What’s happening this week

August 17

• Twilight 5K: The Twilight 5K Race is at 6 p.m. on August 17 at the Kelsey Hutchinson Founders Park in Highlands, N.C. The course is undulating, beginners or walkers will find it friendly, yet the faster runners will be challenged. Parking will be available around the Kelsey Hutchinson Founders park. 
• Twilight 10K: is being added to this year’s list, dubbed “Highlands Funnest 10K.” This event will be for runners 15 years of age and up. Parts of course will be unmonitored. Course is challenging and will go up Bear Pen Mtn in the town of Highlands. Come “eat the Bear”. Race is on August 17 starting at 6 p.m. at the Kelsey Hutchinson Founders Park. Registration and check-in will start at 4 p.m. Early packet pickup at Highlands Recreation Department Friday August 16 from 4-7 p.m. Please allow enough time to get checked in. Parking will be available around the park. Bring chairs, coolers, refreshments, blankets to join us for the evening music by High Five, starting around 7:30 p.m., it is going to be a blast!!! Glow sticks for the kids. Rarely above 80 degrees in summer. Always cool in the evening. Get out of the heat! This is your opportunity to come to “cool” Highlands N.C. and run on the plateau. Free photography this year by True Speed Photo.
  The route will take runners up Big Bear Pen. To sign up for the race click HERE.

August 22

• Library to Offer Weekly Scrabble Games: Due to popular demand, the Albert Carlton – Cashiers Community Library is happy to announce that we will now be offering a weekly Scrabble game at the Library. Starting Thursday, August 22 from noon – 3 p.m., and each following Thursday, we will host friendly games of the perennial favorite. The Library will provide two game boards and anyone who would like to bring their own is welcome to do so. Bring your love of words and strategy to the table, and Scrabble dictionaries will be available to settle any friendly disputes. These games are free and open to the public. For more information, call the Library at 828-743-0215. The Library is located at 249 Frank Allen Rd, across from the Post Office.

• Zahner Lecture Series: On August 22 at 6 p.m., the Highlands Biological Foundation’s Zahner Lecture Series will feature Phyllis Stiles, founder of Bee City USA, giving a lecture titled “The Plant-Pollinator Love Affair That Keeps Our Planet Humming.  This lecture is sponsored by Kim & Bill Coward. Join pollinator advocate Phyllis Stiles to learn about the plant and pollinator love affair that supports the reproduction of nearly ninety percent of the world’s flowering plant species. Responsible for 1 in 3 bites we eat and the reproduction of almost 90% of the world’s flowering plant species, hundreds of thousands of species of bees, butterflies, bats, beetles, wasps, moths, birds, and flies have co-evolved with plants for their mutual benefit. Stiles will explain why they are declining and how each of us can help reverse those trends. Stiles founded Bee City USA in Asheville in 2012. Bee City USA is a national program that galvanizes communities to sustain pollinators by providing them with healthy habitat, rich in a variety of native plants, and free to nearly free of pesticides. Phyllis joined the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation in 2018 after merging the Bee City USA organization with Xerces. In 2015, she was named United States Pollinator Advocate of the Year by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. Today, there are about 150 certified cities and college campuses from coast to coast, all committed to enhancing and expanding pollinator habitat. Stiles’ career stretches from West Africa to the Mississippi Delta, to non-profit organizations in fields ranging from natural resource and farmland protection to civic leadership development. She enjoys hiking and trying to speak French and play her upright bass. All are invited to participate in these free lectures, which will be held at the Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Road in Highlands at 6 p.m. on Thursday nights between July 11 and September 12. For a full schedule of lectures, as well as information on other programs, please click HERE or call the Highlands Biological Foundation at 828.526.2221. A free shuttle will run from Founders Park to the Nature Center beginning at 5:30 p.m.

August 23

August 24

• PAC Live via Satellite: The Highlands Performing Arts Center will present an Encore performance of the National Theatre of London’s live via satellite production of The Audience, starring Helen Mirren on at 1 p.m. on Saturday, August 24. For sixty years, Queen Elizabeth II has met with each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a private weekly meeting. This meeting is known as The Audience. No one knows what they discuss, not even their spouses. From the old warrior Winston Churchill, to the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair right up to today’s meetings with the incumbent David Cameron, the Queen advises her Prime Ministers on all matters both public and personal. Through these private audiences, we see glimpses of the woman behind the crown and witness the moments that shaped a monarch. Tickets can be purchased HERE or at the door. Highlands Performing Arts Center is located at 507 Chestnut Street, Highlands N.C.

August 29

• Zahner Lecture Series: On August 29 at 6 p.m., the Highlands Biological Foundation’s Zahner Lecture Series will feature Brent Martin, Director of the NC Bartram Trail Society, with a lecture titled “’Sublimely Awful Scenes’ William Bartram’s Travels through the Upper Little Tennessee River Valley in 1775”.  This lecture is sponsored by Martha and Michael Dupuis. The great naturalist and artist William Bartram traveled into western North Carolina and northeast Georgia in May of 1775, providing us with a rare glimpse into the area’s ecological and cultural features.  Along the way, he describes plant and tree species unknown to western science at the time, Cherokee villages and their inhabitants, and detailed descriptions of the mountains and valleys.  His 1791 publications, Travels, is still an invaluable resource for those interested in 18th century American botany and native American history. Brent Martin is the co-owner/operator of Alarka Institute, LLC, a Macon County based business that offers workshops and field trips on a wide variety of cultural and natural history subjects.  He also works as the Director of the NC Bartram Trail Society.  His conservation and education career spans almost three decades, including time at The Wilderness Society, Mainspring, Georgia Forestwatch, and Kennesaw and Georgia State Universities. All are invited to participate in these free lectures, which will be held at the Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Road in Highlands at 6 p.m. on Thursday nights between July 11 and September 12. For a full schedule of lectures, as well as information on other programs, please click HERE or call the Highlands Biological Foundation at 828.526.2221. 

August 30

• Community Coffee at Hudson Library: Please join us at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 30 in the Hudson Library Meeting Room for “Airbnb and VRBO in Highlands: What are the issues?” with Mayor Patrick Taylor. Community Coffee with Mayor Taylor, a joint endeavor by Hudson Library and the Town of Highlands, is held on the last Friday of each month from February through October at Hudson Library. Every month Mayor Taylor, regularly joined by guest speakers, offers information about topics of interest to the entire Highlands community.  This month’s refreshments are provided by Highlands Plateau Audubon Society.For more information or to request an accommodation, please call the library at 828-526-3031. Hudson Library, 554 Main Street in Highlands, is open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday.

September 3

• The Bascom: Grace Woodard was selected as The Bascom’s 2019 Education Fellow and has been instrumental in providing instruction for youth and outreach programs this summer, including work with the Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau, the Macon County Public Library, and Chestnut Hill. Woodard is a recent graduate of the Western Carolina University School of Fine Art, receiving her BFA in sculpture. Grace’s work will be highlighted with a sculpture installation open in The Bascom Education Gallery through September 3. Grace’s exhibition titled Threads highlights distinctive moments in an individual’s life which help to create our unique stories.

September 27

• Satulah-bration 2019: Hike to Satulah Preserve from 10-2 p.m. on Sept. 27, followed by the Chili Cook-Off on Sept. 28 from  1-4 p.m. On September 30, 1909, the organization that eventually evolved into Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust (HCLT) officially took ownership of the summit of Satulah Mountain, their first property. From that day forward, they have cared for the summit of Satulah as a public property for all to enjoy in perpetuity.   This public park, now known as Satulah Mountain Preserve, has become a community treasure and on the last Saturday in September – the 28th this year- HCLT will host their fourth annual Satulah-bration. All are invited to this community event to honor this very special property and celebrate all the 3,000+ acres that HCLT preserves for ours and future generations.  This year’s festivities will include a hike to the Preserve on Friday followed by a chili cook-off at Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park on Saturday. Enter your chili in the cook off, or taste and judge your favorite, enjoy cold beer from Satulah Mountain Brewing, treats from Cake Bar and new this year- gem mining!  Purchase your bag of gems for sifting and also discover all the gems your land trust preserves in our own backyard.  Big thanks to our 2019 event sponsor- Entegra Bank. If you have any questions contact HCLT at info.hitrust@earthlink.net, 828.526.1111 or click HERE. Come out and celebrate with Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust; with your help HCLT, protects the quality if the air you breathe, the water you drink and healthy habitat for all who live here.

September 28

• Satulah-bration Chili Cook-Off: From 1-4 p.m. at Kelsey Hutchinson Founders Park.