When the Pactiv-Evergreen packaging plant in Canton closes this spring, 1,000 people who thought they’d secured steady work to last a lifetime will be looking for new jobs. 

It’s 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Southern Porch restaurant in the heart of downtown Canton. Less than 24 hours ago, the mountain community received word that its century-old paper mill would close this summer.  

In less than three months, Pactiv-Evergreen’s Canton mill will cease operations after more than a century of serving as the cultural, economic and geographical center of the tiny Haywood County town of Canton. 

Since Johnny and Paulene Maney opened the doors to the Quin Theater in 1978, it has been a community staple and the home to many memories made. When the final credits rolled on April 26, it marked the end of an era not just for the Maney family, but for all of Sylva. 

The Town of Sylva closed Spring Street, between Mill Street and Main Street beginning May 6. The closure will last for approximately three weeks.

A couple of Haywood County businesses have had to shut their doors temporarily after several employees were exposed to COVID-19.

After students and staff were exposed to positive cases of COVID-19, Macon County Board of Education decided to suspend face-to-face instruction at Union Academy, Mountain View Intermediate School and Macon Middle School beginning Aug. 26 through Sept. 11.

While people nationwide are lamenting the loss of bars, restaurants, concerts, festivals and countless other aspects of community life amid the COVID-19 crisis, for many in Western North Carolina the deepest blow has been the loss of access to hundreds of thousands of acres of cherished public lands. 

With the realization that students won’t be returning to school until at least May 15, public school systems in Western North Carolina are adjusting their calendars while continuing to educate and feed their students. 

DreamCatcher Hotels, the Memphis-based hotel developer that brought Memphis the Guest House at Graceland hotel concept, is sending a large, delicious care package to a customer in Cherokee as a way to support their community during the Covid-19 quarantine and scare.