Rich Cooke

Come to the WNC Agricultural Center, located across from the Asheville Regional Airport, anytime between September 5-14 to enjoy the annual North Carolina Mountain State Fair, the Best of the West. This 10-day, family-oriented event includes carnival rides, pig races, animal exhibits, camel rides, a petting zoo, vendors, a wildlife show, Rusty's Western Show and artisans competing for a piece of the $180,000 prize money up for grabs in such categories as arts and crafts, canned and baked goods, flowers/gardening and livestock. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the gates open at 9am and rides open at 10am. During the week (Monday through Thursday), the gates will open at 3pm and the rides will open at 4pm. Admission to the fair at the gate is $5 for adults, $2 for kids ages 6-12 and children 5 and under are free. Ride coupons are available in sets of 12 for $12. Save money by purchasing tickets in advance at any Ingles store. Free parking is available on the WNC Agricultural Center's property and handicap parking is available for those with valid placards near the ticket booths at Entrance A. You can rent a wheelchair, scooter or stroller near Entrances A and E. All backpacks will be checked. No alcohol, drugs or firearms are allowed inside the fairgrounds and the only pets allowed at the facilities are trained service dogs for the handicapped. For more information on the entertainment at the fair, please visit the Mountain State Fair's entertainment schedule. I hope to see you there!

Do you want to remodel your home because you are looking to sell it soon? There are some smart remodel projects that will bring alot of bang for your buck and there are some remodel projects that may sound like a good idea, but won't bring a good return on your investment.

Do:

Remodel the bathroom. No costly, overdone bathroom remodel is necessary. Change out old brass hardware for newer, updated brushed nickel ones. Give a fresh coat of paint to the walls. Replace old lighting fixtures. Take out the tub and add a tiled-in shower with glass enclosure. Buy a new pedestal sink and toilet to open up the bathroom.

Replace the exterior siding. It's like putting a new outfit on your home. Vinyl siding is the most popular and inexpensive method for exterior siding. However, fiber cement siding can be made to look like stucco, wood or even cedar shingles. It is also fire resistent and can offer up to a 50-year guarantee. It will cost about 30% more than vinyl, but will yield a much bigger return on your investment and offers more alternative looks than simple vinyl siding.

Update your kitchen. You don't have to overspend in order to bring your kitchen into the 20th century. Replacing the old dishwasher, refrigerator and stove/oven with moderately priced stainless steel appliances can go a long way. Changing out the old cabinet knobs or drawer handles can alter the look of the cabinets. Rip up the old linoleum and replace it will newer, resilient flooring. A fresh coat of paint will do wonders to brighten up the space.

Think about converting that attic space into another bedroom and bath area. This is an especially good idea in a neighborhood with smaller homes. Because the wiring and walls are already there, it is less expensive to create a new bedroom in the attic than to add additional square footage anywhere else.

Don't:

Convert a spare bedroom into a fully custom office. Adding custom cabinetry and tearing out a closet to create room for your filing cabinets is great for those who work from home. However, when reselling a home, an extra bedroom will always outsell a custom home office. Utilizing the bedroom space as a home office by buying office furniture is fine. But make sure not to alter the room so that it can't be used as a regular bedroom when you sell it.

Overspend in the kitchen or master suite. While it is true that kitchens and master bedrooms sell homes, you don't want to spend so much on these areas that you are way out of league with the rest of the neighborhood. An $80,000 dollar dream kitchen or $100,000 deluxe master suite may sell well in Beverly Hills or New York City. But, if you don't live in an upscale neighborhood, the sales price of the home will not support this kind of an expenditure.

Construct an addition to the house for a nice family room. With exterior siding, extra wiring, patio doors and flooring, adding extra square footage to a home can easily cost you $50,000 for a reasonably sized room. Using that money to convert a basement into a game room or making the attic space into another bedroom and bathroom is a much better use of the money.

Remember that it is a smart idea to invest money into your home. Just make sure that you are smart about what part of the home you spend your dollars on.

Come spend Labor Day weekend in Hendersonville to celebrate the 62nd Annual North Carolina Apple Festival. Starting Friday, August 29th and ending Monday, September 1st, the Apple Festival will include a rousing street fair, live music, food, drinks, arts and crafts, activities for the kids, exhibits and, of course, apples, apples, apples! To cap off the weekend's events, the King Apple Parade will be held on Labor Day. Since animals are prohibited in the event area, please leave them at home. For tickets and more information on the schedule of events, please visit North Carolina Apple Festival's website or call them at 828-697-4557. Hope to see you there!

Officials are reassuring residents located downstream from Lake Lure's water treatment plant that, despite a reduction in water flow, the water quality if still good.  Due to the severe drought in the Lake Lure area, the water level is down by three feet and continues to lose approximately 1 1/4" per day.  Because of this, the water flow downstream was restricted from 9.7 million gallons per day to 9 million per day to help support the wildlife in the lake as well as continue functions at the water treatment plant.  The reduction is still well within state guidelines and the treatment plant is operating within the state's Special Order of Consent (SOC).  A recent inspection of the plant confirmed that there were no violations of the SOC.  While Lake Lure residents aren't currently under mandatory water restrictions, they are asked to conserve their water usage so that there will be no need to implement them.

12th Annual Chalk It Up Contest – Hendersonville, NC

Who knew that when Barbara Hughes sent her children outside to play, armed with a bucket of chalk and her instructions to make pictures on the sidewalk, that a chalk drawing contest would be born.

Barbara Hughes just wanted to give her children something to do, which she successfully did and, in addition, gave birth to the annual “Chalk It Up!”, This Sunday (July 12) Narnia Studios (Barbara Hughes, owner) will once again be sponsoring the nation’s largest and oldest sidewalk chalk coloring contest which was featured in Southern Living magazine.

The streets of downtown Hendersonville will be filled with thousands of visitors who will come to view the artwork. 150 competitors of all ages will turn the sidewalks of Main Street into a canvas for their works of art. Each contestant will be given 20 colored sidewalk chalk sticks. Five winners for each age (under 5, 6-8, 9–12, 13–20, over 21) category will be selected. Prizes will be donated by various local merchants with the grand prize of $100 being donated by Miller’s Cleaners.

The event is free and begins at 9 a.m. The artwork will remain on display until the rain washes it away. Commemorative T-shirts will be sold for only $12.

To help support this event: Chalk-It-Up-Contribute.

For information contact Barbara Hughes at 828-697-6393, Narnia Studios - Chalk It Up.

Registration: Narnia Studios, 315 N Main St, Hendersonville, NC.