Highway Repaving Creates New Jobs in North Carolina

Thanks to $4.5 million provided by the government’s stimulus package, Western North Carolina will be able to employ 135 people by the end of this month to aid in repairing and resurfacing a large portion of the Spartanburg Highway.  This is just part of the $6.1 billion that will be pumped into the state’s economy for classrooms, energy, tax cuts for working families and financial aid for college students as well as road construction and repair.  While Senator Kay Hagen agrees that the stimulus bill is not the “perfect bill”, she is happy to get badly needed jobs into the area.  By creating these new jobs, more money will be kept within the local economy, creating a positive ripple effect in the economy.  Mayor Greg Newman, from Hendersonville, felt that the most pressing issue on the minds of Americans was jobs.  As a mayor of a small North Carolina town, he was grateful that the money would be used to help ease the pressure of unemployment that has fallen across the area.

Easter Weekend in Hendersonville

If you are in the Hendersonville area this weekend, there will be some wonderful events going on that you may want to take your family to enjoy.  Mountain Lore Books & More will be hosting an Easter Party from 1-4pm on Saturday, April 11th, at their Main Street store in Hendersonville.  This is part of their ongoing Second Saturday Kids progam.  For more info, please call 693-5096.

Downtown Hendersonville will be the scene for the Easter Bonnet Contest and Promenade from 11am-12pm on Saturday, April 11th.  Put on your best Easter Bonnet and take a nice little stroll starting from the gazebo located on the 400 block of Main Street for about five blocks, then go north to the 600 block and head on back to the gazebo to complete your promenade.  Narnia Studios will award the winner of the Easter Bonnet Contest with a fun basket of “goodies”.  For more info, please call 697-6393.  I hope to see you there in all your Easter Bonnet glory!

There will be several Easter Egg Hunts around the area on Saturday as well.  Henderson County Parks and Recreation have invited the Easter Bunny to visit with the kids at Jackson Park starting at 12pm.  There will be food, fun, music and prizes as well as inflatables for the kids.  The Easter Egg Hunt begins at 1:30pm.

The Easter Bunny will be busy this Saturday.  He will also be making an appearance with the Laurels of Hendersonville on Saturday at 1:30pm to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt, pictures, refreshments and prizes.  For more info, please call 692-6000.

Etowah will be holding its own community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday from 3-4:30pm at the Etowah United Methodist Church.  You can register for the hunt at the church’s fellowship hall at 2:30pm.  Enjoy crafts, fun for the kids, an Easter Egg Hunt and a moving telling of the Easter story.

“Locked Up” for Charity

On March 25th, I was “locked up” at our local Hendersonville Outback Steakhouse to help raise money for the Muscular Distrophy Association.  This was a fun event where about 120 local business-people were thrown in a makeshift jail, complete with striped uniform, shackles and even a mug shot (you can see mine here).  Before I was picked up and taken to the association’s Maximum Appreciation Facility, I had raised $1500 for my “bail money”.  However, after making some phone calls from my “jail cell”, I helped raise even more.  This was a fun event that helped raise $45,000 for a great cause, which, even in these tough economic times, was $5000 more than last year.

Rich Cooke, Western North Carolina Real Estate