When Our State magazine started looking for a partner for its 2017 Made in NC contest, Mast General Store seemed like a natural fit. “They believe in many of the same things we do,” said Lisa Cooper, president of Mast General Store.

If you subscribe to Mast Store’s Almost Monthly E-mail, you are well acquainted with Francine. She’s corresponded with folks for more than 16 years – almost since the invention of e-mail. Her fans have shared many accomplishments, concerns, and questions over the years. In this week’s blog, Francine answers some questions from her website “Ask Francine” opportunity. Let’s see what she has to say.

Perhaps a better directive would be “please begin planning your itineraries and booking your reservations; the show is about to begin.” As the calendar continues its march to the fall equinox, the anticipation of the changing of the leaves builds.

Will this be a good fall color season? How will the recent hurricane affect the leaves? Just what happens to make the leaves change anyway? The answers to these questions will vary depending upon who you ask, where you live, and the types of trees in the general area. To get a better handle on an answer that is applicable for the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, we contacted Dr. Howard Neufeld at Appalachian State University.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited unit in the National Park Service. On September 9, the Mast Store in Knoxville is hosting volunteers from the Friends of the Smokies (FOTS) and will donate 10% of the day’s sales to help this group’s continuing efforts to preserve and protect this important, beautiful, and biologically diverse park.

Saturday, September 9, 2017 is Friends’ Day at Mast General Store. On that day Mast General Store will donate 10% of proceeds from the day’s sales to support local partners. For all of the North Carolina stores the recipient of that support is the Mountains To Sea Trail.

The Reedy River flows through Downtown Greenville and is inextricably linked to the city’s success.  On September 9, the Mast Store in Greenville is hosting volunteers from the Friends of the Reedy River and will donate 10% of the day’s sales to help this group’s continuing efforts to improve the river’s condition.

The calendar may say summer, but fall is the word of the day. New arrivals for the upcoming season are arriving daily. As trends do, everything old is new again. Many of this fall’s fashion trends are remakes of styles from a not-too-distant past. Mast Store’s fashion sense tends to embrace the classics because you can never go wrong there. But you will see some of the trends represented in our fashion and footwear departments. Let’s have a look.

If you had to guess what the top indulgence is for the summer months, we bet that you’d get it without extra guesses. That’s right, ice cream! In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day, which should be observed with all appropriate ceremonies and activities.

Capturing the oral history of our parents and grandparents can be an interesting adventure. Posing questions at the supper table during family holiday gatherings reveals life's highs and lows, which are often related with humor once the elation and the sting have had a chance to fade. It’s how we learn more about who we are and where we came from as people. But have you ever thought about interviewing a tree?

The rumor on the street is that nothing is made in the USA any longer. In actuality, there is still a lot of manufacturing happening within the states. It accounts for about 36% of the nation’s gross national product, according to an article in MarketWatch from 2016. Manufacturing in some quarters is on the upswing, particularly if the product is highly regulated or requires specialized training to produce.