I washed ashore in Carteret County with my family in December 2020. I arrived weary and heavy-hearted, but within a year, I found myself converted from downtrodden traveler to eager participant in this vibrant community. I’m a reformed recluse in a place that knows the secret of transforming strangers into neighbors. Now, I’m on a quest to uncover what makes Carteret County such an extraordinary community.

Interested in learning more about the project’s inspiration? Ciara Sutherland interviewed your EPIC Carteret host in July 2023 to get the low down for Hello ENC’s What’s Trending? segment.

I was inspired to create EPIC Carteret during the Chamber of Commerce board orientation in January 2022. Listening to my colleagues in the community share their professional expertise and personal passions reminded me of the Richard Scarry Busy Town books I pored over as a kid. It struck me that I was getting an up close view of the many different kinds of people and experiences that go into creating a thriving community, and Carteret County is thriving. People here are engaged not only in business but in the business of leaving things better than they found them, of welcoming newcomers, of making the Crystal Coast epic. Those people are the inspiration for EPIC Carteret.