Hurricane Helene left a level of devastation this state has never seen.
Almost 100 people are dead. For weeks, most of the city of Asheville was without running water. And thousands of properties have been damaged.
Grief is present in every conversation.
Amid the start of the rebuilding and recovery phase, survivors search for moments when things feel normal.
One spot where people found a slice of that was at Imperial in Downtown Asheville. Mike Martinez stood behind the DJ booth as dozens of people gathered outside and had a drink.
"People were like, 'when are you going to play music?' I'm like, 'that seems like the weirdest thing possible to do right now,'" Martinez said.
Martinez drove for hours after the storm to check on friends. He saw entire houses destroyed. When he returned to Asheville, he needed another way to contribute. For him, that meant playing music.
"Aside from like getting information out or making sure everybody has what they need, I think this is also a need that people have," he said. "It makes me feel normal, too."
Drew Hendrickson owns Imperial Bar, where Martinez was playing music. He said the initial decision to open for a few hours in the afternoon was for financial stability. Then he saw how many people showed up.
"This means something, especially to a lot of people around the block and in the community, having an outpost and...giving people a sense of normality," he said. "To be able to curl up to a bar and have a drink and like, you know, talk to a bartender."
Hendrickson weathered the storm from the bar where there was little damage, but he still feels a collective grief.
"For people to be able to come here and get that sense of, 'I'm coming home now after a hard day of work. I know I'm trying to piece it together,' I think that's really meaningful."
Ray Goldstein is also finding music to be a way to help others heal. They are a part of the Brass Your Heart band which met on a Monday evening in an empty parking lot in West Asheville for their first practice session since Helene.
"It feels like something that I'm really able to provide a thing of joy for people around me and for myself, like to get through my own emotions, dealing with everything," Goldstein said.
Like many who survived the storm, Goldstein acknowledged that trying to feel normal again, came with some guilt.
"I'm...just trying to find the balance between really feeling like doing the things that keep me going and struggling to feel like that's valid in this time where there's so much grief," they said.
"And I haven't been playing music at all, which is one of my main things that makes me like keep going in life…I don't know why I would have doubted that that would make me feel better and that it would brighten other people's days."
Down the road from where the band was practicing another group was meeting for the first time since the storm.
Spencer Beals has been running a sketchbook club for almost two years. The group usually meets in the River Arts District – one of the hardest-hit areas in the city. That night they met at 12 Baskets instead.
Beals’ studio was destroyed. So were the studios of many of the artists at the meeting.
"The last few days I hadn't cried, but standing up there, I was able to cry in front of my family," he said. "It was needed. A lot of people have lost so much and it's just amazing to be able to hold a space where people can come together."
Erica Schaffel regularly attends sketchbook club and was happy to not miss a week
"It feels like such a privilege to be able to be together as a community. It's nice to have a minute that feels normal," she said.
