Students and community members hope the house at 122 Moretz St. (pictured) will serve as home to the Boone Project Incubator and Community Space. Supporters must first acquire the house from the Town of Boone, which owns it. Photo by Catherine Haithcock | The Appalachian

“Essentially, the idea is to create an alternative community space in Boone that incorporates music and art, a local radio station and a platform for local issues and local initiatives,” said Devon Tuttle, a junior sustainable development and entrepreneurship double major. “We hope it bolsters the local economy and businesses by providing another space, by incorporating local elements and allowing people to organize in one place.”

“The focus is really going to be on specific projects that need a space to incubate and expand themselves,” said Ben Paynter, a junior sustainable development major.

Project members said they hope to renovate a vacant house at 122 Moretz St. that would serve as the location for the center.

However, the group has not yet obtained permission to use the space from the Town of Boone, which owns the house.

“We’ve already worked on a proposal and we’re planning on presenting it soon,” Paynter said.

Although the house needs some aesthetic work, it is structurally sound, Tuttle said.

“The idea is to, hopefully, get the appropriate technology department involved to see if students, graduate students or labs could take part in the house and make it more eco-friendly as an educational tool that would allow students to actually exercise what they are learning,” he said.

Although the initiative encourages the community of Appalachian State University to get involved, their main focus is on strengthening the cultural, economic and social aspects of the Boone community.

“We want to ensure that this center works cooperatively with the school, yet very independent from the school,” Tuttle said. “It is very important to us that this is a community space, not a school space, but we as students can benefit from having this space that could easily be shared with other community members, too. It is the creativity and the interest of students that drives this whole idea, but we want it to be a community thing that will involve people of all ages, true locals and students.”

So far, the Boone Bicycle Initiative, High Country Community Radio, the Free School of Boone and Papergirl of Boone are supporting and contributing time and services towards the effort.

“Our original idea was to try and obtain non-profit status, but so far we’re not seeing many benefits to that,” Appalachian alumnus Alex Moody said. “This initiative wouldn’t be impossible without nonprofit status, but it would give us a formal organization for people who might not take us seriously that otherwise would.”

Although another meeting time has not yet been determined, anyone interested in becoming a part of Boone Project Incubator can visit its Facebook page at “Boone Project Incubator and Community Space.”

Story and Photo: CATHERINE HAITHCOCK, News Reporter