The Friends of the Lake 5K Road Race & Walk will take place at Lake Junaluska on Saturday, Aug. 31. Those who register by Thursday, Aug. 15, will enjoy discounted registration and are guaranteed to receive a “Love the Lake” T-shirt. 

A contractor for the N.C. Department of Transportation has begun a safety project on U.S. 23/74 between Hyatt Creek Road and the Haywood County rest area. 

Haywood Regional Medical Center (HRMC) is thrilled to announce the addition of a new mammography unit that will significantly enhance breast imaging services locally.

Folkmoot kicked off its 41st Summer Fest celebration last Thursday with its Summer Soirée. Guests gathered at the Folkmoot Friendship Center to travel the world together without boarding an airplane. 

The third public information meeting for the Pisgah View State Park Master Plan will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, at the Upper Hominy Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department at 1795 Pisgah Highway in Candler. 

Haywood County commissioners approved two funding recommendations from its Affordable Housing Development Committee that will increase affordable housing stock at no cost to Haywood County taxpayers. 

Consultants finally delivered to Haywood County commissioners a report on the results of a secretive, long-awaited “listening post exercise” meant to chart Haywood County’s economic development vision — revealing in the process that there was no input from average working-class residents, an omission that may prompt some to question the applicability of the report’s findings despite the project’s tagline of “stronger together.” 

Pactiv Evergreen, owner of the now-shuttered paper mill in Canton, announced last week that it had agreed to sell its Pine Bluff, Arkansas paper mill and an extrusion facility off Howell Mill Road in Waynesville to a South American company for $110 million during the fourth quarter of 2024, if traditional closing conditions are met and foreign antitrust regulators approve. 

With the eyes of the state, the region and the county on the Town of Canton — flood recovery is approaching its third year and the sting of losing a major employer last June is still fresh — Canton’s governing board took the opportunity to reiterate its core missions of transparency and accountability during a special called meeting on the morning of July 16.  

The COVID pandemic may seem like ancient history to most western North Carolinians, but foster children in Haywood County are still feeling its ripple effects. Due to abuse, neglect or other adverse circumstances, they need stable and supportive temporary homes and there are not enough foster homes.