Historic Black district to unveil Helene tree bench in Asheville
A Helene-felled white oak will become a bench at the YMI Cultural Center, marking The Block’s Black history and Asheville’s storm recovery.
Helene’s debris is being turned into a public memory piece in the heart of downtown Asheville. A custom bench made from a white oak tree that fell in Swannanoa during Tropical Storm Helene will be unveiled Friday, June 19, outside the YMI Cultural Center at 39 S. Market Street, alongside a commemorative marker.
The City of Asheville is presenting the bench as a functional artwork and part of its Boosting the Block initiative, a project meant to honor the collective experiences of Helene across Western North Carolina while reinforcing the visibility of The Block, Asheville’s historic Black business district. The dedication is set for 1 p.m., and the city is inviting the public to attend.
The piece was designed by local artist Kwadwo Som-Pimpong and is inspired by Ashanti chief stools, giving the bench both a symbolic form and a practical use. Echoes of the Forest says the oak log came through Bee Tree Hardwoods, after the tree fell in Swannanoa during the storm, washed downstream, and was later recovered. The transformation from storm damage to seating turns a damaged tree into a place for rest, reflection, and recognition.
Boosting the Block is tied to the Pack Square Plaza Vision Plan and includes work on a gateway and cultural corridor along South Market Street. City records say the effort is backed by a $3 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with the first $180,000 invested in 2024. Maintenance of the bench will fall to the Asheville Downtown Improvement District.
The broader project has been shaped by Echoes of the Forest, the YMI Cultural Center and The Block Collaborative. City materials describe The Block as a geographic and cultural bridge between downtown’s Pack Square area and the East End/Valley Street neighborhood, with the project intended to better tell the district’s past, present and future through public art, neighborhood capacity-building and programming.
The setting adds another layer of meaning. The YMI Cultural Center, founded in 1893, is described in event listings as the oldest African American cultural center in the country. Placing the bench there on Juneteenth ties storm recovery to Black cultural memory, while also asking who gets remembered in Asheville’s rebuilt downtown and what kind of civic history is being written into the streetscape.
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