For Julian Price A Asheville Hero & Inspiration

For Julian. For Asheville. For all the dreamers who just need one person to believe.

As I sit here this morning, I’m reflecting.
Some of you know I’ve been building Off The Streets Productions for years —
but recently, I made the leap. Full time. No safety net. No backing.
Just a dream, a camera, and the will to tell stories that matter.

Over the past few months, I’ve been chasing down every opportunity I can:
writing business plans, registering with SAM.gov, getting my DBA, EIN, and trying to access funding through banks and government systems that weren’t made for people like me.

Somewhere along the way, I stumbled across a name I had never heard before: Julian Price.
I had no idea this one man quietly helped shape the Asheville that so many people now admire.

Julian was the force behind Public Interest Projects — a grassroots initiative that, starting in the late '80s, helped resurrect downtown Asheville when it was in serious decline.
He backed iconic places like Malaprop’s, Zambra, and Mountain Xpress when no one else would.

He didn’t buy buildings just to flip them. He invested in people.
He lifted up artists, chefs, writers — anyone with a bold idea and no access to traditional power or capital.

He walked the streets.
Picked up trash.
Replaced benches.
He even brought city officials out in wheelchairs to show them how hard it was to navigate Asheville with a disability.

This man wasn’t from Asheville.
But he made it his home — and he gave everything to make it better.

And I cried watching his story.

Because I saw myself in it.
Not the money part.
But the mission.
The drive. The hunger to make a place more honest, more human, more whole.

And it reminded me — we don’t need more policy.
We need more people like Julian.

People who say:
“I see your dream. Let’s build it.”

Truth is… I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Asheville for a long time.
I always thought it was trying to be something it wasn’t.
But lately, I’ve been falling back in love with it — slowly — through its architecture, its weirdness, its bones.
And now that I know about Julian, I see it differently.

Now I wonder…
Did we keep the vision?
Or did we sell it?

West Asheville is changing.
The RAD isn’t what Julian probably imagined.
Asheville still tries to hold on to that “weird” identity — but sometimes it feels more branded than born.

Julian didn’t invite corporations here.
He invited artists.
He empowered chefs.
He backed stories — not slogans.

Julian Price passed away from cancer on November 19, 2001.
And as I write this, I can’t stop wondering if anyone is truly carrying his torch.
If those he helped will pass the same belief on to the next generation.

Asheville is still growing. Still evolving.
But we owe this man more than just quiet respect.
We owe him memory.

Julian, I never met you —
but you struck a chord with me.
And I hope, somehow, I find someone like you:
someone who believes just as deeply in community, storytelling, and the power of dreams.

Thank you for what you gave.
Thank you for showing what one person can do.

Rest easy.
Your impact is still unfolding.