The Day The Secret Service Took Over My Shop

Your neighbor town can feel a mile away, until someone tells you the truth in a parking lot. We sit down with Brian Burpo, a Black Mountain local and the owner of Diamondback 4x4 in Swannanoa, to talk about how communities really connect and why small details like names, websites, and who you include in the story can change everything for local pride and local tourism.

We get into what people come to the valley for: shopping, art galleries, restaurants, hiking trails, fishing trips, and a growing wave of mountain biking across Western North Carolina. There’s also a hilarious reality check about e-bikes and what “assist” actually means after a long ride through the mountains. From new trail systems to a future bike park, we keep coming back to one idea: Black Mountain NC and Swannanoa NC do better when we stop competing and start sharing what’s nearby.

Then Brian tells the unbelievable storm-recovery story you have to hear to believe, the day President Donald Trump’s office asked to use his parking lot for a press conference. Security, secrecy, background checks, and a debris pile turned into a media platform, it’s a vivid snapshot of a community in a high-stress moment. We close by talking Swannanoa’s history, Beacon Manufacturing, old rivalries, and a fresh strategy for bringing visitors in through storytelling tours and geocaching.

If you care about small town business, local history, and things to do in the Blue Ridge Mountains, subscribe, share this with a friend who loves these towns, and leave us a review.

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Transcript

Parking Lot Friends And First Impressions

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Brian Burpo.

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:01

I am glad you're here today. Glad to be here. I am uh let's see, I met you in a parking lot. No, it doesn't. But it but there have been other podcasts that didn't sounded worse. So so there are worse places to meet people. Yeah, no, I met you in a parking lot in Swannanoa on my third day at the chamber. Yeah. You were my first Swannanoan friend, first person I met, and you challenged me big time. You called me on a lot of things, and it was awesome. It was great. I mean, I came back and made a lot of changes that day. You you anyway, we'll get to that in a second. But anyway, what's your story? Where are you from?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

My story, we don't have enough time for that. The short version. I'll give you I'll give you the skim across the top. So I was born and raised here in Black Mountain. Grew up out in Broad River. It's about 15 minutes going towards Chimney Rock. And uh that's where I lived my youth. Well, grew up to 16 years old. We

Growing Up In Black Mountain

SPEAKER_01 1:06

moved into town. What big city. Yeah, big city of Black Mountain. And uh where you actually had neighbors and stuff like that. But anyway, I moved in here sixteen years old. My parents, they uh business owners, owned a cabinet shop, and so we had a little showroom right across from the primary school.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

So I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Yeah. I'd get out of the school and go over there and get my bicycle and take off through Black Mountain.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Road, rode my bike, played uh with my friends with their skateboards. Yeah, we trouble.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

That sounds like trouble.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yeah, the whole town.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Sounds like trouble to me. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Got my first job as a selling newspaper at the post office.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Selling newspaper at the post okay, like standing there.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Black mountain, you know, newspaper. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

And and they were across the street from the post office.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Yeah, that's where the main office was. I'd go in there. They'd give me my bag of newspapers, go right over there to the post office and stand there and peddle newspapers.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Were you good at it? I think so. Or were people buying papers anyway? What do you think it was?

SPEAKER_01 2:14

I like to think it was because I was just a cute kid that they wanted to buy a paper from.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

I felt sorry for him, poor guy. Oh my goodness. That's awesome. All right. So when we lived in Broad River, did we did we go to uh the Owen system?

SPEAKER_01 2:27

I did.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

I don't know exactly where that's cool. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Black Mountain Primary School.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Okay. And that's it's where it was. That's where it was. It's still where it was.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Well, where it is.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Where it is. That's what I meant. Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

All right.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Roll the rode the school bus into town every day to go to school, and I got a lot of good memories of that. And I don't know. I mean, I had a good life.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Were you the guy who got in trouble in high school or the guy who didn't get in trouble in high school or never got caught?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

I think I got a I think I was a little bit of a mixture.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Okay. Any stories you can tell us? Statue of limitations is done. You're good.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

There's still some of those people that live here in town.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Okay. Okay. You don't have to. It's funny. I ask that whenever I have somebody on the podcast, I ask, like, somebody who went to Owen High School. I'm like, tell me what you did that you got. They're always like, nope, not doing it. Absolutely not gonna tell. Not telling. It's funny. It cracks me up. I really thought you were gonna be the one that told me a story, though.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

I'll come up with a good story for you. Yeah. What do people do while they're here? Because you know, I born and raised here. But I don't I I haven't been on half the hiking trails. I haven't been on half the you know.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

But there are so many of them.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

There's a ton of them. Yeah. And when people come in town, I actually that's when I get to or take the time, I guess, to enjoy local tourism. So what do people do? What do people come here for?

SPEAKER_02 3:53

People come here for shopping, arts,

What Visitors Come Here To Do

SPEAKER_02 3:55

galleries, restaurants, and hiking.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

And how's that in anywhere else, though?

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Well, that's a good question. Yeah. It's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Everybody every place has that. We just don't we don't have wings yet. The wing store? Like at the everywhere you go at the beach and everything.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

I have no idea what the wing store is.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Do you go to the beach?

SPEAKER_02 4:13

No, I try not to.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

This is really good. I mean Myrtle Beach, they got oil. What are the other things? Like chicken wings? No. It's like a Walmart of beach equipment and everything.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Wings. Yeah. W-I-N-G-S. Peter, do you know what that is?

unknown 4:36

I know what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Yeah. We're not getting one.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

That is the answer. The answer is no, we're not getting one. I don't know what you would have that. How do we get on that topic anyway?

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Well, because you asked me, what do people do when they come here? So one of the things people talk about when they come to visit our town is how nice everybody is and how all the people like that they visit with are happy to see them.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Now, my perspective, like that's my job is to know that. But if if you aren't nice to people who are spending money in your shop or your gallery, they're not coming back and they're not buying from you. So of course they're nice.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Oh, there'll always be a rotation of people. Exactly. But I'm not saying I'm not nice to people. I'm just saying there's always always going to be a rotation of people.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Right. But I'm saying that they always say that it's the people are so nice. And I'm like, well, they should be because yeah, anyway. But also a lot of people come here and that what's crazy to me is how many people come here to fish. There's really not a lot of fishing right here. There's really not. Not in Black Mountain. Nope. Or Swanonora. Nope. There's not. But just going down the hill, you know, right down the hill, you sure can find it. McDowell and Burke. And this, so they stay here and then they travel.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah, most of that's up towards Spruce Pine. Yeah. The Tow River and all that. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

And so a lot of people come for that. A lot of um mountain bike, which is crazy to me. Yeah. Well, I mean, mountain biking is crazy to me to begin with. That's exercise. I don't know about it. I don't see that happening. Although this weekend, I finally rode my e-bike. I bought it almost a year ago.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

I saw it parked out there.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

And so I rode it to work yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

And then I rode it to work today. And then I got there and went, we have the podcast recording today. I don't have a car. I'm like, oh well, I guess you're gonna learn to ride that bike a little bit more. So that's what I did. But but it's kind of funny. But yeah. So a friend of mine said to me on Thursday, he said, What

The E-Bike Myth Gets Busted

SPEAKER_02 6:34

are you doing Sunday? I'm like, church? What else? He goes, What else? I said, uh I don't know. Uh why? He says, You have an e-bike, I have a bike, let's go ride bikes. I'm like, that sounds like a five-year-old. Let's go ride bikes, you know, like that just feels weird. Yeah. But why not? So I said, sure, I'll go with you. We went 23 and a half miles on bikes.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Now, how where did you go on?

SPEAKER_02 7:00

We left my house. I live in the top of Montreat.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

We rode all the way to the bottom of Point Lookout down in Old Fort. And then we rode back.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Did you go down the old road? The gravel road?

SPEAKER_02 7:13

It wasn't gravel. Okay. The old 70. Okay. Yeah. Anyway, on the way back, I didn't okay. In in my opinion, an e-bike was for old people. And so why would I need an e-bike? I'm not old. Well, actually I am. But so I get an e-bike, and my theory was that it was gonna be like riding a moped. And you just kind of go, it's electric. It absolutely not. You have to pedal for it to work. Yeah. I had no idea. I about died on Sunday afternoon. Well, we'll take you out online afterwards. You'll see, you'll see. It's pretty cool. I actually it was hard work, but but it was a lot harder than I thought it was gonna be, but it still wasn't a bike.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

I guess it's more like hill assist, but for uphill.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Assist, that's actually what they call it. Yep. I don't know about the word. Anyway, it was pretty awesome. So, yes, people do come here to go mountain biking. And just down the hill, Old Fort and Miriam, they have they're building a hiking trail system and they're gonna have the the bikes, a whole the whole nine yards. And so it's kind of exciting because while Black Mountain doesn't have that, we can go east. Yes, east, we can go to McDowell and do their hiking and biking things. But pretty soon we're gonna be able to go west and go to Swananoa and have the pump bike park there, yeah, which will also be a park for people just to use and walk and ride regular bikes or whatever. So it's pretty exciting. And and and you know, I think I think a lot of times people get so self-focused that they're like, well, we don't have a bike park. We don't have a we don't have the right streams to go fishing. Right next door. They don't have something we have, and we all can share. And uh it's kind of what that's actually where you and I got started in our first conversation. Well, do you remember when do you remember when I met you in that parking lot? I do. You do. Do you remember what you called me on? It's okay if you don't. No, I don't remember. You said to me, I asked you, I said, how do we build a footpath between Black Mountain and Swannanoa? What what is the great divide? What's the deal? Why why does it feel like it feels? And we and and and and how does the chamber get involved in Swannanoa? You said to me, What's your what's your email address?

Bridging Swannanoa And Black Mountain

SPEAKER_01 9:31

My email?

SPEAKER_02 9:32

No, you asked me what is your email address? I said, it's director at Black Mountain Chamber. You said, uh-huh. What's your website? I said, Blackmountainchamber.com. He goes, what part of Swannanoa is in there? Right. We rebranded.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

It's always been that way.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

I know, but we rebranded, we changed everything. We changed our our email is explorethevalley.org. Right. Our uh website is explored the valley.org. We changed all of that. Absolutely, it has. It has, and it is because of you. Yeah, you know what the other thing you asked me? You cost me $80 a month, and I think of you every month when I paid that bill. What is it?

SPEAKER_01 10:05

What did I what did I t say?

SPEAKER_02 10:07

I said, I'm gonna give you my phone number. Okay, and I want you to call me when I was asking you to do something in particular that day. Uh huh. And I said, I want you to call me if you decide that you can do this. Okay. And you said, Okay, what's your phone number? I said, 678. You go, great. So somebody's not even from here. Uh-huh. And so I got a new phone number. And so I have two phone numbers that I carry around with me all the time.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Well, it's important, don't you think? It is.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

I absolutely but see, that's why I I asked two or three people, who do I need to talk to? And so I want to know a first, who will be nice to me but not sugarcoat it. Brian Bopoe's name came up three times. Three times. That's why I went to find you. That's why I hunted you down.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

It's true. Well, thank you to whoever preferred you to me.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Kenny Wheeler.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Ken Floyd.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

I don't remember who the third one was.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

That may have been Kana.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Oh, Kana.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Good old Kana. Who knows? I love Kana too.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yeah. Well, that's awesome. But yeah. But all that's true, though, right? Absolutely. It's true. Well, and that's why.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

I'm glad you listen, though. I do listen. Yeah. I do listen. Thank you. Yeah. So tell me about your business. That was the parking lot we were in where we met. That sounds terrible. Tell me what your business is and what you do. Why did we meet though? It was trying to get rally for the valley. I was trying to get it in your warehouse. Yeah. And you pushed it down the road.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

All this is because of because of the storm, though. We were all doing a big rebuild. Sure. Right. Sure. And that's what drew a lot of people to Swannanoa.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Maybe so. I mean, that's it was my job to go talk to somebody in Swannanoa. I mean, that's my job. So that's why I was there. Yes, the storm happened. Yeah. And then then you got me involved in like Swannanoa Grassroots Alliance and you got me meeting all the different people. But but you were the original reason I went there. I mean, the original reason I went there was just to get somebody to connect with in Swanano. Somebody to talk to. Yep. Yeah. I remember that. But we were in your your business parking lot. So tell me about that.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

It is Diamondback 4x4. It borders the uh Beacon Village. Little housing development there. So male houses. And uh we are a full-service automotive repair shop. We specialize in doing four-wheel drive upgrades and customizations and some restorations and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

But you'll also put a new light in my truck. But I'll put a light holes in your truck. You sure did. Exactly.

Inside Diamondback 4x4

SPEAKER_02 12:30

It is not a four by four. That truck is now gone. It is disintegrated on the side of the road. It was a sad day. But now it's a new truck. Yeah, exactly. Now we've moved to a bike. Exactly. No. No. But okay, and anything famous ever happened in your parking lot?

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Like what?

SPEAKER_01 12:48

So that's a whole story in itself. But yeah, uh at the time it was uh Donald Trump. He asked to use my parking lot as a place to do a press conference. Did he call you? He did not personally call me. No. I I didn't get to talk to him until the day of. Yeah. Yeah. But uh people from his office and everything called. Yeah. But yeah, so you know, we got hit by the storm. We were down there working seven days a week. You

When A President Wants Your Parking Lot

SPEAKER_01 13:19

know, just all day long. Just it was it was terrible. But anyway, so I took one day off. It was a Sunday, and I was sitting on the back porch with my girlfriend, and we were sitting there talking and hanging out, and my phone rings. And uh it was a number I didn't recognize. So I ignored it. Of course. My phone rang again. Number I didn't recognize, I ignored it. I was just I'm decompressing. So then uh Mike from Pine View Buildings across the street, Mike Stewart, he called me and he said, Brian, is you you're getting a weird phone number on your phone, you know, somebody trying to reach you. And I said, I am. I said, I'm just taking a Sunday just to relax and uh just kind of recharge a little bit or something. He said, Well, you're gonna want to take that phone call. You said go ahead and answer it. Okay. Well, then the phone call number called back again. I answered the phone, and the gentleman from Trump's office and said, you know, Donald President Trump wants to use your parking lot for a press conference. And I would have thought that that was a prank call. I would have thought I mean everybody always does. You always hear about people that get a phone call from the president of the United States and they're happens all the time.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Ignore, you know. So I think J.D. Vance ignored the phone call when he called the night to ask him to be vice president. I think he ignored the phone call too.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

So maybe it's so maybe it's a complex about that. Well, it's just too good to be true. I mean it's just strange. Yeah. I mean, even one of your most famous people that you follow or something. Why would they call you? Why would they call you of all the millions of people? Anyway, so I told him, I said, well, I I honestly didn't know what to say. And I told him, I said, you know, the place is a mess. And I'm just OCD. I like things, you know. But anyway, I said, the place is a mess, obviously. And I said, uh, what what are you wanting to use? And he said, just the parking lot. I said, okay. I said, uh, I can get down there and start cleaning up this afternoon. He said, we don't want you to touch it. I want you to clean it up.

SPEAKER_03 15:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

And I said, well, I'm no matter what I do, it ain't gonna make a difference anyway. Right. I said so. The place is just a mess. Had a big pile of debris out by the road. I mean, a sinkhole where they were wanting to set up at, and you know, everything else.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

So That's almost surreal. You're sitting there going, Did he really just call and ask me that? I know. That's wild.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I know. It's a weird call to take. Yeah. And no wrap your head, head around. I mean, uh my head's in a million places. Didn't he come twice though? He came twice, but only one time to my place. Okay. Yeah. So anyway, he said, uh, we just need your permission to be on the property. I said, Well, I'll get a chance to talk to him. And he said, Absolutely. And uh he said, we make that happen. He took all my information and he said, We're just gonna run a quick background check on you. I said, Whoa. Wait a minute. My head automatically's gone to thinking about okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Those high school stories that I won't tell Cheryl are about to come out.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

That's funny. And so anyway, uh he said, uh just come in in the morning, just like you normally do. I said, What time's this happening? He said 11 15. I said, Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

I can be there by then.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

I said, I'm I'm usually there at 7 30, 8 o'clock in the morning, and you know, I'll just I'll show up at that time. He says, Fine, whatever. I said, What do I need to do? He said, Nothing. He said, Don't worry about it. He said, We're not trying to put you to work. We're just using your gravel. Just using your gravel. I said, Okay. Well, I mean, the president's coming. You know what I'm saying? You kind of want to have yourself the best on.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

You're clean up if your neighbor comes over for dinner. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

So anyway, so I show up the next morning. Oh, I told him, I said, Well, that's fine. I said, uh, when do you need to access the property? And he said, We're already here. That's what I figured. Yeah. Yeah. And I said, Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

So you didn't really need permission because you're already there.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Yeah, you're just giving me a heads up.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Right. I got it.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

And he said they stayed in the parking lot that night before, you know, Saturday night. And uh he said, we just wanted to make sure this was a good spot. So we've been, you know, scouting it. Didn't think you would mind. And I said, federal people on my property in the middle of things being looted. No, I don't mind.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

No, not at all.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Hang out a little bit. As much as you want, I hang out.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

So anyway, I show up the next morning and uh the place is crazy. I mean, it looks like, you know, the president's coming to town, you know. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

So like it always does when he comes to town.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

So anyway, he uh I I show up to work and pull into parking lot, and I I go to park my truck, and I see dogs coming on both sides of the truck, and I see, you know, I'll and I everybody was carrying guns back then. I mean, everybody just was. It was like martial law. And it wasn't because, you know, I'm Billy Bad. I it's nothing like that. Just being kidding, it was just being smart, you know, the thing that happened. And uh so I opened my door and I felt like I was being pulled over or something, my knocks just like so. I told him, I said, hey, look, I've got, you know, well I got some guns in my truck or whatever. I just want to give you ads up. I said, unfortunately, it's just kind of a new norm for I hope to be temporarily. And uh I said, that's fine. You're good. They said, just leave them in the truck. I said, All right. So I left them in the truck, locked the door, dogs sniff around the truck, everything's fine. And uh and then it just starts setting in because there's like people on my roof.

unknown 19:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Because you know, this happened after, you know, the assassination attempt. And uh there are people on my roof, there'd be all over the place. I'm like freaking out.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

What am I doing?

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yeah. And I just like, what uh what do I do right now? And uh so I opened up the shop and opened up the doors and get the water hose out and Joe Wilson, my general manager. I love Joe Wilson. Yeah, he's crazy. I love him. He's great. He uh he shows up, he's and and we just start working and everything. And he's like, This is crazy. I said, right? Yeah, do you warn you'd warned him? Oh yeah, of course. Yeah. Now, the night before, that Sunday, to back back up a little bit, the guy told me, he said, Listen, uh, you you can't call people and tell right tell them we we need you to keep this quiet. And I was like, Okay, it's I gotta tell Joe. I know. I told him, I said, there's a couple people I I need to let know. And uh I said, I'll I won't say exactly what's happening, but I'll let them know that you know some crazy stuff going on. Yeah. I said, Do you need their information? He said, No.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

So they're not gonna run their background joke, just yours.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Just mine. Oh, okay, great. And they ain't even seen me yet.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Wait, sort of like the reputation you had before I made. Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

See? Okay. Things are tracking.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

But uh so anyway, so sitting on the porch talking to Sheila about, you know, what's going on and everything else. It's like I took my phone and put it inside the house.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

I don't want to actually not call somebody. Right. I would have to do that too.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Yeah. I never thought of it. Just for her and I to sit there and talk about it. Well, then we use her phone to to you know talk to people, and that's who I called Joe on and everything, but it's just freaky. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

Ended up being a cool thing. Oh, it was a great it was amazing. I love the pictures. You have the pictures in your shop. I do. Somebody wants to go by and see them, they can do that. I do. And uh you got a really nice waiting room, the whole thing over there.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

It's really it's made a little shadow box of everything. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

It's not beautiful, it's it's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Well, it's just beautiful as people know.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Yeah, I think it's really I think it's important for people to be able to see it. Yeah. But I've sent people there just to see your display before. Like, I'm like, I don't know if they might have a need for them in the future, but they need to go see this exhibit. That's it's an exhibit that's in your waiting room, so it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

So but uh but yeah, so he ends up uh we're doing all this everything going on. Funny story that happened during that was that uh so he shows up at 11 15. The the the all the cars come in, pull in, and they've got us lined up. I'm standing next to he's the house speaker of the house guy. Standing next to him. Chuck is there. I mean, everybody who's everybody is there. And uh so these cars pull up, and here comes Linda McMahon. Oh my. I mean, that's cool to see her and get to meet Linda, you know.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Listen, Linda.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

We're gonna make a wrestling show right now. But uh yeah, so she was there and uh members of his uh Donald Trump's family was there, and cool. And here comes President Trump stepping out, and it was just like surreal. It's it's crazy. Yeah, you know, and to see him, it almost he he almost looks fake. Just I don't know, it's crazy. Yeah. So anyway, shake his hand, super nice guy, got to stand there and talk to him for a few minutes, and uh he was I mean, he was sincere. Yep. He really was. And people can say whatever they want to say about him and the political part, but to meet the man It's not what I'm talking about. Yeah, I'm talking about the president of the United States. He's a cool dude. Yeah, he's a really nice guy. Yep. And uh I mean, I'm realistic, I'm sure, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

I would I wouldn't choose one to be my next door neighbor. Let me just tell you that. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

But uh, but he's a nice guy and he was sincere and he he really cared. Yep. So shortly after, uh I keep jumping around. Anyway, during the press conference, we're all standing up there, and all the members of press are standing on my pile of debris because that's the only place there there was for him to stand. And uh so trucks everywhere, my phone's blowing up. Brian, what's happening? Your shop, I can't tell you. I can't tell you, you know, all this. But watch TV later. Yeah, I said just just watch TV, you'll find out, it'll come out, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Brian, did you finally get arrested for all that stuff you did in high school? School that Cheryl keeps asking about.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

So uh anyway, he uh you know, we do the press conference, and I'm standing there next to Mike listening to President Trump talk. He wears that sport coat all the time, you know, the overcoat, and that flares kind of at the bottom. It's not like a tight-fitting one. And I don't know if you remember during the storm all the bees that come out of the crack. You remember?

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Yes, I do. I'm allergic to bees. So yes, I do remember.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

They were everywhere because they are you got flooded, that's where they nest, so on and so forth. So we're standing there, and this bee is flying around, President Trump, right there at his hip, you know, where the bottom of his coat is, and it'll fly around. And and I look over at Mike and I said, Mike had a connex box right behind us, and snipers are on top of the connex box. I said, Mike, you think it'd be okay if I swatted that bee away from Trump?

SPEAKER_03 24:36

No.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

And he's like, Brian, I wouldn't touch it. I wouldn't touch the bee. Not with guns pointed at you. No, I wouldn't. And uh, but it it it was just a little something funny, and you watched the thing and we we snickered about it a little bit. But anyway, I didn't expect they wanted me to talk at this thing. Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

Surprise.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

You're talking about impromptu.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Uh-huh. How'd you do? How do you think you did?

SPEAKER_01 25:01

I feel like I did well. I was a little emotional, but I feel like I did well. Good. Everybody says I did. You didn't. They were just being nice, but uh I just oh. It was just a lot, you know?

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Yeah, if you didn't do a good job, people would have given you a hard time about it. Yeah, I feel like I mean they would have for blessed and social media. You would have been picked on, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

But uh anyway, I feel like I did well and uh everything got done, cameras got turned off and all that, got to stand there and talk to Trump for a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

And that uh got to meet uh Chuck Edwards, Congress got to meet, I mean, just a lot of people that you don't just rub elbows with. Right. And I I You don't walk in a diamondback four by four everything.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Not often, not a lot. The beast needs to be lifted. Can you make it happen?

SPEAKER_03 25:49

Right.

unknown 25:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

So that was really cool to see all that, and I forever have that memory. That's really cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

All right, so back to reality.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Back to reality.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Yeah, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

That's all right. Where do you want to go?

SPEAKER_02 26:02

It's okay. So so the first day that I met you, we were talking. There were a few of us sitting there. Yeah. And one of the guys I asked, I asked all of you, I said, so what what is I don't know. I'm new here. What is the conflict? Why is there some division between it's an imaginary line between Swannanoa and Black Mountain?

SPEAKER_01 26:22

That's do you remember the story that guy told? I remember the story. And I remember

The Roots Of A Town Rivalry

SPEAKER_01 26:28

I won't say I'll remember it verbatim, but I'll I can tell you. I can tell you what it I mean. Tell me. It well, I mean, it just the thing is, is is is Swannanoa used to be this uh bustling uh economic beast of a town. I mean, we had Beacon Village, or I'm sorry, Beacon Manufacturing. We had Busman Fuse, Swannanoa had furniture. I mean everything a lot of things, yeah. Yeah, and if you ever go into Beacon Village, not the houses, but the industrial part or the uh retail part, the town, there's there's a ton of little businesses. And a lot of them were you know shut down, obviously, because there's nothing in Swantanoa anymore. I don't have manufacturing.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Yeah, right, okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Manufacturing went away. Right. And it has gone for years. Right. So Swantanoa was is is always just been this little it's not even like a a full it doesn't have a police department, it doesn't have, you know, it's just kind of like this little town tucked away that hasn't been taken over by, you know, a larger town yet. Right. And uh it's it it's a really cool little town, yep. But you don't come to Swannanoa expecting lights and you know all that stuff. It's just a little healing town.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

All right, tell me why there's the on the dividing line. Go back to the story, come back to the story.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

With that being said, Swannoa has its own uh primary school, uh elementary school and all that. And growing up, that I did Owen Middle School, which was up here in in Black Mountain, and that's where the school started to merge. Okay. Prior to that, you always had Swannola had its own baseball program, which was huge. Black Mountain had its own baseball program, softball, and all that. Football was merged. But uh anyway, baseball was a big thing. Beacon had their own softball team, you know, Beacon Manufacturing did, and so it was a big thing. And the baseball park was the place to be growing up. And when Black Mountain and Swannanoa played each other, I mean it was just that was the big rival. That was the big rival, Black Mountain and Swantonoa. And so everybody just always looked forward to that and and uh to those games, and that's what I grew up on. And uh you sit now, come on, you're grinning at it. Come on, you're grinning at it.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Tell the rest of the story because it because it it sounds like it's an ugly story. But if you know the culture of the two areas, yeah, it really it rings true. Yeah. So I really want you to tell the rest of it. Well, we don't have to tell who said it. It's okay. We're not we're not gonna throw him under the bus.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

Um I'm trying to remember what you're talking about exactly.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

There were two high schools.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Swannanoa High School and Black Mountain, and they played each other in football.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

No, Swannanoa and Black Mountain went to the same school.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

No, this was before that when there were two high schools. Oh, I see what you're saying. Now do you remember the rest of his story?

SPEAKER_03 29:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

So if Black Mountain always won, you they said that Black Mountain always won the football game on Friday night. And what was the rest of the story?

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Well, Swannanoa would, I mean, there'd always be fights out in the parking lot and everything else.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

And Swannanoa always won the fight in the parking lot on um in the next, yeah. There you go.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

But when they said that story, I was like, that's that's sad. That's really cool. Yeah. It's actually a really good picture of the culture. It's not like everybody in Swananoa fights each other. Don't let me hear that. That's not what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Just set up emotions.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

It was just that was the they fought since they were in T-ball. Yeah, you know, that's what they did. And it's just friendly rivalry can sometimes get out of hand.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

But but it is a really good picture. And then I then I saw the movie Blanket Town.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

And I and I got it. I feel like that was a huge eye-opening experience to me. I'm gonna get Rebecca or or Jerry on on here one week and get them to tell that story. But yeah, um, I want to show that movie in Black Mountain. I think everybody needs to see that movie. I really do. And I didn't have a clue, I didn't know anything about it. And so it was it was pretty good. I mean, good movie. We own a couple beacon blankets. That's what I knew about it. That's it. That's all I knew.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

So if you've got beacon blankets, you need to hold on to them. I know.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Well, and it's funny because as a kid, you know, they were what we slept on. It wasn't it wasn't it wasn't now we're not allowed to touch them. They're like in the cabinet and you don't want to touch them. But yeah, yeah, even growing up, we always I was allowed to throw up on them when I was eight, but now I gotta it's you know, these were used for dog blankets and horse blankets and everything else.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Exactly. Now they're old.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Now they're old.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

But yeah, that was a big thing with Black Mountain and Swannanoa. But Swannanoa's healing, Swannanoa's coming back, and I was awesome. I think, well, I know there's big things in store for Swannanoa. I just is there's gonna be growing pains.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Yep. Well, sure.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Some people are gonna like it, some people aren't.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

People are never gonna be all all happy. It's okay. It's okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Things change. The important thing is is just, you know have somebody that that represents it that that can help, you know, have a decision. You know, make a decision. Talking to the local people and everything like that. They know what they they're looking for and what they want, and that's right. But I mean we're losing a lot of our old original people, you know, just to age.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

That happens everywhere. So we all have to learn how to take their information, take their experience and their knowledge and their wisdom, yeah, and transfer it, even if we're just telling the stories. Yeah. I think sometimes we think we have to emulate it perfectly, and you can't. You just need to tell the stories over and over again.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

There needs to be progress. Yep. You know, there needs to be things that need to change and keep up with the times, but you just don't want to lose touch.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Yeah. So recently I've started taking some people, different people. It's it's interesting. Yeah. They're like, I want to go on a tour of Swananoa.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

At first I was like, what what do what do you want me to do? Do you know how long these tours are taking me? An hour and a half and two hours. Well, I tell the stories. I I'm a storyteller, so I like I like to tell the stories. But I I truly, you know, kind of start at KOA. I pull in there, I show them what all is back there.

Story Tours And A Geocaching Plan

SPEAKER_02 32:58

They don't know what's back there. If you're not a camper, you don't know how much space is back there. Yeah. Keep going. Go to Papa's place. I tell them about your spot. I tell them about the cool things that have happened there. And I always tell them lots of stories about Brian Burpo as part of the tour. I don't know if you know that or not, but but he is. But uh, but you know, I take them to each store, I make them get out, go into the store, see what they have. So they'll go in there and spend their money. And a lot of them, it's interesting because it's kind of becoming it's kind of an in thing that they're like, I want to take my friends. Can you take them? I'm like, you can take them. Like you, I don't have time to take people. I've been probably four times now, but the number of people who have gone since then and taken their friends from that group. So it's been great. What are you guys riding around in? You got a bus or something? Nope. I'd take my mama's car because it's bigger than mine and cleaner. My car's a disaster at all times.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Maybe you need one of those open air.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

Yeah, that's what I need. Sure. That's my spare change. Yeah, exactly. You got one? Yeah, no. Well, you can find one. We'll find me one on a bus with no windows. I can do that. We can do that. Okay. Anyway, um, but it's been fun and it's been it's been good for me. And I tell the stories, the real stories. Like I I tell the Okie dokie story that you know, I tell all about I tell about short sleeves and what what it what it was and what he wanted it to be, and how Daniel started his I mean, he's a kid, he's like 28 years old or so. I don't know how old he is, but he's a kid. And you know, for him to have this dream and decide, hey, I think I'm gonna do this and it'd be as successful as it is, and just take people to the different stores and they don't they don't know what's there unless you take them. Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

So I'm trying to do a good bit of that, and that's well, that going through Swananoa doesn't look like any of it's presentable to so you know, hey, come check this out. Yeah, exactly. You gotta have that local, quote unquote. Well, but once they do, just the dive bars, where to go.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

But there are no dive bars, but yeah, you know, you know, it's okay. Not public ones or open to everybody. Yeah, anyway.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

But uh anyway.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

I'm getting ready to plant. Do you know what geocaching is? I do getting ready to plant about 50 of those in the Swannanoa area. It's so fun. I I'm love, I love doing it. That's I'm super cheap, so vacations are like let's go look for geocache because it'll take all day and it doesn't cost me anything. Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

We did I think I still have that app on my phone. Well, I told my kids years ago to go do that.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

Can I have permission to have one sort of on your property? It won't be real close, just so that people can come by.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Yeah, I love it. I'll ask everybody for permission first. People turning around there already.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Oh, that's exactly right. Why not? Why not? Exactly. So that's what that's my next Swananoa adventure is is planting things around there just to get people to go there.

SPEAKER_03 35:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

There's a lot of people who go to towns just because they have a bunch of them. I'm like, well, why not put a bunch of them there? And people might come just to go to that. You know, and then they'll be like, Oh, there's a store there. Oh, they have this shop, they have that. I can do that, I could spend some money here.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Oh, maybe I can get my uh four-wheel things on my truck or whatever while they're here. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

I am I would do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

I'd do it.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

I got I got a good retail spot there.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Yeah, you do. You have a really cool shop. Anyway. Anything that I didn't ask or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

No, I've just uh I've been blessed with a good family. Yes, you have.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Yes, you have.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Ashley's great. My brother, Alan, Robert Jan, mom and dad there. Yeah, we've got a great family.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

Yep. Hayden is one of my favorite high school kids. He graduated. He graduated. Isn't that crazy? That is crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

He's going to Mars Hill. But he's oh really? I didn't know that. Yeah, he's going to Mars Hill. He's gonna be their football kicker.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

Oh, cool. Yeah. He comes over, he's come over and helped me a few times across the street, you know, from his mom. So that's been super helpful. He's a great kid. Yeah. Great kid. Good family. Yeah. Yeah. Well, good. Well, thank you very much for coming in today. I appreciate you. And thanks for being the guy who always tells me the truth and lets me have it. And it makes things you gotta you can't always sugarcoat everything. No, you can't. You can't, but you were nice. What's that movie? Uh Roadhouse. Just be nice. Be nice. Just be nice. That's all there is to it. Anyway, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Well, I have you back on again. This was fun. I appreciate you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

Thanks for joining us on Exploring the Valley. Until next time, keep celebrating

Gratitude And Sendoff

SPEAKER_02 37:29

the pride of our community and discovering the magic of the mountains. In the meantime, you're free to move about the valley.