Exploring the Valley

Crafting Community: Sarah Sunshine's Pottery Journey

• PC PRODUCTIONS • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Sarah Sunshine of Sarah Sunshine Pottery shares her journey from environmental chaplain to pottery business owner in Black Mountain's vibrant downtown. Her serendipitous path includes taking a pottery class for fun, buying a house with a studio from another potter, and eventually purchasing her Cherry Street storefront after overhearing a conversation in a changing room.

• Originally a chaplain working with environmental activists in West Virginia before discovering pottery at Black Mountain Center for the Arts
• Health crisis in 2012 that temporarily caused blindness led to focusing full-time on pottery to reduce stress
• Purchased her Cherry Street building in October 2021 and opened just one month later
• Named her pottery business after her childhood nickname given by her mother
• Makes everything by hand, including mixing glazes from raw materials
• Black Mountain's economy relies on "generational visitors" who return year after year rather than typical tourists
• Community connection is vital - locals must support the 38 independent restaurants and small businesses
• Emphasizes that Swannanoa, Black Mountain, and Montreat function as one interconnected community despite different governmental structures

Visit Sarah Sunshine Pottery at 105 Cherry Street in downtown Black Mountain or online at sarahsunshinepottery.com.


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Exploring the Valley. This is Cheryl Hyde. I'm the director of the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce and the Black Mountain Visitor Center. On this podcast, I'll be your guide to the people, places and stories that make our community special. Each episode will share the heart of the Swannanoa Valley, from local businesses and hidden trails to festivals, history and the voices of our neighbors. Whether you're a longtime resident or a first-time visitor, you'll find the pride of our community and the magic of the mountains right here. You're listening to Exploring the Valley, where local pride meets lasting magic. You're in for a ride, so buckle up. So welcome, sarah Sunshine of Sarah Sunshine Pottery. I always want to call you Sunshine, sarah instead of Sarah Sunshine, but welcome to Exploring the Valley and we're glad to have you today.

Speaker 1:

Sarah Sunshine Pottery, I'm going to get you to tell us a little bit about your store and how you got here and all of those things. I just wanted to introduce you first before we get started. But tell us a little bit about Sarah Sunshine Pottery, and I think you have a new website too, don't you? I hope to soon. Yeah, not quite yet, but thank you for having me, cheryl, this is fun. I'm excited.

Speaker 1:

My name is Sarah Vacasey. I often lose my last name to the sunshine. It is what my mom called me as a baby. So I've been Sarah Sunshine my whole life. I didn't realize the implications of having that be started the business soon after I moved here. Or I became a potter weeks after I moved here and love making pottery. It's still my favorite thing to do. And you have your 105 Cherry Street. I own the building. I love it. I love being anchored right downtown. It's delightful.

Speaker 1:

I love having a store that sells things I manufacture by my hands. We call it manufacturing. Yeah, I don't like that word, don't you? No, because you make them, I make them. I'm a maker. It's like the difference between homemade and house-made. When you're talking about pasta, homemade sounds gross. I like people to know yeah, I make it from scratch. I make every single part. I make the glazes from raw materials. I throw every single pot on the wheel or hand build it. We do every part of it by hand and I love it. So my big new project after Hurricane Helene and experiencing the need for to build in a bit of economic resiliency for my business is we've been working all year on product photography and building a new website. What is the name of your? What is your website address? Sarahsunshinepotterycom Dot com. I love it and it's been around a long time. It'll just be a much better website. What is the name of your? What is your website address? Sarahsunshinepotterycom Dot com. I love it and it's been around a long time. It'll just be a much better website Bigger, better, faster, stronger, all those things. Okay, good, good, good. Yeah, getting Black Mountain to the digital age.

Speaker 1:

All right, how did we even meet each other? How did I meet you? Do you even remember? Because I met you before, helene, I knew who you were. When I saw you after the storm, I don't know when I saw you at Gatewood's house, I was so like, wow, cheryl, I know, but I can't remember why. Oh, because I went to Wednesday. Oh, you went to business club. I went to business club, of course, that's right, black Mountain Business Club. And I don't remember how you really got started here. Yeah, my father's Park Service. So I grew up in Glacier Park and I've always lived in stunning places, because that's what you get to do if you're a Park Service kid, and so I've lived a lot of places.

Speaker 1:

As a grown up, I developed an entire form of chaplaincy and have a career as a chaplain, working with environmental activists, and I was living in the coal fields of West Virginia and working throughout the whole region of central Appalachia. And at one point I came down to southern Appalachia when we drove through from Johnson City down to Asheville on 26. And you see the Blue Ridge Mountains and you see how big they're, bigger right, and they're different, and I loved it. My heart felt very at home and excited, and so I kept working in West Virginia and living in Swannanoa, commuting, and the work, the chaplaincy work, fills my cup and I love it and didn't and doesn't generate any income. And at the time I just needed something. And so I took a pottery class for story I wasn't, you know, a college kid or young In the middle of a career took a class for fun at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts oh, cool. Found an entire community of friends. Wasn't it in the jail cell? Isn't that where it is? Yeah, I think that's so cool. And the garage where the ambulance used to be, that's cool. Yes, and they had just started that pottery studio. Yes, and they had just started that pottery studio. I think I was there the second year or first, you know like it had just started. You're a charter member. I loved it. I am a charter member, cool, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1:

So then, how did you like start a pottery business? Yeah, how did that happen? I felt things made sense to me and I wasn't able to stay in the community studio for long because I, right from the beginning, made too many pots. I love production pottery and I'm good at centering clay. It's a lot like centering your mind. I am terrible at that. It's hard, it's a challenge.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and, like I said, I needed income. So all the people I'm a chaplain for started buying my first pieces of pottery. That's how I'd make the things here in Black Mountain. I also worked at the dripple later. I really, really needed income at the time and would carry any pot I had made in my cute little, a cute little harvest basket and just put out a sign that said mugs $20. And people would just, you know, self-serve. They'd buy their own, they could wrap their own piece of pottery and put money in a that drift later. No, sorry, this was somewhere else. Sorry, in like Kayford Mountain up in West Virginia and Kentucky and Tennessee. Sorry, yeah, because I kept working in the coal fields for a couple of years and probably would still be.

Speaker 1:

The interesting part of my story is that a couple years in, I either needed to buy a house or move away. I got no, I mean, I was just the right age to settle down and I wasn't sure I was going to stay in Black Mountain and I found a house for sale from a potter. No way, I'm not kidding you. That's so cool. I've heard that story in other towns where a potter bought a house. I bought a house and a studio Before I was enough of a potter to need a studio, right. My parents helped me finance it and in exchange, half of the studio was their apartment oh my goodness. So when they would come here, they had a place to live and it was, and is, beautiful. So I sold the pottery out of the studio so it was like a gallery. It was all these beautiful pots. It's a nice little eating area.

Speaker 1:

Over the years I started to and then I started doing art shows right and traveling and building the business. But why I really became a full-time potter is I got very sick and that same year, in 2012, I went blind in my left eye. What Are you still blind? You didn't know that, did you? I'm not blind, I can see. Okay, that's cool, which is incredible. I went blind overnight and I couldn't drive and it was like a medical emergency. It's the kind of life-changing, altering event and doctors thought I had MS and lots of things and long, complicated story short, I don't and it's still undiagnosed. But I do different things to keep my health in check and one of them was to reduce stress dramatically in my life, which happened a lot by no longer traveling and I found myself in a house with a pottery studio. So I made a lot of pottery. So when I really launched my business, I had a lot of pottery to start with and I haven't ever run out really Right that I keep, yeah. So now it's been I mean, it's been 15 years.

Speaker 1:

When did you move to Cherry Street? When did you open the store? Yes, so I bought my building in Cherry Street oh, I didn't know that either. In 2021. Very cool. Oh, that is In 2021. Very cool, yeah. So before that, a lot of people know where my studio is because I had spray painted signs that say pottery with an arrow and I would put them out from the freeway all the way to the studio. Perfect, and I loved that. I don't think it ever occurred to me to own a store that's like too big, like it didn't occur to me to have my own studio, right, but that happened. It happened.

Speaker 1:

So, on Cherry Street, my store was, time and again for 34 years, a delightful clothing and jewelry store owned by Karen Buell, and she was retiring and going out of business, having a huge sale. So I was trying on clothes in the changing room and I heard her tell a different customer all the details that she was selling the building, how much it cost, that there's a basement and a parking space and all these things. And then she said what do you want to do with it? And the woman said well, I live in Miami and I want to be a landlord. And then she left and I bust out of the changing room. I was like Karen, please sell the building to me. And she's like great, of course, do you have any money? I was like of course, not. No. However, the banks have money and I have a thriving business, I have credit. And she sold me the building. That's cool. So that's how I ended up with a store.

Speaker 1:

When was that? It was the very end of COVID, of like the deep COVID pandemic crisis, so we still had the mask mandate. Oh good, it's the fall of 2021. I opened, I closed on the building October 15th and opened November 14th. It's a very fast turnaround. Wow, less than a month, yep, and haven't? We've been open every day since Pretty much except for huge snow. Every day since pretty much except for huge snowstorms, or you know, helene, yeah, stuff like that, and I love it. I love being downtown. I was like one of the new people, but now I'm one of the old people. That's right. It happened really fast.

Speaker 1:

I've also been in town so long and I say this in quotes a townie, so I know, but you didn't go to Owen High School, I sure didn't. That makes you not townie, I sure don't. It's Mount Desert Island High School. I'm quite proud. There you go. No, but I hang out in town, right? So I know all the old business owners and we're having a big turnover these days. So it's interesting because I hold a lot of that memory of what has been and am part of the new crowd, but also the old crowd, if that makes sense. Yes, I get it. And they talk about the old crowd All the time.

Speaker 1:

I heard about a guy named Booger a couple weeks ago. I have asked people about Booger. That sounds right. I have learned so much about Booger. He passed away in the 90s but I feel like I knew Booger. I love it. I love him. He owned a pharmacy and then he worked at the ABC store when it first opened and everybody knew and loved Booger. So I love to talk about people who aren't here anymore. Exactly, I don't know why. That's fun to me, but it is. It is fun Learning Black Mountain.

Speaker 1:

Our buildings were all built around the same time after the big fire in 21. And you know I love all that history. I do too. Where's the oldest street in Black Mountain, used to be Main Street? Oh, I don't know. Is it Cherry Street? No, it's probably Sutton, right, long-term district. Sure, yep, that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

I love thinking about Black Mountain as this big valley. We call it the valley, but it doesn't feel very valley-ish to me anymore. It feels in the mountains, until you start thinking what if I-40 and 70 weren't there? It's this big, open valley. Good point, I hadn't thought of it that way. Right, very cool. And we have. It is cool because, of course you center the railroads coming through, they're bringing all the passengers and goods and everything is centered from there in terms of building the town out in either direction.

Speaker 1:

Do you know why there's only hotels on the one side of the road, on 70? Don't On 70. Interesting why? Because the trains came through and the embers would come out and it would burn the buildings on that side, but it never got to the other side of the road and they did, in fact. So that's where the Monta Vista is. It was there. There were ones all the way across the street from it. They're gone.

Speaker 1:

Obviously, where Cove is now was Black Mound Inn and it burned from embers. That's right, I did know that. That's interesting. Yeah, it is. I learned it from Ken Floyd at the Monta Vista. Love it. There you go, love that.

Speaker 1:

So one of my favorite things that I've heard you say and I always claim it and say that it's mine, but you talk about that it isn't really the tourists who come here, it's not just. I don't know how do you say that. Say it Black Mountain's interesting because our economy depends on visitors and depends on people coming with expendable income and buying things, but they aren't the same people that you would generally call a tourist. Our people tend to come year after year, generation after generation. Either they have a second or third home in Montreat or Ridgecrest or they have been going to these church camps or their choir always comes to the conference center. We have, I think, four different churches have their headquarters in this area, and so people have been coming generationally and then they get in habits as we all do, like oh, I want to go to this restaurant and shop in this store and go on this hike and, you know, do the things that make you feel nostalgic. And so we do have people come in the store that are coming to Black Mountain for the first time, but that's less common. Mostly people, they're dropping their kids off at camp, they're staying at their family's place, they know what they want to do, right, right. And that I would retain the same customers over. Now it's been 15 years, right. So the same people like collect things over the. I mean of course they do and I'm so grateful. It's just I didn't understand until I had a store just how many people in our area return, usually in the summer, pretty much in the summer and the fall, not so much winter. Winter it does get quieter, although less and less so. Yeah, it's changing.

Speaker 1:

One of the things we're working on at the Chamber and the Visitor Center is trying to coach, teach whatever the right word is locals that, while we always say that we rely on tourists and visitors for our income, that if you really do rely only on tourists, you'll never make it yeah, 100%. And so we're trying to train them that when they come to Black Mountain to spend their money in Black Mountain, yes, that they don't need that little electric truck to deliver everything. Black Mountain has things that they can purchase there. They have everything pretty much. If you look hard enough, we have it all. Awesome, black Mountain is so cool. And if you can't find it in Black Mountain, do you really need it? Good question, that's kind of my question too. Now, have I ordered from that little electric truck? Yes, I have, but only when I've already researched and can't find it anywhere else 100%.

Speaker 1:

But what I wanted to ask is so, while we do rely on tourists and visitors to come and spend money at Sarah Sunshine Pottery, how do we get the word to the locals that it's vital that they shop with the local stores? Our local community support? We need our local community to support our local economy. We aren't separate. There's this strange funny feeling of like oh, those stores rely on tourists. Like the stores are separate from us. We are the local economy. My employees are your neighbors and kids and college students, and I'm so grateful. I do have a lot of local shoppers, collectors, as it were. Right, because dinnerware is expensive so you can kind of buy some over time and keep collecting. And without that base, without that sustained base of locals, I'm not sure what I would do, because I rely on them. Plus, it's fun, right. Like I have this tiny little store and I throw these big community events and I try to do them at times that are less, we have less visitors and more locals and we're packed and it's so much fun. And that's just because we're part of the community and we aren't separate from the community, right.

Speaker 1:

So I think you needed a bouncer at the deviled egg competition last year. I had to be the bouncer. I didn't even get to try all the eggs. I didn't get to try your eggs, it's okay. I didn't win. No, you almost won. I was in fourth place. I also didn't get to even tally the votes because there were so many people that I ended up being outside. Only eight people can come in at once. Because the store is very small, perfect size. Thank God, I don't need it to be bigger. I make everything in there. That's right. That's right.

Speaker 1:

We wouldn't be able to do things like that if we weren't supported by our neighbors and our friends. And then, of course, it's our neighbors and friends that are bringing their family, and that's also who our visitors are. Right, it's our neighbors' families, it's our relatives', cousins, or you know. They heard about the camp and wanted to bring them, you know, to Crestridge or whatever. And I find it confusing when people think the visitors and tourists are separate from us. They aren't, nope, nope, and they and or that the businesses are separate from us, or that we're making and selling things that aren't relevant for our community's daily lives. Right, I love creating beautiful things for our town and beautifying homes, making useful objects that are in use every day in this area. It's awesome.

Speaker 1:

This is very cool, and I love going to your store. I go every time I walk by. You do? I love it. I like pop in there. I'm sure Elizabeth is just like she loves it Crazy, but Elizabeth, my shopkeeper is extraordinary at remembering names and faces and stories, so she reports back to me. She'll be like oh, cheryl came in, uh-oh. No, it's totally fun, it's great, I love it.

Speaker 1:

My new favorite is the purple and royal blue Go on the same mug. It's called the Iris. Excuse me, they all have names. I didn't know that. Oh well, you know why they have names. Sure, I'd like to For the website. They have to have names so that you can collect, you know. So it'll look consistent over time. That makes sense. So, do you have the Cheryl collection yet? Okay, watch out, because I do name them after people sometimes. You never. You never know. That's right. Okay, there we go. That sounds good. I love it.

Speaker 1:

Do you have? Um, oh, I don't even know what to say. You can erase this part. Um, do you have a favorite? I'm not even going to call it a favorite, because I'm not allowed to have favorites at the chamber. You can't have favorites. You can have things that you really like, but you can't have favorites. Do you have have things that you really like, but you can't have favorites? Do you have a favorite thing that you hear from tourists or visitors? Notice, I'm calling them separate. They're different. Oh, it's totally different, anyway, from them that they want to go do over and over and over again.

Speaker 1:

You said something about their hike. What is the hike that they all talk about? I like that. First, I'll say I, I ask people. We always ask people when they come in are you local, are you visiting? And sometimes people back, well, I'm sort of visiting from Fairview or from Asheville. I'm like okay, yeah, you're. No, you're local, that's right. I would say even Hickory, maybe Charlotte, like you didn't fly here, yeah, okay, but I mean you can come in the day and enjoy it, and maybe you come here all the time. At any rate, I love asking people what their favorite thing to do is. And yes, of course, hiking in Montreux. Of course, greybeard Trail and Lookout Trail, if they are strong enough. It's so steep Lake Tomahawk is always a winner.

Speaker 1:

The restaurants that we've had for a long time are beloved, right, and people come just for them. How many locally owned, private sort of restaurants do we have? Independent restaurants do we have in this town? I don't know. We have so many. It's extraordinary. Take a guess, thirty-two. Very good, there are 38. Wow, isn't that amazing? It's incredible. That's only the independent. We only have like 8,000 residents are signing. It's ridiculous. I freaking love it.

Speaker 1:

I participate. I go out all the time. I participate a lot. I say that too. I say that when people come in and ask where do I recommend they go. Of course they ask, of course, and then I just interview them because I don't. That's what I say.

Speaker 1:

What are you interested in? What kind of food would you like to eat today? Do you want fine dining? Do you want quick dine and dash? Do you want takeout? And I eat all those things. I eat everything. I eat all those options.

Speaker 1:

I have a personal rule. It's not a chamber rule, it's just. Cheryl's rule is that I don't shop or eat anywhere. That's not a chamber member. I'm learning to do that too, because of you. Well, thank you. But there are a couple restaurants that I'm dying for them to be members, because I really want to eat there. They need to sign up. I know We'll get them. We'll get them eventually. But it is funny because I do have my favorites that I go to Not that I have favorites, but I do have my favorites, and I seem to go to them over and over again Me too, for sure, but this week I'm trying to place them, which is not a tiny list, though it's pretty big.

Speaker 1:

It's kind of embarrassing, hard to eat. Always. That's what I say to people in store. I say we are a town that eats out. That's right and same like local supporting local businesses. We are a town that eats, we support our eateries. I assume. I mean I do. I hope, I think we're not all fueled by people coming in temporarily. We also, I always recognize people. I always see people I know Always. That was one of the things.

Speaker 1:

When I first moved here, I was kind of sad because I didn't know anybody and you'd go to the grocery store or you'd go to a restaurant or something and I didn't know a soul. Now, if I want to hide, I have to leave town 100% and you can't even go to Asheville, you've got to go the other way, like all the way to Hickory. Marian is becoming my hiding place. Not to tell anybody that, because that you know would be a secret, yeah, there. Anyway, I am really glad that you came in today.

Speaker 1:

Is there anything you want to share about Black Mountain, swannanoa, the Swannanoa Valley or anything like that that stands out that you're just, that's your. When you think about here. When you think about home, what do you think about? I love living here. I love. I've always thought this is a place people love living. That's something I really enjoy about it.

Speaker 1:

Since the hurricane it has felt important to me to push back a bit on this strange separation of identities between Swannanoa and Black Mountain. We are one community. We have one high school. We have one middle school. My employees live in Swannanoa. I used to live in Swannanoa. It does not feel different than Black Mountain. We have a different governmental structure, but not even much different. We're the same county. That's right. So actually the geographic boundaries of the chamber make more sense to me as, like the community, I live in Ridge Crest Crest Ridge, all the way up Route 9. Black Mountain technically goes to Broad River. It goes so far. Did you know there's a bat cave, two flat creek roads in Black Mountain? Oh, totally, 100%, totally separate. So different, very different areas I don't really understand. Totally confusing, yeah, and all the incredible hollers and just areas throughout this region.

Speaker 1:

When I first moved here we did feel like one community and I want us to continue that and feed on that more and build that more. Anytime we try to put up separation just seems like a mistake. There aren't that many of us we, you know, the more of us work together, the better. When I first got here, somebody said we need to build a bridge between Swannanoa and Black Mountain and I said no, we don't. There's a bridge already there. We need a footpath. We need people going back and forth and we need them to. There's not even there's no, there's a footpath, there's no bridge needed.

Speaker 1:

I shop at all those places and eat at all those places, as if it's Not, as if it is where I live. I know it's just, and it's where I walk my dog and it's where all of it Anyway. Anyway, well, thank you for coming. And Montreat too. Sorry for not saying that, but yes, I go there every. I used to go there every day and walk my dog. I love Montreat, that's where I live. I love Montreat, that's where I live. Yep, thanks for joining us on Exploring the Valley. Until next time, keep celebrating the pride of our community and discovering the magic of the mountains. In the meantime, you're free to move about the valley.