Kevin Hensley
I often tell anyone that asks (OK, admittedly I volunteer it on occasion) that this feels like home to me. It is home. I hope to never leave.
It has always eluded me as to when our annual information guide, I Love Graham County, was first published. Estimates of the late 1990s have been the general consensus, so I was keeping track and hoping I could pinpoint before the publication’s 25th anniversary. I did not want to miss the chance to reflect on it, and maybe even centralize the theme of the corresponding release around it.
There’s no other resource greater in our office than the bound volumes we house to the left of our entrance, which date back to 1964. (If anyone has the 1955-63 copies, please bring them by. I will buy you a steak dinner). This week’s edition includes the 2023 installment of the series, which reaches visitor centers all around North Carolina, as well as thousands of eyeballs nationwide. (Shoutout to our subscribers in Oregon and Washington!)
With reinvigorated interest, I started digging. The quick search to our 1999 bound volume had me aghast: the cover read, “Volume VIII.”
For those of you who despise Roman numerals, that’s “eight.” Yikes.
Begrudgingly, I opened the 1992 archives. A lot has changed about the Star in 31 years. It was still the era of “tabloid-size,” which existed from 1982 – September 1992, for you history buffs out there.
I scoured and scoured until I flipped past it. Expecting a magazine like we produce today, I was
stunned to find a 6.5x10.5-inch product, and there was nothing glossy about it.
By comparison, today’s special is 8.5x11 and shines like a diamond behind that gloss, baby.
The 24-page special featured a hand-drawn cover from a local, late artist named Lee Castro and met all the requirements of an introductory endeavor: a map of North Carolina that answered the age-old question, “Where is Graham County?”; a page touting the courthouse square as “The Heartbeat of Graham County;” who to call in case of an emergency (interestingly enough, only the number to the sheriff’s office remains the same today); listings of where to stay if you are here on a trip; and spotlights on county attractions like the Joyce Kilmer Forest, Fontana Dam and the Junaluska Gravesite.
But perhaps the most intriguing piece for me was on page 23. The staff was listed at the bottom of a detailed breakdown of weekly production of the Star, in the infamous era known as “paste-up.” The step-by-step production was so concise, I am convinced my niece Melody could have pulled off production of an edition if the rest of mankind suddenly went extinct.
I mean it with every fiber of my being when I say that I love Graham County – even if I miss a significant anniversary of our most significant special. Oops.
Happy 31st, I Love Graham County!
Kevin Hensley is the publisher/editor of The Graham Star. His niece was born in 2020 – less than three months before COVID hit – while his sister was born 4½ months after the first I Love Graham County was released. By comparison, his hair started turning gray in mid-2021. Life’s a dance.