March 27, 2008 issue

Top News Stories

Heather Pastusic (foreground), owner of A Cut Above Garden Shop in Foscoe, works in her greenhouse with Aaron Smith and his mother Pam Smith, preparing for the business's opening on MOnday, March 31. With this week's warm weather, High Country gardeners are eager to plunge their trowels into the dirt and get some flowers growing again, and garden centers and nurseries like A Cut Above will be ready.
Photo by Ken Ketchie

Boone Council Schedules Public Hearing on Mixed Beverages for April 24

The council agreed to a public hearing on Thursday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. in the commissioners’ boardroom in the Watauga County Administration Building. After hearing input on the issue, the council will decide whether to request a referendum. Town Attorney Sam Furgiuele informed the council members that they cannot schedule the date of the referendum if they request a ballot initiative. The Board of Elections sets the date. The last time town residents voted on allowing mixed beverages in Boone was in the mid-1990s. (Full Story)

• The Price and the Faces of Progress: Wade Coffey, Resident
• Call to Horticultural Growers
• Fifth Annual Take Back the Night March and Speakout April 1
• Attorney General Identifies Top 10 Consumer Complaints in North Carolina
• New Blowing Rock 21,000-Square-Foot Fire Department Nears Completion
• Blowing Rock Could Receive $300,000 to Help Alleviate Water Woes
• Town of Boone Begins Improvements at Horn in the West
• Storie Street Grille Wins Inaugural Girl Scout Cookie Dessert Tasting
• April at Grandfather Mountain Brings Dollar Days To High Country Residents
• Banff Mountain Film Festival Comes to Boone April 11 to 12
• Act! Speak! Build! Wek Kickoff Concert March 31
• Win Cash—Come Up with a Bumper Sticker Slogan

For Daily News Updates Click Here www.HighCountryReport.com

The View Stories

Winter's Endgame

Meltdown Games at Appalachian Ski Mountain Saturday and Sunday
The great late-season conditions come just in time for Appalachian Ski Mountain’s annual Meltdown Games, scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, March 29 and 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. both days. The games regularly attract more than 900 people to the slopes on Appalachian’s closing weekend every year, and all the events are free with the purchase of a lift ticket.  (Full Story)

Relay For Life 2008 Team Fundraisers - CLICK HERE

• Area Restaurants Gear Up for 3rd Annual Celebrity Serve April 8
• Performing Arts Series Presents Cat on a Hot Tin Roof April 10
• Free Entertainment, Food at Diversity Celebration April 8
• High Country Local Musician Spotlight: Chuck Wilkerson
• United Sport: Second Annual People of the Planet Soccer Tournament April 6
• Authors of Creative Nonfiction, Poetry Close Spring Visiting Writers Series
• A Capella Celtic Duo at St. Mary of the Hills April 3 in Blowing Rock
• A Wee Bit of Scotland: Award-Winning Duo Performs in Ashe April 11
• Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast April 5
• WJ Lions Club Presents Doc Watson, Leon Jacobs April 12
• Showers of Art on April 4
• Blue Ridge Food & Wine Festival Organizers Looking for Festival Volunteers
• A Charitable Feast: Ninth Annual Salute to the High Country Chefs April 12
• Strawberry Hill Fiddlers Offer Workshop, Concert April 13
• Page Brothers Play Star Studded Birthday Show at Canyons April 5
• Asheville's Dehlia Low Makes Old Music Sound New Again
• Cellist and Pianist Guest Recital April 3
• Watauga County Students Win Music Honors
  

Shelter Stories

Get Your Garden Growing

Planning for a Dry Gardening Season
If you haven’t already, now’s the time to start thinking about your home gardens. And don’t let forecasts for an extended drought scare you away from planting—nature provides plenty of plants and vegetables that can tolerate dry conditions, and we have several tips to help you conserve water. (Full Story)

• Business Spotlight: Gems by Gemini
• Vanishing Hemlock Documentary Filmmakes Visit Banner Elk's Hemlock Hill
• Cellulosic Ethanol - The Next Big Fuel?
• Extreme Mountain Cowboy Race
• Financial Peace University Classes Begin April 3
• Grandfather Home’s Foster Parent Retention Rates Surpass the Norm
• Historic Photographs Needed for Watauga County Book
• Holston Camp Hosts Open House for Community April 26
• RAM Now Taking Applications for Summer 2008 Work Projects
• Huntington’s Disease Fundraiser April 19
• Eleven Teachers Win Price Deverick Scholarships
• Inaugural Cove Creek Trout Fishing Tournament April 5
• New Membership Classification Available at Jefferson Landing
• Chalk Up Another Big Win for Blowing Rock: Visitor Center’s Ken Cham Wins NCTIA Silver Service Award
  
  
  

Shelter Business Spotlights of 2007

Story by Sam Calhoun
The High Country—or any community for that matter—is defined by its local business people. Whether born and raised here or from out of town, these entrepreneurial spirits believe in the area so much that they have decided to meld, share and align their business passions with the everyday goings-on of the region.  (All Spotlights in 2007)

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