By Nick Breedlove • Guest Columnist

On May 6-12 we celebrate National Tourism Week, and this year’s theme from the U.S. Travel Association is “Then and Now.” 

In my role as Director of the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority, my goal is to create awareness about what a special place this area is and to inspire others to travel here and spend a night, or two or three. 

The proud communities that make up Western North Carolina were once mountain towns that played host to several successful blue-collar industries. We’re talking about logging, furniture, paper products, auto parts, beverages, textiles, and so on. The country needed things, and needed them fast, and folks here made those products with their bare hands.

These companies found a crucial, much-needed balance alongside the serene beauty and endless natural resources of our forests, rivers and wildlife.

It was déjà vu all over again in Maggie Valley, where the Board of Aldermen once again passed the controversial Brunch Bill ordinance by a vote of 3-2, just like it was on Dec. 11.

With the arrival of 2018, the time to submit applications for 1% partnership funding for July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019, through the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority is right around the corner.

Cherokee inched closer to holding a referendum vote asking how widely available alcohol should be on tribal land with a vote during December’s Tribal Council meeting, but exactly what the implications of such a referendum might be is still unclear.

For all of its bluster and bikers and bling in the summertime, Maggie Valley can be one sleepy little town in the winter.

Traditionally, many businesses in the tiny settlement close during the off-season, a habit no doubt acquired during the heyday of Ghost Town in the Sky, the mountaintop amusement park that since 1965 closed every winter as well, until it closed for good a few years ago.

Balsam Range will be beefing up its annual Art of Music Festival next year thanks to a $35,000 grant from the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority.

After receiving recommendations from the 1 percent subcommittees, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority has made final decisions on which projects will receive grant funding.

After leading the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority through what will likely become four of the most formative years in the organization’s history, Robert Jumper’s term on the board has ended.

Based on recommendations from a consultant, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority voted to change the makeup of the 1 percent funding subcommittees in Maggie Valley and Waynesville.