Once in awhile, someone organizing a raffle or offering a promotion will find Inn on Main Street bed and breakfast online and fall in love with our Grandma’s House image.
That’s what happened when D’Jella Gray of WQMG radio station in Winston-Salem called last year to ask us to participate in the Kit-Kat contest, an on-air promotion that included a romantic trip to Asheville (and Weaverville, of course), and the Blue Ridge Mountains. We were honored that she chose us.
Turns out that the winner of the gift certificate, Tyisha Williams, had a friend who she said needed the trip more than she did. Because of Tyisha’s generosity, we got the sweetest folks staying with us, a couple who had sacrificed a lot for their family over the past year and indeed needed a romantic break.
Elizabeth and Roland Tita celebrated their fourth anniversary with us, enjoying a couples massage, an hour soak in a hot mineral bath, and a visit to the Biltmore Estate, all part of our Soaking Soulmates special. We wish them all the best, and thank D’Jella, WQMG and Tyisha for making it all happen.
Life at a bed and breakfast isn’t exactly the celebrity spotlight, though on occasion we are interviewed for stories or rub elbows with those who rub elbows with the rich and famous. When publicity calls, we like to answer.
Go magazine, the in-flight magazine for AirTran Airways, is doing an article for the July edition on Asheville, and wants to give our huge bed and breakfast community some recognition in the article. Their representative called me to see if we had any photos of Inn on Main Street bed and breakfast guests enjoying the atmosphere at a local B&B. I sent out a message to all the members of the Asheville Bed and Breakfast Association to see if they could pitch in, then went looking through my own files. Unfortunately, dozens of photos of happy guests disappeared into the void when our computer crashed earlier this year.
Lucky for us, we had a lovely couple staying with us at the time, Bette and Tom Werlin of Houston. They are great sports and agreed to let us shoot them (they aren’t THAT great of sports; we shot them with a camera) for the article. We’re hoping they and we will share a month of celebrity if the photo appears in the magazine. In the meantime, their looks are too good to waste, so here’s their photo, taken as Nancy poured their juice:
We are hoping the AirTran article succeeds in bringing more folks from Texas and elsewhere to Weaverville and Asheville. So much of what has been written about our area is so two-dimensional, focusing only on the Biltmore Estate and Grove Park Inn. Both are treasures that help make our area exceptional, of course, but the culture, diversity and natural beauty of our area don’t seem to get their due. And, of course, nether does the fact that the Asheville area is a B&B destination. If you want to understand the complexity of what our region offers, and you want an inside track on the best things to see and do, it helps to stay with someone who is a part of the community.
Many of our guests are good sports, and many have become friends. We look forward to meeting many more as nice as the Werlins.
Here at Inn on Main Street, you can count on May to be unpredictable. We put the air conditioners back into the cottage windows just in time to experience a late frost warning that sent me to the garden with buckets to cover the tomato plants.
Then the weather turned blazing hot, pushing 90 for a day or two. After a few days of window-opening weather, it’s turned cool again, which suits us just fine. Despite the seesaw temps, the flowers have decided they can’t wait any longer and have burst into a carpet of colors. Rhododendron, weigelias, irises, bleeding hearts, lupine, knockout roses, dianthus and even peonies are claiming the stage. Even the banana plants, which we thought died in the heavy freeze this year, are sending up a few survivors.
My favorite are the poppies. The show they put on is short, just a few days and then they’re done. Nancy got a good photo of them so we can remember them the 51 weeks of the year they take a break. Wouldn’t that be a nice work schedule? When you have a bed and breakfast near Asheville, that won’t happen. But I can dream.
We’re thrilled that President Obama is coming to Asheville for his personal vacation.
It seems peculiar that he would choose our mountains, when he has all the privacy and beauty of Camp David, or could jet off to some more exotic locale. I like to think that he loved the Asheville vibe while he was campaigning here. He picked up lunch at 12 Bones then and no doubt got a glimpse of our youthful (in attitude, if not always in years), hip, artsy and active culture.
Maybe he’ll drop in on a studio or two at the Weaverville Art Safari, or better yet bid at the silent auction on Friday, while he’s in town. Michelle Obama would look great in some handmade wearable art created by a Weaverville artist.
We can certainly use the exposure. Tourism has taken a hit from the recession. People still visit the Biltmore Estate, but on a budget. Everyone has downsized, so folks we would have gotten as guests here in better times are shaving expenses by staying at chain motels and eating fast food. We like to see the president stay at the Grove Park Inn (if not Inn on Main Street!) just to show there’s no reason to slum it. Bad food and bad beds should be stimulus enough to come back to comfort.
President Obama will be here when the mountains are at their best, full of redbud and dogwood blossoms, as well as delicate mountain orchids, trilliums and fiddleneck ferns. The songbirds are back and harmonizing. The days are sunny and the nights are cool. It’s a time we are thankful for the end of a harsh winter and the promise of a dawning summer. There is hope in the air, and we need our president to nurture that hope. Welcome home to Asheville, Mr. Obama.
After a brutal winter, by Weaverville standards, the promise of warm and blooming weather has arrived. We’ve been so eager to see the first daffodil open we couldn’t stand it. Well, here he is, captured in the act of opening.
Other signs of spring are also arriving: The Biltmore Estate is opening its Antler Hill Village this weekend, and begins the Festival of Flowers in a couple weeks. It’s T-shirt weather again, a sultry 63 degrees today. Mrs. Landers called to schedule her first-graders’ annual egg hunt on the Inn on Main Street lawn. Our koi have emerged from near-hibernation and are exploring their surroundings again. The only folks in shorts are fresh arrivals from Florida, but we’re all fixing to break out the bags of summer clothes soon.
Spring brings promise on all levels. We innkeepers rejoice at the return of guests, and our bed and breakfast guests rejoice at a slow-but-sure improvement in the economy. Cabin fever is giving way to hope, and we’ve been yearning for that. May your spring blossom with hope as well.
Asheville gets a lot of publicity when Christmas comes to town. As bed and breakfast innkeepers, we do our part promoting the Biltmore Estate Christmas Candlelight Tours with special ticket prices and packages. Our version of the nearby big city has its own Christmas parade and sales and special events.
Here in Weaverville, Christmas is a quieter, family-oriented tradition. First of all, there’s the Christmas Parade at 1 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 5. It’s a traditional affair with marching bands, dignitaries in convertibles and floats, as well as Santa. The route passes in front of Inn on Main Street, so our guests get a prime view. That evening, the Vance Birthplace celebrates with its own Christmas Candlelight Tour from 4-7 p.m. See what Christmas was like before the Civil War.
The next Friday, Dec. 11, is an event that is unique to Weaverville, and one that grows sweeter each year. The Weaverville Christmas Candlelight Stroll takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. Santa arrives on a horse-drawn wagon in time for the lighting of the town Christmas tree. His helpers give out hot chocolate and candy, as several musical groups entertain with bagpipe, choirs, string ensemble and a barbershop quartet. Guests can sign up for wagon rides through downtown to the light of hundreds of luminarias. Proceeds will benefit local charities. Weaverville’s cafes, gift shops and galleries will remain open late.
Debbie and Wilson Stegall share a smile at Inn on Main Street.
Wilson and Debbie Stegall, like a lot of our guests, had never stayed at a bed and breakfast before they visited Inn on Main Street. They didn’t know what to expect, and probably wouldn’t have guessed that they’d make fast friends with folks from all over the country. Wilson, a Vietnam War vet, found a common bond with Lee Kind, an Iraq war vet who has authored books on leadership and training for parachute jumps. Lee and his wife Tricia were here for six nights of exploring Asheville, the Biltmore Estate and our beautiful mountains.
Needless to say, all were happy with their Asheville bed and breakfast experience, and we hope to see them return when the flowers bloom and the Blue Ridge Parkway re-opens. New paths and adventures await.
Edie Johnson, left, shares a moment with Peter and Joan Green at the Folk Art Center.
One of the most rewarding aspects of running a bed and breakfast is one we hardly anticipated. Our guests are not just clients; they often become friends of ours and of other guests.
We just got a Christmas card with a photo from one of our memorable guests, Pat Kapeghian, who visited in September with her friend Edie Johnson to celebrate their retirement from careers as special education teachers in New York. The photo, shot by Pat, shows Edie, left, with a lovely British couple who was visiting us at the same time, Peter and Joan Green. They all bumped into each other at the Folk Art Center en route to the Biltmore Estate after enjoying a lively conversation at breakfast that morning. Along the Blue Ridge Parkway they had encountered friends, hundreds and thousands of miles from home.
When we all enter this surprising mix of ages and nationalities and colors and religion we bond and learn that we have more in common than we think. That’s the inn’s Christmas gift to us, and it keeps giving.
In the Asheville area, we tend to think we’re recession-proof. Our economy is nurtured by the Biltmore Estate, Asheville’s charms and our beautiful mountains, a legendary draw for tourists. But our Inn on Main Street B&B, like other Asheville inns, is feeling the effects of the recession. Visits are down, and those guests who come tend to scale back on their stay.
To give our guests more value and more R&R, we’re offering more B&B this winter. Those folks who stay two nights in a premium room in January and February get a third night free, or free two-day tickets to the Biltmore. Stay in a queen room or the Monroe, and get the third night free. This deal doesn’t include Valentine’s Day weekend, but we have a special for Valentine lovers as well. Stay three nights in any room and we’ll buy an arrangement of roses. We stay busy and you get more value in your stay. We hope these specials can help make your stay special.
In our 10 years as innkeepers, we’ve seen one wonderful trend develop. More than ever, women are having a girlfriends getaway with old friends, sisters and co-workers, as well as with moms and daughters. We’ve answered that call with a Girlfriend Getaway special that includes a massage, facial and sauna at Secret Garden Spa, along with two-day tickets to the Biltmore Estate. The response has been fantastic. It helps that we are one of the rare bed and breakfasts around Asheville with two rooms with twin beds.
Another phenomenon has been an increase in women business travelers. As hotel costs rise, B&Bs become an attractive alternative for businesspeople on a budget. But women, in particular, say they prefer the hominess, safety and peace they find at our B&B. We were quoted by U.S. News and World Report a few years back on women’s preference for B&Bs. What businesswomen were saying then still goes. In addition, we have wireless internet now.
One recent visitor was Mollie Silver, here to begin classes at the Center for Massage and Natural Health. Several seminar teachers at the school have stayed here as well. Like most other business travelers, Mollie says she plans to return sometime when she doesn’t have to eat and run.
