North Carolina

Families across the state buy Christmas trees from western North Carolina

Published

1 year ago

November 30, 2024

Families across the state buy Christmas trees from western North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina, many Christmas tree farms, a major source of income in that part of the state, suffered major damage.

Some farms lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in trees. Still, Fraser Firs from western North Carolina made it out across the state and the country as many families came out Thanksgiving weekend looking for their perfect tree.

“It has to be full,” said Heather Hartman, visiting a tree lot with her family on Black Friday. “It has to be straight. My older girls just told me about the Christmas flair. It’s got to be a little bigger at the bottom.”

For Hartman, this is an annual tradition, but this year, the Booger Mountain tree lot her family picked their tree from is even more important. The trees come from Ashe County, part of western North Carolina hit hard by Hurricane Helene.

“I grew up in western North Carolina,” Hartman said. “I’m happy that this is helping them. I love coming here because I know they come from the mountains.”

Bentley Powell, who manages the Booger Mountain lot off Falls of Neuse Road, said many of customers are asking about western North Carolina and making sure their purchase is supporting farmers in the region. He said it is encouraging to see people wanting to help.

“The money will go right back to the mountains and go to help the people that need it,” Powell said. “Depending on where the damage was, a lot of the workers were displaced. There’s some of them still living in tents and campers in the cold weather.”

Booger Mountain’s farms out west did not lose many Christmas trees, but did see many other trees knocked down, blocking roads on the farm. The biggest issue Booger Mountain and many other growers faced was washed out roads in and out of the farm, creating issues for trucks that needed to get in to load the trees.

Damage to main roads like I-40 is also an issue for growers transporting their trees to the eastern part of North Carolina and beyond.

“They’ve been thrown extra obstacles as far as having to quickly get roads fixed,” said Jennifer Greene, the executive director of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association.

Farmers have worked with each other and NCDOT to get those roads fixed enough to get a tree to every family who wants one, including the Hartmans, in time to get it properly decorated.

“You can’t just put 100 lights around it and call it lit,” Hartman said. “It’s got to be 1,000.”

Christmas tree growers said they are seeing more people interested in buying a real tree, which is a positive sign, but they say those numbers need to keep growing over the next few years to help rebuild.

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North Carolina

Michael Jordan North Carolina “Sports Illustrated” cover sells for record $229k

Published

11 hours ago

March 8, 2026

Press Room

Michael Jordan North Carolina “Sports Illustrated” cover sells for record 9k

A copy of Michael Jordan’s 1983 “Sports Illustrated” cover debut sold for $229,360 on Saturday night at Goldin, obliterating the previous record for a graded magazine.

Before Saturday, the previous record was the $126,000 paid for Jordan’s 1984 SI debut in a Bulls uniform entitled “A Star Is Born.”

“Sports Illustrated” magazines are very common and people kept them, but collectors narrowed the category by making rarer newsstand copies most collectible, and graded condition of those copies to narrow the most desirable down further.

Then, in July, came PSA to challenge CGC in the grading space.

The record UNC Jordan, with teammate Sam Perkins on the cover, was the only PSA 9.6. The question is, with PSA’s grading just beginning, are there others our there?

It’s possible, but that Jordan issue presents a challenge because it has a gatefold that makes it more challenging to press out defects.

The big price will likely create a group of opportunists who will now take raw subscription copies of this issue and get them graded for potential arbitrage.

But it won’t be that easy. A CGC 8.0 newsstand edition sold for $4,636 in October.

Whether the big price also creates more grading and selling of rare magazines remains to be seen, but PSA’s entrance into the space has definitely turned heads.

PSA has graded more than 50 of this particular issue, the second most commonly graded after the “Star is Born” issue.

Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country’s leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.

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North Carolina

End of 2025-26 NC ski season: Resorts announce closing dates

Published

23 hours ago

March 8, 2026

Press Room

End of 2025-26 NC ski season: Resorts announce closing dates

Warmer temperatures are bringing North Carolina’s ski season to a close, with several mountain resorts announcing closing dates. Beech Mountain will close after its annual Pond Skim on March 14, while Appalachian Ski Mountain plans to stay open through March 15 for its Meltdown Games.

Web Editor : Mark Bergin
Reporter : Eric Miller

Posted 2026-03-07T23:04:58-0500 – Updated 2026-03-07T23:04:58-0500

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North Carolina

Stein announces $40 million in recovery, mitigation grants for Western North Carolina

Published

2 days ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

Stein announces million in recovery, mitigation grants for Western North Carolina

MARION, N.C. (WTVD) — Gov. Josh Stein on Friday announced more than $24 million in mitigation grants and another $16 million for volunteer rebuilding organizations during a Western North Carolina Recovery meeting in Marion.

The funding supports longterm recovery from Hurricane Helene and is intended to help communities better withstand future natural disasters.

State officials said the mitigation grants will help local governments upgrade wastewater and water infrastructure, strengthen transportation systems, relocate facilities out of flood-prone areas, expand flood warning networks and develop shovel ready recovery projects. Nonprofit groups aiding families with home repairs and reconstruction will receive the volunteer-based grants.

“Western North Carolina is coming back strong from Hurricane Helene,” Stein said, adding that recovery requires cooperation among government, private and nonprofit partners.

North Carolina Emergency Management Director Will Ray said the grants reflect a “wholeofcommunity effort” to reduce risk and help towns rebuild stronger.

Over two dozen communities and organizations – including Conover, Hendersonville, Clyde, Marion, Black Mountain, Banner Elk and multiple county agencies – will receive funding for projects ranging from flood gauge installations to dam restoration and wastewater improvements.

WATCH | Hurricane Helene: One Year Later: WNC leans into its resilience, faith and hope

Hurricane Helene: One Year Later (1 of 26)

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