He also helped found the Wild Goose, New Story and Movies & Meaning festivals. Gareth leads retreats in North America and Ireland; and he founded The Porch Magazine.

Gareth’s new book, co-authored with Kathleen Norris, is A Whole Life in Twelve Movies: A Cinematic Journey to a Deeper Spirituality. Lee Isaac Chung, director of Twisters and Minari says, “I wish there was more writing … like it.”

Fr. James Martin says it’s “endlessly fascinating,” writer-director Scott Teems says it’s “a treasure,” and author Kaitlin Curtice says, “Please read this book … You’ll be so glad you did.”

Join us for an amazing night of music with Freddy Bradburn and members of his youth string band ensemble!

Hosted by award-winning songwriter, educator, and playwright Freddy Bradburn, FEATURING performances from Mr. Freddy’s young string band ensemble!

Freddy Bradburn taught communications, theater, and storytelling at McDowell Tech for more than 20 years. He is also an award-winning songwriter, mulit-instrumentalist, and member of the local trio The Happy Enchiladas. He has had two original musicals produced by the local theater. Presently, Freddy created and directs a youth string band that performs in the community.

Join us at the 37th Annual Appalachian Potters Market — Bigfoot Books & Brews will be providing the coffee!

Hosted by McDowell Arts Council Association 
Saturday, December 6th from 10-4pm in the Commons Area and Gymnasium of McDowell High School.

Cost: Entry is $5 for folks 16 years of age or older (cash or card)
All proceeds benefit McDowell County Arts Council (MACA) ​

Accessibility:
Anyone utilizing a wheelchair, cane, mobility device, stroller, or with 'bad knees' should Entrance #1 located at the main entrance of the school / front entrance of the Commons Area. This entrance will be clearly marked and has ramps accessing the parking lot. You will be able to access all areas of the market from this entrance while avoiding the stairs located at the Gym Entrance. If you have good knees, a secondary entrance is located on the upper level of the Gym at Entrance #2.

Parking:
Parking is free at Appalachian Potters Market. *​Do not park in or block designated accessibility spaces or lots marked for vendors.

Join us on SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY for our BIGGEST AUTHOR BOOK EVENT yet!

NYTimes best-selling author Megan Shepherd will be signing copies of her #1 young adult fiction book Hour of the Pumpkin Queen: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas …

NOTE: Event location is Golden Hour, 44 Depot St., Marion

“They discover that someone has tampered with the clock that controls Halloween Town, and Sally cannot return to the present-day version of her home unless she finds the culprit and resets time.

“Sally and Luna embark on a journey to unmask the truth, encountering more towns, friends, and foes along the way. But time is ticking, and as Sally fights to save Jack and her hometown, she wonders what kind of future she really wants—and what she must sacrifice to get it.”

Her young adult fantasy novel Grim Lovelies (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018) was featured in the Winter 2019 - 2020 Indie Next List for Reading Groups and is followed by the sequel Midnight Beauties (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). Megan’s debut middle grade title, The Secret Horses of Briar Hill (Random House, 2016), was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and Shelf Awareness, and was written about in Time magazine and The Wall Street Journal. Her middle-grade novel Dog Star (FSG, 2022), based on the true story of the first dog in space, was nominated as an NCSS Notable Book. Her shorter works include the stories “Hide-and-Seek” in the young adult horror anthology Slasher Girls and Monster Boys (Penguin, 2015) and "Lady Firebrand" in the young adult historical fiction anthology The Radical Element (Candlewick, 2018). Her first book for an adult audience, Malice House (Hyperion Avenue, 2022), is about the daughter of a famous novelist who uncovers a malignant secret manuscript. It was named an Amazon Editor's Best Pick for Horror, a Barnes & Noble's Top 10 Horror Book of 2022, and received a starred review from Booklist. It is followed by the second book in the Malice Compendium, Midnight Showing (Hyperion Avenue, 2023). She was selected by Disney Studios to write the novelization of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney, 2023) for the film's 30th anniversary, as well as tapped to complete the Pumpkin Queen series (Disney, 2025 + 2026) following Sally the Rag Doll's character after the events in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Hour of the Pumpkin Queen debuted at #1 on the New York Times young adult hardcover bestseller list.

“Born” into the book world, Megan grew up in her family’s independent bookstore in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Interested in foreign languages and travel, she earned a degree in International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and later joined the US Peace Corps, where she spent two years living and working in a small village in Senegal. There, she partnered with a local elementary school to transcribe oral folk tales into an illustrated picture book to distribute to students. Though she has always been an avid reader, this project first sparked her interest in telling her own stories.

Megan frequently speaks to schools and libraries and has taught for UNCA’s Great Smokies Writing Program, the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the NC Writers’ Network. In previous lives, she worked for a book publisher, an environmental nonprofit, as a raft guide, a nanny, and a park ranger in Montana.

When she is not writing, she can usually be found daydreaming in cafes, hiking in the mountains, and gardening at her farm in the mountains of Western North Carolina, which she and her husband share with their children, two hives of bees, eleven chickens, two cats, two horses, a scruffy dog, and several ghosts.

We remember the Big Fire of 1894 that destroyed many houses right here on Main Street and Court Street here in downtown Marion, NC!

“Before the fire of 1894, which gutted the town, Main Street in Marion was a collection of mostly wooded huts, houses, and buildings. The old Courthouse, located at its present location, was, however, of brick construction with two outside stairways meeting each other at the second floor. Construction began in 1843 and court was first held in 1845.

“The devastating fire of November 25, 1894 started on Sunday morning in an old building known as the ‘Ark’ which was located behind the Courthouse. The courthouse did not burn. The fire spread to Main Street and roared down the street across the railroad bridge and beyond.

“Next, it jumped across the street and went back up Main Street to Court Street. The few brick buildings were also gutted, as there was no public water supply.

“Cinders and burning timbers were blown all the way to Mt. Ida, but some houses miraculously escaped with the help of bucket brigades. Marion's citizens took in neighbors and shared what they had until permanent abodes could be established 2 or 3 years later.

“Actually, the rebuilt houses and business structures were much sturdier and much better built; and a new Marion, like the ‘Phoenix, arose from the ashes’!”

(Source: Facebook)

“The original county courthouse building constructed between 1843 and 1845 was destroyed in the fire along with many original town documents.

“Marion’s citizens took in neighbors and shared what they had until homes and businesses could be replaced. Citizens were determined to rebuild their town, and their efforts paid off with many of those same buildings still standing today as a testament of their determination. These buildings are recognized as some of the most significant architectural resources in the community, and are identified as contributing structures within the Main Street Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.”

(Source: City of Marion)

National Espresso Day is celebrated on November 23rd every year. This drink owes its existence to the espresso machine — a machine first patented in 1884 by Angelo Moriondo from Turin, Italy. When this machine was invented, it was listed as a steam machine for the instantaneous way it processed a cup of coffee.

The word espresso in Italian means “quick in time.” Before the advent of the espresso machine, espresso was simply a coffee expressly made for the person ordering it. It was also made with recently roasted and freshly ground beans. The cup was brewed shortly before serving. In the late 1800s, this practice was commonplace in cafés and restaurants.

Join us for a special poetry event featuring local writers Mildred Kiconco Barya—author of Hands in Clay—and Clint Bowman—author of If Lost—both reading from their new books!

About Hands in Clay
“A radical, radiant melancholy is the light that comes from Mildred Kiconco Barya’s poems. Moonlight, hellfire, komorebi—light filtered through leaves. And the light from fires—buried, rekindled, luminous—a cremating fire of ritual and transformation of experience. Barya has a discourse with the spirit world in dreams and receives messages from ancestors, phantom children, and the dead which proves the real world is porous and miraculous. Barya has a witchy power and has written a haunted book that manufactures wonder.” —Bruce Smith, Hungry Ghost

In If Lost, Bowman acts as both guide and witness, leading readers through a tapestry of vivid imagery and haunting narratives. Invasive species choke native trees, abandoned churches crumble beside failing gas stations, and truckers cry in empty parking lots. Along highways lined with restless deer, Bowman’s poems examine how everyone—and everything—is searching for meaning, shelter, or escape in a world that feels perpetually on the brink.

Join us for a rip-roarin’ night of music and singing led by award-winning local songwriter, educator, and playwright Freddy Bradburn!

Woody Guthrie is the iconic songwriter of “This Land is Your Land,” originally a protest against Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” Woody is considered the father of modern protest music, directly influencing Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and many others.

We will sing, celebrate, and discuss the songs and life of Guthrie whose songs are more relevant now than ever.

Freddy Bradburn taught communications, theater, and storytelling at McDowell Tech for more than 20 years. He is also an award-winning songwriter, mulit-instrumentalist, and member of the local trio The Happy Enchiladas. He has had two original musicals produced by the local theater. Presently, Freddy created and directs a youth string band that performs in the community.

Join us for a special afternoon author talk and book signing with Asheville-based author and teacher Dr. Mac Marquis and Julian from the Asheville Prison Books program!

Dr. Dave “Mac” Marquis is a Founding Documents Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of South Carolina. He joined the department in 2022 after earning his PhD from the College of William & Mary. Mac is the Book Review Editor for H-Labor, the Executive Assistant for the Labor and Working Class History Association, and a former board member of the Southern Labor Studies Association.

Julian is a formerly incarcerated individual who has working with Asheville Prison Books since 2018. He read over 200 books while inside. An aspiring writer, he fervently defends access to books and all free speech.

We will be open 9am-9pm for Mountain Glory Festival! During the day, we will have massage therapist Christina Thompson offering chair massages for a small fee. Plus Bigfoot artwork from local artist Zonie Carter available for purchase!

Celebrate small-town life in the mountains at the 42nd Annual Mountain Glory Festival on October 11th, 2025. From 9am until 4pm!

Visitors looking for original handicrafts will find plenty of shopping choices with three jam-packed blocks, featuring over 150 craft, food, non-profit and sponsor booths of locally made arts and crafts; festival foods and pubs with local wines, mead and beers. Plus, two stages presenting Marion’s finest musicians.

Don’t miss the annual Mountain Glory Quilt Show inside the McDowell Arts Council. The quilt show is the gallery’s featured October exhibit.

The kids will have fun in the “Kid’s Korner” with hands-on activities, local entertainment and the ever popular best-dressed pet contest.

Shuttle services will run from Rose’s parking lot to the Festival site every half hour. Shuttle service is free. Handicap Parking will be available behind State Farm Insurance.

You might even see Bigfoot, Marion’s Mascot!

To find additional area events, attractions and lodging information, visit destinationmcdowell.com or call toll-free 1-888-233-6111.

The festival is sponsored by the City of Marion.

Major labor movement history was made right here in downtown Marion:

“On October 2, 1929, deputies fired into a crowd of striking workers in Marion, North Carolina. Six were killed and even more wounded at the Marion Manufacturing Company in one of the deadliest acts of strike-busting in the South.

“This year marked an apogee of strikes and labor organization in southern textile mills. Eight years prior, over 100 miners were killed at the Battle of Blair Mountain in West Virginia in a period of coal clashes and unionization attempts. Later in the 1920s, many textile workers reacting to grueling and dirty work conditions under the ‘stretch-out’ system, along with a reduction of their pay in company scrip, began organizing and demanding better conditions. Spearheaded by the National Textile Workers Union (an organization supported by the Communist Party), concurrent strikes began early in 1929 at the Bemberg-Glanzstoff Rayon Corporation in Elizabethton, Tennessee and at Loray Mills in Gastonia, North Carolina. Female employees were key to the organization of both strikes, and the latter is most famously remembered for the death of Ella May Wiggins. National Guard members, local police, and union-busting mobs were called to both of these events.

“The Marion strikes (which occurred at the neighboring Clinchfield Mill as well) began July 11. Workers struck without official union support, resisting involvement by communist organizers. After frequent violence and threats, with two National Guard units present, workers returned to these mills September 11, with no raise in pay and a mandated 55-hour workweek. Marion Manufacturing Mill refused to rehire 114 of the strikers, leading to further anger. Workers struck again on October 2, and deputies were dispatched by the local sheriff. Though some details are murky, deputies shot into a crowd of strikers, killing four on site, wounding at least fifteen, with two others dying later. Nearby hospitals refused medical care to strikers, and churches of the mill village refused to administer their funerals. Eight deputies were charged, but acquitted in December. They contended the strikers were armed, but no guns were found, and the New York Times reported those killed were shot in the back.”

(Source: Asheville Museum of History)

Come have a coffee!

All October long!

National Book Month, held each year in October, is a celebration dedicated to promoting literacy, storytelling, and the importance of reading in our everyday lives. Established by the National Book Foundation in 2003, this event encourages readers of all ages to immerse themselves in the world of literature.

Whether through novels, poetry, essays, or historical texts, National Book Month serves as a reminder that books are essential tools for expanding our minds and understanding the world around us.

Come celebrate with us!