Obviously the THAT referenced in the title was Hurricane Helene; a ruthless storm that crossed over our area that caused major destruction to the entire region but especially in and around Asheville North Carolina. When I say “that is behind us…” I am only talking about the storm itself. The aftermath and effects of this storm will likely never be completely behind us as there are areas that will never be the same. One area that comes to mind as I am writing this are the small towns of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock which are located in our home county of Rutherford County. These were beautiful mountain towns that were rich in natural beauty, history, and culture. Neither of these towns will ever be the same after Helene. The main downtown “strip” area of Chimney Rock was completely washed away. It just doesn’t exist anymore. In the days after the storm as people from our county were working to help others and our first responders, I was able to speak with a person who owned a real-estate office in Chimney Rock. He had been there for forty years and was the “go to” guy for real-estate in that area. He told me that not only was his building completely gone but the land that the building was on was also completely gone. The river had moved during the storm and was now where the land for his building should be. If that wasn’t enough, to add more problems to this individual, he told me that even if he was able to get both of those back, his land and his building, his real estate market is gone as the town of Chimney Rock was just not there anymore. How do you recover from something like this? The situation was and continues to be that bad in this particular area. The destruction wasn’t limited to this area of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock either, there’s widespread devastation in the region. There are other places that were hit very hard by Helene. I think a lot of it had to do with geography as that seemed to exacerbate the situation. There was just so much water and the creeks, streams, and rivers in these areas couldn’t handle the volume of water after two days of saturation. It was a terrible storm and while the situation continues to improve everywhere, it is definitely going to take longer to recover and rebuild in some areas. So, back to my original statement, now that THAT is behind us…what do we do now?
Help Those Who Need It Most!
As described earlier, there are specific regions in the area that were hit exceptionally hard by Helene. These areas need help now and will continue to need help for the foreseeable future as the recovery and rebuilding efforts will be extended (greater than 1 year). These areas are still without water and electricity more than one month after the storm and many residents have lost their homes and everything inside of them. There are some great organizations already in place that are providing assistance directly to the people effected as well as providing support to the local officials who are supporting their communities. These would include:
Samaritan’s Purse
The Community Foundation of WNC
RoCo Relief
Every area was effected differently and most areas in Western North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina, fortunately, were not completely devastated. These areas have been slowly returning to normal as services are restored.
The Road To Recovery…
The road to recovery for this area is long for some and not so long for others. Yes, everyone is going to spend a little bit of time on this road but for many areas, their journey is either complete or mostly complete. Like most complicated issues, you can’t over generalize the recovery effort and make statements like “Everything is closed” or “The area is destroyed”. This simply just isn’t the case. Most people would be shocked to find out that Van in Black was open and providing service the day after the hurricane. Yes, believe it or not, we had multiple vans out providing service for a wedding on September 28th which was the Saturday after Helene hit the area. This was in Western North Carolina (Rutherford County) and the wedding venue had full power and water available. To be completely honest we also had a few other weddings that were scheduled on that date that unfortunately were not able to continue as planned. But as stated earlier, the issue is complex and not all areas were effected the same. So what else is open or back to being mostly open?
The Return to Normalcy…
What exactly is normal? Will we ever fully return to normalcy? Probably not. The impact from the storm was too great and there will probably always be effects from it to never let us fully forget or recover from it. We can and will, however, work towards returning to as close as normalcy as possible. For the areas that we service as a company, I would classify this as businesses and/or venues that are open and accepting clients as they were before the storm. Even if the experience at these places may not be exactly the same as it was before. For the main vertices we service:
Wineries
Wine tours were the service that got us started and helped us grow Van in Black into the company it is today. We are very passionate about our wine tours and have established a lot of close friends and great relationships with people in the industry over the years. To the best of my knowledge, the all of the wineries in the Asheville and Greenville/Spartanburg areas that we typically visit were closed the day of the storm and immediately after. For many of them they were without power and were not able to open until power was restored. Most of them in this area, however, did get power restored within a week and the majority of them were open by Friday, October 4th. A few were actually open before that. Wineries in and around the Charlotte area, mainly the Yadkin Valley, were not effected as bad or at all and were open relatively quickly after the storm. There is at least one, Pleb, that was completely destroyed and it will be awhile, unfortunately, before they are able to open again (if ever in their same location).
Wedding Venues
This one is all over the radar since the wedding venues are all over the map. As stated earlier, a few were open the day after the storm and we were providing service to them. Most of them, however, were not open that quickly. Many of them started opening by the following weekend with many others, like the Biltmore Estate, opening at various dates throughout the month of October and into early November. There are however, some wedding venues that are still closed and will be for the foreseeable future. If you are planning a wedding in 2025, however, you should have no issues with venue availability due to the storm. The only issue may be in fact finding availability since many of the weddings planned for Fall 2024 were deferred to Fall 2025. We have had many people move their wedding date to the Spring or Fall of 2025 which may make it hard for couples who get engaged over the holidays to find availability at their venue of choice next year.
Hotels/Lodging
Another mixed bag of news. The city of Asheville continues to have limited water availability which is hindering the ability for some hotels and lodging within the city to reopen. There are, however, plenty of places that are open and servicing guests. There are also plenty of lodging options outside the city, in places like Hendersonville, that are fully functional and open. Some good options for in and around Asheville include:
Breweries
The majority of the breweries inside the city (Asheville) are open for business. The few that are closed, for now, were in areas that were hit especially hard like the River Arts district. You can support them by buying a gift card to use in the future when they reopen. There are so many breweries in Asheville, however, that there are plenty of places you can visit and have a great time now. There are also plenty of options outside the city in areas like Hendersonville, Old Fort, and Columbus. If you want to experience an Asheville Beer Tour, we can make it happen!
Restaurants
Most restaurants in and around Asheville are open at this time. There are a few areas, like the River Arts District and Biltmore Village, that were hit especially hard due to flooding and many of the restaurants in those areas are still working to recover from the storm and reopen. Some of the area favorites like Cúrate, Chai Pani, and Isa’s Bistro are open for business, ready for visitors and serving up their great signature dishes.
The Blue Ridge Parkway
One of the star attractions during this time of the year is, unfortunately, not fully open at this time. Sections of the Parkway are open but most of it is closed at this time. It isn’t likely that it will be fully reopen anytime this year as the Parkway typically closes once winter sets in. If you really want to experience the Blue Ridge Parkway during a visit this year, we know what areas are open and can get you to some areas that would have nice leaf peeping options but the timeframe for this is quickly fading away. Contact us if this is something you want to do.
Moving Forward – How To Help
Hopefully I have made the case well enough that Western North Carolina is open enough right now to support most interests. This is only going to improve as the days and weeks ahead see additional restoration and recovery accomplishments. If you REALLY want to help this area right now and into the future then visit the area and support the local businesses that are eager to provide service. If you have existing plans to visit this area then don’t cancel those plans! Work with your hotels, tour providers, etc. to find out what is open/available and enjoy those options. The core things that make this area special and worth visiting like the people, natural beauty, history, culture, and local charm will take a lot more then Hurricane Helene to break us. I am sure I speak for everyone in this area when I say – Welcome to Western North Carolina…How can we serve you?
