Molly Boothroyd, daughter of Smoky Mountain Living owners Greg and Jennie Boothroyd, will attend East Tennessee State University in Johnson City this fall.
Mountain people are known for their industriousness, ingenuity and work ethic. Those traits will be more helpful than ever as the families and small businesses that call this region home claw their way back from the devastating effects of the coronavirus.
As I sit here on a beautiful day writing this column, my mind wanders to all the outdoor activities that usually lure me from my office this time of year: hiking, biking, jumping into rivers and lakes, picnicking atop a nearby mountain, or simply a hot sandwich and a cold beer at an outdoor table at one my favorite eateries. The spring and early summer months are irresistible in these mountains.
Right now, however, options are limited: national parks and national forests are closed, the Blue Ridge Parkway is off-limits to vehicular traffic, many municipal parks and recreation sites aren’t open, and restaurants and breweries are shuttered due to the pandemic. In a region where the opportunity for outdoor fun is usually just a few minutes away, life has taken on a very different vibe.
When this copy of Smoky Mountain Living gets to your hands, the stay-at-home orders may be—at least partially—lifted. Life may be on a path back toward normalcy. Perhaps.
But this issue of our magazine will remain a tangible, tactile symbol of how this pandemic has affected this region and its mom-and-pop businesses. That includes businesses like Smoky Mountain Living. Myself and my partner, Greg Boothroyd, own this magazine. Six employees and a dozen or more contract workers depend on it for all or part of their livelihood.
Greg and I—with our wives, Jennie and Lori—have both raised our families in Western North Carolina. Greg’s oldest daughter—a high school senior at Pisgah High in Canton and co-editor of her yearbook—has missed prom, graduation, yearbook signing days and more as she prepares for her freshman year at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. She won’t get to make the memories many of us cherish for life.
Though it saddens me to call attention to it, note how few pages we have in this issue. Many of our customers—most of which are also small businesses who depend on travelers—have decided not to advertise due to the uncertainty about their future. Those businesses who have been in previous issues and those who you see in this one need your support. Visit their storefronts if you can, and if you are able, support them through online purchases, gift cards, or reservations for future travel.
Some tourism experts think it will take as long as 18 months to two years before hotbeds like Asheville or Knoxville are back to attracting the kinds of numbers they had before the pandemic. Smaller towns, where there is more room to spread out, could come back faster. Here’s hoping that the recovery timeline is shorter and that things return to normal sooner than the experts are saying.
In the meantime, here’s an idea: purchase a subscription to Smoky Mountain Living—or buy one for a friend or relative—and you can help all of the small businesses, artists, musicians and others we showcase in each issue. All of us need to lend a hand to each other and we’ll get to the other side of this much faster and in better shape.
It’s time to move forward, fear less, do more. Thanks for reading.
—Scott McLeod