Blue Ridge provides great opportunities for young entrepreneurs
BLUE RIDGE, GEORGIA — SEPTEMBER 2026 The mountains, trout streams and walkable downtown may bring people to Blue Ridge, but the community of independent business owners gives the North Georgia mountain town much of its personality.
Some grew up here. Others came for a visit and found a reason to stay. Across Fannin County, entrepreneurs are building businesses around the things that make the region distinctive, from outdoor recreation and conservation to wellness, independent retail, coffee and Appalachian foodways.
Here are a few of the people helping shape Blue Ridge’s next chapter.
Noontootla Creek Farms
For Emily Owenby, entrepreneurship and conservation are part of the same family story.
Her great-grandfather, Frank Owenby, purchased the property that became Noontootla Creek Farms in 1954. Today, the family-owned outdoor destination spans more than 1,000 private acres and offers guided fly fishing, quail hunting, sporting clays and lodging, with miles of trophy trout water running through the property.
Owenby grew up on the farm and studied environmental science and business administration at the University of North Georgia. Today, she serves as operations manager, representing the family’s fourth generation at Noontootla Creek Farms.
Her work increasingly focuses on protecting the place that supports the family business. Owenby founded the Noontootla Conservation Initiative to help preserve and protect the Noontootla Creek watershed. Conservation efforts include native plantings, stream restoration, erosion management, habitat protection and education.
On the creek where trout swim, native trees and plants create buffers between the water and surrounding land, providing shade, supporting insects that trout feed on and helping protect water quality. A greenhouse is used to raise native species, including pawpaw trees and milkweed, for future conservation projects.
“The whole goal is to do the best we can to keep the creek whole,” Owenby said.
The work has expanded beyond the farm. Owenby also has been involved in conservation efforts throughout Fannin County, helping connect environmental stewardship with the region’s businesses, residents and visitors.
For Owenby, building the future of the family business means protecting the resource at the center of it.
Noontootla Creek Farms
3668 Newport Road
Blue Ridge, Georgia 30513
706-838-0585
Ascending Studio
Valerie Messer’s connection to Blue Ridge stretches back generations.
“I am Blue Ridgean as they come,” she said.
Messer returned home after serving six years in the Air Force with plans to raise her son and pursue a career centered on movement and fitness. Her own journey eventually led her to Pilates, and in 2019 she became certified in Reformer Pilates.
In May 2022, Messer became the owner of Willow Creek Wellness and developed Ascending Studio with a goal of creating a place where people could improve both their physical and mental well-being. It became the area’s first Pilates and Reformer studio.
Today, Ascending offers Pilates, yoga and other fitness classes for a range of ages and abilities. The business has also grown beyond its original Blue Ridge location, with a second studio in Ellijay.
“I think everyone should do Pilates,” Messer said. “I love helping people improve their bodies.”
The growth reflects something Messer sees in Blue Ridge itself: a community where locally grown ideas have room to take hold, evolve and reach new audiences.
Ascending Studio
35 Trackside Lane
Blue Ridge, Georgia 30513
706-633-4007
Canoe and OAR Finer Goods
Lynn Kemp understands that a great independent store isn’t just about what sits on the shelves. It’s about knowing what belongs there in the first place.
Kemp brought a background in retail, including experience as a menswear buyer for Macy’s, to downtown Blue Ridge when she created Canoe and later OAR Finer Goods.
The two sister shops sit side by side on East Main Street but have distinct personalities. Canoe offers a curated collection of women’s apparel, accessories and lifestyle goods, while OAR was created as a complementary concept with a stronger focus on men’s lifestyle products and gifts.
Kemp founded OAR after recognizing a gap in the local retail landscape: finding a great gift for men wasn’t always easy. Her retail background helped her build a collection that includes leather goods, accessories, apparel, apothecary products, outdoor-inspired pieces and distinctive gifts sourced both locally and nationally.
Rather than simply filling storefronts, Canoe and OAR demonstrate how independent retailers can help define the experience of a downtown. Visitors discover products they may not encounter elsewhere, while the stores contribute to the mix of locally owned businesses that has made shopping an important part of the Blue Ridge experience.
They also represent the evolution of entrepreneurship in the community: identify a need, understand the customer and create something distinctive enough to become part of the destination itself.
Canoe
624 A E. Main St.
Blue Ridge, Georgia 30513
706-258-2999
OAR Finer Goods
Next door to Canoe
706-258-2999
The Folk Collaborative
At The Folk Collaborative, entrepreneurship looks both forward and backward.
Luke Dilbeck grew up in Southern Appalachia learning about plants, food and mountain traditions from his family. His earliest memories include following his grandmother and aunt as they gathered roots, bark and berries for traditional herbal remedies.
Today, Dilbeck and his wife, Amanda “Mae” Dilbeck, have turned that knowledge into The Folk Collaborative, a business built around preserving and sharing Appalachian culture.
Located in nearby McCaysville, The Folk Collaborative brings together a coffeehouse, café, scratch bakery and apothecary. Its shelves and menus reflect the land around it, with seasonal ingredients, herbal remedies, teas, salves and botanical goods made using traditions passed through generations.
The Folk Collaborative also offers workshops and hands-on classes designed to keep traditional knowledge alive, bringing people together around food, plants, old skills and shared stories.
The Folk Collaborative
2984 Mobile Road
McCaysville, Georgia 30555
706-492-7753
Mountain Mama’s Coffee Lounge
Moe Stephens didn’t arrive in Blue Ridge planning to stay.
Her path to the North Georgia mountains included time in Hawaii, where she worked at an organic vegan café and later in coffee, followed by travel that exposed her to coffee cultures and approaches around the country and abroad.
She eventually came to Blue Ridge to help with a café project. The consulting job was supposed to be temporary.
“But we loved it here so much,” Stephens said. “I decided it was time to open my own café. I felt there was a need here for a community place that serves a quality product.”
Mountain Mama’s Coffee Lounge was the result.
The café grew into a gathering place built around thoughtfully prepared coffee and food, with organic fair-trade coffee roasted in Georgia, house-made syrups, herbal teas, cocktails and mocktails. Its food program includes seasonal ingredients, gluten-free and vegan options and locally produced baked goods.
Its Main Street setting is equally distinctive, combining original artwork, photography and personal touches with a playful aesthetic Stephens has described as “70s coastal cowgirl meets Wes Anderson.”
But the business is ultimately about more than coffee.
“Every kind of person comes here and feels comfortable,” Stephens said. “And I think that’s a reflection of the town.”
Mountain Mama’s Coffee Lounge
771 E. Main St.
Blue Ridge, Georgia 30513-5545
Tangible Connections
That sense of connection runs through many of Blue Ridge’s independent businesses. Owners buy from one another, collaborate on projects, preserve local traditions and create experiences that visitors can’t simply find in another town.
It’s also part of what continues to attract entrepreneurs to the mountains. In Blue Ridge, the opportunity isn’t necessarily to make the community look more like somewhere else. It’s to build something that belongs here.