Arnie Weissmann
Every two years, I get together with a dozen college friends and we rent a big house somewhere for a week, hang out, cook and explore the area. Last week, we gathered in Asheville, N.C.
The decision to go to Asheville was made well before its devastating floods last September. We knew there would be evidence of the deluge but also that it was recovering.
How important is tourism to Asheville? Its minor league baseball team is the Asheville Tourists, so named in 1915. At various times, it had other monikers -- the Moonshiners, the Redbirds, the Mountaineers, the Skylanders, the Orioles -- but fans kept referring to them as the Tourists. When its stadium was renovated in 1959, the owners wanted a rebrand and asked fans to pick the name. The vote went overwhelmingly to "Tourists."
For a town with a metropolitan population of about 380,000, it punches well above its weight as a destination. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, recreation has long been an attraction, and I can attest that the hiking is superb.
The arts have long played a role in its appeal, in part because nearby Black Mountain College, founded in 1933, was a magnet for faculty and students who would become influential in their fields: John Cage, Josef Albers, Merce Cunningham, Cy Twombly, Willem de Kooning, Walter Gropius and Buckminster Fuller, among others, spent time there.
The college closed in 1957, but a passion for art never subsided in Asheville. The River Arts District, several blocks of galleries, isn't far from the banks of the French Broad River, which rose almost 25 feet after Helene dumped 14 inches of water on the city during a three-day period last fall.
The lowest portions of the district haven't reopened yet, but the majority is up and running. Open galleries accommodate many artists whose space (and art) was lost. One sells playing cards imprinted with work that was destroyed in the flood. (Proceeds go to contributing artists.)
The Asheville Art Museum is extraordinary. Its executive director, Pam Myers, was recruited from New York's Guggenheim and has built a collection that, while including Black Mountain artists and regional pieces from 1865 to the present, also features creatively curated contemporary exhibits and thematic galleries showing works from other areas.
In the late 19th century, a Vanderbilt heir constructed the Biltmore Estate, then the largest privately owned home in the U.S., adjacent to Asheville. Frederick Law Olmstead was commissioned to design the grounds. It now houses a museum, two hotels (the Inn on Biltmore Estate and Village Hotel on Biltmore Estate), three restaurants, four gift shops and a winery.
In downtown Asheville, there's a building that can be described in two words that may never have been previously linked: "stunning cafeteria." The S&W Cafeteria is an art deco marvel.
A few blocks away is the Basilica of St. Lawrence, designed by architect Rafael Guastavino. Known for his innovative use of domes, the structure is constructed entirely of tiles and features the largest elliptical dome in America.
Today, Asheville is renown as one of America's craft beer capitals and features 62 breweries. The largest, Hi-Wire Brewing, celebrated the reopening of its main taproom while we were in town. I chatted with co-founder and CEO Adam Charnack as, around us, craftspeople sold wares, a band played and clowns on stilts juggled. It seemed that half of Asheville turned out for the party.
Charnack said parts of the property had been under 15 feet of water. "You gotta just move forward, right?" he said. "We believe that the things that bring us together are stronger than the things that tear us apart, and our mission is to make the things that bring people together. Not just for us but for the hundreds of displaced artists and the rest of the community.
"The town lives and dies on tourism," he continued. "The infrastructure is here. Hotels are a steal and are laying out the red carpet, providing top-notch service. There are thousands of small, independent, family-run businesses that rely on tourism, and by coming to Asheville now you'll have a great experience that's equal to, if not better than, pre-storm. And support the community."
Over the years, by accident or design, I have visited destinations that were in the recovery stage following a natural disaster: New Orleans after Katrina; Phuket, Thailand, after the 2004 tsunami; Puerto Rico after Maria; Acapulco after Manuel. My previous reunion with college friends was in Quebec City after smoke from wildfires had thinned visitation.
I've found that what Charnack said is true: Places are often ready before visitors realize they are. The period between recovery and recognition has always provided an exceptional experience, both in terms of crowd reduction and the satisfaction that comes from helping a community get back on its feet.
If clients who typically would travel abroad are now reluctant because of the changing geopolitical landscape, suggest a domestic alternative: suggest they be an Asheville tourist.