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Community Spirit Burns Bright
The area’s premier cycling event is a 50- or 100-mile bike ride is known as Blood, Sweat and Gears. The 100-mile ride covers 9000 feet of climbing, a 20 mile section of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and a challenging ride over Snake Mountain. The 50-mile ride breaks off from the Blue Ridge Parkway into Avery County and returns to Valle Crucis.
Last year, over 1000 cyclists took the challenge. The annual kick-off lunch is at Mast General Store. Last year, the event raised 24,000 for Red Cross disaster relief.. The goal for this year is $35,000!
Over 150 residents gladly volunteer to operate nine aid stations, control traffic and work at the start-finish line. All of the entry fees to go to the Red Cross because generous local contributors stepped up and covered the race’s basic expenses. The ride allows cyclists to experience the challenging and magnificent terrain of the High Country, while also giving back to the community through the Jeremy Dale Fisher Fund, which is used for disaster relief.
Relay for Life - #1 in U.S.
You can tell a lot about a community's quality of life by examining the strength of the faith community... and its level of charitable giving.
Watauga County is an "All-American Relay for Life Community." For five consecutive years - from 2000-04 - Watauga County's Relay has been first or second in the U.S. for our population group.
Watauga County's 2004 Relay took in $318,230.96 in 2003, a stunning donation of $6.96 per capita.
To put this in perspective, only three communities in the country larger than Watauga County had a higher per capita giving level than Watauga County....
The reason why Watauga County relays is because it's the right thing to do.
Boone — The Premier Business Address Boone/Blowing Rock is North Carolina’s premier and preferred business address. Traditionally, Watauga County has one of the lowest unemployment rates in North Carolina, running well below the state average. This is attributed to the diverse employment base and a large number of small businesses who call this area home. With our outstanding quality of life, the area has special appeal to knowledge-based businesses and entrepreneurs who could locate or build their business enterprises anywhere. The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce stands ready to provide professional support and guidance to existing businesses that are expanding operations here and others that may choose to relocate here. By fostering a positive business climate, the Chamber helps fuel the dynamic economy that we enjoy. You can learn more about the Chamber by calling 828-264-2225. Tourism remains the linchpin of the local economy. The Boone area is a year-round playground that is a popular spot for business meetings, conferences and conventions. Historically, the community has been a favorite destination for leisure travel. People love to bring their families here for vacations, ranging from weekend getaways to extended visits. The abundance of family-related things to do and see — and places to go — makes for a fun-filled itinerary. Watauga County ranks 18th out of North Carolina’s 100 counties in tourism spending. Total expenditures were more than $150 million, with a payroll of more than $41 million. Functioning as the tourism marketing arm of the Chamber, the Boone Convention & Visitors Bureau is committed to promoting the area to potential visitors, meeting planners and motor coach operators. We invite you to “Stay with us in any season.” The next time you need to plan a vacation or business meeting, we hope you will contact us. The staff is pleased to provide you with up-to-date information on lodging, restaurants, attractions and all your other needs. We are glad to provide referrals to a wide array of conference centers and resorts, as well as accommodations, ranging from hotels, motels, cabins, chalets and campgrounds to Bed & Breakfast Inns. Visit www.VisitBooneNC.com, email us at info@boonechamber.com, or call (800) 852-9506 or (828) 262-3516. Community Clings To Daniel Boone Mystique
"Wherever he laid his hat was his home.” Nearly two centuries separate the travails of frontiersman Daniel Boone in the 1760s from the Temptations’ 1972 recording of those lyrics in “Poppa Was a Rollin’ Stone.” Yet, this nomadic description paints a fairly accurate portrait of Daniel Boone, the Town of Boone’s namesake. Writing for the Watauga Democrat newspaper, reporter Scott Nicholson cites the works of Daniel Boone’s most comprehensive biographer – Yale history professor John Mack Faragher. These are excerpts from that article. Daniel Boone was born in Berks County, Pa., in 1734 or was that 1735? Nobody’s quite sure. The Quaker family moved to the Yadkin River Valley of North Carolina in 1751, and Daniel became a skillful hunter. He married Rebecca Bryan in 1756. Daniel is believed to have made his first visit to the mountains of northwestern North Carolina in the winter of 1760, hunting from a cabin used by animal herders. That cabin was located on what is now the Appalachian State University campus, and today, a bronze statue of Daniel and two of his trusty hunting dogs marks that spot. “Boone...was solitary by nature and often preferred to go on extended hunting trips alone. Most of his Blue Ridge hunting trips took place in the 1760s and he settled his growing family near Wilkesboro in the late 1760s. “However, he tended to call no place home for long, as evidenced by all the towns and counties that now bear his name in some form.” At one point, Daniel was captured by the Cherokee Indians, but was later released unharmed, developing a lasting friendship with the Cherokee people. Not so the Shawnee. He fought against them on more than one occasion in Kentucky. “While Boone was built into a larger than life figure, he considered himself a solitary man who enjoyed the outdoors.” In a biographical account of Daniel Boone at age 50, John Filson wrote, presuming to speak for the pioneer: “Many dark and sleepless nights have I been companion of owls, separated from the cheerful society of men, scorched by the summer’s sun, and pinched by the winter’s cold, an instrument ordained to settle the wilderness. But now the scene is changed: peace crowns the sylvan shade.” He died in 1820, and depictions of Boone are reported to have varied from a “ruthless and fearsome” frontiersman to a “gentle backwoodsman who wanted nothing more than reflective peace and an open space to hunt.” The Year Of The Perfect Christmas Tree This is the "Land Where Christmas Trees Grow." Local tree farmers promote all the advantages of "Choose & Cut." Bring your family to the mountains and select the perfect tree to take home and decorate for the holidays. To help build awareness for the sturdy Fraser firs, which have the ideal shape and fragrance, the Boone Area Chamber and the Boone Convention & Visitor's Bureau are key members of the "Choose & Cut" marketing team. Recommended reading is "The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree," a children's story written by Gloria Houston, who grew up nearby in the Spruce Pine community. (She has given the Chamber and CVB her permission to continue an educational outreach program directed at elementary school children.) The story goes: The year of 1918 was when Ruthie's family had the honor of furnishing the community Christmas tree.
In the spring. Papa and Ruthie found the perfect Christmas tree "high, near to heaven." There it was... "growing on the edge of a high cliff on Grandfather Mountain. Its green color was dark and rich. It was the perfect shape and size, its tip-tip-top pointing up to heaven." They tied Ruthie's red hair ribbon to the tip-tip-top, so they could identify the tree in December. "Papa was called away to be a soldier. He went to fight in a war far across the sea." Winter came. "The days passed. Ruthie listened for the squeaky whistle of the little train the mountain folk called Tweetsie, as it chugged through the valley and up the mountainside." But no Papa. "...One more day until Christmas Eve." With a full moon as their guide, Ruthie and Mama set out through the snow to harvest the perfect Christmas tree. "There it is, Mama," Ruthie cried. "See, there's my ribbon bow tied at the tip-tip-top." "The blade of Papa's ax shone in the moonlight as Mama lifted it high. Thwack! Crack! The sounds echoed through the rocks and hills." Ruthie and Mama delivered their family's promise, but that's not the end of the story. Papa made it home for Christmas to see the perfect tree.
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Blood, Sweat & Gears to help disaster relief
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