At the grand opening of the Professional Arts and Crafts/Instructional Facility at Haywood Community College on Friday, words including “fantastic,” “wonderful,” and “extraordinary” weren’t hard to come by as people toured the new facility.

“We’re totally impressed,” said Richard Smith, who was exploring the ceramics studio with his wife, Bobbie.

Both of the Smiths have been taking an upholstery class at the college, but they said they might be interested in doing more after seeing everything the new building has to offer students.

“Our creative juices are flowing now,” Bobbie said with a smile.

The $8.3 million center was financed with proceeds from a quarter-cent local option sales tax approved by county voters in 2008 to address building needs at the college.

One of those needs was ...