The most surprising thing about Lori Anderson’s exquisite wildflowers is not her attention to detail, it’s the materials she uses to craft her perfect reproductions. Each flower is made of cornshucks — a flame azalea (pictured), a dwarf crested iris, a flowering dogwood and many others — all native to the Smokies.

Recently accepted into the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, on Saturday Lori was demonstrating her craft at The Cottage Craftsman (above) in Bryson City, where her work is for sale. And she’ll be at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, April 21st thru 25th.

It’s the beginning of the wildflower season in the Smokies. For a blooming calendar, visit the Hiking page of the Bryson City Online Travel Guide.

By day, Jeff Delfield is the Librarian at Bryson City’s Marianna Black Library. And in his spare time, he’s a maker of unique hand-crafted musical instruments, filling requests from as far away as Australia.

Above, he’s putting the finishing touches on a tackhead banjo with a distinctive “patchwork quilt” design — a specific request of the buyer. To achieve the multicolored pattern, Jeff constructed the rim from eight different woods. And to fully display the beauty of the woodwork, he hid the head tensioning system on the inside of the rim, a technique he borrowed from the makers of Irish Bodhrán drums. The head is calfskin, the neck walnut and the fretboard is made of bloodwood.

Jeff makes just one instrument at a time, a process that usually takes about six weeks. You can see more of his hand-crafted folk instruments, including videos, on his Deep Creek Strings website.

Smoky Mountain Times reporter Aaron Morgan captured this image of yellow flowers, the Chamber of Commerce fountain and the Old Swain County Courthouse reflected in the Chamber window. The photo was taken around 9 p.m. in late May this year. Aaron used a tripod and flash at 18mm, f/14, 30 seconds, ISO 100.

An exhibit of Aaron’s photography will be on display at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City through the end of this month.

Ever try to throw a party an hour after the host has been murdered? That’s the dilemma facing the Wings Publishing Company in the mystery-comedy “It’s Murder in the Wings” now on stage at the Smoky Mountain Community Theatre in Bryson City. Remaining performance dates are Friday, July 24; Saturday, July 25; Sunday, July 26; and Monday, July 27.  All shows start at 7:30 PM.  Ticket prices are: $8.00 for adults, $5.00 for students ages 6 to 18, and free for children under six.

When artist and photographer Charles Heath first opened his Bryson City Gallery, he did not realize that his grandfather had once worked in the same building. Then he learned that the Depot Street structure had once been occupied by Slayden Flakes Distributors, the wholesale grocery company where his grandfather Charley Browning was employed.

Charles’ family has long been a part of Bryson City and Swain County, North Carolina. His great-grandfather Samuel R. Patterson (1928 photo below) served the county as Register of Deeds and later as Swain County Sheriff in the 30s and 40s. That’s his badge, below.