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Sugar Mountain Ski Resort Opened on Tuesday for the Winter Season with a Bang

November 13, 2025 Sugar Mountain Ski Resort opened on Tuesday, November 11 for the 2025-26 winter season after the winter blast that blew into the High Country beginning on Sunday evening. The weather certainly was a shock for most as the quick change from the pleasant fall temperatures to a snowmaking opportunity was the signal for the Sugar Mountain Snowmaking crew to get to work. But this is not an unusual early opening for the ambitious Southern ski area. Other early openings occurred November 11, 2018, and November 9, 2019. And as recently as 2012, Sugar Mountain Resort dropped the ropes on Halloween

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LETTER: Concerns over school cancellations and remote learning

November 11, 2025 Boone, NC – November 11, 2025 -While I fully understand that student safety must always come first, it increasingly appears that the district is relying on the availability of remote learning as justification for closing schools, rather than using it only when truly necessary.

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Winter Weather Advisory until 7am on Tuesday

Provided by: National Weather Service WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 AM EST TUESDAY Mixed precipitation is expected tonight. Periods of snow expected Monday and Monday night. A light glaze of ice possibly Sunday night. Total snow accumulations up to 3 inches through Monday night, with higher amounts along the mountain tops. Winds may be gusting as high as 45 mph. The advisory is for Ashe and Watauga Counties. Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact both the morning and evening commutes.

Announcing FloydFest 26~Daydream, July 22-26, 2026; Tedeschi Trucks Band, My Morning Jacket, Stephen Wilson Jr., Lukas Nelson to Headline – Tickets on Sale Now with ‘Early-Bird’ Pricing

November 6, 2025 CHECK, VA – November 6, 2025 — Never-before-offered, limited-time ‘Early-Bird’ ticket pricing, paired with arguably the strongest initial lineup in the festival’s two-decade-plus history, top Blue Cow Arts Foundation & Across-the-Way Production’s Nov. 6 announcement of FloydFest 26~Daydream, the latest annual offering of the Southeast’s premier, award-winning, summer outdoor music festival, taking place Wednesday to Sunday, July 22 to 26, 2026, at its home, FestivalPark, located at 5826 Floyd Highway North in Check, Va. Tickets are on sale now on the completely redesigned FloydFest.com.

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“Black Phone 2”

By Bob Garver             How is it that Halloween of 2025 couldn’t give us a better horror movie than “Black Phone 2”? It’s not that I’m shocked that a Halloween horror movie is a disappointment. I’m just shocked that we got such a disappointing movie this year. 2025 has been such a banner year for horror thus far. “Sinners,” “Weapons,” “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” and “The Conjuring: Last Rites” were all blockbusters. There’s serious Oscar talk around those first two films, the latter two are the best box office performers of their respective franchises. We should have gotten a film that could stand alongside those giants for Halloween. Instead, we got “Black Phone 2,” a movie that has barely scrounged up an estimated $60 million at the domestic box office in its three weekends of release. With Halloween over, the film is not only highly unlikely to wind up a blockbuster, it’s highly unlikely to make more than its 2022 predecessor. It might even fall short of preventing already-notorious flop “Tron: Ares” from being the biggest release of October 2025. That covers the commercial disappointment. Creatively, the film has its defenders (it currently has a “Certified Fresh” 72% rating on Rotten …

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Foscoe Home Team: Helping people navigate the storms of life

“When someone presents a need, we typically have it in the store,” Trice said. “If we don’t, I place the need on Facebook and the community provides. The community that supports Foscoe Home Team is amazing; they show love for people they don’t know each and every day.”

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LETTER: A message from the mayor of Blowing Rock

Written by: Charlie Sellers, Blowing Rock After completing 8 years as mayor, a business owner in Blowing Rock and a local taxpayer I feel that we are finishing another fantastic year in our town of Blowing Rock and I want to recognize those that make our town so special. I will start with public works, it amazes me that during the winter we can have water breaks repaired within hours and the next day our garbage is picked up, snow has been removed from the roads. Our water treatment plants remain in full operation. In many other communities this would not happen in hours nor days. Parks and recreation have for many years done a fabulous job of the after-school care of our citizens’ children, the 4th of July parade, Christmas parade, lighting of the town and Halloween festival, of which all of these events move forward without a hitch. Our town has become very family friendly thanks to parks and recreation’s hard work. Our landscaping department should be winning awards for how well maintained our planted areas are every year. When I feel it cannot get any better, they out do themselves. I have also been impressed how closely …

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Lawsuit filed in federal court against Watauga County Board of Elections

November 5, 2025 Common Cause North Caolina, Watauga County Voting Rights Taskforce and a group of citizens, including former members of the Watauga County Board of Commissioners, filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging state lawmakers’ changes to Watauga County voting maps. The lawsuit alleges that republican lawmakers, lead by state Senator Ralph Hise of Mitchell County, gerrymandered voting maps for Watauga County commissioners and Watauga County Board of Education.

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Blowing Rock elects Matheson and Miller to town council with third seat likely requiring a recount; Sellers to continue as mayor

November 5, 2025 With combined votes reported from Watauga and Caldwell counties, Doug Matheson and Wayne Miller were elected to serve as members of the Blowing Rock Town Council. Each will serve four-year terms. The third open seat will likely require a recount between Melissa Tausche and Pete Gherini. Incumbent Mayor Charlie Sellers was re-elected to serve a two-year term.

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This Year Challenge Your Ski and Snowboarding Buddies to Some Racing This Winter

October 29, 2025 It’s time to start thinking about the upcoming ski and snowboard season. And time to start thinking about taking your love of the sport to the next level. It’s time to start thinking about racing!  Now is the time to start talking with your ski and snowboard buddies about putting together a race team and commit to each other that you’ll make it to the slopes for six Monday evenings in a row this winter to hit the race course and improve your skills! You’ll join 75 or so other skiers and snowboarders from across the High Country that enjoy the thrill of running the gates, socializing on the slopes and enjoying some drinks at the bar after the race.

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Shane Fox resigns to take post in Caldwell County

October 27, 2025 Boone, NC – October 27, 2025 – Earlier today, Shane Fox communicated his resignation as Blowing Rock’s town manager to the Blowing Rock town council. During its monthly meeting tonight, Caldwell County’s Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to hire Fox as county manager, effective December 1, 2025.

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Lees-McRae College Theatre Arts presents, “Lizzie,” telling the story of the infamous Lizzie Borden

October 20, 2025 Boone, NC – October 20, 2025 — This Halloween season, the latest musical from Lees-McRae Theatre Arts, “Lizzie,” dives into the famous true crime case of Lizzie Borden and offers a new perspective on the infamous woman’s life told through the lens of an exciting rock music score. Borden was tried—and ultimately acquitted—for the murder of her father and stepmother in 1892, and the musical seeks to take a deeper look at this tale.

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BRWIA’s Annual Local Meat Sale Returns October 23

October 19, 2025 Boone, NC – October 19, 2025 —Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA) is excited to announce the return of the 4th Annual Local Meat Sale on Thursday, October 23, from 2–6:30 PM at the Watauga County Agricultural Conference Center (252 Poplar Grove Rd, Boone), home of the High Country Food Hub.

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Saturday’s No Kings Day of Action in Boone Durning the Morning Draws 1000 Plus People to the Sidewalks of Blowing Rock Road

October 18, 2025 The protest took place along the sidewalk adjacent to the Blowing Rock Road in Boone directly across from Applebee’s Restaurant. Protestors lined the sidewalk between Lowe’s Hardware and CVS Pharmacy with hundreds of homemade signs that oppose authoritarianism and the harmful acts they perceived are perpetrated by the Trump Administration. Morning traffic horns were blasting from cars and trunks traveling along the roadway as people cheered from the sidewalk.

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