Avery County

But by the numbers, you can certainly see the level of impact that we make.

Please keep in mind this is not about just Watauga County, just Avery County.

If you look in our parking lot and walk around and look at the license plates, you begin to realize how regional we really are.

And I'll give you an example of that.

I was up in Marshall last week, you know, looking at some of that storm damage and everywhere else.

And, you know, there was Yancey County, Mitchell County, Avery County got it so badly, McDowell County.

um to me um you know when i think about that storm and think about the response to the storm um you know everybody just tough times create tough people sure and uh and and everybody came together And we all worked side by side, and nobody cared about politics anymore.

Yeah, we didn't know what your stripes were.

The 49th Annual Woolly Worm Festival, October 17th and 18th in downtown Banner Elk, another fall festival here in the high country with a big heart.

All net proceeds from this event are redistributed to community schools and children's programs and are used to promote businesses in Avery County.

Victoria Bowman, my counterpart and friend at the Avery County Chamber of Commerce, explains the sensation of a woolly worm race.

oh that's a wonderful question

i've never been asked that i've done so much media nobody's ever asked that um okay so i think it's actually equal parts like excitement and then dread slash embarrassment because you know right away right like if you picked a gunner like he's going there's no like middle ground to these guys it is an all or nothing kind of vibe So honestly, you know, if you're winning pretty quickly because some of these guys just like take off and then some are just, just sit there and kind of like mock you, which feels great.

I mean, with you guys, with Ashe County, with, I see it down in Mitchell and Yancey, we tap into Eastern Tennessee.

So it really is not just a come and see banner elk play.

It's a come and experience Avery County, come and experience the high country, because we're talking about everybody.

Some members of the public opposed the board's decision to hire Brinkman in January, citing his work history.

According to reporting from the Avery Journal Times, in 2024, Brighman accepted a $300,000 buyout from the Board of Education in Avery County, North Carolina, to terminate his contract as superintendent.

Prior to that, Brighman also resigned as superintendent of Decatur City Schools in Alabama in 2017, 10 months into his contract, according to Fox 54.

And he was released from his position as superintendent of Lawrence County Schools in Georgia in 2019, according to WMAZ.

Some people, including accounts claiming to be residents of Avery County, posted concerns about Brigman in Kodiak Facebook groups.

Still, the local school board voted unanimously to hire Brigman during a special session on January 23rd.

In a Facebook post later that week, board president Kerry Irons said that they chose to focus on Brigman's letters of reference, interviews, and background checks instead of, quote, negativity from social media, end quote.

So I was just thinking here, we certainly, we do have a lot of work to do.

Living in Avery County, I see a lot of the damage still left over.

Luckily, things are slowly getting done.

I know we still have temporary bridges in McDowell County on major highways that really need addressed.

And to have the little kids around the high school kind of kept a lot of the high schoolers' behavior in check, right? Because they knew they had to be role models.

But anyway, I think that there's some things we can do.

I know in Avery County, a lot of the elementary schools offer food through the summer.

We could expand our summer programs to involve child care.

Then it led to clothes going to another roasting company out of Silva, whole tractor trailer.

Then it led to... thousands of dehumidifiers and avery county and lots of free coffee for people and you know we were of the nature of like you don't you don't need any money i mean if you want to help us back some come drink a cup and it was still unsafe it wasn't until we got the wall jacked up that the roastery was able to incorporate people Because we had giant potholes everywhere.

Not even potholes.

It was more like a

And they were feeding people three hots a day.

I mean, they were just making sure there was food available because they were so close to where that really nasty Swannanoa flooding was.

And we were operating out of Minneapolis, which is up in Avery County.

They're a very forgotten, tiny community on the Toe River where it just...

...

No, it's also known as Dog Town, and it's up on the Toe River in Avery County, and we were just so blessed to be able to come help that community and-

They were hit so hard, it's pitiful.

And they were forgotten too.

He's the keeper of the knowledge of the mountains.

He's one of the smartest people ever.

And Mike will never see this, 'cause he does not do social media, so if you happen to be in Avery County, just go hug Mike on our behalf, 'cause we love Mike.

But Mike has talked multiple times about the shortage of surveyors and why we still need them, and he's having a hard time finding people that wanna do the work.