Brooke Randle

2 weeks ago | mountainx.com | Thomas Calder |Kay West |Gina Smith |Brooke Randle

Marshall Magic: Downtown prepares to reopen Volume / Issue April 30, 2025 Cover Design Credit: Scott Southwick Cover Photography Credit: Caleb Johnson In Marshall, businesses up and down Main Street are scrambling to open in time for Marshall Magic Days, a downtown festival that organizers are billing as an “open house” showcasing the area’s recovery progress. The multiday happening runs Thursday-Sunday, May 1-4....

2 weeks ago | mountainx.com | Brooke Randle

Hundreds turn out to I-26 Connector meeting DIVIDED SKYLINE: Roughly 375 residents attended a drop-in meeting at the Renaissance Asheville Downtown Hotel April 24, where the N.C. Department of Transportation presented plans for the northern section of the Interstate 26 Connector project. The updated plans now include an overpass that will cross Patton Avenue, a change that has drawn criticism from hundreds of community members.

2 weeks ago | mountainx.com | Brooke Randle

Damaged homes, canceled bookings and visitor hesitancy has shaken the once-roaring short-term rental (STR) market in Asheville and throughout Western North Carolina since Tropical Storm Helene ravaged the area in late September. Tyler Coon, CEO and founder of Savvy Realty, which focuses exclusively on short-term rentals for both buyers and sellers, remembers watching the slow but meaningful impact on the local STR inventory in the weeks and months following the storm.

3 weeks ago | mountainx.com | Brooke Randle

Tucked within the picturesque foothills of Delight, a rural area north of Shelby, lies Beam Family Farm, a farm 150 years in the making. Owner Luke Beam, a seventh-generation cattle farmer, and his wife, Kathy, once lived in the same house that Beam’s great-great-grandfather built in 1870. “My parents were full time on the farm, my mom looking after the baby calves and being in charge of the books and my dad taking care of most everything else.

1 month ago | mountainx.com | Brooke Randle

Tourism survey shows shift in residents’ attitudes VISITORS WELCOME: Ninety-four percent of respondents believe visitors help supportthe number and variety of independent businesses in the community, according to the survey results. Photo by Brooke Randle After Tropical Storm Helene essentially slammed the door to visitors in the fall, some residents acknowledged that tourism isn’t so bad after all, according to a recent survey.