A first-of-its-kind exhibition centering Native voices, perspectives and creativity in response to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the exhibition “Unrelenting: Cherokee People and the American Revolution” is currently being showcased at the Museum of the Cherokee People (MotCP) in Cherokee. 

An April 25 Qualla Boundary town hall about data centers, featuring three speakers instrumental in the fight against hyperscale expansion on Indigenous land, both generated support for a tabled tribal council moratorium and explained the myriad ways these facilities can harm environments and cultures alike.  

As the weather gets nicer and spring slowly transitions to those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, a bevy of longtime and beloved festivals start to pop up in the picturesque mountain communities here in Western North Carolina. 

These annual gatherings are a way to bring all of us together after an extended period of hunkering down during the winter months. Filled with locals and visitors alike, all those present partake in numerous activities and avenues to support those in your town.

A special April 9 Tribal Council session was entirely dedicated to a single resolution meant to protect a general contractor by asserting an easement for the right-of-way over leased Qualla Boundary properties involving “a reasonable and common ingress, egress and utilities.”

While the resolution reiterated a clause that had already been established, the meeting exposed a growing rift, present also at the April 2 regular meeting, between business interests and tribal members.

Just as the members of Qualla Enterprises’ board were all suspended, its attorney and chair may have engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. 

Qualla Enterprises, LLC, owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee, is the only cultivator of legal cannabis in the state of North Carolina. It sells recreational products to the public through its subsidiary, Great Smoky Mountains Dispensary.

On Independence Day 2026, the United States will have reached 250 years of sovereign nationhood, marked by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. 

America250 was spearheaded by a Congressional caucus and supporting nonprofit as “a bipartisan initiative working to engage every American in the 250th anniversary of the United States.” 

Events culminate July 4, inviting the public to “pause and reflect on our nation’s past, honor the contributions of all Americans, and look ahead toward the future we want to create.” 

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is seeking individuals to join the elk rover volunteer team for the upcoming season. Elk rovers share information with visitors about safe viewing and help keep elk and visitors safe. Elk rovers will be stationed at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, located near Cherokee. 

At some points, engulfed in the rush of the ride, “your head feels like it’s going to pop off your shoulders,” said 2026 Remember the Removal mentor Freida Saylor. 

Saylor participated in RTR in 2025, a three-week, approximately 950-mile bike ride that traces the northern route of the Trail of Tears — one path of forced removal of the Cherokee people to Oklahoma from their Southern Appalachian homelands — following the 1830 Indian Removal Act signed by President Andrew Jackson.  

Just after 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26, the drizzle became a downpour — a moment of serendipity for those gathered in what’s now the town of Franklin to watch the deed transfer of the Noquiyisi (Nikwasi) mound to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. 

“Any time it rains, it always washes away anything that’s happened. So, it’s like a cleansing so it’s almost a perfect weather, you know? That this rain is here. It’s kind of washed away for a new beginning,” tribal council member Adam Wachacha said to the audience. 

Residents, business owners and community leaders of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Swain County are invited to attend a pair of public open house meetings.

The Swain County open house will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, in the Community Room of the Swain County Administration Building in Bryson City. The EBCI open house will be held from 3-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Yellowhill Community Building in Cherokee.