The Mitchell County Visitor Center has resumed operation through at least the end of October, the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce announced this past week.
The Chamber lost the funding for the Visitor Center earlier this year in the wake of the county’s establishment of a local Travel and Tourism Development Authority.
As a result, the chamber no longer gets occupancy tax funds. The Chamber board shortly after announced its plans to terminate the lease with the National Parks Service for the Visitor Center, citing a lack of “feasible” ways to fund the center in its next budget.
The reopening of the Visitor Center is made possible via an anonymous “concerned community partner” which provided funds for almost six months of operating expenses. The News-Journal requested the name of the partner, but it was not provided.
In an effort to keep the center running past the roughly six-month mark, the Chamber will sell spotlight ads in both digital and framed formats. For info on spotlight ads, call 765-9033.
The Visitor Center, located at 79 Parkway Drive in Spruce Pine, is inside the National Park Service’s NC Minerals Museum, directly off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’ll open seven days a week through at least the end of October.
“We were so ecstatic when we were presented with the opportunity to possibly be able to reopen this vital asset in Mitchell County,” said Mandi Polly, Chamber executive director. “The initial decision did not come lightly to the board and the vote to reopen was a unanimous yes. We could not be more relieved about this opportunity to serve small businesses, the community and visitors again at the largest opening to our county.”