We first noticed the slogan “Don’t Asheville My Hendersonville” on the T-shirts of some of the attendees of the annual North Carolina Apple Festival over Labor Day weekend — and, somehow, the shock from the message remains with us today.

The slogan, which also is available for purchase on ballcaps and bumper stickers, amounts to quite a slam from conservative-leaning Hendersonville (the second-largest city in Western North Carolina) versus the ultra-progressive Asheville (the largest city in WNC), its neighboring rival that has long been nicknamed “The Paris of the South.”

The website theculturetrip.com stated, “With the arrival of the Vanderbilts, tourism jumped and helped steer the city (Asheville) into a prosperous era that saw a number of Art Deco buildings go up downtown, many of which still exist today and have been transformed into shops, restaurants, and bars that give the walkable city a bustling feel — a crucial Parisian element.”

But that was then and this is now — and almost everyone with whom we have spoken recently agrees that Asheville has radically changed ... into a trashy, crime-ridden, traffic-clogged city that is crowded with homeless people begging for money. 

Suffice it to say, a Facebook posting, including the picture above, asked the following about the slogan appearing Asheville Real Politicson March 19, 2022: “They are selling theses items in Hendersonville, that stings!!”

Among the many responses to the posting were the following:

• Benjamin Townsend — “One is liberal and going to s--t. The other wants to remain awesome. We do it here. Don’t NewYork my South Carolina.”

• Becca Crouch — “Now I need a ‘Don’t Asheville My Candler.’”

• Beth Campbell — “Speaks volumes to what’s been going on in Asheville for far too long”

• Mellie Rebecca — “It’s to the point where I have to have an escort to attend weekly doctor’s appointments in Asheville. The trashy place has become a war zone. I hate it.”

Goodness knows, Asheville’s collapse is a cautionary tale for what not to do, while Hendersonville, which remains clean, green and relatively crime-free, sparkles.

Asheville needs to clean house, end one-party rule and, as urged  in the classic disco hit by Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine: “Turn the Beat Around!”