Terrye Jacobs: Downtown Hendersonville in Full Bloom

Each spring, Hendersonville, NC's Main Street blossoms into a flowery wonderland during Garden Jubilee — one of the largest gardening shows in Western North Carolina and one of the biggest annual events in the city. Nick sits down with local celebrity and tomato extraordinaire Terrye Jacobs to talk about the grandeur of Garden Jubilee, what it takes to organize the event that draws such massive crowds, and what motivates her to help promote the downtown she loves. Garden Jubilee returns to Hendersonville on May 23 and 24 during Memorial Day weekend. Admission is free. For more information, visit hendersonvillenc.gov/events/garden-jubilee. 

The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce is a proud presenting partner of the Apple Festival Races which will be held on Saturday, September 5, 2026. The event is presented by Hunter Subaru, with support from Lassonde Pappas, Cummins, and Mountain Credit Union. This event has something for runners of every level with an 8K, 5K, and Chick-fil-A Mini Moo Mile. To register, visit https://raceroster.com/events/2026/111853/apple-festival-races. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Terry Jacobs. Terry with an E. Well, Terry with two E's. Yes, Terry with two E's. Is there a story behind the second E?

SPEAKER_02 0:28

There is a story. My parents were were not the most creative with names. So my sister's name is Paula. My brother's name is Paul. And they said, well, we're just going to name her after the first person that walks in the room.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Come on.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Kind of scary. Like, wow, that could have been just pretty much anything. So uh it happened to meet my favorite uncle, Terry, which I was super happy about. I love being named after him, but so cool. Yeah. So my mom just put the E just to differentiate it, like it wasn't Uncle Terry, it was little Terry.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Wow. So it was sort of a little, we're gonna make this personal for you. Here's it, here's the letter E.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Run with it.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

That's cool. That's cool. I I've always meant to ask you that. And um, so thank you. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Yeah. Hardly anyone knows that story. So there you go.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Yeah. Well, after listening to this podcast, hardly anyone will know that from now on, anyway. No, I'm just kidding. Thank you for coming on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

You um every once in a while you dress up as a tomato, um, which is kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

I am indeed Terry Tomato. It's a it's a special thing. I'm I'm very honored to be the Hendersonville Farmer's Market Tomato. It's wonderful. I love it. It's I love the farmer's market, and representing as a tomato is right up my alley, if you know me.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

But in all seriousness, you work for the city of Hendersonville. You help with you're you're behind the scenes and in front of the scenes for many of the events that take place in our wonderful city. Um, but the thing that is nearest and dearest to you, as you've told me, yes, is the Garden Jubilee, which is a huge event that's taking place this May 23rd and 24th in downtown Hendersonville on Main Street. It is Memorial Day weekend. Awesome. Tell tell us a little bit more about this event.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Yes, it is when I when I first came to the city to work at the city, um, it had previously been done with by the county. So um the visitor center and the county had had this event for many, many years and just came to a time where it was going to transition. And we were very fortunate to be the ones that it transitioned to. So that was my first year with the city and doing the Garden Jubilee. Now I have loved the Garden Jubilee for as long as I've lived here, and it's just been such a special event. And now to be able to do the Jubilee, it's just fantastic. And we've grown it. This will be the fourth year. It's actually the 34th year of the Jubilee.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Believe it or not, I know that's fantastic. So we're just growing it and and making it as fantastic as it can be, and I'm just really excited about this year.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

That's great. And for people who don't understand, this is the second largest event in Hendersonville after the North Carolina Apple Festival. Yes. So this is a big, big deal.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

It is a big deal. It is a it is a full street. It runs all the way from Sixth Avenue north to Barnwell on the south. So it is a full main street event, second to the Apple Festival. Uh, we draw a huge crowd. It's super fun. It's obviously both, well, not obviously, but it is both days of Memorial Day weekend. And we, a lot of people come from near and far.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Yeah. So a lot of the nurseries, a lot of the orchards, a lot of the local growers come down, they sell their stuff. There's also garden accessories and and art and crafts and food and music and um seminars by by agricultural experts.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

All all the things. I think the only thing we're missing from there is the music.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

But it is Garden Jubilee, it is actually very specific. It is all about outdoor, all about garden, all about nature, plants, flowers. That's what you're going to find at at Garden Jubilee and everything that goes with that. We have so many wonderful things going on. It's the Jubilee itself, which is about 150 vendors on Main Street. And we try to focus on the plants, the flowers, the nurseries. That's that's the big focus. But then, of course, the crafters. But you're going to find metal crafting, woodcrafting, everything all just natural and having to do with the outdoors. Yeah. So it's pretty specific to that. But then we also have a something I I absolutely love, and we're actually doing something a little bit different this year, but that's the speaker showcase. So we have been able to really grow the speaker showcase into something that it wasn't really before, but it is now, where we do have national speakers coming, some really amazing speakers coming to the speaker showcase. That is on the Historic Courthouse Plaza. It happens both days of the Garden Jubilee. Our keynote speaker this year is Scott Berline. He is the horticulturalist uh for the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. He is a national speaker. He is well known for Garden Rant, which is another thing that he does. But he is just a phenomenal speaker. We're so excited to have him, to have Jordana Chalnik from our own backyard at the Biltmore Estate. Of course, the Shady Ladies from Raymond's Garden Center will be there. Everybody loves the shady ladies. Um, so many fantastic speakers, but something we are adding that I'm really excited about is we're adding storytelling. So on the Sunday of the Jubilee to the speaker showcase, we're adding storytelling, but it's going to um center around around nature. And uh I just believe that storytelling is a is an art that I I never want to go away. And we, you know, Appalachian storytellers, it's a thing, and it's it's our thing here in this area. So being able to have that as part of the speaker showcase is is really, I'm super excited about that this year.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

Yeah, yeah. Now, I don't have a green thumb, I have a thumb of death. Why would I want to attend the Garden Jubilee?

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Well, you're gonna want to attend for the speaker showcase because you will learn all about all the things that you can do better. Uh, one of the it's funny you said that because one of the things that um Scott's first uh speech at 11:30 on Saturday is how to become a better gardener faster.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

So I need to attend that. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Yep, yeah. So uh yeah, you'll want to come also because we have uh Lowe's is um a great sponsor of ours, and there's the Lowe's Outdoor Experience. So if you don't have a green thumb, maybe you love tools or things with motors. So that's that's always a good thing. So Lowe's Outdoor Experience is going to have uh tech talks, wonderful tech talks down there. There's tool demos. You'll find everything from lawn mowers to grills to tools to ATVs, golf car. I mean, it it's just everything. It's a it's a motor paradise down there.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

So it's the Super Bowl of gardening meets the World Expo, meets TED Talks. Yes, meets Lollapalooza.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

And then there is the Kid Zone. So uh Lowe's actually does our phenomenal kid zone where kids can actually build something, paint, paint something, build something right there at the show. Cool. So that's it's it's really something for everyone. And um just want to kind of interject real quick a super huge thank you to our presenting sponsor, Stellar Power Solutions, because we really we're we're so grateful that they are a presenting sponsor every year. Yeah, we really are so grateful to have them.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

I had Cheryl Stoller on the show uh recently. Wonderful woman. One great episode. She is an absolute remarkable lady.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

She and Brian are just fantastic salt of the earth, just couldn't say enough about how wonderful they are and how wonderful it is to work with them.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

Yeah. Now, how did a girl like you wind up involved with the garden jubilee? You're from Florida originally. I am from Florida, not a huge gardening state.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Uh no. But not really.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

How did you get into it?

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Um, I really have gotten into gardening since I have been here. Okay. I was very much a water girl, as you can imagine. It was more kind of the sailing and the diving and all that kind of thing when I was there. But uh up in the mountains, just starting to hike and to just it's very different. It's just, it's, I feel like it's two different worlds. When I talk about it, I say, you know, my second life, so to speak, because it's it's just very different here. The beauty is very different. So I just have come to just absolutely love the the trees. I've always loved trees, I've always been a big tree hugger. So coming here was really like, oh my goodness, and then being able to get more into the flowers and just from hiking and then really saying, I want that in my yard. I want to see it like right when I walk out the door. So I've just I was getting into it a little bit, and now I'm really, every time we have a garden jubilee, I get into it a little more and a little more, and so now it's really taken off.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Yeah. I've heard this area described as having some of the richest, most fertile soil in the world, really. Um, you know, the ancient mountains that exist here, the ancient rivers. There's something about the soil here that makes it very unique.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yes, absolutely. And it's that whole that's ancient mountain experience of that's another thing that really kind of calls to your soul to want to get you know, your hands in the earth, yeah, and really work the earth and and and be a part of that, literally.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Yep, yep. So huge event. You get people coming here from all over the southeast, all over the country for this event?

SPEAKER_02 11:58

All over the place. Really, we have a lot of Tennessee people, Florida people, Virginia people, South Carolina, all over North Carolina. They really do come from near and far.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

Yeah. That's great. So, and this is one of the marquee events that the city of Hendersonville puts on every year, in addition to the ongoing farmers markets that take place every Saturday between May and October, 8 to 1 on Saturdays. Um, Rhythm and Bruise. Rhythm and Bruise that's also a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

And actually, um, it's the Friends of Downtown Hendersonville.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

So it's our our nonprofit, the Friends of Downtown Hendersonville, uh, all of these wonderful events, the farmers market, rhythm and brews, garden jubilee, the holiday events, all um run by volunteers.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

It is amazing.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

And you love Hendersonville, don't you?

SPEAKER_02 12:55

I love Hendersonville.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

Yeah. How long have you been here?

SPEAKER_02 12:59

This will be, I think I'm going into 14 years.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

Okay. This is your new home.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

It is. I just the moment I got here, it it usually happens the opposite way. I'm born and raised in Key West, Florida. And normally people come to Key West and they're like, okay, we love it. It's an amazing paradise, and we're never leaving. And that happens a lot in Key West. And I kind of did the opposite. I came from Key West. I got to, I was coming here for a conference, I left the conference, flew back to Key West, packed a truck within a few days, and moved back the next week and have basically never left.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

You're like, I'm out of here. This is your cheeseburger in paradise.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

It is. I just the people. The people, the beauty, yes, of course, the beauty, it is gorgeous here, but the people in the city are special. I have been all over the world and lived in all over the place, and I just the people here are just incredible.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Yeah, yeah, very true. I've been fortunate to work a little bit with the city of Hendersonville and the friends of downtown Hendersonville. What is it like working for the city itself?

SPEAKER_02 14:34

I love the city. Had I known way back, I would have, I would have tried to work for the city long ago. Everyone there. It's just a special place. Everyone is is wonderful, great to work with. I really um that really came to just really be a huge thing during Helene when I just saw how the city was run, how how much, how much care, and just everything that happened at that time. And I mean, I I thought the city was wonderful anyway, but just being able kind of in that time of crisis to to see, and that's really kind of how how you see what people are really made of, is when when you know things are are going a little sideways. So a lot of things can happen when and that was a big thing that happened to us. It really wasn't. I mean, I've been through, I don't know, 10 hurricanes. I was there for Andrew when it just pretty much wiped out a good chunk of South Florida. And I I mean, I've seen hurricanes and what they can do, and I know how that goes. But I I keep trying to tell my my Florida friends you've never seen anything like what that was. Yeah. It it was completely, completely different. And even kind of having that history, but then just seeing uh the city and and how everybody worked together and and how that happened, I just was even more thankful and grateful to be a part of the city of Hendersonville.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Yeah. I'm sure it's hard for people in Florida to wrap their head around how major an incident that was for the hurricane to hit western mountainous North Carolina. Um, but you know, the water's got to go somewhere, right? It's gonna, it's gonna drain off the mountains, off the hills, into the valleys, and it's just gonna be exponentially higher, the waters.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

And honestly, I even with all the experience I had, um, I was like, oh, you know, it's North Carolina. I'm in the mountains. This is, I mean, I went and got a case of water.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

That's that was a a big lesson learned. I had no idea, absolutely no idea what happens when you are in the mountains and that happens. It was a because you know, it's Florida, it's flat, you know, it goes across, you're, you know, you're in the eye, then you're on the other side, and then you're done.

SPEAKER_03 17:32

Yeah. So little did we all know.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Exactly.

unknown 17:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

Well, hopefully there won't be any hurricanes May 23rd and 24th for the Garden Jubilee. I mean that is before the hurricane season.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Really hoping that that is not the case.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Yeah, and I'm praying for good weather, for sunny weather.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Nice, maybe cool temperatures on that weekend.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

So it usually we we tend to sometimes get a few showers here and there, but that's okay. Just waters the plants a little bit, and it's usually just a spectacular weekend. It's it's gonna be wonderful. I'm I'm so looking forward to everything that's good that's gonna be there.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

Yeah. Well, thank you, Terry, for everything that you do for the Friends of Downtown Hendersonville and for our great city. And um, thanks for being a great tomato as well.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

You are so welcome.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

All right, Terry. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

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SPEAKER_00 19:15

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