Calendar of Events

Get ready to lace up and represent your business at the 2025 Chamber Challenge 5K! This fun, community-focused event encourages wellness and friendly competition among Asheville-area businesses. Whether you’re walking every step or racing to the finish, we know you’re up for the challenge!

Join us in person on May 2nd or participate virtually.

Important Deadlines & Details:

• Register by April 13th at midnight to receive a short-sleeve shirt with your registration!
• After April 13th, shirts will be available in limited quantities and sizes.
• Registering a large group (25+ participants)? Contact Judi Willard at [email protected] for assistance.

To stay updated—text cc5k to 828-827-5332 to receive event notifications (you can opt out anytime).

Join us for an amazing day featuring locally grown trees, flowers, shrubs, herbs and veggies, as well as hand-crafted works of art, knife and tool sharpening – all provided by LOCAL vendors! Throughout the day we will feature educational presentations including “Conservation in 2025,” and “Container Planting: Tips and Tricks” which includes a quick and easy way to maintain your garden pruners. All of this combined with live music from Asheville Ukulele Society!
​
Help support our WNC communities by supporting its small business owners. Our local growers are thoroughly vetted in sustainable growing practices and are experts in their field. Our local artists are dynamically creative and talented, showcasing kitchen and garden gifts, original paintings and pottery, homemade and organic botanicals, honeys and vinegar, mobile knife and tool sharpening, and more! Join these talented individuals as we welcome Spring back to WNC.

The Farmers Market composting demonstration site, located next to Jesse Israel & Sons Garden Center, opens for demonstrations on May 3, 2025.

The site is staffed by Extension Master Gardener volunteers and provides demonstrations and answers questions from visitors from 10:00am to 1:00pm on five Saturdays, during the growing season, May through September, 2025. The dates for the demos in 2025 are: May 3, June 21, July 12, August 9, and September 13.

There are five different composting methods on display at the site. There is a single bin unit, a tumbling composter, a wood pallet bin and a classic 3-bin system — we also usually bring an example of vermiculture (composting with worms) on most demo day. The site is stocked with informational pamphlets on the how-to and why of composting.

Stop by to learn more about composting at home!

with Asheville Wellness Tours.

Celebrate the ephemeral beauty of flowers during this immersive morning nature retreat! In Japan, the birthplace of forest bathing (Shinrin Yoku), they celebrate the annual cherry blossom bloom (Sakura) with a practice known as Hanami, which translates to “contemplate the flowers.” This experience gently invites us to cultivate our attention and sensory awareness, while noticing the evanescent nature of flowering, both within and around us. Together, we will explore our relationships with native wildflowers, ourselves, each-other, and the more-than-human-world.

Your guide will lead you on a colorful journey through the blossoming spring forest, weaving mindfulness, breathwork, forest bathing and nature therapy together for a restorative morning on some of the trails less traveled at the North Carolina Arboretum. We’ll celebrate the experience in community, enjoying a wild-foraged tea ceremony and snacks. Bring an open mind and an open heart. All are welcome. Presented through Adult & Continuing Education Programs in collaboration with Asheville Wellness Tours.

This program will take place outside and will follow easy trails and paved walkways. Dress for the weather and prepare to be outside for the entire program time.

Explore 22 beautiful greenhouses filled with mixed patio planters, hanging baskets, perennials, houseplants, shrubs, and plant starters. Enjoy live music, food from Smashville Food Truck and Mountain Man BBQ, a craft fair featuring jewelry and home goods, kids’ activities including a scavenger hunt and potting station, plus a mechanical bull! Appalachian Standard CBD products also available. With 600-900 attendees expected, carpooling is recommended. Free admission.

This class offers a creative, hands-on experience perfect for all skill levels!  Participants will decorate terracotta pots using vibrant paints to transform each one into a heartfelt gift just in time for Mother’s Day.  Feel free to get creative with your design!  Everyone will get seeds to take home with them to plant in the pot once the paint is dry, creating a thoughtful and lasting token of appreciation for Mother’s Day.

Tuesday May 6th, 2:00 – 4:00. $20/$15 for Friends of Bullington Gardens.

The Weaverville Tailgate Market located at 60 Lakeshore Drive, Weaverville, NC 28787 will again host Extension Master Gardener plant clinics on the first Wednesday of the month for the 2025 season!

At each Plant Clinic, Master Gardener volunteers will be available to answers all of your gardening questions and address your related concerns. Feel free to bring plant or insect samples for identification and/or problem resolution.

You can pick-up soil test kits and receive information about in-person programs and activities at The Learning Garden and the Gardening in the Mountains seminars. Please stop by to learn more!

Advance your marketing mind.

This is a group where marketers and entrepreneurs can share marketing insight without feeling like you’re in a work meeting.

Marketing is fun, so why do your friends’ eyes glaze over every time you start ranting about a marketing tactic? That doesn’t happen here. If you have any concerns, just ask the guy in this Meetup cover photo. We have 3.5 stars on Walmart.com – wow!

Share and gain perspectives, and resources to help your marketing.
Advance your career or business with a network of marketers.
Enjoy the fun parts of marketing, like creativity and new tools, and pretend you outsource all the boring tasks.

Located at Focus Coworking, 11 Richland St, Asheville

Based on the popular comic strip by Harold Gray, Annie has become a worldwide
phenomenon and was the winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The
beloved book and score by Tony Award winners, Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and
Martin Charnin, features some of the greatest musical theatre hits ever written,
including “Tomorrow.”

With equal measures of pluck and positivity, little orphan Annie charms everyone’s
hearts despite a next-to-nothing start in 1930s New York City. She is determined to
find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of a New York City
Orphanage that is run by the cruel, embittered Miss Hannigan. With the help of the
other girls in the Orphanage, Annie escapes to the wondrous world of NYC. In adventure
after fun-filled adventure, Annie foils Miss Hannigan’s evil machinations… and even
befriends President Franklin Delano Roosevelt! She finds a new home and family in
billionaire, Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary, Grace Farrell, and a lovable
mutt named Sandy.

Mark your calendar and get ready for the 2025 Spring Fling Plant Sale, sponsored by the Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Buncombe County, the Asheville-Blue Ridge Rose Society, and Men’s Garden Club of Asheville.

Featuring perennials, 35 different varieties of daylilies, natives, herbs, and vegetables.

Visit the Plant Clinic tent with questions, and don’t forget to drop by the Kid’s Corner.

A Rain or Shine event.
Remember to bring your wagon!!

Garden photography workshop with Camilla Calnan.

Do you want to take better photos in the gardens? Join us for a hands-on workshop where we use whatever camera you are working with to learn tips, tricks, and techniques to take the photos you are hoping to capture. Working from whatever level you are currently and using your phone, point and shoot camera, or SLR camera, we will discover new ways to think about photography to help you grow in your photography.

This program takes place in the classroom and outdoors. Please come prepared to walk on gentle, yet uneven terrain, and dress appropriately for the weather.

Celebrate Mother’s Day with this special brunch event! Join us for a delicious meal surrounded by beautiful scenery. Treat your mom to a day she won’t forget with a variety of dishes to choose from. Show your appreciation for all that she does with a lovely meal in a charming setting. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to make her day extra special!

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.

Kids, join us for an educational program with the North Carolina Arboretum to learn all about the many different Herptiles that call Western North Carolina their home! What’s a Herptile you ask? Herptiles are reptiles and amphibians! We’ll answer all of our biggest questions about Herptiles, like “Why are some amphibians slimy?” and “Where do Herptiles go in the winter?” Come ready to hear about the ecoEXPLORE program, find out what distinguishes Herptiles from other animals, where they live, what they eat, how they breathe, plus much more! Located at the Black Mountain Library.

This is an in-person program, held at The Learning Garden

Program: Butterfly, Pollinator and Hummingbird Gardens – What’s the Difference?

Presenter: Phil Roudebush, Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer

Program Description: Pre-planned “butterfly gardens”, “pollinator gardens”, “monarch gardens”, “beneficial bug gardens” and “hummingbird gardens” are often available to purchase as mixed seed bundles from garden centers and mail-order or on-line garden catalogues. These terms are often confusing and many of the pre-planned planting schemes will result in colorful gardens that do not adequately support pollinators or other beneficial animal habitats.

This class will discuss what makes up a good habitat and give more specific recommendations for butterfly, Monarch butterfly, pollinator and hummingbird gardens. Resources for obtaining a wide range of appropriate plants will be provided.

After the presentation we will visit a pollinator garden in The Learning Garden; please dress appropriately for the weather. The classroom size is limited so register to reserve your seat!

The talk is free, but seating is limited and registration is required. Please Click here to register via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/butterfly-pollinator-and-hummingbird-gardens-whats-the-difference-tickets-1335472216349?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Learning Garden, located at the Extension Office, 49 Mt. Carmel Road, is offering the public the opportunity to Visit and Learn in the garden on selected Thursdays, February – October. The Thursday in-person programs will consist of eight garden-specific program areas.

If you encounter problems registering or if you have questions, call 828-255-5522.

There’s more than one way to design a vegetable garden — and some of the most beautiful and productive gardens use vertical structures to grow! Cages, poles, trellises, even creative builds like bean houses — these structures aren’t just practical, they’re eye-catching and a little whimsical, too.

Growing vegetables on structures is fun. It saves time and labor, makes harvesting a breeze, and helps you squeeze more out of every square foot.

Join Mary Alice Ramsey, a lifelong gardener, as she shares her favorite garden structures, personal tips, and stories from her own garden. You’ll leave inspired to grow upward — not just outward!

Presentation is free, and registration with Eventbrite is required.

Click this link to register on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gardening-in-the-mountains-presents-growing-veggies-on-garden-structures-tickets-1335471263499?aff=oddtdtcreator

If you have questions, contact the Buncombe County Extension office at 828-255-5522.

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.

In this series of classes learn about tree health care and maintenance.

By cultivating and protecting healthy diverse habitats for pollinators, for wildlife, for healthy flora and fauna, we benefit the individuals who live in and enjoy these spaces and for our community, as a whole. By creating natural areas in your yard and leaving the leaves each fall you can benefit many kinds of insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals which depend on the native plants and their fallen leaves and seeds for shelter, food and habitat.

Join Steve Pettis, Henderson County Commercial and Consumer Horticulture Agent and host of the Gardening in the Mountains Radio Show and Podcast to learn how we can do things better!

May 22, 2025, 1:00-3:00pm.

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.

Catch an afternoon FULL of high-level ROLLER DERBY!

This family-friendly derby-filled afternoon will include TWO Travel Season bouts. First, the Y’All Stars will face River City Riot from Richmond, Virginia in an A-level sanctioned game. Then, the Retrogrades will take on the River City River Rats in a B-level sanctioned game. Both games’ final scores will impact BRRD and River City’s INTERNATIONAL WFTDA rankings.
Tickets available online or at the door.

2:00 Doors Open
3:00 BRRD Y’AllStars vs. River City Riot
5:00 BRRD Retrogrades vs. River City River Rats

Tickets are $10 for ages 12 and up. Kids 11 and under are FREE. All ages are welcome.

Delish Food Truck and Budgies Bake Shop will provide a great menu of refreshments and snacks, including plant-based options.

BRRD is a non-profit organization that relies on the support of our community to provide action-packed, family-friendly fun on four wheels.

Garden Jubilee, one of the largest gardening shows in Western North Carolina, will be held on Saturday, May 24 and Sunday, May 25 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on Memorial Day weekend. With nearly 200 plant and craft vendors lining Main Street, the Historic downtown will be transformed into a garden wonderland. 

Local and regional nurseries, orchards and crafters will offer a wide variety of plants and handmade delights and gardening experts will be on hand to share the latest gardening tips and techniques. 

This annual run/walk timed event raises funds to support Open Arms Pregnancy Center. Open Arms supports women facing unplanned pregnancies by providing free, confidential ultrasounds and maternity supplies. Mothers receive monthly diapers, clothing and other items once their babies are born up to the child’s 18th month.
The 5k and Fun Run will be held at Bill Moore Community Park, 85 Howard Gap Road in Fletcher, NC at 8:30AM.
Runners should register now (by May 9) at https://runsignup.com/Race/NC/Fletcher/Run4for5k for early bird pricing and to be guaranteed a T-shirt.
Businesses/Individuals interested in being a race sponsor can contact us via email at [email protected] or by phone at 828.676.4510.