Two short years ago, the backyard of Waynesville’s Grace Church in the Mountains was basically just grass, save for a single container bed at the top of the hill.

These days, the view is quite different. Six long container beds stretch out along the slope from the road to the church’s back door. A scaffolding that held a tent of beans during the warmer months stands to the side, and at the bottom of the hill is yet another group of raised beds, built high at the end of a flat walkway so that people with mobility issues can still access and enjoy them. There’s a toolshed, a gaggle of scarecrows and two in-ground beds dug directly into the land.

When Shining Rock Classical Academy opened in 2015, the public charter school was hailed as a victory for local proponents of school choice and promised to provide an academically rigorous, comprehensive college preparatory curriculum.

Inasmuch as any document can be truly hallowed on a local government level, that document is the comprehensive plan.

The story of every small business is different and unique, but some follow an economic development narrative being heard more and more in Western North Carolina — an entrepreneur with professional skills decided to open a business in Haywood County because they wanted to be here.

When you’ve done something for as long as Mitzi Cope has, you tend to learn a thing or two — not just about business, but about life.

Too often patients visit Dr. Linda Sparks as a last resort.

Only after years of not being able to find any answers or relief through traditional medicine, do they turn to an alternative like naturopathic medicine. Sparks has personally seen patients completely heal themselves with naturopathic medicine, which is why she decided to change her entire career to help others see those same health benefits.

After realizing small but consistent gains in local business development over the past few years, the town of Waynesville has recently undertaken several initiatives designed to strengthen the economic vitality of the town while also guiding that development in a direction acceptable to the community as a whole.

Play, it is said, is the work of children.

But a substantial population of disabled kids who’ve up until now been excluded from playing with their peers — peers of all ability levels — will soon have much work to be done.

Although Waynesville aldermen continue to seek a definitive answer on whether or not to rescind the town’s 15 year-old policy of banning pets from festivals, they’ve embraced a temporary measure that may help point them in the right direction.

Thanks to the N.C. Supreme Court and the North Carolina General Assembly, the Town of Waynesville’s about to be back in the capacity use fee business.