Residents and businesses recognized for aesthetic upgrades
Black Mountain Beautification Committee announces six Spring Community Improvement Award winners
Jessica Klarp
Guest contributor
The Valley Echo
August 25, 2025
Kathryn Rudisill and her husband Trevor were among four local businesses recognized with a Community Improvement Award from the Black Mountain Beautification Committee. Courtesy photo
Twice a year the Black Mountain Beautification Committee (BMBC) recognizes commercial and residential community members who have worked to significantly improve their properties. The aptly named Community Improvement Award is typically given to four properties, but this spring the committee recognized the work of four businesses and two residences.
Rhonda Reedy has chaired this sub-committee, which includes members Lyndall Noyes-Brownell, Lori Pisani and Susan Edwards, since the award was introduced in 2022.
“We hope the Community Improvement Award will help others in the community show their appreciation for improvements, big or small, as well as encourage other businesses and residences to continue to maintain and improve their property's exterior appearance to keep our town picturesque for our residents and visitors,” Reedy said. “Even small changes make a big difference in the way we see our town.”
The call for nominations for the spring awards started in May. Anyone can nominate a property they have seen make an improvement as long as it is located in Black Mountain. All winners are eligible for “Most Improved Property,” which comes with additional recognition and a prize at the end of the year. Recognition includes a display sign and a $50 gift certificate to a local business.
This year the gift certificate was to Mellie Mac’s Garden Shack.
“I feel like the Community Improvement Award builds on the BMBC's mission to enhance the appearance of our town,” Reedy said.
The two residential winners were Joe Rupp, of White Oak Circle, who was selected for transforming his non-landscaped property into a beautiful space since moving in last year. He has added flowers, shrubs, landscaping rocks and more. Patti Smith, who lives on Padgettown Road, never had flower gardens before moving into her home four years ago. She has since planted over 1,000 tulips, 60 peonies and hundreds of other plants and shrubs to transform her yard into a beautiful garden.
Patti Smith is among the winners of the Community Improvement Award, given twice a year to Black Mountain merchants and residents who make aesthetic enhancements to their property. Courtesy photo
Among the businesses recognized was the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, which received the award for the year-long development of a rain garden beside the Clay Studio. The project, located behind the building that is home to the nonprofit organization, also includes mosaic stepping stones. Vibrant flowers and milkweed have been planted for butterfly larvae. A beautiful decorative work has been placed as the focal point in the center of the rain garden.
Peri Social House was selected for carefully remodeling its building, as well as the addition of a fenced play area for the kids. The efforts of owners Kat and Trevor Rudisill have turned a prominent, but previously unoccupied property into a vibrant community hub on the west side of town.
A little further west down U.S. 70 is the Acorn Motel, which gained recognition for the efforts of owners Kevin and Krunall Patel, who upgraded the property with plantings, landscaping and three colorful new murals designed and painted by artist Ali Wilkins.
Down the road, on East State Street, the N.C. Glass Center was nominated for the beautiful transformation of an unused 89-year-old building to a working studio and art space downtown. This long-anticipated business met with numerous delays including Hurricane Helene and is a welcome improvement to the old Rug and Jug location that has been empty for over 20 years.
The Glass Center has no dirt to create plantings, but that doesn’t matter when it comes to the Community Improvement Award.
“It doesn't have to be landscaping,” Reedy said. “It can be anything that improves the look and feel of our community, gives more curb appeal or helps contribute to improving the beauty of our town, such as the murals at the Acorn Motel or the remodel of a vacant building by the N.C. Glass Center.”
Recipients of the award were “excited” to be recognized, she added.
“The vast majority don't even know they were nominated, so they appreciate the recognition for their hard work,” Reedy said.
The nominations for summer awards are underway and can be submitted online, at blackmountainbeautification.org,.
The BMBC is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization made up of local residents. More than 90 active members maintain more than 25 public garden sites, 53 plant containers and the town square gardens. Additionally, they decorate the town for various holidays.
Members organize and staff the annual Garden Sale each May, host a raffle booth at the Sourwood Festival and sell greenery in the winter, all of which helps fund efforts such as the Community Improvement Awards. The committee exists solely by the support of community volunteers and private donations.