ASHEVILLE – N.C. Department of Transportation board member Billy Clarke emceed a ceremony full of laughter and mountain music and shared memories last week to honor James W. Daniels, who helped transform the Asheville’s future.
Daniels, a Korean War veteran who died in 2016, spearheaded the revitalization of Asheville during the 1970s and ’80s with business, civic and environmental contributions, founded the Bele Chere Festival and established the environmental nonprofit Asheville Greenworks.
His contributions earned him the moniker, “Mr. Asheville.”
With a resolution from the City of Asheville, letters of recommendation from multiple sources, and additional documentation, the N.C. Board of Transportation unanimously passed a resolution last winter dedicating a 3-mile stretch of Interstate 40 between Hendersonville Road (Exit 50) and the I-40/I-240 West interchange (Exit 53B) as the James W. Daniels Highway.
“This will serve as a lasting tribute to a man whose vision, leadership, and dedication helped shape the Asheville community for generations to come,” Clarke said. “He was a great businessman, a veteran, a civil leader and environmental advocate. I would describe him as the epitome of a raconteur, which my father explained to me once as, ‘French for storyteller.’”
NCDOT staff uncovered the green signs beside the interstate on Friday while friends and family celebrated Daniels at The Mule at Devil’s Foot Beverage on Sweeten Creek Road.
Following a few personal memories and funny stories from Clarke, renowned fiddle player Casey Driessen and eighth-generation Appalachian ballad singer Donna Ray Norton performed a version of “Old North State.”
N.C. Rep. Brian Turner shared a story from his childhood about Daniels and later witnessed to the imposing figure Daniels could personify while still having the biggest heart around.
“This room is filled with people whose lives were touched by Jim Daniels and became intertwined and part of the story of a man who made a difference not only to his family, but to the greater Asheville community,” Turner said. “Today, as we honor Jim with this naming, this is not just a point in time or a look back at his life, but an arrow to the future of what is possible, and how during his life Jim influenced future generations, and helped lay the foundation this community’s future is being built on.”
The sentiments continued from other special guests and concluded with a toast to North Carolina led by George Masa Foundation founder David Huff. Before that came words from former mayor and city manager Ken Michalove, who attended and arranged for his comments to be read by Becky Anderson, the first Asheville Economic Development Director.
“Jim possessed a rare ability to inspire others, whether behind the scenes or leading publicly from the forefront,” Michalove wrote, and Anderson read. “He was a visionary that helped shape modern Asheville in enduring ways. Much of what Asheville has become today, rests upon the foundations Jim helped establish. He cared deeply about Asheville, not merely as a city, but as a community, and as a home."