Palmyra’s Story

On May 27th, 25-year old Palmyra Romeo – an Asheville-based AmeriCorps intern at RiverLink, avid outdoors woman, talented bluegrass bass player, and an honors graduate of NC State University – unexpectedly had a seizure, lost her ability to speak, became paralyzed on her right side, lost consciousness and was rushed to Mission Hospital. An MRI revealed a ping-pong ball sized abscess on the left side of her brain. Since then, Palmyra has undergone two brain surgeries, and is making amazing progress. While a full recovery is expected, it will be a long road ahead.

Although Palmyra has minimal health benefits through AmeriCorps, the coverage is not sufficient to cover the astronomical cost of hospital stays, surgeries, medications, and the need for ongoing care. Shortly after Palymra’s first surgery, she said:

I think it is very important that people know about the health care system… I want to see some benefit to others when catastrophe happens. To have all of that happen and to have to worry that you can’t even pay the bill, what are you going to do because you want to live? The opportunity to worry about your health and your care should be very separate from worrying about whether or not you can afford to get the care.

Palmyra needs our community’s support and financial help.

Join us for a benefit concert for Palmyra Sept 15 at the Grey Eagle. http://palmyrabenefit.org

Rockin' RiverFest is Aug 1st, a FREE day-long festival sponsored by Asheville Radio Group and RiverLink at French Broad River Park featuring the ever popular raft competition, music competition featuring local bands, kids parade, live performances, local food and beverages, corn hole, frisbee golf, kayak demonstrations and much more! There's something fun for everyone!

WIN BIG! Raft Competition Prizes include:
Grand Prize: Diamond Brand boat
2nd Place: $100 Diamond Brand gift certificate
3rd Place: $50 Diamond Brand gift certificate

Celebrity Judges will be selecting Grand Prize, 2nd and 3rd place winners for the raft competition based upon creativity and ingenuity.
For more details on the raft competition, visit

www.riverlink.org

Rockin' RiverFest Event Schedule:
10am - Raft competition begins with launching at Hominy Creek Park
11:00 Rockin RiverFest opens & Kids' Parade Registration begins
Ongoing - local food & beer; kayak demos with Diamond Brand; aerial dance lessons with Asheville Aerial Arts; frisbee golf; cornhole competition and kids' activity area including WNC Nature Center live animals, facepainting, hula hoops with MelMacPink and interactive RiverLink art project.
11:30 – Kids' Parade/Intro
Noon – The Secret B-Sides kicks off Music Competition
12:30pm Belly Dancing with Baraka Mundi World Spirit Student Troupe Dancers
1:00pm Jason Ross Martin
1:30pm Musicians' Workshop Demo and RiverLink presentation
2:00pm Blackjack
2:30pm Asheville Aerial Arts aerial dance performance
3:00pm Hollowpoint
3:30pm MelMacPink Hula Hoop
4:00pm Brushfire Stankgrass
4:30pm Announce winners of competitions - raft, music & cornhole
5pm Festival closes
6-8pm After Party at Wild Wings on Biltmore Ave

Enjoy Tasty Treats:
Anna's Sweets
Blue Daisy Cafe
Luella's BBQ
Rolling Stone Pizza
Ultimate Ice Cream
Wild Wings
Yuengling

Rockin' RiverFest Parking:
Parking for the public will be available at Karen Cragnolin Park (former Edaco Junkyard) on Amboy Rd with shuttles provided to French Broad River Park courtesy of Buncombe County Department Recreation & Parks and EcoTrips. Shuttles will begin at 10:45am and run continuously till 5:30pm. Dogs are not permitted on shuttles. Carpooling is encouraged. Please contact volunteer@riverlink.org with questions about volunteering, raft competition and festival.

The results are in!

Asheville has voted & the ballots have been counted. We have some spectacular bands playing at the Rockin’ River Fest this year! Check them out:

Brushfire Stankgrass www.myspace.com/brushfirestankgrass

Jason Ross Martin www.myspace.com/jasonrossmartin

BlackJack www.myspace.com/blackjackrocks4

Hollowpoint www.myspace.com/hollowspin

The Secret B-Sides http://www.myspace.com/entertheboom

Rockin' RiverFest is Aug 1st!

Start making your "yacht" for this year's Rockin' RiverFest, a FREE day long festival sponsored by Asheville Radio Group and RiverLink at French Broad River Park featuring the ever popular raft race, music competition featuring local bands, kids parade, live performances, local food and beverages, corn hole, frisbee golf, kayak demonstrations and much more! There's something fun for everyone!

Have your say who plays at Rockin' RiverFest! Vote online through Fri July 17 for your favorite band to play and win great prizes! http://theriverasheville.com/Band-Voting-For-RRF/4782373.

Now accepting raft race registration. Prizes are awarded for winners in 8 categories including most creative, funniest, fastest, Green Machine Award, That Floats? and Best Theme. Non-profits can enter for free and receive up to $1000 in free on-air advertising with Asheville Radio Group! Raft race registration is only $15 per raft with proceeds benefiting RiverLink and ends July 31st.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED to make this a fun & successful event! New this year are team captains to help coordinate parking, kids' activities, raft race, etc. Captains will receive a Rockin' RiverFest 2009 t-shirt, 2 drinks of choice and RiverLink hat and volunteers will receive a Rockin' RiverFest 2009 t-shirt and drink of choice as a thank you for your hard work!

Here is the official logo for Rockin' River Fest! Lily Davis created this logo & won the contest. Way to go Lily!

Volunteer info session tomorrow, Wed July 8 at our offices at 10am and 5pm - RSVP volunteer@riverlink.org to attend and indicate which session you will be attending. Come learn fun ways on how you can get involved in protecting the French Broad River!

Volunteer info sessions are 2nd wed of each month at 10am and 5pm.

$6,500 to go!

Your support in any amount will be matched dollar for dollar. Tuesday, June 30 is our challenge for your gift or your pledge.

You can make your donation on our secure website. www.riverlink.org

You can call it in. (828) 252-8474 ext. 110 for Karen Cragnolin, Executive Director or ext. 115 for Carrie Allen, Operations Manager

Call us & we will come pick it up. (828) 252-8474 ext. 110 for Karen Cragnolin, Executive Director or ext. 115 for Carrie Allen, Operations Manager

You can walk it in. 170 Lyman Street, Asheville, NC 28806. http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&sll=35.591156,-82.560539&sspn=0.059118,0.078449&q=170+lyman&ie=UTF8&ll=35.584351,-82.565904&spn=0.014781,0.019612&om=1

Contributed by Hartwell Carson, RiverLink’s French Broad RiverKeeper

Three fishing poles and just over three fish were taken and given by the Nolichucky. Another great day of paddling ended at Davy Crockett Park. Hanging with Davy Crockett, a.k.a. Steve Ricker was great fun! I just wish I was dressed as cool as he was.

Riverfest at Davy Crockett Park was a success. About 650 people showed up, including U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-1st, of Johnson City. I am now looking forward to the Rankin Bottoms bird tour Saturday, June 6. It is one of the best birding areas in the state. Hope to see you there!

Blog contributed by Hartwell Carson, RiverLink's RiverKeeper

Paddling down the Nolichucky with Davy Crocket is pretty cool. Davy and I paddled around the bend and the shot of his musket signaled the start of the RiverFest 2009. Davy was a pretty good paddler, but that is not surprising, since he is the king of the wild frontier. The RiverFest was at Davy Crocket Birthplace State Park, so Davy was on hand for the day.

Soon the guys from the TN Wildlife Resources Commission were pulling huge fish out the river. They caught more fish in 2 minutes than we had caught all week. They did have the help of an electro shocker. There boat has a devise that runs electricity into the water and stuns the fish. They are momentarily paralyzed and scooped into the boat. This allow them to take fish surveys along the river, but today it was used to educate everyone about the 40-50 species of fish in the Nolichucky River. The kids had a ball touching the fish and throwing them back in the water and watching them swim away. We also built rain barrels, learned about rain gardens, and ate some delicious BBQ.
Tuesday, June 2 we will be in Greenville, TN leading a rain barrel construction workshop, where you can build you own rain barrel. For $60 you will get instruction and take your own barrel home. The workshop is at Ace Hardware in Greenville and if you want to come contact Carrie Allen at carrie@riverlink.org or call 828-252-8474.

Blog contributed by Hartwell Carson, RiverLink's RiverKeeper

I awoke this morning to the sound of the rain, but before I could even get up the morning sun began to beat down on all my wet gear. Wet gear has been a theme throughout the trip, but all the rain has afforded some really good water in the river. After departing from the group this morning I set off downstream by myself. There was one big rapid between me and my campsite and I was slightly concerned to paddle this alone. The thought of all my gear floating downstream while I swam to shore, had me a bit worried. I did not see a soul all day, until about 100 yards before the top of the rapid. Another boater came out of now where and I followed him safely down the class III rapid. A few fish were finally dumb enough to bite my hook and I made sure to capture this on film, since I had been making up stories all weekend about all the big fish I caught "while no one was looking."

A varied group of folks were meeting at the Nantahala Outdoor Center on the Nolichucky River for a great day of rafting. The sun was up and the rain had provided ideal water levels. NOC was generous enough to donate several trip so a group from the Nolichucky Watershed Partnership group, could see the Nolichucky Gorge firsthand. This partnership has formed, with the help of Altamont Environmental, to help cleanup the Nolichucky River.

We got a very close first hand look at the water quality as splashed through continuous class III-IV rapids. After acting like hard core paddler, in a raft, we setup to view some films about real hardcore paddlers. The films were part of a series of films from Rapid Transit Video, that showcased some extreme local kayaking. The feature length movie showcased a beautiful, but very challenging run down the Linville Gorge.

Saturday the RiverFest is taking place at Davey Crockett State Park, near Greenville, TN. Come join the fun. Monday we will be back on the water for more fun.