Let the fall leaf color come

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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This coming weekend, we’ll see the return of the annual Greek Festival over at MLK Jr. Park. The big blogger party is happening.  But one of the big stories of the week is the official start of autumn.

For Asheville, that means lots of fall color. And that means lots of tourists. Usually. With the U.S. economy fast headed toward the fate of an October leaf (dead), will people be traveling much? Will they be spending money for hotel rooms and expensive gasoline to ride along the mountain by-ways? I think we should go ahead right now and just declare the Blue Ridge Parkway a pedestrian-and-bicycle-only road.

Lots of folks will be watching.

Go to the Asheville Chamber of Commerce’s exploreasheville.com site to get a lot of good info about the fall colors. They have their first fall color report already posted:

Fall is definitely in the air and the cool weather trend in recent days is a good recipe for fall color, according to Dr. Gary Walker, biology professor at Appalachian State University. If the region continues to see warm, sunny days and cool, crisp nights, visitors can expect to see nice fall foliage this year.

While it is still early in the season, some leaves have already begun to turn. Color hunter Lynn Collins from Maggie Valley reports just a tinge of orange at the tops of a few maple trees. Katherine Matthews, botany professor at Western Carolina University (WCU), has seen some trees with hints of red in her area near Great Smoky Mountain National Park including sourwoods, dogwoods, sumacs, and vines like the Virginia creeper.