Asheville's River Arts District breweries, restaurants 'hopeful' amid ongoing Helene cleanup

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- From the steps of their former restaurant, it's still hard for Bryan and Angela King, co-owners of 12 Bones Smokehouse and Brewing, to consider the scope of the flooding that swept through Asheville's River Arts District.

"I remember walking through and just being completely, just stunned," Bryan King said.

The couple took over 12 Bones -- an early staple in what would fast become a thriving neighborhood -- in 2012 and saw both the area and their business rapidly grow in popularity. But as they assess the damage at the property, which was submerged by Hurricane Helene's floodwaters, their future in the River Arts District is unclear.

"Everyone thinks it's going to flood again. So I don't know if it makes sense to rebuild," Angela King said.

The Kings also run a second 12 Bones location just south of Asheville in Arden, but the damage to their once-bustling riverside space is still staggering to take in.

"The best way that I could describe it was, it looked like it was a war zone," Bryan King said.

Down the street at Hi-Wire Brewing, Adam Charnack is navigating the same recovery process. Hi-Wire has grown into a regional brand in the Southeast, with locations across North Carolina -- including a popular taproom in Durham. When their River Arts District beer garden was destroyed, it also wiped out the company's beer inventory and its ability to brew new beer.

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"Our event space in Asheville is closed, two Taprooms are closed, the Tiki Bar is closed and for 54 days we're not making beer," Charnack said. "And if we want to make beer, we actually started trucking water in from out of town. Well, that's a thousand bucks a truck."

Despite that hit, Adam and his partners are still hoping to re-open their doors this spring -- what would be one of the first businesses to return since Helene -- with a little help.

"People have been asking me for months, what can I do to support you in Asheville, and businesses," Charnack said. "Get back to normal."

At the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, President Kit Cramer is doing what she can to lure back some of the 14 million visitors the city hosted in 2023 -- the lifeblood of Asheville's booming tourism sector. A major part of that is making sure that coveted hospitality workers -- many of whom left to find work after the storm -- remain in the area.

"I'm confident people will want to continue to live here. It's beautiful and it's fun and it's an attractor of talent," Cramer said.

Hard work remains -- as do some difficult decisions -- for a neighborhood trying to build back in a new world after Helene. Business owners and city officials, however, are vowing not to give up on the neighborhood.

"Maybe we're able to redo it in a way that is better and more sustainable moving forward," said King. "You know, I don't know what that is, but I'm hopeful for the future."

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