Calendar of Events
Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
All Aboard THE POLAR EXPRESS! This memorable journey will take you on an incredible journey! Believe the magic this Holiday season!
Over 88,000 guests rode THE POLAR EXPRESS with the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in 2017 and we hope to see you in 2018! The 1¼ hour round-trip excursion comes to life as the train departs the Bryson City depot for a journey through the quiet wilderness for a special visit at the North Pole. Set to the sounds of the motion picture soundtrack, guests on board will enjoy warm cocoa and a treat while listening and reading along with the magical story. Children’s faces show the magic of the season when the train arrives at the North Pole to find Santa Claus waiting. Santa will board THE POLAR EXPRESS, greeting each child and presenting them with a special gift as in the story, their own silver sleigh bell. Christmas carols will be sung as they return back to the Bryson City Depot.
THE POLAR EXPRESS begins November 9, 2018, and operates through December 31, 2018.
- Nearly one million twinkling lights
- Countless decorative images
- Holly Jolly Christmas Parade
- Animated Story Tree
- Animal Characters
- Nightly visits with Santa (start at 6:00PM through December 23)
- Warm memories and holiday cheer around the Jingle Bell Bonfire
- Hot cocoa, s’mores and other festive foods available for purchase
While you may spot a few night owls during Lights, most of our residents will be off-exhibit to catch some zzz’s.
Open 5:00 – 10:00 p.m. Advance Tickets Required. Enjoy the wonder of the park dazzlingly lit for the holidays, with a nighttime train and more.
All Aboard THE POLAR EXPRESS! This memorable journey will take you on an incredible journey! Believe the magic this Holiday season!
Over 88,000 guests rode THE POLAR EXPRESS with the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in 2017 and we hope to see you in 2018! The 1¼ hour round-trip excursion comes to life as the train departs the Bryson City depot for a journey through the quiet wilderness for a special visit at the North Pole. Set to the sounds of the motion picture soundtrack, guests on board will enjoy warm cocoa and a treat while listening and reading along with the magical story. Children’s faces show the magic of the season when the train arrives at the North Pole to find Santa Claus waiting. Santa will board THE POLAR EXPRESS, greeting each child and presenting them with a special gift as in the story, their own silver sleigh bell. Christmas carols will be sung as they return back to the Bryson City Depot.
THE POLAR EXPRESS begins November 9, 2018, and operates through December 31, 2018.
- Nearly one million twinkling lights
- Countless decorative images
- Holly Jolly Christmas Parade
- Animated Story Tree
- Animal Characters
- Nightly visits with Santa (start at 6:00PM through December 23)
- Warm memories and holiday cheer around the Jingle Bell Bonfire
- Hot cocoa, s’mores and other festive foods available for purchase
While you may spot a few night owls during Lights, most of our residents will be off-exhibit to catch some zzz’s.
All Aboard THE POLAR EXPRESS! This memorable journey will take you on an incredible journey! Believe the magic this Holiday season!
Over 88,000 guests rode THE POLAR EXPRESS with the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in 2017 and we hope to see you in 2018! The 1¼ hour round-trip excursion comes to life as the train departs the Bryson City depot for a journey through the quiet wilderness for a special visit at the North Pole. Set to the sounds of the motion picture soundtrack, guests on board will enjoy warm cocoa and a treat while listening and reading along with the magical story. Children’s faces show the magic of the season when the train arrives at the North Pole to find Santa Claus waiting. Santa will board THE POLAR EXPRESS, greeting each child and presenting them with a special gift as in the story, their own silver sleigh bell. Christmas carols will be sung as they return back to the Bryson City Depot.
THE POLAR EXPRESS begins November 9, 2018, and operates through December 31, 2018.
Momentum on Broadway, downtown Asheville’s newest contemporary art gallery, located at 52 Broadway Street, hosts a storytelling event with local printmaker and raconteur Andy Farkas, New Year’s Day – Tuesday January 1, 2019 – from 2-4pm. This all ages story telling event, “What Will Your Story be for 2019?” will be in conjunction with a special presentation of his original prints and watercolors.
Andy depicts times of triumph, bewilderment, and excitement through his beautifully written vignettes inscribed within his whimsical imagery. Inspired by Andy’s daughters and his own life events, these original vignettes call upon our emotions to do the thinking and our own life stories to give the phrases added depth and significance. Along with sharing his charming and insightful stories, Andy will discuss his creative process of printmaking in the Japanese style of Moku Hanga, an ancient Japanese printmaking technique using woodcut engravings and water-based pigments.
“Stories build bridges between the seen and unseen world — breathing life into a way of being, understanding, and feeling that, at its most profound, illumines a path toward enlightenment.” – Andy Farkas
This event will take place at Momentum’s Broadway location, 52 Broadway street in downtown Asheville from 2-4pm. Light refreshments will be served. All ages are welcome, and this event is free and open to the public.
Come get your Fairy Hair Sparkles!
Saturday, January 26th 7:30am-10:30am
at
Isaac Dickson Elementary School Gym
125 Hill Street, Asheville, NC 28801
Sign up here to reserve your spot:
https://www.signupgenius.com/…/60B044BA5AB2FA1FA7-asheville3
Enjoy Asheville’s very own Hot Chocolaty races. Choose the one that fits you best.
The 5K and 10K events are chip timed by Right on Time Productions.
We’ve lowered the registration fee and allow you to choose which shirt you’d like and add it on during registration ONLY if you want a shirt.
The 1K Kids Hill Climb is limited to children 12 and under (although parents can run along side for free, of course!) The Marshmallow Dash for our 8 and under crowd! A shorter and safer event for the little ones! Choose the one that works best for your child no matter what their age.
Each runner can enjoy a steaming cup of chocolate perfection post-race thanks to French Broad Chocolate Factory.
Come get your Fairy Hair Sparkles!
Sunday, January 27th 12-3pm (can extend if fills)
at
Blue Ghost Brewing
125 Underwood Road, Fletcher, NC 28732
Sign up here to reserve your spot:
http://bit.ly/BlueGhostBrew
?The Love Bus?
is making its FIRST fur-filled tour around Brevard & Asheville February 13th & 14th from 9am-5pm to homes, schools & businesses to deliver PUPPY GRAMS
For a $10 donation ($14 includes a tshirt)
Each PUPPY GRAM includes
* A PAW-sonilized hand written card
* Event t-shirt (w/ the $14 PUPPY GRAM)
* Doggie bag full of Hershey kisses & cookies
* 15-20 minute puppy love timeout
* Photos
* and Puppy breath!
You can send our pack to 1 person OR you can send us to your workplace/school to put smiles (and slobber) on the faces of your co-workers/friends or students!
We have group packages available for up to 50 people
Each person will get
* A PAW-sonilized hand written card
* Event t-shirt
* A doggie bag full of Hershey kisses & cookies
* A 15-20 minute puppy love timeout
* Photos
* and Puppy breath!
We have a limited amount of time slots, get your paws on them NOW!
Asheville’s newest downtown market!
Featuring Conscious Consumption, Craft & Conversation.
Calling all revolutionary hearts and wild spirited folks! Join us for LIVE music, medicine, and metaphysics. This is an opportunity to get cozy with an amazing community of local vendors in the historic downtown YMI building. Market St. Mimosas and herbal cacao shots will be served and the astrologer and healer tables will be open!!!
Visit us on 2nd & 3rd SUNDAYS 12-4pm after your brunch or church of choice and see what’s happening!
Lace up your running shoes, grab your winter hat, and join us for the 7th Annual Chilly Challenge 8K & 1-Mile Fun Run on Saturday, February 23, 2019. Run or walk with us to benefit North Buncombe Middle School! The chip-timed 8K will start at 10:00 am. The race is on a rolling hill course in beautiful Weaverville, North Carolina. This scenic course starts and finishes at North Buncombe Middle School. There is also an untimed 1-Mile Fun Run beginning at 10:05 am. The 1-mile route is completely contained on the middle school campus. Race registration includes: a scenic run, a t-shirt, and a post-race chili lunch with cornbread and fixings.
Blue Ridge Taekwondo is opening a martial arts studio in Black Mountain (right beside the Tractor Supply) to serve Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and Old Fort residents ages 4 and up. Come out to see a taekwondo demonstration, enjoy light refreshments, get a tour of the facility, and register for door prize giveaways.
Come join us for a Mardi Gras Celebration and get Sparkled with Finklepott’s Original Fairy Hair!!
?Tuesday, March 5th 5:00pm-8:00pm
at
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
100 Sierra Nevada Way, Mills River, NC 28732
Sign up here to reserve your spot and for more information:
http://bit.ly/sierraMarch
Come get your Fairy Hair Sparkles!!!!
?Sunday, March 10th 12:00pm-4:00pm
at
Whole Foods Market
4 S Tunnel Rd Ste 100, Asheville, NC 28805
Sign up here to reserve your spot and for more information:
http://bit.ly/wholefoodsmarch
Asheville’s newest downtown market!
Featuring Conscious Consumption, Craft & Conversation.
Calling all revolutionary hearts and wild spirited folks! Join us for LIVE music, medicine, and metaphysics. This is an opportunity to get cozy with an amazing community of local vendors in the historic downtown YMI building. Market St. Mimosas with locally fermented blueberry sugar rim and herbal cacao shots will be served and the astrologer and healer tables will be open!!!
Visit us on 2nd & 3rd SUNDAYS 12-4pm after your brunch or church of choice and see what’s happening!
Adapted from Disney’s beloved animated film and the works of Rudyard Kipling, this musical for the entire family will have the jungle jumpin’ with a jazzy beat! Specially adapted from the classic Disney animated film, Disney’s The Jungle Book Live features a host of colorful characters and your favorite songs from the movie, including The Bare Necessities, and I Wanna Be Like You. Banished by the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan, a human boy named Mowgli and his panther friend, Bagheera, are on the run in the deepest parts of the jungle. On their journey, the two meet a sinister snake named Kaa, a herd of elephants and a giant bear named Baloo, who teaches them the swingin’ musical rhythms of the jungle. After surviving a dangerous encounter with a band of monkeys led by King Louie, Mowgli and Bagheera are forced to run for their lives. When Shere Khan returns, our heroes must rally their fellow animals into battle and restore peace throughout the jungle. A live, one-act stage production.
Presented by the Overlook Theatre Company
Asheville’s newest downtown market!
Featuring Conscious Consumption, Craft & Conversation.
Calling all revolutionary hearts and wild spirited folks! Join us for LIVE music, medicine, and metaphysics. This is an opportunity to get cozy with an amazing community of local vendors in the historic downtown YMI building. Market St. Mimosas with locally fermented blueberry sugar rim and herbal cacao shots will be served and the astrologer and healer tables will be open!!!
Visit us on 2nd & 3rd SUNDAYS 12-4pm after your brunch or church of choice and see what’s happening!
? Thursday, March 21st 5:00pm-8:00pm
✨ASHEVILLE✨
Bhramari Brewing
101 S. Lexington Ave., Asheville, NC 28801
http://bit.ly/BhramariMarch
On the hunt for the old, the bold, the creative and the unexpected? Asheville Outlets (ShopAshevilleOutlets.com) is pleased to host Uncommon Market Asheville Sunday, April 7, 2019 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the center. Now in its 5th season, Uncommon Market Asheville is the city’s largest destination bringing together quality antiques, vintage decor, art, jewelry, home furnishings and MORE! Food trucks and adult beverages will be available. Admission $2 per person; children and friendly dogs are free. This is a rain or shine event.
On the hunt for the old, the bold, the creative and the unexpected? Asheville Outlets (ShopAshevilleOutlets.com) is pleased to host Uncommon Market Asheville Sunday, April 7, 2019 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the center. Now in its 5th season, Uncommon Market Asheville is the city’s largest destination bringing together quality antiques, vintage decor, art, jewelry, home furnishings and MORE! Food trucks and adult beverages will be available. Admission $2 per person; children and friendly dogs are free. This is a rain or shine event.
2:00 p.m. Ticketed Magic Show ($8 per person, all ages)
3:00-5:00 p.m. Drop-In Pop-Up Adventure Playground (free and open to the community)
Join us to celebrate the Week of the Young Child and support young children in Buncombe County!
Children ages 2+ will enjoy The Professor Whizzpop Magic Show, which placed in the Mountain Xpress “Best of WNC” poll for 10 years.
Afterward, drop in for a FREE Pop-Up Adventure Playground where kids build their own place space using imagination, loose parts, and in collaboration with their peers. There is no charge to join the playground.
Roots Hummus will be served at no charge and sweet treats from The Hop Ice Cream Cafe will be available for purchase.
We at Carolina Holistic Health are thrilled to announce our first birthday! To celebrate this exciting occasion we will be holding a birthday bash with all proceeds benefitting the Food Connection. The Food Connection is an amazing local non-profit that works in conjunction with local restaurants, schools, and businesses to get unused food to soup kitchens and shelters that need it most.
We are excited to have the amazing team at Massage On Wheels on deck with free five-minute chair massages. And what is a party without local food, drinks, and music? So stop on by and help us ring in our next year of business right!
Asheville Outlets will join forces with area nonprofits to host a Kids Day (And Then Some!) Saturday, April 13th from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. featuring interactive booths and displays, live music, games, strolling magic, crafts, balloon art, face painting and a wide variety of other family-focused events on-mall and in the parking lot.
Also taking place on Saturday, a Summer Camp Expo providing an opportunity for parents to learn about area camps including traditional overnight, sports, arts, day and academic. In the lot behind the food court, the 2nd annual Truck City AVL event where children can touch, climb and ask questions about their favorite vehicles in a safe and supervised environment, with a MAMA (medical helicopter) landing during the event and in the parking lot in front of Field & Stream, highway patrol vehicles from motorcycles to the famous GHOST (marked vehicle that cannot be detected until in close proximity) will headline the 1st annual NC State Highway Patrol Safety Day.
Throughout the weekend, the 10th Annual Asheville Book Fest throughout the center featuring 25+ local authors and the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Deputies stationed around-the-clock on the rooftop of Asheville Outlets to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Trail Blaze Challenge.
All Kids Day (And Then Some!) weekend events are complimentary and open to the public. Visit ShopAshevilleOutlets.com for more details.
Come get your Finklepott’s Original Fairy Hair Sparkles! The MOST MAGICAL Fairy Hair in the World! Not tinsel.
You can wash it,
brush it,
comb it,
curl it,
flat iron, (up to 450°!)
color it,
straighten it,
perm it,
blow it dry, get your haircut, etc.
Do whatever you normally do to your hair, but most of all; ENJOY IT!
?Thursday, April 25th 5:00pm-7:00pm
at
Francesca’s Asheville Outlets
800 Brevard Rd #608, Asheville, NC 28806
Space is limited. Sign up here TODAY to reserve your spot and for more information:
http://bit.ly/francescasavl42019
In the mountains of North Carolina you’ll find one of America’s hippest cities. On this fun-filled Asheville scavenger hunt, we loop around the city center in search of the city’s best sights and hidden gems.
Does an obelisk impress? Where can you play 75 pinball machines? Find out on this scavenger hunt of Asheville!
Mayfest is the one of the longest running festivals in N.C., drawing visitors from across the region for a full day of springtime, family fun. Annual entertainment and traditions will be enjoyed including live music from Rutherford County Line and the Houston Bernard Band, a Car, Truck and Bike Show, and a variety of artisans and crafters showcasing their one-of-a-kind items. Youngsters will have a ball in the Kids Playland featuring inflatables and rock climbing walls, plus obstacle courses, face painting, and the Pinewood Derby Race. Local dancers, gymnasts and cheerleaders will perform, a Doggie Kissing booth will be open, and friendly fur babies will take the spotlight during the 4 Paws Kingdom Pet Contest. No festival is complete without fabulous food vendors. Indulge yourself with delicious BBQ, turkey legs, roasted corn, stir-fry, funnel cakes, kettle corn, cotton candy, homemade ice cream, and much more.
Our Sowing Circle begins at 9:30 am with a Springtime Plant Exchange. Bring your extra plants to share with fellow gardeners and pick-up some new plants for yourself. At 10:15 am, relax and listen to Brannen Basham, co-founder of Spriggly’s Beescaping, give a presentation on Plants for Pollinators. Creating a pollinator garden requires more than just planting flowers, although those are a great start! Learn how to create a pollinator garden that provides forage and habitat year round for a variety of pollinators, along with other beneficial insects and animals. These free events are sponsored by Black Mountain Blooms Seed Lending Library. We welcome you to be apart of our growing community!
Come celebrate the beginning of a new gardening season at the Spring Fling Plant Sale! The Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County in partnership with the Asheville Blue Ridge Rose Society will host the Spring Fling Plant Sale on Saturday, May 11, from 10 am. to 2 pm. The sale will be held in the parking lot of the American Red Cross, 100 Edgewood Road, off of Merrimon Avenue in Asheville. The sale will be held rain or shine.
The Asheville Blue Ridge Rose Society will sell many varieties of roses, including own-root, fragrant, miniature, and old garden roses. Expert rosarians will be on hand to help you choose the perfect rose and to give practical advice on growing and caring for roses.
Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers will offer a variety of sun and shade perennials, with a focus on natives and pollinator friendly selections. Plants are grown by Master Gardeners with tender loving care. We will also offer a nice selection of garden accessories. Personal shoppers will be available to assist you with the best plants for your special space, give you plant suggestions for Mother’s Day gifts, and answer your gardening questions.
We will also be offering an on-going pruning tool sharpening workshop. Bring your small hand tools (pruners) and loppers to learn how to clean and sharpen them. This is a free workshop but donations are greatly appreciated.