ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) -- Hi-Wire Brewing's River Arts District beer garden was brimming with customers on Sunday afternoon, the day after they reopened for the first time since Helene.
"It's incredibly gratifying and more than anything, though, it's great to feel somewhat normal again or feel those feelings of normality where you see so many friendly faces and so many people just having a great time celebrating the day together," Adam Charnack, Hi-Wire Brewing Co-Founder and CEO, said. "It's great to be back to that point."
North Carolina license plates painted the Hi-Wire parking lot, a visual representation of a local effort to help local businesses.
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"We're going to do what we can, and we saw Hi-Wire was opening this weekend, and we said we're going to pop out, so, here we are," Elizabeth Ottenfeld said.
Ottenfeld is as local as local gets; she is a T.C. Roberson graduate and teacher.
She knows Memorial Day Weekend, considered the unofficial start of summer, normally means a city teeming with tourists, but this year, almost eight months since Helene, it's hard to lean on the reliability of tourism dollars, so it's locals like Ottenfeld stepping up.
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"Asheville's a beautiful place. It's a homeplace, and it's a place where people are always welcome," she said. "It was good before the storm, but now people are really bringing out who they are and what they want to show to the world, and I think it's as good a time as ever, the best time as ever, to come out and support Asheville."
There is more of the same just a few minutes away in Biltmore Village. Emily and Phil Granger live in Hendersonville and chose to consciously spend their time and money around town this Memorial Day Weekend: Saturday at a winery in Flat Rock, Sunday morning hike at Catawba Falls, followed by beers and live music at recently reopened French Broad River Brewery.
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"I work down in Greenville, and I've talked to people that have been like 'Oh, my wife and I were talking about going up and doing something and she's like, 'Oh it's too soon,' it's like 'Oh, no don't not come,'" Phil Granger said. "Come bring your money, spend your money, come and be a tourist and come to Asheville. It's nice, and it's open."
"Yeah, I don't know. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," he said.