasthen onward to New sion. Ask respectful quesEngland. Some 1,800 miles tions and offer up honest thus far, not to mention all truths. the stop-and-go traffic along Anyhow, as I’ve moseyed Interstate 95 through on up I-95 from The Washington D.C., Baltimore, Sunshine State to Philadelphia, New York City, Vacationland, I’ve taken note New Haven, Portland, etc. of many crazy things. A lot of “And the road goes on forevdichotomies, in truth. Like er,” as they say, eh? seeing religious billboards in As expected on this road the Carolinas alongside ones trip, I did (and continue to for porno shops. States with do) a lot of thinking. harsh laws against marijuana Wandering and pondering, below the Mason-Dixon as per usual. Most of the Line, only to notice legal reflection is normal day-tocannabis stores all over New Trail running in New Hampshire. England. Don’t get me startday stuff. Work and life Garret K. Woodward photo ed on gas prices. stress, whether it be meeting unrelenting deadlines or I think about being stuck simply trying to pay bills and “keep the wolves in traffic while passing through D.C. Thousands at bay,” like my mother says. Existential stress of folks trying to get home. Commercial airlinabout the state of our country, the world, and ers zooming overhead. Smog and honking. the greater universe. You know the drill. Same Trains and tractor-trailers. And yet, my gaze boat, too? I hear yah. Sigh. keeps gravitating to the majestic Washington More so, I’ve been observing America on Monument looming over the city and what that this trek through the windshield of my rusty, structure represents, and then shifting to the musty pickup truck, through my daily run in nearby Pentagon, a flood of memories of when whatever place I may find myself at on any I was a teenager watching Sept. 11 unfold in given day (city, backroads, forest, oceanside), real time on national TV. and through the lens of an eternal optimist Earlier that day, there was also Richmond, (me, always and forever) traversing God’s green Virginia. I found myself strolling through earth in these unknown times of chaos and con- Capitol Square, my head raised and admiring fusion. the enormous George Washington statue, only Well, I guess to begin, I’ve had (and still to pay my respects to the “Women of Virginia” have) very mixed emotions about the upcoming statues a stone’s throw away. At one point, I 250th birthday of our country. I am a proud walked by an abandoned building, which American. I pay my taxes. I support individual looked to be the former location of a restaurant, rights. I believe in democracy and the power a lone plaque on the facade stating: “Site of the each voter has when a ballot is cast. I thank my home of George Wythe, signer of the lucky stars for being born on this soil and being Declaration of Independence.” What would he given many opportunities for a great life. I think of our modern times? I digress. remain. So do you. And I also think it’s our I don’t have the answers to explain today, right to be frustrated and angry at the state of and what tomorrow may bring. I do know that things. it takes a village to raise a good human, that vilFor me, I believe in the pendulum of the lage being this country and that human being cosmic universe, and Newton’s Third Law of me and you (and you, too). We’re all in this Motion: “For every action, there is an equal and together. Nobody is (or should be) an island opposite reaction.” I’m a lifelong history nerd unto themselves. There’s no such thing as

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

JULY 4, CONTINUED FROM 24 arts & entertainment

Town Ball Field. A “Duck Derby” will also take place at 2 p.m. at the Bridge at Mill Creek. Live music by Southside Station from 6-8:30 p.m. at Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park. Fireworks at 9:20 p.m. downtown. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit highlandschamber.org.

Lake Glenville. Jennifer Milciunas Owens photo SUNDAY-THURS S • 11-8 FRI-SAT • 11-9 Open for dine in or carry out

LAKE GLENVILLE Catering is Our Passion! We Can Cater Everything from an Intimate Get-Together to a Large, Formal Gathering & Everything In-Between!

828-452-7837

294 N. Haywood Street

Waynesville

• The 28th annual Friends of Lake Glenville “Fireworks Over The Lake” will be held at 9:30 p.m. Sunday, July 5, as seen from any vantage point on the water. As well, the annual “4th of July Gala Boat Parade” starts at 8 p.m. For more information, visit friendsoflakeglenville.com/events/fireworks.

MAGGIE VALLEY • “Backyard Fourth” will be held from 210 p.m. Saturday, July 4, at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. Gates open at 2 p.m. Bring your blanket, chairs, picnic basket, bubbles, hula hoops, balls and yard games. Fireworks at dusk. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit maggievalleync.gov/events/backyardfourth-independence-day-2026.

MURPHY • The “America 250 Heritage Festival” will be held July 3-4 at Konehete Veterans Park. On Friday, July 3, there will be a special drone show at dusk. The festival itself will run from 4-11 p.m. Saturday, July 4, with fireworks at dusk. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit townofmurphync.com.

ROBBINSVILLE • “Graham County Heritage Festival” will be held July 3-4 at 86 Knight St. A gathering of people, crafts, games, food, live music, artisans and more. There will be numerous community activities onsite.

Smoky Mountain News

July 1-7, 2026

On the street

Maggie Valley Arts & Crafts Show Wine i Port Beer Cigars Champagne Gifts Area’s Best Wine Selection

RETAIL

WINE BAR WIINE NE TA ASTINGS STINGS, DIINNERS NNERS, LIIVE VE MU USIC SIC WAYNE Y SVILLE

Festivities will run 5-10 p.m. Friday, July 3, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 4. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit grahamcountytravel.com.

SYLVA • The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce will host the “July 4 Fireworks & Festivities” from 3-10 p.m. downtown Saturday, July 4. Live music and other family-friendly activities. A performance by Gotcha Groove (classic rock/oldies) will be held from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Bridge Park Pavilion. Bring a chair or blanket. Pets must be on a leash. Food and beverage vendors onsite. The fireworks show will begin at dusk and will be visible from all over downtown. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit discoverjacksonnc.com/event.

WAYNESVILLE • “Stars & Stripes Celebration” will be held downtown from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 4. Restaurants, breweries, shopping, galleries, cafés, children’s patriotic parade, live music and more. Free and open to the public. For more information, click on visithaywood.com.

Waynesville’s ‘Shop, Sip, Stroll’ The monthly “Waynesville First Friday: Shop, Sip, Stroll” will take place downtown from 5-8 p.m. Friday, July 3.

The 35th annube featured at the al Maggie Valley event. Arts & Crafts Show “There really is will be held from 9 something for a.m. to 4 p.m. July everyone, from the 11-12 at the most affordable Maggie Valley handicrafts to the Festival Grounds. more expensive Maggie Valley’s museum quality largest gathering items,” said Teresa of artisans and Smith, promoter of crafters come the event. together to sell Food trucks and Arts and crafts come together in Maggie Valley their handmade July 11-12. File photo beverage vendors treasures. With will also be onsite. over 100 vendors, artisans from all over the The event is free and open to the public. Southeast will be in attendance. Donations appreciated, with proceeds going to Chainsaw art demonstrations and lots of the Haywood County Animal Shelter. Parking is festival food. Seasonal items, yard art, paintfree. ings, photography, pottery, wooden bowls, furFor more information, call 828.926.1686 or niture, jewelry, goat milk soaps and more will visit maggievalley.org.

‘A Celebration of Community’ in Hazelwood

‘Waynesville First Friday’ will be July 3. File photo

Hazelwood Proud will present “A Celebration of Community and History: A Map Project Festival” from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 11, at the Folkmoot Community Center in Waynesville. The festival will feature the largest community-drawn map project in Western North Carolina and aims to encourage families to participate in activities that promote cultural engagement and social interaction. Members of the community and the media are invited to experience a day filled with music, dance, artistic and wellness demonstrations, historical presentations and more. For more information, please visit hazelwoodproud.org or contact Ken Czarnomski at 828.734.2262 or hazelwoodproud@gmail.com.

The downtown merchant corridor transforms into a lively celebration of local art, music and community. Stroll the streets, explore galleries, meet artists, enjoy live music and discover local shops and delicious restaurants. Free and open to the public. For more information, visit facebook.com/waynesvillefirstfriday.

On the table

HCAC presents ‘Threads’

Ready for dinner ‘Under the Stars’?

Celebrating the beauty, embroidery to contempocreativity and versatility of rary pieces inspired by fiber art, “Threads,” the textiles, the exhibition latest exhibition at the highlights texture, patHaywood County Arts tern, craftsmanship and Council, will be on display innovation. Each work through Aug. 3 at HCAC’s demonstrates how simHaywood Handmade Gallery ple materials can be on Main Street in downtown transformed into comWaynesville. pelling artistic expres“Threads” showcases sions. the many ways artists use For more informaA work by Lisa Bradley. fiber, thread and fabric to Donated photo tion, visit create meaningful works of haywoodarts.org or call art. From traditional quilting, weaving and HCAC at 828.452.0593.

‘Cherokee People and the American Revolution’

• “Riverside Artisan Market” will be held 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 11, at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City. Shop local for jewelry, pottery, unique creations and fresh goods from talented artisans and farmers every month (MaySeptember). Free and open to the public. For more information, visit noc.com/events.

• Haywood County Arts Council (Waynesville) will offer a wide range of classes, events and activities for artisans, locals and visitors. HCAC’s Haywood Handmade Gallery is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. 828.452.0593 / haywoodarts.org.

• “Farmers & Artisans Market” will be every Friday morning (May-October) at 117 Island Street in Bryson City. Stop by the old barn along the river for local, homegrown produce, as well as baked goods, jellies/preserves, authentic crafts and more. Picnic tables onsite. There will also be live music. Leashed pets are welcome. This is an outdoor event. Free and open to the public. 828.488.7857.

• Jackson County Green Energy Park (Dillsboro) will be offering a slew of classes, events and activities for artisans, locals and visitors. 828.631.0271 / jcgep.org.

• Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host “ArtWorks” at 1 p.m. every second Thursday of the month. Come create your own masterpiece. The materials for art

• Folkmoot Friendship Center (Waynesville) will host semi-regular artist gatherings and workshops. 828.452.2997 / folkmoot.org.

• Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center (Robbinsville) will host an array of workshops for adults and kids. 828.479.3364 / stecoahvalleycenter.com.

Skyline Lodge in Highlands. Molly Harris photo The events feature renowned chefs from around the Southeast on select dates through the fall: July 7, Aug. 11, Sept. 8 and Oct. 13. Each four-course meal in the series is unique and personal to the guest chef, offering a one-of-a-kind outdoor dining experience. Dinners are $175 per person (including beverage pairings). Reservations required. Guests can also purchase a “season pass” to the series. For more information and/or to make reservations, call 828.526.4008 or visit skyline-lodge.com.

TICKETS:

$10 for community memberr s $7 for senior s • $$5 for students nts Free for children 12 and under der Tickets are available at the door oor or for purchase in advvaance at pcmdc.or mdc.org Series passes available at a discount. count.

• Cataloochee Ranch (Maggie Valley) will host semi-regular culinary events and workshops throughout the week. For a full schedule of upcoming activities, tickets and reservations, visit cataloocheeranch.com/ranch-event. • Balsam Mountain Inn (Balsam) will host “Wind Down Wine Flights” 6 p.m. Thursdays and a special semi-regular wine tasting. 828.283.0145 / thebalsammountaininn.com. • Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will have the wine bar open from 4-8 p.m. Fridays/Saturdays and a special wine tasting at 5 p.m. on Saturdays ($20 per person). There will also be a “Vinter Dinner” with High End Artisan Burgundy winemaker Numa Cornut of Domaine Numa Cornut and founder Jean-Philippe Bourgeois of JP-Bourgeois Importers at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 11 ($125 per person, which includes tax, gratuity, six wines, and food pairings). 828.452.6000 / classicwineseller.com. • “Flights & Bites” will be held at 4 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville and special semi-regular wine dinners. 828.452.0120 / waynesvillewine.com. • “Take A Flight” with four new wines every Friday and Saturday at the Bryson City Wine Market. Select from a gourmet selection of charcuterie to enjoy with your wines. Educational classes and other events are also available. 828.538.0420.

Smoky Mountain News

• “Dillsboro Maker’s Market” will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 4, at 31 Front Street. Held most first Saturdays of the month (April-November). Free and open to the public. jcgep@jacksonnc.org.

works are supplied and participants are welcome to bring ideas and supplies to share with each other. Ages 16 and up. Space limited to 10 participants. Free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 / vroberson@fontanalib.org.

Thursday • July 9 • 6-7:30

July 1-7, 2026

A first-of-its-kind exhibition centering Native voices, perspectives and creativity in response to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the exhibition “Unrelenting: Cherokee People and the American Revolution” is currently being showcased at the Museum of the Cherokee People (MotCP) in Cherokee. On view through Dec. 30, the exhibition features historic objects in conversation with works by Cherokee artists, merging cultural heritage, military history and contemporary art for a nuanced examination of a pivotal moment in Cherokee and American history. As the nation commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the curators of the exhibition aspire to spark conversation about American identity and sovereignty among visitors of all walks of life, sharing new research in the first exhibit about Cherokees in the American Revolution by Cherokee scholars. General admission tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for children ages 6-12 and free for children ages 5 and under. MotCP offers free admission to members of federally recognized tribes and museum members. Student, educator, senior and military rates available. Admission to all changing exhibitions is included in the general admission ticket price. For more information, visit motcp.org.

The popular “Under the Stars, On the Rocks” culinary series is currently underway at the Oak Steakhouse at the Skyline Lodge in Highlands.

Nicola Karesh

arts & entertainment

On the wall

• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Wine pairings with a meal and more. There will also be a special “Carolina Moonshine” train on select dates. 800.872.4681 / gsmr.com.

Tradition July 10. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.

arts & entertainment

On the beat • Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host “Music Bingo Night” 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, The Blue Mountaineers (bluegrass) Thursdays and semi-regular live music on Fridays and Saturdays. All music starts at 5 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.246.9320 / facebook.com/brbeerhub. • Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host “Karaoke Night” 9 p.m. Wednesdays, “Trivia” 7 p.m. Thursdays, “Open Jam” 10 p.m. Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows are located in The Gem downstairs taproom and begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.0350 / boojumbrewing.com.

These events are free, but donations are encouraged. 828.586.2155 / mountainlovers.com/concerts-on-the-creek. • Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center (Franklin) will host “Open Mic” at 6 p.m. every second Friday of the month and Asheville Mountain Boys (bluegrass/classic country) 5 p.m. July 24 ($15 adults, $7.50 kids). 828.369.4080 / coweeschool.org/concert-series. • Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host “Music Bingo with DJ Mox” Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

Smoky Mountain News

July 1-7, 2026

‘An Appalachian Evening’ The “An Appalachian Evening” series will been winning over audiences worldwide with welcome The Resonant Rogues at 7:30 p.m. their signature blend of string band music Saturday, July 4, at the Stecoah Valley Center since 2013. Following their musical inspirain Robbinsville. tions from the The annual sumAppalachian mer concert series Mountains to the offers an ever-changBalkans, through ing schedule of blueParis by way of New grass, folk and oldOrleans, their origitime mountain music nal songs speak to by award-winning the heart with poetic artists — quality lyrics and appeal to entertainment for the the ears with stellar entire family. musicianship and The Resonant Rogues. Cory Marie Podielski photo arrangement. Rich in cultural heritage, the series Tickets are $20 continues to be a favorite with locals and visifor adults and $10 for students grades K-12. tors alike. The concert will be held in the airFor more information and/or to purchase tickconditioned Lynn L. Shields Auditorium. ets, call 828.479.3364 or visit stecoahvalleyAsheville-based The Resonant Rogues have center.com/concerts.

• Breadheads Tiki Shak (Sylva) will host “Tiki Trivia” at 7 p.m. every other Thursday of the month and semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.307.2160 / breadheadstikishak.com. • Cataloochee Ranch (Maggie Valley) will host A. Lee Edwards (Americana/indie) July 1 and Rich Manz Trio (acoustic/oldies) July 8 ($30). All shows begin at 5 p.m. and admission is $25 per person unless otherwise noted. For tickets and reservations, visit cataloocheeranch.com/ranch-event. • Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host Brent LaCasce (jazz piano/vocals) July 3 ($10 cover) and Bob Zullo (guitar/vocals) July 10 ($10 cover). All shows begin at 6 p.m. Reservations highly recommended. The kitchen and wine bar will open at 4 p.m. 828.452.6000 or classicwineseller.com.

• Concerts On The Creek (Sylva) will host Positive Mental Attitude (reggae/rock) July 3, Gotcha Groove (with fireworks) July 4 and Suns Of Stars July 10. All shows are at Bridge Park and begin at 7 p.m. Everyone is encouraged to bring a chair or blanket. 28

828.634.0078 / curraheebrew.com. • Dancing On The Square (Robbinsville) will host The Sundown Band (oldies) July 10 and Kevin Tuck & Tuckaseegee July 17 All events begin at 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. 704.840.8525. • Farm At Old Edwards (Highlands) will host the “Orchard Sessions” with Erick Baker Trio (Americana) July 22. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Admission is $50 per person, with discounts rates available for hotel guests and members. 866.526.8008 / oldedwardshospitality.com. • Folkmoot Friendship Center (Waynesville) will host “World Drum Classes” every Friday at 2:30 p.m. (adults, free) and 4 p.m. (family friendly, all ages, free), “Waynesville Acoustic Guitar Group” 2-4 p.m. every second and fourth Saturday of the month (free) and semi-regular live music monthly. 828.452.2997 / folkmoot.org. • Friday Night Live Concert Series (Highlands) will host Spare Parts (Americana/bluegrass) July 3 and Blackwell

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host “Jazz On The Level” 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 / froglevelbrewing.com. • Great Smoky Mountains Event Park (Bryson City) will host “Singing In The Smokies” with The Inspirations (gospel/soul), The Kingsmen, Troy Burns Family and more July 2-4. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit theinspirationsquartet.com/tour. • Groovin’ on the Green (Cashiers) will host Gotcha Groove July 24. Shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. villagegreencashiersnc.com/concerts. • Happ’s Place (Glenville) will host Kayla McKinney July 2, Doug Ramsay July 3, Stone Echo July 4, Corey Stevenson July 8, Doug Ramsay July 9, Canon Cohen Band July 10 and Rock Holler July 11. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.742.5700 / happsplace.com. • Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host Gladys Knight (R&B/soul) 8 p.m. July 10. For tickets, visit caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee. • High Dive (Highlands) will host DJ Real Bill 9 p.m. Saturdays. 828.526.2200 / highlandsdive.com. • Highlander Mountain House (Highlands) will host “Blues & Brews” with Scott Low 6-9 p.m. Thursdays, Zorki (singer-songwriter) 13 p.m. Saturdays, “Bluegrass Brunch” 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays, the “Salon Series” with Iris Copperman (singer-songwriter) 8:30 p.m. July 23 ($41.84 per person, tax included). Reservations encouraged for all performances. 828.526.2590 / highlandermountainhouse.com. • Highlands Performing Arts Center will host Three American Troubadours (singer-songwriter) 7:30 p.m. July 17. 828.526.9047 / highlandsperformingarts.com. • Highlands Smokehouse (Highlands) will host live music from 1-3 p.m. Sundays. 828.526.3554 / highlandsmokehouse.com. • Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host “Monday Night Trivia” every week, “Open Mic” on Wednesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows and events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.586.9678 / innovation-brewing.com. • Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.226.0262 / innovation-brewing.com. • John C. Campbell Folk School (Brasstown) will host a “Community Jam” 7 p.m. Thursdays at the nearby Crown Restaurant and semi-regular live music on the weekends. folkschool.org. • J.R. Chophouse (Franklin) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.369.3663 / jrchophouse.com. • Las Barricas (Franklin) will host C-Square Band 11 a.m. on the fourth Friday of each month. Free and open to the public. 828.349.4484 / lasbarricasmexicanrestaurant.com. • Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host “Board Game Night” 5 p.m. Mondays, “Music Bingo” 7 p.m. Tuesdays, “Trivia Night” 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, “Open Mic Night” 6:30 p.m. Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 / lazyhikerbrewing.com. • Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host “Music Bingo” 7 p.m. Mondays, “Trivia Night” 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, “Old Time Jam” 6:30 p.m. Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. 828.349.2337 / lazyhikerbrewing.com. • Legends Sports Bar & Grill (Maggie Valley) will host “Open Mic Night” 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Karaoke Thursdays (6 p.m.) and Saturdays (7 p.m.), with live music each Friday (8 p.m.). Free and open to the public. 828.944.0403 / facebook.com/legendssportsgrillmaggievalley. • Macon County Public Library (Franklin) will host The Vagabonds (Americana) at 2 p.m. the first and third Monday and a “Song Circle” open jam from 3-6 p.m. the first Tuesday each month. Free and open to the public. 828.524.3600 or fontanalib.org/franklin. • Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host “Music Bingo” 6 p.m. July 2 (at Big Wesser), Leather Britches (Americana/old-time) 5 p.m. July 3, Michael Corwin (singer-songwriter) 1 p.m. July 4, Beer & Loathing (rock/jam) 5 p.m. July 4, Shane Meade Duo (indie/soul) 2 p.m. July 5, “Music Bingo” 6 p.m. July 9 (at Big Wesser), Asheville Junction (Americana/bluegrass) 5 p.m. July 10, Michael Corwin (singer-songwriter) 1 p.m. July 11, Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs (Americana) 5 p.m. July 11 and Dave Desmelik (singer-songwriter) 2 p.m. July 12. Free and open to the public. 828.785.5082 / noc.com/events/2026-summer-music-series. • Otto Community Center (Otto) will host James Thompson “Music Nights” 4 p.m. first and third Friday of each month. Bring a bev-

SEE ON THE BEAT, PAGE 30

On the stage

A special stage production of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” will be held on select dates and times July 10 through Aug. 2 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

July 1-7, 2026

Welcome to the glamorous French Riviera, where suave con artist Lawrence and small-time swindler Freddy battle it out in a hilariously high-stakes game of deception. Their target? A seemingly naïve heiress with $50,000 (and a heart) up for grabs. Tickets are now available. For more information, call the box office at 828.456.6322 or visit harttheatre.org.

arts & entertainment

‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ at HART

• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host semi-regular stage productions on the weekends. 866.273.4615 / smokymountainarts.com.

• Peacock Performing Arts Center (Hayesville) will host semi-regular stage productions on the weekends. 828.389.ARTS / thepeacocknc.org. • Swain Arts Center (Bryson City) will host semi-regular stage productions on the weekends. 828.488.7843 / swainartscenter.com. • Highlands Performing Arts Center (Highlands) will host a special stage production of “Dancin’ in the Street” on select dates and times through July 12. 828.526.9047 / mountaintheatre.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• Haywood Arts Regional Theatre (Waynesville) will host semi-regular stage productions on the weekends. 828.456.6322 / harttheatre.org.

arts & entertainment

ON THE BEAT, CONTINUED FROM 28 erage and snack of your choice. Free and open to the public. go2ottonc.com. • Peacock Performing Arts Center (Hayesville) will host “Songwriters Showcase #62” July 18. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For tickets, 828.389.ARTS / thepeacocknc.org. • Pickin’ In The Park (Canton) will host Brothers Rathboone with Balsam Mountain Cloggers, Southern Appalachian Cloggers and Green Valley Cloggers 6 p.m. July 3. Free and open to the public. • Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Blue Jazz (rock/soul) July 11. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo in downtown. Free and open to the public. franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html. • Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin) will host “Karaoke” Wednesdays, “Trivia Night” 6:30 p.m. Thursdays, “Open Mic” 6:30 p.m. on certain Fridays and semi-regular live music throughout the week. Free and open to the public. 828.369.6796 / facebook.com/rathskellercoffeebarandpub.

July 1-7, 2026

• Salty Dog’s Seafood & Grill (Maggie Valley) will host “Karaoke with Russell” Mondays, Adi The Monk July 3, Lance Turner July 4, “Music Bingo” July 7, Rene Russell (singersongwriter) July 10 and Bridget Gossett (singer-songwriter) July 11. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.926.9105 / facebook.com/saltydogs2005. • Saturdays On Pine Concert Series (Highlands) will host Southside Station (Americana) July 4 and Blaze The City July 11. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org. • Sauced (Waynesville) will host “Music Bingo” 7 p.m. every other Wednesday (July 1 and July 15) and semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.246.9585 / saucedwnc.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• Scotsman (Waynesville) will host “Open Mic Night” with Bridget Gossett 7 p.m. second Monday each month (6:30 p.m. sign-up),

Dylan Walshe (singer-songwriter) July 2, Celtic Road (Celtic/world) 4 p.m. July 3, Holler & Crow (Celtic/world) 3 p.m. July 5, Tricia Ann (singer-songwriter) July 9, Shane Meade & The Sound (rock/soul) July 11 and Jenny & The Weazels (Celtic/world) 3 p.m. July 12. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 / scotsmanpublic.com. • Slanted Window Tasting Station (Franklin) will host Michael Kitchens (singer-songwriter) 6 p.m. July 3 and Alton Lane Band 3 p.m. July 4. 828.276.9463 / slantedwindow.com.

• Stubborn Bull (Highlands) will host L.C. Branch (singer-songwriter) July 6 and Madison Owenby (singer-songwriter) July 13. All shows begin at 5:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.200.0813 / the-stubborn-bull.com.

‘Concerts on the Creek’ As part of the “Concerts on the Creek” these mountains.” summer music series, popular Jackson County “Concerts on the Creek” are held every rock/reggae act Positive Mental Attitude will hit Friday night from Memorial Day through Labor the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, July 3, at Bridge Day. Everyone is encouraged to bring a chair or Park in downtown Sylva. blanket. These events are free, with donations “Our music encouraged. is full of inspiraDogs must be on tion from these a leash. No mountains. smoking, vaping, Water, mountain coolers or tents. landscapes, Bring a chair or nature, trails. blanket. They all take The series is part in the inspipresented by the ration process Town of Sylva, for us. We are Jackson County Positive Mental Attitude. Garret K. Woodward photo Parks & proud to call Sylva home, and Recreation our sound could not be what it is without this Department and Jackson County Chamber of town,” said PMA guitarist Miller Watson. “It’s Commerce. also really cool to see the similarities in blueFor more information, call the chamber at grass music and reggae and how they took 828.586.2155, visit mountainlovers.com/conshape from the development of African banjo. certs-on-the-creek or go to the “Concerts on It’s also nice to bring a touch of reggae to the Creek” Facebook page.

• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host “Who Loves You: The Music Of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons” (oldies/pop) 7:30 p.m. July 2 and The Lettermen (oldies/pop) 7:30 p.m. July 10. Tickets now available, with seating upgrades offered. 866.273.4615 / smokymountainarts.com. • Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) will host a Community Jam 5:30-7:30 p.m.

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every third Thursday of the month (free) and “An Appalachian Evening” summer music series with The Resonant Rogues (Americana/folk) 7:30 p.m. July 4 and Becky Buller & Ned Luberecki (bluegrass) July 11. 828.479.3364 / stecoahvalleycenter.com.

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• Trailborn (Highlands) will host its “Carolina Concert Series” with local singer-songwriters Melissa McKinney July 2 and Dave Cheatham July 9. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.482.1581 or trailborn.com/highlands. • Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host “Bluegrass Music” with Nitrograss 6 p.m. Wednesdays, “Karaoke” 9:30 p.m. Fridays, “Music Bingo” 7 p.m. Sundays and semi-regular live music on

the weekends. 828.526.8364 / theuglydogpub.com. • Valley Cigar & Wine Company (Waynesville) will host Random Acts Of Music 2 p.m. July 5, Seth & Sara (Americana) 6 p.m. July 10 and Bridget Gossett Duo (rock/blues) 2 p.m. July 12. Free and open to the public. 828.944.0686 / valleycigarandwineco.com. • Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host “Trivia With Tom” Wednesdays, “Music Bingo” Saturdays and Crimson Moon July 3. All shows and events begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.926.7440 / valley-tavern.com. • Vineyard At High Holly (Scaly Mountain) will host Zorki (singer-songwriter) 3 p.m. July 3, David Crisp (singer-songwriter) noon July 4, Shawn Hart (singer-songwriter) 3:30 p.m. July 4, Monica Spears (singer-songwriter) 2 p.m. July 5, Rail Town (Americana) 3 p.m. July 10 and Tim Austin (singer-songwriter) 2 p.m. July 12. Free and open to the public. 828.482.5573 / thevineyardathighholly.com. • Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host “Trivia Night” 7 p.m. Mondays, “Karaoke Night” 8 p.m. Thursdays, with semi-regular DJs and live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9 p.m. 828.456.4750 / facebook.com/waternhole.bar. • Western Carolina Brew & Wine (Highlands) will host Max Watson (singer-songwriter) July 4 and Katie & Ezra (Americana) July 11. All shows begin at 1 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.342.6707 / wcbrewandwine.com. • Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host Modern Mammals July 3, Spare Parts (Americana/bluegrass) July 4, Woolybooger (blues/folk) July 10 and Andy Ferrell (Americana) July 11. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.743.6000 / whitesidebrewing.com. • Yonder Community Market (Franklin) will host “First Friday Classic Country: Jim Austin & Friends” (Americana/country) 6 p.m. each month (July 3, Aug. 7, Sept. 4, Oct. 2) and the “On the Lawn at Yonder” live music series with Ed Snodderly (Americana/folk) 4 p.m. July 5 (admission by donation). Family/dog friendly. 828.200.2169 / eatrealfoodinc.com.

On the shelf

In 1776, one-fifth of the population in the colonies was enslaved. Slavery was legal in each of the thirteen colonies. Most of the signers, including Jefferson, “exhibiting the moral contradiction at the core of America’s founding,” had slaves. Eighty-seven years later, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln reminded the nation of its founding principles when he spoke at the cemetery in Gettysburg, where 7,058 soldiers had died for those principles. We were, he said, a nation “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Isaacson closes his chapter on equality with the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Isaacson reminds us that “the arc did not bend itself. It was, and remains, a constant American struggle to make the phrase ‘all men are created equal’ truly inclusive.” “The concept common ground has

City Lights welcomes Chris Cox Acclaimed writer Chris Cox will present his latest book, “We Didn't Miss a Thing,” in conversation with well-known Hollywood actor/screenwriter Sean Bridgers at 3 p.m. Saturday, July 11, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. A warm, humorous, often poignant chronicle of family life arranged chronologically over a period of nearly 22 years, it begins with a lost travel check for $12.36 that changed the author's life, plunging him into an adventure he could never have imagined. Free and open to the public. For more information, call 828.586.9499 or visit citylightsnc.com.

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to any good community, says Isaacson, and he believes that in these days of wealth accumulation, we have forgotten some of our original principles. In particular, the American Dream depends on equal opportunity for all. We must strive for that, he says. He chastises those today who reject compromise. He looks back to something Franklin often said. “Compromisers many not make great heroes… but they do make great democracies.” Isaacson highlights the moral arc in the life of Franklin, who once owned two slaves. “By the 1760s, they had wandered off, and Franklin made no attempt to prevent that,” and he considered the enslavement of these two men as the greatest mistake of his life. He worked to make amends for that mistake. He helped establish schools for Blacks, spoke out against slavery, and headed an abolition society. He thought education should be structured to provide opportunities for all, and said that service “should indeed be the great aim and end of all learning.” And we should learn from Franklin, says Isaacson. We should question the very purpose of an economy. Yes, it should create growth and wealth, but its chief purpose should be “to create a good “We hold these truths to be self-evident, society.” A good, stable society where individuThat all men are created equal, als can be free and flourish and live That they are endowed by their Creator together in harmony. That requires nurturwith certain unalienable Rights, ing the sense that we that among these are Life, Liberty and share common rights, common grounds, the pursuit of Happiness.” common truths, and common aspirations. —U.S. Declaration of Independence Democracy depends on this,” he says. always been part of humanity’s struggle to It was “the ideal of common ground and create a good society,” writes Isaacson, the American Dream that our founders beginning his move to present-day issues. fought for 250 years ago. And that’s what we The term could refer to actual land, as in the must continue to fight for today so that we grazing lands provided for the commoners can preserve, for ourselves and our posterity, in feudal England, or to services such as the rights and aspirations that we all share, schools, fire and police protection, libraries including to life, liberty and the pursuit of and so forth that a community supports happiness.” I agree with Isaacson about the together. It can also refer to ideas. The secgreatest sentence, written for us at our foundond sentence of the Declaration served that ing, and I am grateful for his call to action. It purpose. “These truths became the creed seems an appropriate way to celebrate our that bound a diverse group of pilgrims and good fortune. immigrants into one nation.” (Anne Bevilacqua is a Haywood County resident who loves books.) The ideal of common ground is essential

July 1-7, 2026

axation without representation was bad enough. But Thomas Paine, in his pamphlet “Common Sense,” helped the American colonists understand that no one had a divine right to rule, not even a king. From that point on, the movement to break from England and King George was unstoppable. Representatives from each colony, who were meeting in Philadelphia to handle the problems with England, decided in June of 1776 to write down the reasons for independence and appointed a committee to do so. Thomas Jefferson, on the committee, was given the task, or the “honor,” as historian Walter Isaacson says, of writing the first draft. As soon as he finished, he sent a copy to Benjamin Franklin, the elder statesman. “Will Doctor Franklin be so good as to peruse it, and suggest such alterations as his more enlarged view of the subject will dictate?” On July 2, the Continental Congress voted for independence, then heard a reading of what Jefferson and the committee had prepared, a document called the Declaration of Independence. “They edited it heavily,” writes Isaacson, who tells the story in “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written” (Simon and Schuster, 2025, 67 pages). “Large sections were eviscerated, most notably the one that criticized the king for perpetuating the slave trade. Jefferson was distraught,” Isaacson writes. But the second sentence remained as composed. Isaacson calls it “the greatest sentence ever crafted by human hand.” We hold these truths to be self-evident, That all men are created equal, That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The sentence was “mellifluous,” says Isaacson. It was grand and revolutionary. “Self-evident” was a word from the Enlightenment, the philosophical movement of the time which championed the power of human reason. It named a certain kind of reason obtained from thought alone, as opposed to observation. It was a strong and stirring word, and Isaacson traces it from Franklin to his friend, Scottish philosopher David Hume. Franklin suggested it in place of Jefferson’s original word “sacred.” But enslaved people, free AfricanAmericans, Native Americans and women might have scoffed at the idea that equality was self-evident. It certainly wasn’t evident to everyone. There was much work to be done. Above all, says Isaacson, the words of the second sentence were aspirational.

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Smoky Mountain News

dren who experienced their first full-day hike in a national park. “We have statistics that say people are spending less and less time outdoors — as little as seven minutes every day,” McClary said. “We’re trying to figure out how to meet people where they are.”

FRIENDS OF THE SMOKIES

The recent rehabilitation of Ramsey Cascades Trail, completed in 2024, was funded by Friends of the Smokies through its Trails Forever program. Jim Matheny/Friends of the Smokies photo

Word from the Smokies BY HOLLY KAYS FOR SMOKIES LIFE

Diverse partners, united efforts hen President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated Great Smoky Mountains National Park in September 1940, all of America was contemplating what the metastasizing international conflict we now know as World War II might mean for the future. In his speech at Newfound Gap, Roosevelt urged all Americans to do their part to preserve the nation and, by extension, the national park. “To conserve our liberties will not be easy,” he said. “The ask will require the united efforts of us all.” Those words have since proven prophetic in a way Roosevelt could not have foreseen. The park’s average visitation has increased 20fold since then — but federal funding has not grown accordingly. In 2024, for example, congressional appropriations worked out to less than $2 per visit recorded that year, while the park carried $259 million worth of deferred maintenance projects. To help meet the need, a variety of organizations work alongside the park to help it achieve its mission, but four dedicated nonprofits serve as the Smokies’ official nonprofit partners. Each came into existence at different times for different reasons, starting with Smokies Life in 1953, Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont in 1969, Friends of the Smokies in 1993 and Discover

Life in America in 1998. “Partners play a vital role in our work at Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” said Superintendent Charles Sellars. “Their support strengthens the visitor experience, advances science and learning, and helps us protect these mountains so they can be enjoyed for generations to come.”

SMOKIES LIFE Founded in 1953, Smokies Life is the oldest of the four partners and the only one created in response to a federal law. Originally called the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Smokies Life was formed as the park’s official cooperating partner. “Cooperating associations exist to fulfill some specific functions, the primary of which is to provide quality educational and retail services inside National Park Service units,” said Smokies Life CEO Jacqueline Harp. The organization’s scope started small, focused on distributing maps and a limited number of publications, but its impact has since multiplied. Rebranding as Smokies Life in 2024, it currently has 29,000 members, operates eight retail stores and a web store, and has given $55 million in cash aid to the park since its creation. As a boutique publisher, Smokies Life has 68 titles currently in print, produces a twice-yearly magazine, a weekly newspaper column, original video content and a podcast. It even has a Grammy nomination to its name.

Still, its core functions remain the same, Harp said: providing quality educational publications and services, using the proceeds to offer cash aid to the park and building a membership program consisting of some of the park’s strongest supporters. “We really think of that community of people as being one of the most engaged constituencies of advocates for the Smokies,” she said.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS INSTITUTE AT TREMONT In 1969, the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont became the park’s second official nonprofit partner, offering immersive, overnight educational experiences on its campus inside the national park. “When we describe the Tremont experience, it’s about cultivating and sparking that curiosity and that sense of discovery,” said Tremont CEO Catey McClary. Like Smokies Life, Tremont has widened its scope over the decades while remaining focused on its core mission. Though it initially worked exclusively with school-age children, today its programming is more diverse. Tremont is growing its engagement with teachers and educators, and adult field programs such as the Southern Appalachian Naturalist Certification Program, the Tremont Writers Conference and residential photography workshops bring the Tremont experience to people of all ages. In 2019, it purchased 194 acres in Townsend, Tennessee, for eventual development as a second campus, which would allow Tremont to reach even more people. School trips are still central to Tremont’s work. In 2025, the organization hosted 3,667 students and teachers, including 1,548 chil-

Friends of the Smokies, the park’s philanthropic partner, was founded following a 1993 hike to the Mount Cammerer Fire Tower. Dismayed to find the tower in disarray, the hikers — all Smokies devotees who had grown up in the region — arranged a meeting with then-Superintendent Randy Pope. Pope had already been researching the possibility of creating a philanthropic organization to support the Smokies, and soon thereafter, Friends of the Smokies was born. “The partnership started hand-in-hand with the community and the National Park Service together recognizing that there just simply wasn’t going to be enough in the federal budget,” said Friends of the Smokies President and CEO Dana Soehn. Since its founding, Friends of the Smokies has raised more than $108 million to support the park. That money comes from multiple sources, the largest of which is the specialty license plate program that generates more than $2 million each year from sales in North Carolina and Tennessee. Special events, individual donations and estate gifts also contribute to the mission. Friends supports projects spanning every division within the park and has established two endowments — Trails Forever and Forever Places — to permanently fund crews dedicated to rehabilitating high-use trails and preserving historic structures. “There is work happening in our national park that just simply could not take place without philanthropic support from our donors and communities,” Soehn said.

DISCOVER LIFE IN AMERICA Though it is the park’s youngest park partner, Discover Life in America is dedicated to studying its oldest residents. Since its creation in 1998, DLiA has recorded more than 1,000 new-to-science species through its signature project, the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, as well as more than 11,000 species never before documented inside the park. “We need to know as much about the things that are protected as we can find out,” said Executive Director Todd Witcher. “If we can’t figure out everything we have in a space, then we can’t do a good job of protecting it.” DLiA works with scientists from all over the world who specialize in distinguishing between similar-looking specimens in understudied or difficult-to-observe species groups like lichen, wasps and fungi. It also enlists the general public in its mission via the iNaturalist app, through which users can upload photos of observations

Import restrictions target screwworm spread Interstate Certificate of Veterinary Inspection shall be valid for no more than seven days from the date of inspection and must include the statement, “All animals listed have been inspected and found free of evidence of NWS infestation.” An entry permit number must be requested at least 48 hours prior to movement. Permit numbers can be requested Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. by emailing NC-ICVI@ncagr.gov. New World Screwworm is not a food safety concern, and the food supply is safe. For more information on the current outbreak, visit screwworm.gov.

they’ve made in the park. So far, 422 newto-park species records have come through the app. “One of the challenges of doing an inventory like this in a place as big and

Over the years, the park’s needs have only grown. For example, Soehn said, when she came to the Smokies as an NPS employee three decades ago, the park had a dedicated crew of six historic structure special-

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the crowd at Newfound Gap during the dedication ceremony for Great Smoky Mountains National Park in September 1940. R. P. White photo, courtesy of GSMNP Archives.

streams respond to disturbance and what recovery looks like across impacted watersheds. She will also discuss The Nature Conservancy’s 10-year plan to improve mountain watersheds across the Southern Appalachians and examine how restoration efforts can strengthen ecological resilience in a changing climate. HBF welcomes all to join the Zahner Conservation Lecture Series, a perfect

The next lecture in the series 2026 Zahner Conservation Lecture Series, taking place on Thursday, July 9, will feature Julie DeMeester, director of Freshwater and Coastal Programs for Julie DeMesser will discuss The Nature resilience of mountain streams Conservancy’s following Helene. Donated photo North Carolina chapter presenting “Southern Appalachian Freshwater Resilience and Recovery PostHurricane Helene.” Mountain streams are among the most dynamic and essential ecosystems in the Southern Appalachians, opportunity to learn, engage and be shaping landscapes, supporting biodiverinspired by the natural world. Lectures sity and providing clean water throughout are held on Thursday evenings at 6 p.m. at the region. In this engaging lecture, Dr. the Highlands Nature Center. Admission DeMeester will explore freshwater is free. To view the full Zahner resilience in the context of Hurricane Conservation Lecture Series schedule, Helene, highlighting how mountain visit highlandsbiological.org/zahner.

ARRIVALS! ARRIV A ! ALS broad and wide and beautiful as the park is it’s hard for any single scientist to do what we would call a good job of covering the park in a sensible way,” Witcher said. “So having a large group of tourists doing it is an amazing outgrowth of what we do.”

FILLING THE GAP

Smoky Mountain News

Whether planning projects, distributing funding or communicating with the public, the partners work closely with the National Park Service to ensure their resources support the agency’s mission as effectively as possible. They also work closely with each other — in myriad, overlapping ways. “It’s like a family,” said Witcher. Friends of the Smokies funds grants that bring scientists to the Smokies for DLiA research. DLiA partners with Tremont to carry out community science projects. Tremont and Smokies Life co-organize the annual Tremont Writers Conference. Smokies Life helps Friends of the Smokies produce the annual report it distributes to its members. The list goes on. “It takes each of us in our own special ways to help take care of the Smokies,” Soehn said.

ists working to preserve its historic buildings. By the time Friends of the Smokies launched its Forever Places program in 2020, only one remained. “We know that the national park has had a lot of challenges throughout the years, but also recently,” McClary said. Funding and staffing challenges during the past couple of years have sharpened the need, with park partners called upon to help in new ways. However, insufficient funding is not a new issue for the national parks. “Our public lands are not adequately funded through congressional appropriations,” Harp said. “They weren’t before, and they still aren’t.” The current landscape has “highlighted the importance of partnerships, more so than ever.” To learn more about the four park partners, visit nps.gov/grsm/getinvolved/partners.htm. (Holly Kays is the lead writer for the 29,000member Smokies Life, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the scientific, historical and interpretive activities of Great Smoky Mountains National Park by providing educational products and services such as this column. Learn more at smokieslife.org or reach the author at hollyk@smokieslife.org.)

July 1-7, 2026

NEW SUM SUMMER MMER

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Due to the detection of New World Screwworm in the United States, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will enforce additional interstate movement health requirements for warm-blooded animals, including livestock, horses, dogs and cats entering North Carolina from states affected by a New World Screwworm Infested Zone. All warm-blooded animals imported into North Carolina from an Infested Zone must have an accredited veterinarian complete the normal importation requirements and comply with the NWS National Continuity of Business Standardized Animal Movement Guidance. The

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The Joyful Botanist BY ADAM BIGELOW

Pretty fly for a white flower ometimes a plant’s name can be as beautiful as the flower itself. And sometimes a beautiful plant and flower gets stuck with a not-so-pretty common name. Take, for instance, the lovely pink and purple blooms and gorgeous leaf shape of the not-so pretty-sounding liverwort (Hepatica spp.). Lousewort (Pedicularis canadensis), sneezeweeds (Helenium spp.) and skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) are three more that come to mind. All of those flowers are beautiful, but

S Ingles Nutrition N Notes written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath M PACK C AS SNACK C If summer is a chance for short or long road trips with your familyy, stopping for snacks can eat into your food budget. Stocking up on snacks before or during your trip at an Ingless Market or packing up snack items that are easy to eat in the car or at a rroadside stop, can help keep your trip economical and give you and your kids betterrforr-you options than fast-food or convenience store items.

July 1-7, 2026

Here are some ideas for foods and beverages to pack up in a cooler or insulated bag: • a bag of mini carrots or sliced carrots • celeryy, mini peppers or cucumber slices/wedges with dip • Apples/apple slices or bananas • Peanut butter crackers • Nuts or peanuts • Meat sticks (jerky) or trout jerky (just check the sodium amount) mount) • Homemade bags of trail mix made with cereal, raisins, and d nuts • cheese sticks or cubes • drinkable yogurt • UHT milk (shelf stable) • 100% fruit juice • water or low calorie/no calorie beverages

Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian

Leah McGrath - Dietitian

Smoky Mountain News

Ingles Markets… caring about your health

Puzzles can be found on page 38 These are only the answers.

you wouldn’t know it from hearing their names. Were I to send you on a hunt for a plant that’s named, oh, I don’t know, fly poison, would you expect to come upon a stunning candle-like cluster of perfect white flowers that fade slowly to light green? How can something so beautiful have a name so ugly as ‘fly poison?’ Even its species name of Amianthium muscitoxicum is a mouthful that still references death to those pesky flying pests. The epithet “muscitoxicum” translates from Latin to mean “kills flies.” And it does. This plant called fly poison was used to make a deadly trap for flies and other pesky critters. While it is not a carnivorous plant that captures and eats the flies itself, like a pitcher plant (Sarracenia spp.) or sundew (Drosera spp.), the roots of fly poison were

crushed and combined with sugar to make an attractive and effective paste that would lure flies to their doom. A first glance at this beautiful plant would never give away such a sinister potential. It turns out that fly poison is toxic to humans and can be fatal if ingested, even a little bit. So please don’t. And be careful with this plant around livestock and pets, as it can cause symptoms that lead an animal to becoming clumsy and have trouble breathing. This could lead to death of the animal, so please be aware. These symptoms in livestock, combined with the plants’ blade-like leaves, leads to the not-so-common name of stagger-grass. Now that we have its dangers and risks out of the way, we can go back to celebrating the pure beauty that is fly poison. And it is beautiful. Blooming in early summer, these dense flower heads can stand about a foot-and-a-half tall, above leaves that look like a clump of grass. Grasses do not have showy flowers like fly poison does, however. Like most flowers borne in a spike or raceme, their blooms open from the bottom up. Preferring to be cross-pollinated, they are hoping to get some pollen from another individual of the same species, enhancing and strengthening the genetics of the resulting seed. Eventually, all of the flowers will be open and receptive. Even so, this is not self-fertile and requires cross pollination. Once the individual flowers have been pollinated, they begin to turn green, sometimes expressing a purple tinge. This acts in part as a signal to the pollinating insects that there is no more nectar and to spend their energy elsewhere. It also makes the fully blooming raceme even more beautiful with the gradual color change spreading from the bottom up, over the length to the bloom time. Fly poison lives alone in its genus, as there is only one species with the genus name Amianthium. The botanical term for this is monotypic, meaning “one type.” But it does not live alone in the woods, sometimes forming large stands mixed in with sedges, grasses and other herbaceous plants under a canopy of mixed hardwood trees. Look for fly poison blooming now on moist slopes in the shade of the tree canopy. Sit for a while and see the numerous beetles that climb the stalk to pollinate the flower. But do not under any circumstances feed this plant to the flies. Or to each other, for that matter. (The Joyful Botanist leads weekly wildflower walks most Fridays and offers consultations and private group tours through Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions. bigelownc@gmail.com.)

Tips for a safe Fourth of July in the Smokies As America celebrates its 250th birthday this July 4, Great Smoky Mountains National Park anticipates increased visitation for the holiday weekend. Anyone planning on celebrating America’s 250th anniversary in the Smokies should prepare for warm weather, increased traffic and busy parking lots. Plan ahead and follow these four tips for a fun and safe Fourth of July weekend: 1. Prepare for a warm weekend The park usually reaches the high 80s — or higher — this time of the year with high humidity. Whether you’re picnicing, hiking or taking a scenic drive, plan for high temperatures. Take breaks often in the shade, wear sun protection and bring plenty of water. Drink water frequently and eat salty snacks to stay hydrated and fueled. Dress appropriately for the weather and wear sun protection. Hike safely by wearing shoes with traction, planning your hike and bringing the 10 essentials. Stay with your group, as cell service is limited in the park. Your risk of heat-related illness increases with high humidity, high elevation and strenuous activity. Knowing the warning signs and acting early can prevent serious heat illness. 2. Travel safely through the Smokies Roads throughout the park will likely be congested. Drive cautiously, always wear your seatbelt and follow posted speed limits. Expect delays in popular areas like

Feeding a bear, leaving food out, littering or Kuwohi and Cades Cove, and allow extra approaching a bear too closely can contravel time. tribute to a bear’s death. Park in designated spaces only. Park 4. Leave fireworks at home rangers are responding to an increase in Watching fireworks is a favorite illegally parked vehicles. Vehicles pulled in Independence Day tradition, but fireworks the woods, parked on road shoulders or are strictly prohibited in Great Smoky parked partially in the roadway can block emergency access and put visitors at The Great Smoky Mountains risk. National Park is expected to be Parking tags are busy over the holiday weekend. not required July 3Donated photo 5, but parking only in designated parking spaces is still required. The park may ticket or tow vehicles parked illegally if they are damaging resources or creating unsafe conditions. 3. Be bear aware Bears are active during the summer Mountains National Park. Fireworks pose a months. Whether you’re camping, picnickserious fire risk in the Smokies and can dising or hiking, store all food and scented turb wildlife. Instead, enjoy the red cardiitems in a locked, hard-sided vehicle with nals, white mountain laurel flowers and windows rolled up. Never leave backpacks blue pipevine swallowtail butterflies of the or coolers unattended. Pack out your trash mountains. until you reach a bear-resistant dumpster. For more information to plan your visit, Visitors play a crucial role in their own please visit www.nps.gov/grsm. safety and the well-being of our black bears.

Wildlife agency steps up July 4 boat patrols Operation Dry Water is a national campaign developed through the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and the U.S. Coast Guard to reduce impaired boating incidents yearround. The campaign includes heightened enforcement on the water during the busy July 4 holiday. An increased public presence on the water often leads to an increase in boating incidents and fatalities. Alcohol use is the leading known contributing factor in recreational boater deaths. It is unlawful to operate a recreational vessel with an alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, or while being appreciably impaired by alcohol, drugs or other impairing substances. During last year’s campaign, NCWRC deployed 153 law enforcement officers and removed 43 people from the water who were boating while impaired. So far this year, 62 boating incidents have occurred in North Carolina, nine of which were fatal. Last year in North Carolina, boating incidents resulted in 26 fatalities. NCWRC law enforcement reminds boaters to always operate vessels sober and for boaters to wear a life jacket when on or around the water. Learn more at NCWRC’s boating safety webpage at ncwildlife.gov.

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