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left917 is the High Country's independent read: local news, music, culture, and what's on, all in one place. No app, no login, no ads. And we're writing our own stuff now, not just rounding up everyone else's. Putting on an event? Share your calendar and we'll keep it on the air. Saw a flyer for something that isn't here? Send us the photo.
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Running all October
The High Country Haint List. Haunted trails, ghost tours and a live Rocky Horror shadowcast. Everything spooky between here and Oct. 31, updated as the flyers go up. Read it →
Early voting runs through Sat, Oct. 31, 3pm. Watauga and Avery sites close the weekends of Oct. 17–18 and 24–25. Ashe stays open those Saturdays, 8am–3pm. Sites and hours.
Tue, Oct. 20.
Absentee ballot requests close today at 5pm. Request one online from the State Board, then get it back to your county board by 7:30pm on Nov. 3. Voting in person? 6,345 early votes in person through Monday across Watauga, Ashe, and Avery, and Monday was the biggest day so far. Sites and hours.
Leaf peak
We spoke with fall color tracker Howard Neufeld. He says the Grandfather Mountain and Rough Ridge stretch peaked around Sunday, and the best looking runs through next weekend, Oct. 24–25. The foothills below 3,000 feet stay green until late October. His stop is Sims Pond, just before Price Lake coming from Blowing Rock, where sourwood and black gum add reds. Sunday's Parkway was stop and go from Blowing Rock to the Linn Cove Viaduct, so go midweek, go early, or take the back road from Boone to Todd. Once they're on the ground, Boone's leaf trucks run curbside through Dec. 18.
A Fleetwood post office fight, what the amendments on your ballot say, and tonight's picks are in the orange button below.
◆ Book of the Week · with Huzzah Books
The Cocktail Party
T.S. Eliot
Eliot's three-act play examines the social rituals and hidden emotional currents of a London cocktail party, where casual gatherings mask deeper personal crises. This first edition presents a landmark work of twentieth-century drama in near-perfect condition.
Read the pick →
🌓 First Quarter · 63% lit
Half-lit moon: planets and bright constellations show well, the dimmest stuff hides.
Sky's truly dark after 8:09 PM.
☄ Orionids peaks Oct 21 — look the southeast after midnight.
◆ NASA's photo today: An Anticrepuscular Rainbow Fan →
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