Rotary Club of Blowing Rock

04/08/2026

01/31/2026

Preview…

01/25/2026

Very cool…part deux.

Crank it up!

01/24/2026

Be prepared…

01/17/2026

Very cool…more to follow.

12/04/2025

Hello High Country!

Lots of posts coming. First up…

BLOWING ROCK —The Blowing Rock Rotary Club held its annual Day of Giving to highlight the work of regional nonprofits and distributing grants to support community programs. The Rotary Club

11/22/2025

Hello High Country!

Back on the air after a brief hiatus. Lots of news to share.

1) From our club scribe and member of the Blowing Rock town council Catherine Perry:

Tracey Brown, Director of Blowing Rock Tourism Development Authority, recently gave our Rotary Club a picture of the tourism numbers for 2025.

You may wonder what the Blowing Rock TDA is. Here is a description:

The Blowing Rock Tourism Development Authority (BRTDA) is a government authority funded by a 6% occupancy tax on overnight stays, responsible for promoting tourism in Blowing Rock, NC. Located at 132 Park Avenue, it partners with the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce and uses its funding to promote the area and support tourism-related projects.

Tracey's presentation was chock-full of numbers. Here are a few highlights:
Occupancy tax for 2025: $1,771,551
Overnight spending: $88,577,550
Money spent in Watauga County was up by 3.06% at $505,000,000
Watauga County has 3,016 employees who are connected to tourism through hundreds of businesses.
TDA has 2 surveys each year for Blowing Rock businesses
During the next year, 75 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway will be closed at different times while repairs are made as part of the Great American Outdoor Act.
Blowing Rock has 626 hotel rooms spread across 24 hotels, inns, and bed-and-breakfast lodging.
The Town has 243 short-term rental units.
66.4% of visitors spend the night in Blowing Rock. The TDA tracks cell phones to get this number

TDA has a new website that you should check out.

2) We also recently welcomed two new members to our club: Angela Loos, executive director of Quiet Givers, and Holly Helmig. We will be providing more about them in the coming weeks.

3) More exciting news: at our next meeting on December 1 (after our Thanksgiving break) we will be presenting our annual funding to several nonprofit organizations. All of them will be sharing their stories of how they impact our Watauga County community.

We meet at the Meadowbrook Inn in Blowing Rock on Mondays starting at 11:45 for lunch followed by our meeting program, ending around 1PM.

Hope to see you there!

What is a TDA? A Tourism Development Authority (TDA) is created by the NC Legislature. It allows municipalities and counties to collect occupancy taxes which are to be spent on tourism development and promotion to visitors from outside their boundaries. How is the TDA funded? The Blowing Rock Touris...

11/01/2025

Hello High Country!

This past Tuesday, we had another of our evening membership socials. These events serve to introduce our club in particular and Rotary in general to prospective members. We are happy to say it was a smashing success, with a dozen visitors joining our club members in fellowship with some fine wine from Sunset and Vine (❤️ to Sharon Crisman, proprietor and Rotarian) and food provided by our members. Prospective members were from local businesses and non-profits, as well from local government. A wonderful time was had by all!

Our next regularly scheduled Rotary Club meeting will be held this week only at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church meeting room. We start with fellowship and lunch at 11:45, followed by the program, wrapping up at 1PM. Our speaker will be our newest member, Stacey Gibson, development director of Quiet Givers.

Hope to see you there.

10/24/2025

Hello High Country!

Written by our club scribe (and a member of our town’s council) Cat Perry:

In light of World Polio Day this week on 10/24, our 10/20 meeting focused on Rotary’s Polio Plus program.


We began the presentation with a video featuring Bill Gates speaking about the Gates Foundation's matching dollar for Rotary’s Polio Plus contributions. The Gates Foundation has doubled down on its mission to end polio, as illustrated by the 2-for-1 match.

Our club member Wayne Holliday, as our Polio Plus director, said that Rotary could not have accomplished as much as we have without the Gates Foundation's contribution. Wayne also covered the goals Rotary has for eradicating polio.
Improving lives
Investing in the future
Improving child health
Lowering health care costs
Making history
Rotary International’s primary objectives for polio eradication are fundraising, advocacy, and volunteer support to facilitate the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Key activities include funding the delivery of the oral polio vaccine, engaging local Rotarians to facilitate community mobilization during vaccination campaigns, and raising awareness to encourage government support.

Rotary, under a renewed agreement with the Gates Foundation, has committed to raising up to $50 million per year. With the Foundation matching 2-to-1, this totals $450 million over the next three years for the GPEI. Our club’s goal is for each member to contribute $45.00 to polio, while the district’s goal is $100.00. With the Gates Foundation match, for every $25.00 the club contributes, the Foundation puts in $50 for a total of $75!

10/24/2025

It is World Polio Day!!
Let’s share what amazing things are happening in 7670 to bring awareness to Ending Polio!!

10/18/2025

Hello High Country!

From our club scribe (and Blowing Rock council member) Cat Perry:

The Blowing Rock Rotary Club enthusiastically welcomed our speakers from MountainTrue, Hannah Woodburn and Emma Crider.

Hannah Woodburn is the inaugural Upper New Riverkeeper as of September, 2025, a new full-time position dedicated to safeguarding the headwaters and tributaries of the New River in North Carolina’s High Country. This appointment expands MountainTrue’s Riverkeeper program and underscores the organization’s commitment to clean water in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains. Her role expands protections for vital mountain waterways in Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany Counties, an area of approximately 750 square miles of river. As the new Upper New Riverkeeper, Hannah will patrol local waterways, respond to pollution complaints, and lead community-based water quality volunteer programs like Swim Guide, Volunteer Water Information Network (VWIN), and Trash Trout.

Emma Crider is the High Country Watershed Outreach Coordinator. As High Country Outreach Coordinator, Emma supports MountainTrue’s efforts related to community organizing, environmental outreach, and volunteer management for nonnative invasive plant (NNIP) control and other citizen-science programs in the High Country region. Emma works with local partners to conduct public education events, mobilize community members to action, and support environmental restoration efforts both aquatically and terrestrially.

Hannah told us that they have expanded their septic repairs program. Recently, the work in Buncombe County repaired 16 septic systems.

One of their primary programs is testing for E. coli. To keep rivers clean, the program employs science-based solutions. During the summer, they test the water and determine if it is safe for swimmers. Their results are posted on the Swim Guide on their website. The LiveStaking program is important for erosion near streams and waterways. Some of the trees they use are Button Bush, Silky Willow, Silky Dogwood, and Elderberry.

Not only did we learn about the Upper New Riverkeeper, Hannah and Emma also shared what MountainTrue does. MountainTrue is an environmental nonprofit that champions resilient forests, clean waters, and healthy communities in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains. It does this through a variety of programs, including water quality monitoring, organizing river cleanups, advocating for public lands protection, and working on community development, smart growth, and clean energy initiatives. MountainTrue covers 26 counties in Western N.C. and Northern Georgia, and the Broad, French Broad, Green, and Watauga Rivers.

Our meetings are held Mondays at the Meadowbrook Inn of Blowing Rock. We begin gathering at 11:30 a.m. Don't miss out on the delicious lunch served at 11:45 a.m, with the meeting starting at 12:15 and ending promptly at 1:00PM.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!