In 2020, Luke Hunter was working as property manager for Susie Rindal’s home in Flat Rock. As he helped clear scrub brush in the woods that surrounded her home, Luke noticed something about the contours of the land that evoked memories from his childhood days spent roaming the abandoned rice fields on his grandmother’s land just south of Charleston, SC.

A key part of Mike and Don’s legacy came to fruition this summer when the Friends of Carl Sandburg Mike Sollom/Don Hubbs Scholarship Fund made its first two awards to a pair of accomplished local students who share Don and Mike’s passion for the natural world.

From the time she was born, Marty Whaley Adams had a foot in two very different worlds. The first was her Charleston home where she was immersed in a life of gracious creativity by a mother who was an accomplished painter, gardener, and author. The second was at her extended family’s summer home in Flat Rock where her grandmother’s advice to a young granddaughter was simple and direct. “Marty, if you want it, make it.”

Reading the playbill for West Side Story at Friday night’s opening, I glance over a listing of the men and women who are the beating heart and soul of Flat Rock Playhouse. They are uniformly talented and dedicated to their craft. Together, they have built the iconic musical from the ground up. And, with few exceptions, they are virtually unknown by the audiences they so routinely thrill, amaze, make laugh, and move to tears.

This is their story …

Paige walks into the studio 20 seconds before The Breakfast Show goes live. She slides into her studio chair, adjusts the microphone hanging in front of her, and picks up the notes Mark has placed on the counter where she sits. With 5 seconds to spare, she is ready to go. Mark flips on the mic and cues the show’s opener.

Announcer: Wake up Sleepy Heads! It’s time for the Breakfast Club … with Mark and Paige!

Mark: Good morning, Good morning! It’s 11 minutes after seven in the morning on a fabulous Friday. Good morning, Paige!

Paige: Good morning, my love.

At a time of day when most of us are fumbling with coffee makers and struggling to formulate anything other than single-syllable sentences, Mark Warwick and Paige Posey are providing their listeners with news, announcements, local interviews, music, trivia, and delightful energy to start a new day in the mountains of western North Carolina.