Watauga County, North Carolina

hours. You get the amenities of living in a place that’s got the outdoor adventure opportunities that everybody seeks right now, but you’ve also got proximity to international airports, highway systems – all of the things that you need to do business with.” “And the pandemic, hopefully, will push our state to develop more broadband as a utility and we can only get better at broadband deployment,” he says in conclusion. “And that’s going to make it even easier to relocate from anywhere in the world and come here to Watauga County and know that you’ve got safety, a top-rated public school system, intellectual capital with a major university right down the street, and you’ve got a view that you will love to look at 365 days a year.” PREFERRED VENDORS n Blue Ridge Energy www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com Blue Ridge Energy serves 76,000 members in NW North Carolina with affordable, reliable and progressively low carbon electricity. Its Propane and Fuels subsidiary includes showrooms in five counties, while RidgeLink provides fiber optic infrastructure to cellular broadband, education, health care and other sectors. n Harper General Contractors www.HarperGC.com