Mar 25, 2026
Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people.
In this episode, Ben Kinney speaks with Zeb Smathers, the mayor of Canton, North Carolina, about how his small western North Carolina town has weathered an extraordinary run of adversity — from COVID to Tropical Storm Fred's devastating floods, the sudden closure of the paper mill that employed 1,100 people, and Hurricane Helene. A Duke undergrad and UNC law graduate who returned home to practice law with his father, Zeb shares how Canton went from a 20% downtown occupancy rate to nearly 90% by embracing its authentic mill town identity rather than trying to become something it wasn't. He lays out his bold vision for "The Hometown of Tomorrow" — redeveloping the 150-acre former mill site into an economic engine for the entire region — and reflects on the grit and grace that define not just Canton, but North Carolina's small towns.