A year in review: Looking back at 2023 in the Swannanoa Valley
New businesses, changes in local leadership and deep playoff runs among top stories
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
December 30, 2023
With 2023 coming to a close, Fred McCormick reviews the year’s top news stories in the Swannanoa Valley. Photo by Kendra Payne
With the new year just days away, my customary search for the top local news stories of the past 12 months in the Swannanoa Valley revealed a few themes in 2023.
Business stories were popular, as Black Mountain welcomed several new establishments, ranging from a hyper-local radio station to a cozy coffee, beer, wine and cocktail spot in the center of downtown. Existing organizations, including the White Horse, Lookout Brewing Co., and the Loott House, celebrated milestones and new beginnings, while Foothills closed out the year announcing its intentions to reopen the long-vacant historic ice house building.
Owen High School ended the 2022-23 school year with individual state championships and an NCHSAA 2A West Regional title, before opening 2023-24 under a new principal, Dawn Rookey, who returned to the institution in which she taught for 18 years. Changes in leadership emerged as a theme in the Valley throughout the year, as health concerns forced Black Mountain Town Councilmember Bill Christy to step down, while former local official Ryan Stone was appointed to fill the vacant seat.
The year included some personal and professional highlights for The Valley Echo when I was honored to speak to the 2023 graduating class of Owen High School, while our community shared news with a village on the other side of the globe when the Swannanoa Volunteer Fire Department welcomed a counterpart from the brigade in Swannanoa, New Zealand.
There is no doubt 2024 will be another busy year for local journalism, but before we turn our calendars over, here is a look back the past 12 months. Happy New Year.
January
Motorists in downtown Black Mountain began modifying their driving habits to start the year when Honeycutt Street, which runs along the entrances to the Black Mountain Police and Fire Departments, was converted to a one-way, east-to-west traffic pattern.
Many people around the Swannanoa Valley rewarded a pair of state champions, as the Owen Athletics Booster Club launched an initiative to raise $15,000 to purchase rings for the 2022 state champion Owen soccer and cross country teams.
An annual volunteer-led fundraiser helped provide heat to families around Black Mountain and Swannanoa, as Deck the Trees celebrated a record year with $63,000 in donations. The campaign invites local businesses and organizations to decorate Christmas trees in the Monte Vista Hotel and throughout the community, benefits the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry Fuel Fund, which supports hundreds of area residents with heating assistance in the winter.
February
The first African-American to hold the office of vice mayor in Black Mountain, Archie Pertiller, Jr., recalled his experiences growing up in the town during the era of desegregation. Weeks earlier, Pertiller delivered a proclamation to the open the 33rd Annual Swannanoa Valley Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Prayer Gathering.
Another local tradition returned to downtown Black Mountain when hundreds of runners gathered on Sutton Avenue before the sun came up for the 26th Annual Mount Mitchell Challenge and Black Mountain Marathon. The Challenge course took runners 40 miles from the Old Depot to the 6,684-foot peak of Mount Mitchell before ending at Lake Tomahawk. Marathon runners followed the some route, through Montreat and up into the Sourwood Gap, before returning to the lake after reaching the Blue Ridge Parkway.
While ultramarathoners were busy on the trails, Owen sophomore Davis Kendall raced to a 500 meter dash title in the 2022-23 NCHSAA 1A/2A Indoor Track & Field State Championship. His time of 1:07.82 in the event clinched his second of what would be three individual or team state championships in the school year.
March
An expansive indoor-outdoor tap room and music venue was introduced in Black Mountain, as The RailYard pulled into town. The space, which includes a 7,000-square-foot bar and restaurant, outdoor stage and seating, held its grand opening the following April.
A team of local businesses coordinated with the Charles D. Owen Babe Ruth League to restore four baseball and softball fields at Veterans Park. Godfrey Grading, Blue Mountain Landworks, Gilliam Timber and Land and CB Land Management donated material and labor to improve drainage and reconstruct infields. The workers were treated to lunch by My Father’s Pizza.
Local airwaves filled with the sounds of classic country music and Owen football and basketball games as 96.1 FM & 1350 AM The Bear moved into a studio above the Town Hardware & General Store. The radio station, founded by Statesville-based Signal Hill Media Partners, launched morning and afternoon shows and offered live coverage of Owen football and basketball games.
April
A popular local brewery recognized a significant milestone, as Lookout Brewing Co. celebrated its 10th anniversary on South Ridgeway Avenue with live music and specials from the adjacent Mac’s food truck.
Another local institution, the White Horse Black Mountain, embarked on a new path when founder Bob Hinkle announced the listening room was converting to a nonprofit model. The music venue, which celebrated its 15th anniversary in November, offered tiered memberships to support its new mission.
May
A new walk-up dining option debuted in the WNC Outdoor Collective, as Bowl in the Wall began serving Asian-inspired rice bowls in a courtyard near the intersection of Vance and Black Mountain Avenues. The concept offers sticky rice or quinoa topped with a diverse selection of proteins and sauces.
The Owen Warhorse track and field program closed out the school year with a NCHSAA 2A West Regional title with eight first place finishes in the meet hosted by East Burke. The Warhorses, led by a collection of cross country state champions, captured two individual gold medals and finished second in the state championship meet later in the month.
A somber ceremony in front of Owen High School remembered the 10 Swannanoa Valley natives who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. The Memorial Day gathering honoring Jerry Bruce Harris, Herbert Coleman Wright, Ronald Lynn Hurst, Billy Gary Stewart, John Williams Hansard III, James Onley Weaver, Donald Woodson Wright, Wesley Eugene Melton, Bruce Clinton Elkins and Wendell Lee Brown was led by the school’s JROTC program.
June
Approximately 220 runners descended upon the trails of the Montreat College Black Mountain campus for the return of the Black Mountain Monster 6, 12 and 24 Hour Ultramarathon. Ten runners eclipsed the 100-mile mark in the 24-hour race, which featured 75 athletes.
For the first time in three decades, residents of the Town of Black Mountain saw in increase in the local property tax rate, as elected officials approved a 1.5 cent hike. The decision came as the town adopted a $19 million 2023-24 budget, which increased nearly 12% over the previous fiscal year.
Owen sophomore Davis Kendall, who earned a state championship as a member of the soccer team and individual titles in indoor track and the subsequent outdoor track and field season, was named the school’s top athlete of 2022-23.
An annual rite of passage for Swannanoa Valley students returned, as Owen High School held its 68th graduation ceremony. While I have covered the ceremony for a decade, speaking to the class of 2023 is an experience I will never forget.
July
Summer brought big changes for Owen, as Buncombe County Schools announced Dawn Rookey would step into the role of principal, replacing Dr. Samantha Sircey who retired at the end of the school year. Rookey, a former assistant principal at Enka, taught at Owen from 2001-2019 before returning to her former school.
Throngs of onlookers put on red, white and blue and lined the streets of Montreat to celebrate Independence Day, as the Montreat Conference Center held its 54th Annual Fourth of July Parade. The procession was led by grand marshals John Casper and Angie Murphy.
A new option for coffee, wine, beer and cocktails with a “strictly social” vibe came to the center of downtown Black Mountain, as The Station opened its doors on Cherry Street. The casual space features views of the Seven Sisters mountain range in the intimate setting of the 101-year-old building.
August
The Swannanoa Valley’s youngest swimmers brought their second straight Tarheel Swim League Championship back to the Black Mountain Pool, as the Stingrays swam away from Valdese with the title. The Stingrays, led by head coach Beth Rathbone, feature around 150 swimmers ranging in age from 5 to 18 years old.
Crafts, food and entertainment filled the streets of Black Mountain when thousands of visitors came to town for the 45th Annual Sourwood Festival. Organized by the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce, the festival featured regional vendors, live music and a petting zoo.
The Swannanoa Volunteer Fire Department welcomed a special guest to close out the month of August, as Casey Herbert, a firefighter with the Swannanoa Fire Brigade in New Zealand visited her Western N.C. peers. The village in Canterbury, New Zealand was named after the Swannanoa River in 1864 when John Evans Brown moved to the island nation in the Pacific Ocean.
September
A former Owen soccer player took her game to the international stage when Mia McMurry was selected to represent the USA in the 2023 World Deaf Football Championship. McMurry, a former multi-sport athlete for the Warlassies, won a gold medal with the USWDNT in Malaysia the following October.
The Town of Black Mountain moved closer to providing recycling carts for all residents, following a unanimous town council vote to pursue a grant for approximately 5,000 96-gallon receptacles. The town is expected to provide 64- or 96-gallon Toter carts to each home in early 2024.
Longtime Black Mountain attorney Bill Christy, who was appointed to the town council in 2021 and elected to a seat in 2022, was forced to resign from the position due to health concerns. Christy, who was later replaced by former councilmember Ryan Stone, was the grand marshal of the annual Black Mountain Christmas Parade in December.
October
A solemn crowd gathered in an empty field in Ridgecrest, as the RAIL Memorial Project unveiled a stone marker honoring the incarcerated laborers who built the railroad connecting the Blue Ridge Mountains to the rest of the state. The boulder and memorial plaque were unveiled along Yates Avenue, near the site of an 1879 tunnel collapse that took the lives of 19 laborers and a guard.
Black Mountain native and former Owen and Christ School star Sidney Gibbs became the leading rusher in Shaw University history, following a 183-yard performance against Livingstone College. Gibbs, a senior running back for the Bears, finished his collegiate career with 3,326 yards before earning a spot on the All-CIAA team.
Local literature lovers were treated to an evening with N.C. Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green when the Black Mountain-Tyson Public Library hosted the award-winning writer. The event, sponsored by the Friends of the Black Mountain Library, marked the first recorded visit by the state’s poet laureate to the Swannanoa Valley.
November
New life came to an old building in Beacon Village, as the Loott House and Terra Nova Beer Co. debuted a collaborative eatery and tap house in Swannanoa. The space, once occupied by the Native Kitchen & Social Pub, offers local beers, burgers and more on Whitson Avenue.
Black Mountain welcomed its own new market and restaurant in the Village of Cheshire, where Beradu introduced a concept that specializes in wild game and invasive species. Founded by Naples, Florida natives Patrick and Maggie Beraduce, the retail shop opened in November, while the adjacent restaurant held its grand opening in December.
A historic structure near the center of Black Mountain will be the home of a new dining location in 2024, as Foothills announced its plans to open the Overlook in the former Black Mountain Ice Co. building. Adjacent to The Grange, which Foothills established in 2022, the new restaurant will featured elevated dishes and rooftop seating.
Owen soccer continued to establish itself as one of the top programs in the state, as the Warhorses advanced to the NCHSAA 2A West Regional Championship for the second straight year. Led by head coach Trei Morrison, Owen entered the postseason as the top ranked team in the region before falling to the Community School of Davidson.
December
A pair of holiday traditions brought hundreds of revelers to downtown Black Mountain, where the chamber of commerce hosted Holly Jolly and the Black Mountain Christmas Parade. Local businesses welcomed shoppers with extended business hours on the first Friday of December, while thousands of onlookers lined State Street to take in the annual Saturday parade.
Owen High School began a search for its fourth head football coach since 2020, following the departure of Zach Gibson, who led the program in 2022 and 2023. Gibson announced his resignation after going 3-17 in two years on the sideline for the Warhorses.
The Town of Black Mountain ended the year by announcing its plans to repair the dam at Lake Tomahawk in early 2024. The project, which will address seepage issues discovered in 2019, is expected to be completed by next summer.