From the General Manager

Published 3:51 pm Wednesday, October 26, 2022

As we were preparing the fall issue of Carter County Living, I couldn’t help but think about what makes fall so special.

Once we figured that out, we would need to incorporate that into the magazine’s fall edition. Then, I started thinking about where we live and the front-row seat we have when it comes to the beauty of seasons changing from summer to fall. You can pretty much tell it is going on by the cooler nights and mornings, but the one change you can’t miss is the change in color that occurs around us. Our landscape transforms within a few weeks from green to blazes of orange, red and gold.

I am very partial to these mountains and couldn’t imagine living elsewhere. However, I believe that because we live here, we also take for granted the beauty we are experiencing. The array of colors in the mountains with the blue sky as a background is the scene people spend a lot of money on photos and paintings to enjoy. Yet, we get to experience that reality for free. It’s just one of the many reasons why Carter County is the greatest place on earth to live.

Just like the boldness of the color in the mountains, we have a story lineup that fits right in, starting with our cover feature.

Emily Ward was on a road trip to Washington D.C. to see The Steeldrivers in concert when she got the call to be on American Idol. Five years ago, Ward, a talented singer-songwriter, was on her second round of American Idol, where she was able to audition all the way to the round with celebrity judges in New York City.

“Overall it was a great experience,” she said of her final attempt. Ward, who went on to win several local Voice Off competitions, sings, writes her own music, has some songs on Spotify and ITunes, and plays guitar as well. On “Welcome Home,” Ward’s written or co-written songs include “Follow the Lamb” and “Fires and Floods.” Her story is inspirational to all who appreciate talent, hard work and hope.

Renee Christian will tell you she has lived a good life so far, but there’s more to come now that she’s made her home in East Tennessee. And she’s betting you’ll find a home, too, with something dear to her heart: live theater.

Christian has 35 years of experience in community theater. Christian had only been in Elizabethton for a year after the move from Marion, Ohio, when she contacted the Bonnie Kate through email. Soon, she was involved in the creation of “The Friends of the Bonnie Kate” entity that then launched its first-ever community theater group.

We know that stories often circle back to where they began and lives can do the same thing.

So it has for artist Richard Righter, a local man who traveled with the U.S. Marine Corps but settled back on the land his great-grandfather toiled. His military career took him all over the world. Stationed “everywhere, from Camp Pendleton, Camp Lejeune, Afghanistan, the Mediterranean, Iran, you name it,” Righter said. “Being in the military, to be a Marine, was my life’s goal,” he said. “Art and everything else was unimportant to me compared to that, and I was very unhappy here doing art until I was able to first be a Marine.”

Now, he is focused on that art and sharing his process and his results with our readers.

These are just a few amazing stories in this issue that remind us what makes Carter County what it is today, the greatest place on earth to live.

We hope you enjoy this issue, and if you know of anyone that would make a great story, please let me know at delaney.scalf@elizabethton.com.