A grand opening and a re-opening

Mountain Harvest Produce on North Main Street in Weaverville has once again opened its doors for the season, and the car wash accompanying the Ingles Gas Station on Weaver Boulevard is now open for business as well. Washes range between $6 and $10.

Asheville Ikebana International

Barnardsville resident Terri Ellis Todd will be part of the Asheville Ikebana International presentation at 10 am today at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. For more on the ancient Japanese craft of floral arrangement, go to page 3 of this issue of The Weaverville Tribune.

Donations slowly coming in

Donations to the Stuff a Bus operation at Ingles today are slow to trickle in. The rainy weather is likely a factor. They will still be collecting tomorrow to help feed hungry Buncombe County students.

Stuff a Bus

A release from Buncombe County Schools:

"On Friday and Saturday, March 27--28, Buncombe County Schools, Mix 96.5 FM, Ingles supermarkets and Charlotte Street Computers are asking everyone to help “Stuff a Bus” with appropriate food items to keep children from going hungry over the nine days of spring break and beyond. School and church busses will be placed at four Ingles locations to accept donations, including stores on Hendersonville Road in Skyland, Erwin Hills, Weaverville and Black Mountain. Lists of appropriate food items for the BakPaks will be available at each location. Ingles shoppers will also have the opportunity to win one of five $100 gift cards to be given away to supporters of the drive."

Parkway to reopen section

A section of the Blue Ridge Parkway is scheduled to open May 15 near Craggy Gardens after being closed for nearly two years to make repairs following a rock slide.

Sustainable Big Ivy meeting

A Sustainable Big Ivy meeting will be held at 7 pm tonight at the old firehouse in Barnardsville. Reports from the Energy Committee, Community Gardening Committee and the Mapping Committee will be presented. A special video of local hydro-electric power plants (produced by the Sustainable Big Ivy) will be shown.

Leftover notes from Weaverville

* The town approved rezoning 8 Reeves Street from commercial to residential to assist the First Baptist Church in the selling of its parsonage.

* From the budget meeting Thursday night (March 12), the town hopes the Mountain Mobility North Buncombe Trailblazer route will become a more frequent service since Asheville Transit will soon cease its route through Weaverville.

* The town will likely look at hiring an assistant town manager in the coming fiscal year. The staff position was budgeted for this year, but the town decided to save the money.

* No more additions to the police staff is expected this year, although Weaverville Police Chief Greg Stephens said the activity at Northridge Commons could warrant an additional officer next year.

Arboretum presentation

The N.C. Arboretum will present a daylong workshop, “Gardening for Things that Fly,” from 10 am to 4 pm on Friday (March 20). The program features five speakers, one of which will be Weaverville resident Dr. Alicia Hulse, who will be presenting a program entitled "Creating a Wildlife-Friendly Landscape."

Local business makes NYT

The New York Times has this article today about small businesses securing loans from microlenders after being turned away by banks. Ference Cheese, located on Weaverville Road in Woodfin, receives a mention about two-thirds of the way into the article.

False alarm at North Windy Ridge

A fire alarm this afternoon around 2:30 pm at North Windy Ridge School in Weaverville was a false alarm, officials on the scene said.

Mars Hill to print college paper

The Hilltop, Mars Hill's college newspaper, will break its eight-year run of exclusive Web publishing and beginning supplementing its coverage with a printed edition. The first run of the new printed edition should be hitting newsstands in Mars Hill, Marshall and Weaverville soon.

Smathers prepares students

Robin Smathers, music teacher at Weaverville Primary and Elementary schools, prepared a study guide to inform and excite the approximately 2,175 fourth-grade Buncombe County students who are traveling Tuesday (March 10) to the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium for an Asheville Symphony Orchestra’s Young People’s concerts.

Weaverville Garden Club

Bill Jones of Carolina Natives Nursery in Burnsville will be the featured speaker at a Weaverville Garden Club meeting at 9:30 am on Tuesday (March 10) at Weaverville Town Hall. He will talk about identifying natives in winter landscapes.

Roads free of accidents thus far

Area fire departments are reporting only a few accidents in the last 24 hours because of the snow.