Nicholas Parks: Man Of Many Talents

By Scott Nicholson

Nicholas Parks is a jack of many trades but he’s also a master of his own fate.

Nicholas Parks caps off a concrete block wall on Howard Street. Photo by Scott Nicholson

Parks, who moved to the High Country from Atlanta in September, brought along passionate political, environmental and cultural views and found the mountains simultaneously dynamic and peaceful. While operating his own handyman/renovations/maintenance business called Fair Home Repair, he continues his work for national organizations while learning more about the local scene.

Parks grew up in the north Georgia Mountains, and said even in school he was also outspoken about policies that he felt were unfair. As he grew older, he became active in civil rights issues, joining United Peace and Justice, and also worked for environmental and antiwar organizations like Answer (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).

“Whenever I saw something wrong, I just had to speak out about it,” Parks said, while finishing up a masonry job on Howard Street in Boone on Tuesday. While living in Tennessee, he had a dream that compelled him to go to Washington, D.C., where he participated in what is believed to be one of the largest protests ever in the nation’s capital. While Parks said media reports put attendance at the September 24, 2005 rally at 150,000, he thought it was three times larger.

Parks fervently opposes the policies of the Bush Administration and said the protest was awe-inspiring. “You encounter people of all beliefs,” he said. “I was proud to march beside people of different color, gender, sexual orientation who put aside their difference for a day.”

He also volunteers with the Sierra Club’s efforts to stop oil drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and plans to get more involved with local peace and environmental organizations once his business is more firmly established.

Aside from his sense of social justice, Parks also has an artistic streak. He’s an actor and writer, mostly for stage, though he’s done some television work and writes screenplays. He’s been a spoken-word performer and also takes scenic photographs.

“I was tired of the city,” Parks said. “A friend told me about the area and I took a road trip and found a cabin. “A lot of small towns have a mentality of gossip, but Boone is a mix of progressive and cultural, with art, music and open-mindedness.”

Parks enjoys hiking, and his cabin near the Blue Ridge Parkway allows him to enjoy peaceful vistas. “It was nice to enjoy winter up here,” he said. “I haven’t seen much snow in the last five years.”

He’s been telling friends about the area and posts photographs on his Web site at www.myspace.com/divinedionysos. “The nights and the scenery have blown me away the most,” he said. “You can actually see the stars. It’s a wonderful place, and people are so nice to each other.

“I miss certain aspects of Atlanta, but not the smog and loud noises, and I don’t have to worry about getting shot going to the store.”

He’s expanding his business and taking a variety of construction jobs as well as tackling some maintenance of student apartments. He said he likes to keep trying different things so he doesn’t get bored and also sees he’s meeting a need that’s more satisfying than new construction. “I was building three- and four-million-dollar houses in the mountains outside Atlanta, and I got tired of tearing up the landscape for two people who would only visit the house once or twice each year,” he said.

Parks also plans to revive his stage career and get publicity shots made. He’s also a veteran of performance art, preferring live drama to video or screen. However, his long-term goal is to explore a more sedate island lifestyle.

“I’ll probably be here a few years,” he said. “I want to buy some property in Costa Rica and get a sailboat, then do charter fishing trips and drink rum on my boat. It’s a relaxing lifestyle and the people are happy there.”