NCLM Volume 70, Issue 4, 2020

NCLM.ORG 17 What caught Spiro’s attention was the area’s most obvious asset: the natural environment, specifically the rivers and streams. Though advertised for centuries, she now looked closer. What was being offered? What made it specific and worth visiting as opposed to rivers and streams anywhere else in the country? All it needed was a bit of packaging. The result was the nation’s first Fly Fishing Trail. Spiro led the effort to create a physical map that highlighted the prime fishing spots and different experiences the trail offered, and then published it. Twelve years later, it’s been featured in national publications like the New York Times and has been printed and handed out “hun- dreds of thousands of times,” as Breedlove estimates. “Big rivers. Wide open spaces. Long, loop- ing casts. Such are the popular images of fly-fishing, as it’s practiced out West…But in the creek-laced mountains of western North Carolina, with several thousand miles of public and private trout water packed into a million acres, there’s another version of the sport,” a New York Times piece from 2009 on the Fly Fishing Trail reads. The second example follows almost an identical playbook, albeit on land. It’s the Ale Trail, or Jackson County Brewery Trail. Though not trademarked like its fly fishing brethren, its successful packaging of a somewhat common resource—in this case, breweries—is the same. This project, formalized by Breedlove and facilitated by the towns, was essentially created by the community itself—a true testament to local pride and the creative environment created by the town and county leaders. Breedlove tells the story of seeing a woman in 2018 walking down Mill Street in Sylva with a hiking stick. Big rivers.Wide open spaces. Long, looping casts. Such are the popular images of fly-fishing, as it’s practiced outWest... But in the creek-laced mountains of westernNorth Carolina, with several thousandmiles of public and private trout water packed into amillion acres, there’s another version of the sport. Partnerships & Placemaking in Western Carolina The results are significant. Occupancy taxes collected from the last four full fiscal years beat the preceding four years by 24 percent. Just three months this year—July, August, and September—have already topped the entire 2012–13 fiscal year by more than 19 percent. Perhaps most astounding is the size and scope of the chief projects. There are many examples, some as massive as a down- town streetscape. Others are subtle, often boosting the collective reputation of the towns without as much as a passing notice: take-home stickers, branding, signage, and area-wide sustainability efforts. It’s this latter category that the local leaders highlight as the most important. They are not costly undertakings. Rather, they’re simply new ideas, reframing the assets already there. “That’s the best part about placemaking,” Metz said. “It doesn’t have to be big, expensive infrastructure projects. I’ve seen $500,000 projects. I’ve also seen $50 projects.” ˘˘˘ The Strategy atWork Two key projects illustrate this strategy towards both community and tourism- based economic development. They’re both trail maps. First, is the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail, created in 2008 by Spiro. It was created out of economic devastation and, thus, as Spiro remembers it, necessity. The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad was a scenic tourist line had been a longtime economic driver for the area, especially in Dillsboro. That rail line ceased operations in 2006 and the local economy collapsed. Spiro estimated that 40 percent of retail shops in town went out of business. “That made me super resourceful,” she said. “It caused us to look at everything we have available. What are our resources?” continues on page 18