November 26, 2025 Boone, NC – November 26, 2025 -Throughout the week, local instructors will lead engaging classes across multiple art forms, including gouache painting, block printing, crochet, and more.
November 26, 2025 Boone, NC – November 26, 2025 – “It has been a true privilege to work alongside Amy throughout my eleven years with the Town of Boone. Her kindness, steady leadership, and unwavering support for Town staff have made a lasting impact on the Town of Boone. Amy will be deeply missed, and I am grateful to also call her a friend.” – Nicole Harmon, Town Clerk
November 26, 2025 Boone, NC – November 26, 2025 -“Last year we were able to almost double our vendor numbers from the previous year. Our main focus was to promote more artists who had been affected by Hurricane Helene. This year, we hope to give even more local vendors a platform to showcase their art to our clientele while offering our curated holiday selection at the Market shop,” says Mustard Seed Market Co-founder Danielle Stewart.
November 25, 2025. The following are recent obituary notices from Austin and Barnes and Hampton funeral homes in Boone and Reins-Sturdivant in Newland.
November 23, 2025 Boone, NC – November 23, 2025 -Sheriff Howell believes “This case represents the largest arrest operation in Ashe County history. The investigation began in January of this year and rapidly intensified, expanding far beyond initial expectations. What started with two agencies quickly grew to involve assistance from more than 23 partner agencies…
Written by: Sam Garrett Boone, NC – Boone attorney and chairman of the Watauga County Board of Elections communicated his resignation to Sam Hayes, Chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Elections. According to his resignation letter Eller stated, “it is my intention to seek election to the District Court bench in the 35th Judicial District, and this necessitates my resignation from the Board of Elections.” The resignation is effective immediately as Eller intends to officially announce his candidacy and campaign soon after he officially files. Eller has been a member of the board since 2018. He noted two monumental challenges during his tenure in his letter, “I have enjoyed my years on the Board and I am very proud of the work we have done, especially in light of the unprecedented challenges we faced during the 2020 and 2024 elections (the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Helene, respectively).”
November 18, 2025. The following are recent obituary notices from Austin and Barnes and Hampton funeral homes in Boone and Reins-Sturdivant in Newland.
HIGH COUNTRY — Designers, businesses and groups of individuals are hanging ornaments trimming evergreens with garland and ribbon, decorating trees for the annual Festival of Trees, to light up the High Country beginning the week of November 17. The holiday event — with more than 100 decorated trees and wreaths displayed across Watauga, Ashe and Avery counties — raises money to support area children through the Western Youth Network (WYN). The beautifully designed trees and wreaths, many loaded with area gift certificates, art, goods and services, are sold to the public on an online auction which opens at noon on Wednesday, November 19 and concludes at 8pm on Thursday, December 4. Several events are scheduled during the first week of December to invite the community to experience the festival and to showcase WYN’s work and mission. A free holiday film showing of “Elf”, airing at the Appalachian Theatre at 7pm on Monday, December 1, kicks off the week with an evening for the whole family to enjoy. (Reservations are suggested.) On Tuesday, December 2, the public is invited to participate in a wreathmaking workshop, donating their finished creations to be auctioned for WYN. Tickets for the workshop are currently available …
November 17, 2025 Boone, NC – November 17, 2025 -The Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce Santa in the Park, made possible through a generous sponsorship from The Village Foundation of Blowing Rock.
November 17, 2025 Boone, NC – November 17, 2025 – “Right now, the health care system is shifting, and our market is experiencing immense volatility. It will take partnerships and new ideas to meet this moment,” said Tunde Sotunde, MD, CEO of Blue Cross NC. “Our partnership with the NC Chamber, and the launch of Carolina HealthWorks, is an example of a creative collaboration to solve a real problem: the soaring cost of health care for small businesses. Blue Cross NC stands ready to partner with organizations committed to driving down health care costs in North Carolina.”
November 17, 2025 Boone, NC – November 17, 2025 -“This project has been years in the making, and it stands as a testament to what collaboration can achieve,” stated Boone mayor Tim Futrelle.
November 17, 2025 Boone, NC – November 17, 2025 -The hour-long event begins at 11 a.m. and is included with park admission. The tree, which will be harvested on Wednesday, Nov. 19, is from Mountain Top Fraser Fir farm in Newland, N.C. Owner Larry Smith has previously supplied trees to the White House, North Carolina State Capitol and other prominent government buildings and residences.
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
November 11, 2025. The following are recent obituary notices from Austin and Barnes and Hampton funeral homes in Boone and Reins-Sturdivant in Newland.
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.
November 10, 2025 Boone, NC – November 10, 2025 -U.S. Senator Ted Budd (R-N.C.) released the following statement after the Senate voted 60-40 to advance a funding measure through January 30, 2026
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.
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.
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 …
“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.”
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 …
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.
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.
November 4, 2025. The following are recent obituary notices from Austin and Barnes and Hampton funeral homes in Boone and Reins-Sturdivant in Newland.
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.