Almost a year after Hurricane Helene disrupted businesses and livelihoods in Western North Carolina, local artisans are finding reunion, community and recovery at the NC Mountain State Fair’s Heritage Circle.
“When you come to the fair it’s not just about rides and cotton candy, it’s a tradition that their parents and grandparents had and a lot of us still continue to do,” said Brenda Anders, team lead of the Dogwood Crafters co-op, the organization hosting the Heritage Circle.
The Dogwood Crafters cooperative is a nonprofit organization based in Dillsboro showcasing mountain arts, crafts and gifts by regional artisans as well as hosting classes and events to honor Appalachian craft traditions.
According to Anders, Dogwood Crafters organizes the local artisans every year, for the past 30 years, to create the Heritage Circle exhibit at the NC Mountain State Fair.
“The quilters, they’re letting the children sew with the sewing machine and make quilt squares, some of them have never even seen a sewing machine, and last year we had someone doing ironing, some of the children had never seen an iron,” said Anders. “It’s to educate the young people and to bring back memories for the older people”
While the Heritage Craft Circle is focused on preserving traditional crafts for both new and older generations, other artisans worry those traditions may be fading.
“All of this is native Appalachian artisan crafters, and I feel like we’re losing that,” said soap maker and Asheville native Angela Pressley. “You could ask any one of us, we’d say we’re just trying to pass it on to the next young person, the next generation.”
She said that sense of heritage is exactly what motivates other local makers to keep showing up year after year. Even as Pressley works to preserve Appalachian craft, her passion didn’t come without struggle.
Pressley’s business, Taylor Farms, attended the Mountain State Fair last year in 2024. Twelve days after it closed, Hurricane Helene devastated Asheville and the surrounding area – she had to rebuild her own business with a major setback.
“I actually had a tree come in through my roof, so I had to move back in with my parents as an adult for about eight months,” said Pressley. “I didn’t stop soap making, but the fair, this time last year, was the last big event that I worked.”
Luckily, her business was able to get back on its feet after the unexpected hiatus. According to Pressley, her and other local artisans at the Mountain State Fair gain a significant amount of recognition and revenue this time of the year from fairgoers.
“This fair we do really well, the whole of Heritage crafters. People will come to shop,” Pressley said.
Other businesses in Western North Carolina have also seen Helene’s impact.
According to a study by the NC Department of Commerce, lodging revenue has declined by 21% in Buncombe county alone since the hurricane, and passenger traffic at the Asheville Regional Airport has gone down 6% since June, 2024.
“Living in Cherokee, it’s a tourist destination. I think Helene has two things that happened at the same time, Helene and a new government. I don’t know if it’s the economy or Helene, but I feel like tourism is down,” said Frank Dunn, a local woodcarver and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee.
Despite the slowdown, Dunn said he and other artists are working to draw visitors back to the region.
The Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual Co-op – of which Dunn is a member – was at the fair to bring awareness and education to tourists about Cherokee, he said, and invite them to come visit.
“A lot of people are choosing not to come to the mountains because they see those images (of Hurricane Helene) and think ‘that’s the mountains,’ and it’s not. It’s very vibrant,” Dunn said.
According to Dunn, travelers and tourists have been so focused on the tragedy of Hurricane Helene that very few of them have taken the time to appreciate the beauty that remains and has been rebuilt.
“I’ve been a wood carver for about three years. I learned from Cherokee Paul Hornbuckle and always wanted to carve. With Helene, this (the piece of wood he was carving) is butternut.” said Dunn. “It took Helene to take these trees down in order for me to do this.”
Dunn said his wife had found people on Facebook selling butternut and cherrywood, Dunn’s mediums of choice, after the storm had taken down a few of the cherished trees.
“A whole tree had come down, so for me there’s bad obviously in Helene, but with bad there’s good. I feel very blessed,” he said.
While the storm gave him the raw materials to keep carving, Dunn said it’s the other artists in the Heritage Craft Circle who fuel his creativity.
“As an artist, I’m looking and being inspired. It inspires me to kind of try something different in my medium, which is wood,” he said.
According to Dunn, the inspiration connects to something deeper – the history reflected in each craft and the importance of creativity and art in our busy modern lives.
“In Cherokee, Native American culture, art tells stories, it tells history. It’s important for people to come and learn about their culture and learn about other cultures,” said Dunn. “Art is embedded in who we are, it’s in our clothes, it’s in our design, it’s in everything we buy, and so it’s an important part of who we are.”
