The Mitchell County Commissioners, Spruce Pine Town Council, Bakersville Town Council and members of the Mitchell Chamber were all in a room for a joint meeting on Feb. 15. (MNJ photo/Juliana Walker)
LEDGER — The Mitchell County Board of Commissioners held a joint meeting with the Spruce Pine Town Council, Bakersville Town Council and representatives from the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Feb. 15 to discuss marketing strategies for the county.
The meeting, which was held at the Mitchell County Schools Central Office in Ledger, was organized in an effort to accomplish one of the board’s short-term goals made in a special meeting last month: promote Mitchell County.
“It was a very productive meeting, a very encouraging meeting from our board to find out that all of us actually had several goals in common, but one goal in particular for each board member was the promotion of Mitchell County,” Board of Commissioners Chairman Matthew “Vern” Grindstaff said at the start of the meeting.
Grindstaff explained all five commissioners agreed the best way to promote Mitchell County was collaboratively with both town councils and other organizations in the county.
“We all know the beauty that Mitchell County holds and I think we all share that common goal or we wouldn’t be in public service,” Grindstaff said. “And I think all of us would say we want to be a part in bringing people to Mitchell County to spend money in our county and to give back, if you will, from an area of taxes, from an area of tourism dollars and also from an area of growth for people to live here, to buy here, to build here and be a part of this county and both of our towns.”
Following Grindstaff’s opening remarks, Commissioner Jeff Harding explained what he had in mind for marketing Mitchell County which included an array of goals, some more easily attainable than others.
One of the more difficult goals Harding noted was cleaning up some of the corridors coming into the county, like off of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Grassy Creek, so visitors weren’t put off.
“First of all, I think, in certain areas of our county, we need to make it more attractive or get it cleaned up, when we’re coming into our towns from different ways,” Harding said.
Later in the meeting, Spruce Pine Council Member Jackie Rensink brought up the topic again and suggested zoning laws, to which Harding replied that zoning is hard to discuss in Mitchell County.
“It’s not a popular thing to talk about because anytime you talk about zoning or corridor zoning, people get offended and say you’re trying to tell them what they can do with their land or you’re taking their land,” Harding said. “And that’s going to be a very tricky thing for this board to discuss and enact because it is a very controversial thing.”
Others at the meeting echoed Harding’s sentiment, including Chamber Director Patti Jensen, who said she didn’t want tourists to feel tricked by fancy marketing once they arrived.
“We can put all of the money that we have in the middle of this room and we can throw it at all the good idea...but, until we clean this county up and until we change the experience that people are having when they come to Mitchell County, they aren’t going to come back,” Jensen said. “They’re going to come one time because we teased them into coming.”
Jensen added she understood the commissioners had difficulty enforcing zoning, but noted it was their responsibility and could have a real impact.
“I get it,” Jensen said. “Zoning is tough. Being a commissioner and talking about it is tough. But that’s your job. And we need you all to do is put your fist down on the table on behalf of all the businesses in our county and frankly, for the people who live here.”
While much of the meeting revolved around physical changes that needed to be made, Jensen and Joe Glenn, general manager of Springmaid Mountain Resort and Chamber board member, spoke about a change in mindset regarding tourists and the county.
“I think we are lacking in educating people in the county about how important tourism is in our county,” Glenn said. “A lot of people see tourism as a burden or a person in their way on their way trying to get to Walmart or Ingles. They see that person from out of state as a nuisance, but those people are spending money here, they’re creating a livelihood and lowering people’s taxes by being here.”
Jensen added a shift in attitude toward what Mitchell County has to offer is also imperative.
“We have to change the experience that people have when they come,” Jensen said. “How are they treated when they come in the store and they ask ‘What’s there to do around here?’ and they get, ‘Well, you can go to Walmart.’ That’s on all of us. That’s on me, our office too. But that’s on all of us and our attitude.”
Another primary topic at the meeting was signage, which Harding recognized near the top of the meeting.
“The most expensive thing is proper signage, coming into the county and even on the state highways,” Harding said. “There’s very little signage welcoming people into the county. We need signage and I’m talking about nice, landscaped signs. I think that if we can get them into our towns, they will like what they see.”
Several others agreed with Harding about proper signage, including Bakersville Mayor Chuck Vines who said there had been signs in the past which welcomed visitors to Mitchell County at the state line near Roan Mountain but they had all been destroyed.
On the topic of Roan Mountain, Jensen said because of the influx of people spending time outdoors during the ongoing pandemic, Roan Mountain has been overrun and is experiencing major trail damage.
Jensen said the two main attractions that bring people to the county are the arts and outdoor attractions and with a new outdoor recreation task force which was approved by the previous board, they need to work on marketing trails other than Roan Mountain.
“We need to be looking at trails between Roan Mountain and other parts of Mitchell County that we can promote,” Jensen said. “So that when Roan Mountain is full and busy, there are other trails in Mitchell County that people can know about and come to and enjoy that are not being overused and abused like Roan Mountain was and, in my opinion, is going to continue to be until we can get a handle on it.”
Near the end of the meeting, Harding said he was tired of coming in second to neighboring Yancey County.
“I’m going to put this just as plain as I can say it and just as honest as I can say it, Yancey County’s kicking our butt in everything right now,” Harding said. “In everything they do, they’re kicking our tails. And, if we as Mitchell County want to keep finishing second, that’s up to us, the elected officials. If we’re tired of finishing second, let’s do something about it, instead of just talking about it. It’s time to formulate a plan.”
At the close of the meeting, no action was taken, however, Grindstaff requested that the town councils and Chamber all discuss marketing and what they can do at their next meetings so they can return to future joint meetings and formulate a more concrete plan.