By Chris Cooper

David Holt is a happy guy. In a recent phone (cell phone, no less) conversation as he strolled down the streets of San Francisco, he let me know one of the reasons why. “I just played the biggest show I’ve ever played,” he said. Accompanying that living, breathing piece of bluegrass history that’s known as Doc Watson, the previous afternoon found Holt playing the Golden Gate Park festival for, oh, about 100,000 music lovers. Which kind of beat me to the whole “favorite moments in your career” question I’d planned to ask later.

Years of wrestling over a location for a new Jackson County library will come to a close next month.

Jackson County commissioners pledged to pick a site for a new library at their next meeting on Oct. 1. There are two main contenders: the hill behind the historic courthouse overlooking Main Street and a two-acre tract on the outskirts of town adjacent to the Jackson Plaza strip mall.

When Rhonda Williams fired up her laptop in the Sylva library a couple of weeks ago, she was pleasantly surprised to pick up a wireless Internet signal.

The town of Sylva is embarking on a smart growth plan that could reshape some of the town’s more unsightly commercial corridors in coming decades.

Ginny Faust, a professional planning consultant, posed a tough question to members of the Sylva Town Board and planning board last week.

The Downtown Sylva Association has dropped the idea of a special downtown property tax due to a lack of support among merchants.

Controversy among downtown Sylva merchants and property owners could either escalate or come to a close this week, depending on what route the Downtown Sylva Association takes at a town board meeting Thursday expected to draw crowds of merchants.

Leaders of a downtown Sylva movement are considering downsizing a proposed special taxing district to encompass only the core downtown area.

Downtown Sylva Association members have voted unanimously to hire an executive director, setting the organization up to more actively advocate for the downtown community.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Parking along Sylva’s downtown Main Street is a challenge.