ASHEVILLE — Taking a cue from Pisgah Inn, officials at the Folk Art Center reopened on Thursday with hopes of regaining business momentum in the busiest month of the year.
The popular arts and crafts center on Blue Ridge Parkway east of Asheville had been closed since Oct. 1 because of the federal government shutdown.
“I’ve been watching the developments at Pisgah Inn closely,” said Tom Bailey, managing director of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, which operates the center. “We’re in the same scenario as them. There are no federal employees here, so we decided we were going to open today.”
He said he contacted the National Park Service to give notice of his intent to reopen.
“They said they wouldn’t stand in our way,” Bailey said.
Pisgah Inn reopened Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Interior decided to allow it in exchange for the business owner agreeing to drop a legal complaint.
Park service police had blocked the inn’s parkway entrances south of Asheville since last Friday, when management defied the shutdown order that also has shuttered park concessionaires nationwide. The parkway itself remains open to travelers, but police
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