Written by: Sam Garrett
Beginning around 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 28, a group of protesters gathered along the south side of Ginny Stevens Lane between Main and Wallingford streets. According to organizers, the protest was formed to show support for Blowing Rock Academy, the childcare program facilitated by the Town of Blowing Rock for town employees.
The protest was staged across the street from the shuttle loading zone for the Blowing Rock Civic Association’s (BRCA) annual meeting. The BRCA provided buses to shuttle attendees from Rumple Presbyterian Church to the Car Barn. At first glance, it appeared BRAHM was involved in the protest, as its sidewalk is directly across the street from the intended location. Protestors began lining the sidewalk in front of BRAHM at which point BRAHM was notified of the protest. BRAHM representatives requested that the group move away from the museum’s front door since an event with a national speaker was starting at 5:30 that evening and attendees had already begun arriving. Protest organizers directed everyone away from BRAHM’s main entrance.
Protest signs displayed many messages with a common theme to support the daycare, including “Don’t DOGE the daycare,” “Cut your budget, not the town’s,” “Supported Families = Strong Communities” and “Families need daycare.”
Blowing Rock Police Chief Nathan Kirk considered it to be a peaceful protest. Kirk was on site along with Town Manager Shane Fox and other town employees to observe the protest.
“They listened, they behaved, they didn’t block any roads, they engaged with people,” Kirk said. “It was very smooth.”
Protesters organized the event based on their assertion that the BRCA was against the town’s daycare center. The group cited comments Gigi Poole made during the August 2025 Blowing Rock Town Council meeting which questioned the town’s decision to spend money on the daycare center. Protesters associated the comments with the BRCA since Poole serves on that association’s senior leadership team.
High Country Press reached out to Poole to request her response to the protest and the reference to the comments she made during the town council meeting. She chose to submit a letter to the editor instead of commenting for this article. The letter to the editor is published in this issue of High Country Press.
Cathy Williamson applied for the assembly permit with the town of Blowing Rock. She submitted a statement about the town council meeting.
“During the public comment portion of the August Council meeting, a representative of the Blowing Rock Civic Association laid the groundwork for dissolving the daycare, citing ‘stewardship’ of taxpayer dollars,” Williamson said. “She went on to imply that the daycare was nothing more than ‘a resume builder’ for Town Manager, Shane Fox.”
Williamson continued her recollection of the comments made during the town council meeting.
“While the BRCA Board of Trustees member gave statistics from ‘a Duke University study and put on our website’ regarding the cost of daycare in NC, she omitted the statistic on daycare availability in Watauga County,” Williamson said. “There are only 659 child-care slots available for nearly 2,000 children aged 0-5. The wait list can be as long as two years.”
High Country Press also asked BRCA Board Chair Jean Kitchen whether the BRCA took any position on the town’s childcare facility for town staff. Kitchen shared the following response from the BRCA’s executive committee:
BRCA has no position on the childcare center, for or against. We are aware through Town provided information that the childcare center is an unusual program for a municipal government to provide and have shared information about it that was available from Town information sources and from the Duke University case study. The protesters have no knowledge of or authority to speak for BRCA regarding its position nor did they inquire of BRCA regarding its position, or lack thereof, before staging their protest. BRCA has never taken a position on the childcare center – for or against.
High Country Press will continue to follow this story.
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