Of the 20 North Carolina sites in the new report, six are in Western North Carolina — including the nonprofit’s No. 1 site, Interstate 40’s path through the Pigeon River Gorge.
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Of the 20 North Carolina sites in the new report, six are in Western North Carolina — including the nonprofit’s No. 1 site, Interstate 40’s path through the Pigeon River Gorge.
Xpress speaks with Marissa Percoco, executive director of Firefly Gathering, to learn more about the organization’s new nonprofit status, the inspiration to attain it and some of the pitfalls aspiring nonprofits should aim to avoid.
About 35 acres of the nearly 450-acre tract — purchased by the nonprofit Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy in 2020 and recently transferred to the town of Canton — are now open, including the Berm Park mountain bike skills course and a mixed-use hiking/biking trail.
“I feel like right now this COVID virus is forcing people to slow down and, hopefully, look internally and not just at their phones,” says Percoco, the Firefly Gathering’s new executive director. “It’s interesting how something like this can come in and show us how vulnerable we are.”
Classes take place on a hilly, wooded eco-homestead campus featuring Bogwalker’s self-constructed cabin, gardens and fruit trees, and students can choose to camp on the property for a full immersion into a more sustainable way of life. “We are permaculture in action, a living example of the beauty and abundance of the land,” she says.
For our nonprofit special issue, Mountain Xpress took a look at a spectrum of local nonprofits that have recently experienced significant changes or are in the midst of transformative shifts in management or focus. We also checked in on some of the largest grant funding awards our region has seen this year.
Looking back on 2017, Xpress highlights some of the hundreds of stories we covered in our print editions and online over the year.
This year’s Firefly Gathering, being held June 25-28 in Barnardsville, aims to take its transformation potential a step further, putting cultural transformation at the forefront. The gathering, now in its eighth year, has always been geared toward changing participants’ lives through a variety of classes based on radical ideas and concepts, but this summer, directors are working to make that goal explicit instead of implicit.
If you’re looking to learn how to make your own bow and arrow, weave a belt or carve a wooden spoon, the Firefly Gathering is the place to be. But organizers say this festival isn’t just for getting barefoot and singing by the campfire — it’s also a response to problems in our society and environment.
The Firefly Gathering teaches novices and experienced outdoors people alike how make bows, track animals, construct shelters and more.