John Parks is a brewer and co-founder of Woodfin, North Carolina-based Zillicoah Beer Company, which was devastated by flooding from Hurricane Helene and remains closed indefinitely.

Parks and his co-founders, brothers Jonathan and Jeremy Chassner, are childhood friends who grew up in Miami and eventually all landed in the Asheville area. Taking their name from the Cherokee word for the French Broad River, Zillicoah opened on the river’s eastern bank in 2017. The founders designed the brewery with the possibility of flooding in mind, but like a lot of other people and businesses in the region, they weren’t prepared for the extent of devastation brought by Helene and didn’t have flood insurance.

When the French Broad reached its record high point, the surging water rose six feet inside the brewery, sweeping away equipment, specialty beer, and years of passionate hard work.

In this episode, Parks shares how Helene impacted the brewery, the challenges of rebuilding in a floodplain, the craft and passion that goes into Zillicoah’s beers, and the outpouring of support the brewery has received from the beer community near and far.

Click here to donate to Zillicoah Beer Company

Theme Music

The song "Goa" was written by Lyndsay Pruett and performed by the Jon Stickley Trio.

Heather Clements is a professional artist and art instructor whose life and work have been profoundly shaped by the forces of nature. Heather is part of Asheville’s River Arts District, which suffered catastrophic flooding during Hurricane Helene.

Helene was the second major storm to upend Heather’s life and career. In 2018, while living in Panama City, Florida, Hurricane Michael destroyed her home, forcing a year-long hiatus from creating art. Last year, Heather and her husband relocated to Asheville. This September, Helene spared their home but devastated most of the River Arts District, including 310 Art, the gallery where Heather taught classes and showcased her work, which explores the deep connection between humans and the natural world.

In this episode, Heather shares how these natural disasters have tested her resilience and transformed her creativity. She discusses her personal experiences with both Hurricane Michael and Helene; how natural disasters have hindered and inspired her work; and how a trip to the mountains after Hurricane Michael helped lift her out of depression. Heather also takes us behind the scenes of her creative process, from her interactive murals to her new book, “Pull Me Apart.”

Heather’s Work

heatherclementsart.com

“Pull Me Apart: An Interactive Sketchbook”

@heatherclementsart on Instagram

@heatherclementsart on TikTok

The art that stuck behind

Lilith, an interactive mural in downtown Asheville

Hurricane Helene flood self portrait

Donations

River Arts District

310 Art

Riverview Station

Also Mentioned

Bridget Benton

Re.Imagine

Wedge Studios

Poposition Press

Forever Tattoo

Middle Prong Wilderness

Laurel River Trail

Theme Music

The song "Goa" was written by Lyndsay Pruett and performed by the Jon Stickley Trio.

Elle DeBruhl is the co-founder of Flush AVL, a grassroots organization that stepped up in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene to provide non-potable water for flushing toilets to people in Asheville, North Carolina, and surrounding areas.

Elle is a recruiter for Ernst & Young, and up until the storm, she had no experience in water distribution. But not long after the storm, she realized that vulnerable neighbors and people in more densely populated areas of Asheville would need help getting water for flushing. Thanks to a family farm, Elle and her husband, Buddy, sprang to action and started filling 250-gallon containers with gray water and delivering them to locations in downtown Asheville. Soon after, Elle teamed up with Flush AVL co-founder Molly Black, who created a map that was crucial to strategically placing the containers, also known as totes, throughout the city. Alliances were formed with the likes of BeLoved Asheville and Highland Brewing, and what started with six totes and a truck swelled to more than 400 totes and an army of volunteers.

In this episode, Elle retraces the inception of Flush AVL and how they turned a crisis into a story of resilience and community support. She also discusses Flush AVL’s efforts to redistribute the totes to other communities after water returned to Asheville, and much more.

Flush AVL

flushavl.com

@flushavl_ on Instagram

Flush AVL’s GoFundMe

Also Mentioned

March toward normal turbidity continues, as third coagulation treatment is underway for Asheville’s water

BeLoved Asheville

Highland Brewing

Ernst & Young

Theme Music

The song "Goa" was written by Lyndsay Pruett and performed by the Jon Stickley Trio.

Mike Belleme is a Swannanoa, North Carolina-based photographer who is capturing the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene on Western North Carolina for major outlets like The New York Times.

Belleme is a self-taught, Appalachian-born documentary photographer, whose work intimately examines themes of connection and community and the physical, mental, and social constructs that cultivate and inhibit connection. In addition to The New York Times, his photos have also appeared in Rolling Stone, Time, The Guardian, National Geographic, and many more publications.

In this episode, Belleme talks about some of his own experiences during the storm, his work capturing Helene’s impact, and a few of his other projects. Belleme also discusses how he builds trust with his subjects in a polarized environment, the emotional challenges of navigating the storm’s aftermath, reckoning with climate change at his front door, and more.

Mike Belleme’s Work

mikebelleme.com

@mikebelleme on Instagram

Capturing a Community in Ruin: After years of documenting the effects of climate change in his home state of North Carolina, a photographer found himself in the path of a hurricane. (The New York Times)

Asheville Has Tap Water, but No One Knows When It Will Be Drinkable (The New York Times)

“Mise-en-Scène: The Lives and Afterlives of Urban Landscapes”

Americans share their greatest fears (CNN)

Also Mentioned

Asheville’s water situation

Biltmore Estate

River Arts District

Malaprop’s

Chai Pani

Visit Asheville’s tips for visitors

Blunt Pretzels

Fairview landslides from Helene that killed 13 were among worst in North Carolina history

The Nook

Theme Music

The song "Goa" was written by Lyndsay Pruett and performed by the Jon Stickley Trio.

The first episode of On the Blue Ridge focuses on host Jon Page’s account of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene near his home south of Asheville, North Carolina.

In late September, the hurricane tore a devastating path across the Southeast. The worst of its damage struck Western North Carolina, where a combination of severe flooding, powerful wind, and landslides ravaged communities and towns. Lives were lost, homes and businesses were swept away, and roads crumbled under the surging floodwaters. In the aftermath, widespread outages of power, water, and cellular service added to the region’s suffering. Some communities were inaccessible by road, shut off from aid for days.

Guests include Jon’s family members, including his parents, Bob and Judy Page; his sister and brother-in-law, Lauri and John Palko; his son, Lincoln; daughter, Eliza; and wife, Carie Page.

Looking to support relief efforts? Here are a few good places to start:

The Asheville Citizen-Times has an extensive list of ways to help and how to donate here:

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2024/10/02/asheville-nc-flooding-how-to-help-helene-relief-efforts-in-western-nc/75472474007/

So does Blue Ridge Outdoors:

https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/news/how-to-help-those-affected-by-hurricane-helene/

You can also help rebuild Lincoln’s school here:

https://givebutter.com/fernleafccs