South Carolina Man Forces Closure of Popular Mountain Pass After Ignoring Warnings and Getting Stranded

via San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office

A South Carolina man caused the temporary closure of one of Colorado’s most iconic off-road trails on Wednesday after attempting to drive a Kia Telluride up Black Bear Road and getting stuck.

Despite warnings from locals, the man continued up the treacherous, one-way trail above Bridal Veil Falls in Telluride, where he lost control and wedged the SUV near a switchback.

According to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office, the vehicle’s unstable position made it too dangerous for others to pass, forcing officials to close Black Bear Pass and Bridal Veil Road until a tow truck could safely remove it.

The vehicle became stuck approximately three or four switchbacks above the falls, near the historic Bridal Veil Falls Powerplant. Officials noted that the driver ignored advice not to take the vehicle up the notorious overlanding trail, which is closed to rental vehicles and typically used by Jeeps and serious off-roaders.

Black Bear Road, aka Black Bear Pass, climbs to an elevation of 12,840 feet and is closed each winter due to hazardous weather. The road reopened Thursday afternoon around 4:30 p.m. after the SUV was successfully towed.

Bridal Veil Trail remains open, but temporary closures impacted access to the popular Via Ferrata climbing route.

Charlotte Rents Fell 0.2% Last Month – September 2025 Rent Report

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The latest Charlotte rental report has just been released, including data through September 2025.

  • Rents in Charlotte fell 0.2% in September, compared to a 0.4% decrease nationwide.
  • Year-over-year rent growth in Charlotte now stands at -1.7%, up from -3.1% one year ago.
  • Today the median rent in Charlotte is $1,286 for a one-bedroom unit and $1,402 for a two-bedroom unit. And the citywide apartment vacancy rate stands at 9.1%, up 0.9 percentage points from this time last year.

The National Outlook:

Rents fell 0.4% across the nation in September, consistent with typical seasonal patterns. Rental demand is trending down as we approach the winter, and amid another year of elevated housing production, prices are dropping accordingly. This pattern should persist for several more months, and will result in the third straight year of soft market fundamentals for the rental housing sector.

You can read the full report on Apartment List here.

Charlotte Flight Collides With Delta Jet – Passenger Hospitalized

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A Charlotte flight collided with another aircraft late last night in a frightening incident at LaGuardia Airport. The crash involved two CRJ-900 jets operated by Endeavor Air for Delta Air Lines.

Flight 5047 had just arrived from Charlotte when the wing of flight 5155, headed to Roanoke, struck its cockpit. The right wing of flight 5155 slammed into the nose and windshields of flight 5047, according to recorded pilot audio.

The collision occurred at the intersection of taxiways M and A. The FAA confirmed that flight 5155 had been instructed to yield before crossing, but an investigation is underway to determine what went wrong.

One flight attendant injured her knee and was hospitalized.

Flight 5047 carried 57 passengers; flight 5155 had 28 – the non-injured passengers were bused to the terminal and offered hotel accommodations and meals.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the airport, is assisting with the investigation.

Top 10 Cities in North Carolina With The Most Ghost Sightings

possible ghost sighting in New Bern, NC

With Halloween approaching, North Carolina’s haunted history is under the spotlight.

Using data from GhostsofAmerica.com, we found the 10 cities in North Carolina with the most reported ghost sightings. These are not the usual metaphorical ghosts of past sports losses, but actual reported supernatural experiences.

From eerie encounters in historic mansions to mysterious apparitions in historic districts, the top city in North Carolina is is Camp Lejeune, with 45 recent sightings, followed by Salisbury with 29 and Winston Salem with 26:

Here’s one of the latest stories from Camp Lejeune:

“My husband went to the logistics school on Camp Johnson. Driving down the road early in the morning, he said that he saw a man who looked like Mark Twain lecturing marines there. He thought he hallucinated it, or maybe it was a ghost. Driving on Camp Johnson it is always eerily quiet. There’s definitely a presence there at the base. Electronics do not work properly. It’s a very eerie feeling. We have heard stories. A friend, who had to stand duty once on Camp Johnson, heard footsteps around the corner. He went to check it out and saw a marine in an older uniform standing there. The marine sidestepped him as he continued walking and slowly disappeared.” – Tara

What to Do When Your Pet Needs Urgent Care in North Carolina

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It sneaks up on you. One moment your dog is running laps in the yard, ears flapping like a flag in the wind. The next, he’s limping toward the porch, paw tucked tight, eyes wide with pain. Cats do it too. They hide their sickness until it crashes down all at once. You don’t get a warning. You just get that sinking weight in your stomach and the scramble to decide if you need help now or later.

That decision is hard, especially when it’s after hours or your regular vet can’t see you for days. Do you wait it out? Do you rush across town to an emergency room that may keep you in a lobby for hours? This is where the middle ground matters most. Knowing you can walk into a clinic built for urgent cases can make the difference between panic and action.

The Role of Walk-In Urgent Care

If you’re in North Carolina and your pet gets hurt or sick, you’ve got more than two choices. Beyond routine check-ups and high-pressure ER visits, there’s a third option that fills the gap. Walk-in vet urgent care for dogs and cats gives you a way to act fast when your pet needs medical attention but isn’t on the brink of collapse. It’s for the cut that needs stitches, the stomach ache that’s turning into real distress, the sudden swelling that makes you uneasy. The walk-in systems of services like UrgentVet mean you don’t wait for an opening days away, and you don’t dive headfirst into the high costs and intensity of emergency hospitals.

This approach works because it’s built on common sense. Not every injury is life-threatening, but neither is it safe to ignore. The ability to step in quickly, get an exam, and decide on treatment gives pet owners the peace of knowing they didn’t gamble with time.

Signs Your Pet Needs Urgent Care

Every animal has tells. Some are obvious. Repeated vomiting. Diarrhea that won’t stop. Wounds that bleed more than they should. Limping that doesn’t improve after rest. Struggling to breathe. These aren’t things you monitor for days. They’re signs you grab your keys and go.

Other signals are quieter. A cat that disappears under the bed and refuses food. A dog that won’t get up, won’t wag, won’t drink. Behavioral changes are easy to dismiss as mood or age, but animals live in rhythm. A sudden break in that rhythm is often the body’s alarm. It doesn’t take medical training to notice something is off. It takes paying attention.

Why Urgent Care Feels Different

Emergency rooms are built for chaos. Bright lights. Constant noise. The gravity of severe cases pulling the air out of the room. That setting is right for a hit-by-car moment, but it’s not the best place for a dog with a cut paw or a cat with a fever. Urgent care calms the environment. Appointments move faster. Rooms are private. Stress doesn’t stack on stress.

Owners sometimes forget that their own nerves transfer to their pets. Anxious humans make anxious animals. By lowering the temperature, urgent care helps everyone breathe. Calm pets heal better. Calm owners make sharper decisions.

What to Expect In North Carolina Clinics

Step in the door and the process feels clear. You choose a time online or just show up. Staff bring you to a private exam room instead of a crowded hall. The vet team partners with you, asks questions, and digs into what’s happening. Diagnostics, treatment, and medication can all happen right there. Once it’s done, they update your regular vet so the record continues without a gap. You go home with answers and a plan, not just more worry.

It’s structured, but it doesn’t feel rigid. The design is practical. Get in, get treated, get out, keep moving. That structure lets nearly all pets return home the same day, which is what most owners want more than anything.

The Economy of Care

Money always enters the room. Emergency visits in North Carolina can spike into thousands before you’ve caught your breath. Routine visits still carry weight on the wallet. Urgent care bridges that gap. It uses the same diagnostic tools you’d expect, like X-rays or ultrasounds, but without the heavy price tag of a hospital built for extreme cases. It’s scaled to the need. That balance creates space in the pet care economy. Families don’t have to choose between financial survival and medical help for their animals.

How to Decide In the Moment

When the panic hits, ask yourself a few things. Is my pet breathing normally? Can they stand? Is the bleeding under control? If the answer to those is no, head straight to emergency. If the answers are yes but the problem is serious enough that waiting feels reckless, urgent care is the right move.

Nobody gets this perfect. Even seasoned owners have rushed in only to find the issue minor. But that’s not failure. That’s caution doing its job. A wasted trip is better than a lost pet. The line between urgent and emergency shifts, but the goal never changes: don’t gamble with your pet’s life.

A Practical Solution

Urgent care in North Carolina is more than a convenience. It’s a practical answer to a real gap. Pets don’t schedule their accidents. They don’t warn you before they get sick. As an owner, your role is to recognize the signs, make the call, and act before the problem deepens.

These clinics exist because animals live in the in-between. Not every scare is an emergency. Not every limp is nothing. Urgent care is for the space in the middle, where most of life actually happens. And when your pet lands there, knowing where to go turns panic into a plan.

What Can the Panthers and Charlotte FC Gain from the Coca-Cola Sponsorship Renewal?

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charlotte fc win over chicagoCoca-Cola Consolidated’s renewed partnership with the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC is more than just a transactional business deal. It empowers two of the Carolinas’ largest sports franchises with shared community initiatives, more efficient operations, and a stronger fan base. 

Such collaborations yield improvements that span from team uniformity to infrastructure advancements in the stadium. Each area affects how the teams play, how their fans feel, and how their city develops around them.

Suddenly, Things Change in the Game

Beverage partnerships are often viewed as a logo on a cup, but they go deeper. This renewed deal will go toward better stadium services and new infrastructure, creating a smoother game-day experience. The energy created by the fans is more intense in the stands than on the stage. With the influx of sponsorship dollars coming to the game in the form of comfortable seating, food, and entertainment, teams experience a boost in both focus and confidence. 

Analysts and bettors closely study such patterns, looking for correlations between team morale, crowd behavior, and player consistency. The most trusted offshore sportsbooks use trends like these to develop odds for matches. Because their running costs remain low, they generally offer better value, offering bigger odds and smaller fees on winning bets.

Additionally, these sites typically offer more competitive betting prices due to their lower operating costs, which enables them to provide more value to bettors. Just as the sites above demonstrate, the competitive advantage that this partnership can bring to both teams is evident in the efficiency, structure, and precision it can provide in the way they work.

The Power of Community Integration

Coca-Cola Consolidated’s long history in the Carolinas gives this renewal real warmth and meaning. The partnership naturally extends into community projects and environmental efforts that make a difference locally. Fans show their support through recycling at games, sustainability activities, and charity events. This shared pride helps them feel even closer to their team.

These programs foster relationships that connect audiences in good times and bad. The company’s social commitment helps build an image of cohesion between the two teams. For the players, the feeling of support can reinforce discipline, motivation, and teamwork. The team will be a reflection of the community.

Business Stability and Development

Renewal of this sponsorship ensures stable income, which in turn maintains the balance of operations even in uncertain periods. A reliable sponsor allows management to look far forward without compromising on technology, medical staff, or travel support. 

Established brand partnerships can be used to attract other commercial opportunities.  Coca-Cola’s renewed commitment to the stadium will encourage renewed interest from merchandise providers, vendors, and hospitality services. The brand exposure will also provide the Panthers and Charlotte FC with a better commercial identity. This creates a cycle of attention, recognition, and revenue that ensures the clubs stay competitive.

Reputation Through Strong Partnerships

With a renewed Coca-Cola agreement, both clubs are now taken seriously when it comes to long-term expansion. Coca-Cola Consolidated is already on Panthers-branded 16-ounce cans sold in Charlotte stores, which provides the team with daily exposure outside of the game days. 

Coca-Cola also sponsors the Military Cup Tournament, which Charlotte FC hosts, and this directly links the club to real events that honor service members. That sort of connection provides the club with a sense of community purpose.

The teams added new front-of-house recycling systems during the stadium renovation. They showed their commitment to environmental responsibility while modernizing the venue. When fans, sponsors, and players see these changes tied to a trusted brand, they view both clubs as progressive, connected to their city, and grounded in the real world.

The Stadium as a Modern Arena

Bank of America Stadium is continually transforming into a modern sports facility. The renewal includes investments in concessions, distribution of beverages, and energy-efficient systems. Smart drink outlets, increased seating options, and new tech make it a smoother experience for all visitors. 

The partnership brings in sustainability practices that reduce waste and increase recycling efficiency. 

These changes cut costs and lead by example for other venues around the country. Coca-Cola Consolidated and Tepper Sports & Entertainment have a shared vision of progress that emphasizes practicality. 

How Collaboration Creates a Greater Whole

The renewal of the partnership with Coca-Cola Consolidated is a testament to sound management, commitment to local industry, and a clear understanding of the path to innovation. The Panthers and Charlotte FC have a strong ecosystem of support where each element supports the other.

The renewal of the sponsorship is a convergence between vision and execution. It shows how strategic planning, community engagement, and smart resource allocation can create an ecosystem for athletes to flourish and fans to feel involved. Each goal scored and each cheer inside the stadium reflects a part of that collective effort, which only shows that success in all its forms is a result of collaboration.

How to Pick the Perfect Career for You

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Selecting the right career path can make you feel anxious. There are so many choices, and you may feel your qualifications are not the right match! Whether you have studied at a conventional college, online college such as Learn Now or completed a degree at university, you can find find the perfect job (if you follow the steps below)!

Look Inward First

Start with your fabulous self.

What lights you up? When do you lose all track of time? Make a list of these passions. Remember classes that fascinated you and think about volunteer work or jobs where you thrived. You want to ensure that you make the best possible decision and don’t regret it later so take the time to concentrate on yourself.

Ask yourself:

  • How do I hope to help the world?
  • What impact matters most to me?
  • What work spaces would make me smile?
  • What lifestyle sounds ideal for me?

Gain Valuable Experience

Alongside education, experience is so important to get you off to a good start. Find relevant opportunities while still in school and be prepared to knock on many doors offering your services. Try the following:

  • Intern or work part-time in your field.
  • Volunteer with local organizations making a difference.
  • Attend industry events and conferences.
  • Join professional associations.
  • Complete relevant projects and coursework.

Hands-on experience builds your abilities and network, confirming you’ve chosen wisely.

Make a Plan

With your passions, target careers, required education, and experience plans clarified, map out goals after finishing school. This will help you have a plan to work with and give you some structure:

  • What are your 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year aims?
  • What can you do now to work toward those goals?
  • Who can mentor you along the way?
  • How will you keep expanding your skills and connections?

Having a plan will keep you focused as you embark on following your chosen path.

Stay Flexible

While plans are helpful, keep an open mind too. As you gain experiences, your interests can evolve in wonderful ways. What appealed at 18 may be very different at 25. Allow your career aims to change as you grow and be prepared to go off in a different direction in the opportunity arises.

Few end up in the exact job first envisioned. And that’s fantastic. Follow what sparks you in the present. The right fit will emerge on your journey to happiness and you may be surprised at the outcome.

Remember it is never too late to study and if you need to go back to college or online learning to gain more A-Levels it doesn’t matter.  Twelve months down the line could put you in a better position. Distance learning from home could make it even more attainable.

Conduct Insightful Interviews

Informational interviews with working professionals provide priceless knowledge to guide decisions.  Let their experience help you.

Here are tips for having meaningful informational interviews:

Pick Their Brain

Ask thoughtful questions about their career experiences and role:

  • Why did they choose this field? Is it what they expected?
  • What do they enjoy day-to-day? What are the challenges?
  • How did they get started? What education and experience helped them?
  • What advice do they have for someone new to the industry?
  • Who else do they recommend you speak with?

Listen closely for their passion and the realities of their work. Does it fit your interests too?

Do Your Homework

Always be prepared and before your chat ensure you have the following in place:

  • Research the person and their company.
  • Prepare engaging questions showing you value their time.
  • Be ready to explain your career considerations and why you wanted to connect.

Doing your homework makes the conversation more fruitful.

Follow Up Thoughtfully

Within a day, send a thank you note recapping key insights from your discussion.

Stay in touch by:

  • Sharing related articles or ideas.
  • Congratulating them on news about their work.
  • Asking additional follow-up questions.

Nurture the relationship started.

Expand Your Network

At the end, request introductions to other helpful contacts.

Your network grows exponentially each time you interview. Tap into your contacts’ colleagues and connections too.

Shadow Professionals at Work

Job shadowing provides invaluable exposure to careers you’re interested in. Observing a professional for a day or more reveals their responsibilities and environment firsthand.

Here are tips for making the most of job shadowing:

Do Your Homework

Research the role and company you’ll be observing. Understand their products, services, values, and culture. Show up informed and excited to dive in.

Observe Thoughtfully

Notice how the role aligns with your passions, personality, and abilities. Pay attention to the work environment and culture. Could you thrive here? What might be challenging if it was your job?

Ask questions all day long to understand what you are seeing.

Offer Your Help

Look for small ways to assist without interfering. Offer to take notes, brainstorm ideas, or lend a hand with tasks as needed. Show initiative and eagerness to help.

Reflect on Valuable Insights

At the end of the day, reflect on what you learned. What surprised you? How did the experience expand your thinking about this career?

Be sure to send a thoughtful thank you note recapping your key takeaways.

Talk with Friends and Family

Friends and family can provide helpful perspectives as you consider career options after education. Their support and insights can guide you towards rewarding paths.

Here is how to gain their wisdom:

Ask About Strengths

What talents and abilities do they see as natural for you? Things that come easily? Knowing your strengths helps identify careers for you to thrive in.

Inquire About Interests

What topics always grab your attention and passion? When do they see your engagement sparked? Following your interests makes work and learning more joyful.

Discuss Values

What matters most to you? Helping people? Creativity? Leadership? Lifestyle? Understanding your priorities guides you to meaningful work.

Remember, It’s Your Life

While welcomed, consider input thoughtfully. Ultimately you must trust yourself to make the best decisions for the life you desire.

How Online Platforms Manage Competitive Tension

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Digital life runs on competition. Every click, share, trade, or match carries an element of risk and reward. Platforms use that tension to keep people engaged, from games and investing apps to gig work and e-commerce. The trick is making sure the excitement stays balanced, thrilling enough to hold attention, but structured enough to prevent burnout or loss of trust.

Online gaming shows this balance most clearly. Games that last years, not weeks, all manage risk and reward like an invisible contract. Players want to win, but they also need to feel that the system treats them fairly.

Understanding Digital Risk

Risk drives participation. Without it, games feel flat and markets feel slow. But unmanaged risk causes chaos. The most successful online systems, from competitive video games to stock trading simulators, all rely on measured uncertainty.

This balance comes from design. Clear rules, fair scoring, and visible feedback let users take chances without feeling reckless. The best digital experiences turn uncertainty into a controlled thrill.

Understanding the Modern “Chicken Game”

Among the newer online formats are chicken game gambling sites, which combine quick reflexes with risk and timing. The idea is simple: a digital chicken tries to cross a busy road, and each safe step raises the payout multiplier. The longer you wait, the bigger the potential win, but one wrong move, and the chicken gets flattened, ending the round.

It’s part of the “crash game” family, where players test how far they can go before everything stops. The fun lies in nerve and judgment rather than pure luck. The tension rises second by second, and deciding when to cash out becomes the core challenge.

This setup captures how modern digital entertainment works. People crave instant feedback, visible progress, and the feeling of being in control even as the stakes grow. That same rhythm, steady build, sudden payoff, now shapes everything from streaming rewards to social media trends.

Reputation: The Invisible Scoreboard

Every competitive system needs a reputation to work. In games, it’s rankings. In marketplaces, it’s ratings. Reputation adds weight to every move because users know their history follows them.

Strong platforms make reputation part of progress, not punishment. They show players how skill improves or how behavior affects rewards. In professional networks or creative communities, the same principle applies. Credibility grows with consistent participation.

Reputation systems also help digital economies stay honest. By tracking and rewarding transparency, platforms prevent the worst kind of competition: one built on deception.

Technology That Keeps the Game Fair

Behind every moment of digital tension sits a system designed to hold it steady. The technology that supports fairness is invisible but constant.

Key tools include:

  • Secure payment gateways so funds move quickly and safely.
  • Data transparency frameworks that verify every transaction or match result.
  • Reputation algorithms help track performance and prevent abuse.
  • Smart randomization systems that ensure unpredictability without bias.

These mechanisms don’t remove the risk; they manage it. They let emotion and competition flourish while keeping the core experience trustworthy.

Balancing Reward and Expectation

Every digital platform uses rewards to keep users active. But the most durable ones avoid overloading the system with constant payouts or inflated bonuses. Instead, they favor smaller, steady rewards that build long-term engagement.

This rhythm mimics real motivation. Frequent progress keeps people returning, while still leaving space for challenge. Games, financial tools, and even learning platforms use similar pacing. When users feel momentum, not manipulation, they stay loyal.

Crossing Into Business and Finance

The methods that gaming platforms perfected are now part of business technology. Freelance portals, trading apps, and even fitness platforms use competitive structures to motivate users. Leaderboards, progress bars, and streak counters are all forms of gamified tension.

The idea isn’t to turn work or saving money into a literal game; it’s to use the psychology of challenge and reward to sustain focus. Just as online players push for higher scores, professionals push for metrics and milestones that keep them improving.

The Importance of Trust in Fast-Paced Systems

As online competition grows, trust becomes the anchor. Every player, buyer, or investor needs to believe that the system works as promised. This is why transparency now defines the modern digital economy.

Clear payout systems, public records, and traceable results protect users while still leaving room for tension. The rise of blockchain verification and instant payment technology proves that speed and safety can coexist. In the long run, the platforms that survive are the ones that turn fairness into part of the thrill.

Lessons for Platform Design

The mix of risk, reward, and reputation defines nearly every successful online system. The most reliable designs share a few things in common:

  • Rules that feel fair. Players and users must see that effort leads to results.
  • Rewards that grow over time. Steady improvement matters more than single wins.
  • Visibility that builds trust. Transparency helps users stay confident even when outcomes vary.
  • Boundaries that feel safe. People engage longer when risk feels exciting, not threatening.

These ideas don’t just apply to entertainment. They shape education apps, crowdfunding sites, creative networks, and professional platforms. Everywhere competition exists, designers are learning how to make it sustainable.

Competition as Connection

Risk and reward may sound like opposites, but they are also a form of connection. They turn strangers into rivals, rivals into communities, and communities into economies.

Online tension, when handled well, doesn’t divide; it unites through shared experience. It keeps people invested not only in winning, but in belonging. The result is an ecosystem where excitement and stability grow side by side.

That’s the quiet success of digital competition today. The technology fades into the background, but the feeling remains: the pulse of challenge, the push to improve, and the constant dance between risk and restraint.

The Government Just Shut Down: What It Means for Carolina Workers, Veterans, and Families

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The federal government officially shut down at midnight after lawmakers failed to approve funding. Across the Carolinas, nonessential workers at agencies like IRS, HHS, and National Park Service face furloughs and delayed paychecks. Essential personnel — such as military and TSA staff — must continue working, though they may not be paid immediately if the shutdown drags on.

Programs like SNAP and WIC could run out of funds, threatening benefits for low-income households. However, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid payments are protected and will continue. The U.S. Postal Service will also keep operating, because it relies on its own revenue sources.

In North Carolina, an estimated 51,900 federal employees work outside the military. Meanwhile, the Office of State Human Resources announced that 200 state employees funded by federal dollars will be furloughed starting Wednesday. Health benefits for those workers will remain through October.

Veterans will still access health services and receive compensation, but services like transition counseling will pause. County-level USDA offices, which support farms across the region, will shut down, potentially delaying critical services for farmers. In past shutdowns, airports have endured delays when TSA attendance drops—something travelers in the Carolinas may now face.

Farewell to a Charlotte Icon: Mallard Creek BBQ Ending After Nearly a 100 Years

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via mallardcreekbbq.com

Mallard Creek Presbyterian Church is officially ending its legendary barbecue tradition after 93 years. The event, long known as the “granddaddy of barbecues,” was a beloved Charlotte institution, raising funds for missions and church construction projects since 1929.

The decision follows the retirement of key leaders and a volunteer shortage that made it impossible to continue the large-scale effort. “Everything has a life cycle,” the church said. “For the Mallard Creek BBQ, that life cycle is 93 years.”

What began during the Great Depression as a fundraiser to pay a contractor became a celebrated fall gathering that fed thousands and brought the community together year after year. The church extended thanks to generations of volunteers and visitors who supported the event.

Though the smoke will no longer rise, the legacy of the barbecue lives on through the lives and missions it supported. For more information you can visit mallardcreekbbq.com.