We Are Mitchell

A headlining act will be performing in Spruce Pine October 25 when Old Crow Medicine Show takes the stage as part of a benefit to raise money for Helene recovery. Hilloween founder Gina Phillips is the guest on today's program and she talks about how the concert is coming about, sharing tidbits about the band and their music, along with information on how to get tickets.

The threat of wildfire in Western North Carolina has been greatly increased with the tree and foliage damage caused by Helene. On today‘s We Are Mitchell, our guest is Philip Jackson with the North Carolina Forest Service who discusses what happened to our forestlands and how you can prepare your property to help prevent the spread of wildfires. Plus, Jackson has a special request for individuals who fly drones - stay away from active wildfire sites.

Andrew Brewer, Interim Mitchell County Emergency Management Director, released this statement Friday about potential tropical weather impacting the region the week of September 29-October 3.

Remembering Helene is coming up on Saturday, September 27 at three fire stations in Mitchell County. Sophia Phillips gives one last update on what will be taking place, plus we talk about the project to gather stories about Helene that will be recording at each location on Saturday.

A special series of events are planned for Saturday, September 27 to commemorate the 1st anniversary of Helene striking our region. Sophia Phillips joins us again to talk more about what is happening on that special day.

There is a special set of commemorative events scheduled for September 27 at three fire departments in Mitchell County. Under the collective name Remembering Helene, these gatherings will feature food, giveaways, prizes, a speaker, and more. Sophia Phillips joins the podcast to discuss the plans for each event and to share general information about what will be there. We will have additional discussions with her in the coming weeks.

While the focus of our podcast has been the recovery from Helene‘s fury, there was more going on in the sky in 2024 than the hurricane. There was a solar eclipse, two auroras, and a comet that all appeared in our region last year. And the capper happened a month before Helene: a meteor exploded over Spruce Pine and Altapass setting off a big boom in the early morning hours of August 30 that startled a lot of folks. Today, Dr. Dan Caton of Appalachian State University joins us to talk about these events both from what happened and how historically events like these were treated in the past in terms of seeing them as omens. Of course, the events had nothing to do with Helene striking our area, but we thought you might like to take a look back at all the interesting events that appeared in our skieslast year.

The first Hellbender Festival is coming to downtown Spruce Pine August 30. WTOE‘s Bruce Ikard caught up with Downtown Spruce Pine Director Spencer Bost for a quick discussion of the festival and all the events taking place.

Mitchell County‘s Volunteer Resources Center, which was formed shortly after Helene struck the area last year to organize volunteer groups and match them with needs is merging with the Mitchell County Long-Term Resiliency Group as of September 1st. While the Center is going away in name, its staff and services are continuing. Stephanie Pitman, who has headed up the VRC since its inception, is our guest on the program. She shares what is happening and how this will make providing help for continued recovery from Helene a more unified effort.

There has been confusion over the Private Property Debris Removal program that is trying to get started up in Mitchell County. Allen Cook joins us to try and help clear up some of the confusion and explain what is going on with that program, the public debris collection site in Bakersville, and details on how you can report debris that still needs to be cleaned up on public roads in the county.