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.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Summer Exhibitions at Momentum Gallery
Aug 28 all-day
Momentum Gallery

Momentum Gallery in downtown Asheville hosts new summer exhibitions – Mariella Bisson, Setting Shapes; Oil paintings by two new painters: Samantha Keely Smith and Paul Sattler; and a group invitational called Give Me Wood. These exhibitions continue at 24 N Lexington Avenue through the end of August.

Mariella Bisson deftly delineates the sculptural planes of regional waterfalls and sylvan scenes creating refreshingly contemporary landscape paintings. Her oil-over-collage paintings feature built-up texture, suggesting the complex surface of stone and tree bark, lichen, and moss. Bisson’s paintings demonstrate a strong understanding of formal composition and reflect a sensibility honed from time she’s spent immersed in the outdoors. Of note, Bisson is a two-time recipient of the Pollock-Krasner grant and was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in painting.

Samantha Keely Smith creates inspired and stirring abstract paintings in oil. The Brooklyn-based artist sees her paintings “as an expression of our internal turbulence. They reflect the overwhelming reality of being constantly aware of what is happening in the wider world – Change is the only constant.” Smith’s nebulous compositions are evocative of luminous cloudscapes and primordial oceans. Brilliant areas of stained pigment collide with waves of painterly brush strokes ultimately conjuring imagined environments with a timeless quality. “These paintings are about the essence of who we all are, as human beings… We all want love and connection.” Smith’s works give form to fluctuations between turbulence and calm present in everything from our emotions to the temporal world. Overall, Smith’s focus is on the underlying psychological impact of the dawning awareness of our shifting reality.

An accomplished oil painter, Paul Sattler was the recipient of the John R. Solomon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. In 2004, he was selected to exhibit at the 179th Annual Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the National Academy of Design in New York, where he received the Wallace Truman Prize. Dramatic narratives unfold in his charged and enigmatic oil paintings which reference historic and literary sources. Sattler comments, “A diverse population of animals are enmeshed in my works’ human-inhabited environments, theatrical locales, and domestic dramas.”

Give Me Wood is an imaginative and evocative collection of contemporary painting and wood sculpture. Central to the identity and creation of all the extraordinary two- and three-dimensional works in the exhibition is the common material of wood. The participating artists defy logic, explore space (both real and imagined), carve, bend, turn, and otherwise construct some truly amazing and innovative work! Featuring Michael Alm, Garry Knox Bennett, Gil Bruvel, Christian Burchard, Tom Eckert, David Ellsworth, Ron Layport, Wendy Maruyama, and Sylvie Rosenthal.

Youth Acting For ages 8-12
Aug 28 all-day
ACT

In this class, students will learn a variety of acting techniques with a focus on character development and relationships, deciding what your character wants and how you are going to achieve it, and making choices in scenes to fully develop the scene with specific blocking and movement. Students will work on scenes and monologues from a variety of popular youth plays and musicals, including Charlotte’s Web, Peter Pan, Into the Woods, The Secret Garden, and Beauty and the Beast, taking them from auditions to performance. They will also write their own original, creative scenes to perform in a final showcase during the last class.

Class Schedule:

Classes: September 7​ –​November 9, 2019: Saturdays from 1​1​:00 am-1​2​:00 ​pm
Final Showcase: Saturday, ​November 16, 2019 at 11:​0​0 am (combined with improv)
Cost: $150

Youth Art Competition Application Deadline October 1, 2019
Aug 28 all-day

Hot Works 4th Asheville Fine Art Show, October 26 & 27, 2019 takes place in Pack Square Park, downtown Asheville. This art show is juried by art professionals and brings artists to sell his/her art in all discipline including paintings, sculpture, clay, glass, fiber, jewelry, wood and more. All art is original and personally handmade by the artist who is present at the show. There is something for everyone, in all price ranges. You will see many artists at this show who do not attend other shows in North Carolina or South Carolina.

As part of our commitment to bring art education into the community, a Youth Art Competition for grades K-8 or ages 5-13 is integrated within a 10×20 space at the Asheville Fine Art Show. Sponsored by Institute for the Arts & Education, the associated 501c3 non-profit organization, all students in grades K-8 or ages 5-13 are encouraged to enter his/her original and personally handmade art that will be publicly displayed in the art show the entire weekend. On Sunday, October 27 at 3pm, there is $250 in youth art awards presented. Students are exposed to the rules and entrepreneurship opportunity of doing art shows for a living. The program brings families to the art show and exposes them to great art.

Youth Improv For ages 10-15
Aug 28 all-day
ACT

This class will include instruction on improv skills, including character development, connecting in scenes, “Yes and…” acceptance technique, and building the beginning, middle, and end of a scene. We will play a variety of fun and interactive improv games, including Freeze, Murder Mystery, Props, Styles, ABC game, Changing Channels, Survivor, and Slide Show. Some of the games will be similar to the show, Whose Line it Anyway? The last class will be open for parents to watch a mini improv show to demonstrate the games and skills learned during each class. This class is open to all levels of improv from beginning to advanced.

Class Schedule:

Classes: September 7​ –​November 9, 2019: Saturdays from 10:00-11:00 am
Final Showcase: Saturday, ​November 16, 2019 at 11:​0​0 am (combined with acting)
Cost: $150

Vance Elementary School and Ben & Jerry’s Art Showcase
Aug 28 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Ben & Jerry' s Scoop Shop

There’s more than Chunky Monkey and New York Super Fudge Chunk in downtown Asheville’s Ben & Jerry’s this summer.

Art created by Vance Elementary School fifth grade students of art educator Robbie Lipe is now on display on the brick walls opposite the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The exhibit depicts the students’ interpretation of the artist Kehinde Wiley and the contemporary portraits he creates inspired by traditional Baroque paintings. It will be featured through the end of the summer.

“Ben & Jerry’s is excited about showcasing art from the community inside our scoop shop,” said general manager Chris Carter. “Making use of our walls to show what local artists are creating complements our social mission — to be actively involved in the places we live and do business. I hope this is the first of many art exhibits on our walls.”

Carter gave all the credit for the exhibit to Ms. Lipe, who teaches kindergarten through 5th-grade students at Vance Elementary. She was named the North Carolina Arts Educators Association “Art Educator of the Year” in 2017-2018.

Ben & Jerry’s is located at 19 Haywood Street. Current hours are Monday-Thursday 12 pm to 10 pm; Friday 12 pm – 11 pm; Saturday 11:30 am – 11 pm; Sunday 11:30 am – 10 pm.

For more information, call Carter at 310-601-6247.

REGIONAL ARTIST PROJECT GRANT (RAPG) WORKSHOP
Aug 28 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Black Mountain Library

The Regional Artist Project Grant is an annual grant program that provides financial support to developing professionals by funding a project pivotal to the advancement of their careers as artists. The selection criteria include artistic merit, the potential of the project to contribute to the artist’s professional growth, and the feasibility of the project itself. The Asheville Area Arts Council, Toe River Arts Council, and the Madison County Arts Council are pleased to announce the 2019/2020 Regional Artist Project Grant application is open.

The Regional Artist Project Grants awarded range from $400 – $1,200. Full or partial cash match is not required but is preferred. Artists currently enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate program and artists who have received a Regional Artist Project Grant within the last two funding cycles are not eligible.

Each year the three arts councils hold grant workshops. These are highly recommended. If you’ve never applied for funding or are unsure of your project, please try to attend one of these:

  • Wednesday, August 28, 5:30-6:30 pm | Black Mountain Library: 105 N Dougherty Street, Black Mountain, NC 28711
  • Friday, September 13, 4:00-5:00 pm | Asheville Area Arts Council: 207 Coxe Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801
Fringe Summer Night at the Crow & Quill The Call For Artists
Aug 28 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Crow & Quill

To highlight the Call for Artists we are hosting our third and final
Fringe Summer Night.

This free event will feature 3 Fringe artist performances:
Amanda Levesque, Jenni Cockrell, and Alli Marshall
who will present performance art, butoh dance, and spoken word. Fringe Festival organizers will be also encouraging proposal submissions and answering questions about the process.

To apply for the 2020 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival, go to our all new website: http://www.ashevillefringe.org/apply-2020  Artists should read our Performer Guidelines, then submit an online application and tech form by Monday, September 23 at 9:23pm.

As always, we seek to create a festival line-up that includes dance, puppetry, storytelling, performance art, theatre, and things that blur the lines. Artists are encouraged to bring their most daring work, and will find full support from the Asheville Fringe Family.

Thursday, August 29, 2019
Adult Improv Classes Asheville Community Theatre
Aug 29 all-day
ACT

We’re offering three progressive levels of classes, Basic Improv, Beyond Basic, and The Performance Lab. There’s room for everyone in these classes, no matter your experience level!

Summer Exhibitions at Momentum Gallery
Aug 29 all-day
Momentum Gallery

Momentum Gallery in downtown Asheville hosts new summer exhibitions – Mariella Bisson, Setting Shapes; Oil paintings by two new painters: Samantha Keely Smith and Paul Sattler; and a group invitational called Give Me Wood. These exhibitions continue at 24 N Lexington Avenue through the end of August.

Mariella Bisson deftly delineates the sculptural planes of regional waterfalls and sylvan scenes creating refreshingly contemporary landscape paintings. Her oil-over-collage paintings feature built-up texture, suggesting the complex surface of stone and tree bark, lichen, and moss. Bisson’s paintings demonstrate a strong understanding of formal composition and reflect a sensibility honed from time she’s spent immersed in the outdoors. Of note, Bisson is a two-time recipient of the Pollock-Krasner grant and was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in painting.

Samantha Keely Smith creates inspired and stirring abstract paintings in oil. The Brooklyn-based artist sees her paintings “as an expression of our internal turbulence. They reflect the overwhelming reality of being constantly aware of what is happening in the wider world – Change is the only constant.” Smith’s nebulous compositions are evocative of luminous cloudscapes and primordial oceans. Brilliant areas of stained pigment collide with waves of painterly brush strokes ultimately conjuring imagined environments with a timeless quality. “These paintings are about the essence of who we all are, as human beings… We all want love and connection.” Smith’s works give form to fluctuations between turbulence and calm present in everything from our emotions to the temporal world. Overall, Smith’s focus is on the underlying psychological impact of the dawning awareness of our shifting reality.

An accomplished oil painter, Paul Sattler was the recipient of the John R. Solomon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. In 2004, he was selected to exhibit at the 179th Annual Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the National Academy of Design in New York, where he received the Wallace Truman Prize. Dramatic narratives unfold in his charged and enigmatic oil paintings which reference historic and literary sources. Sattler comments, “A diverse population of animals are enmeshed in my works’ human-inhabited environments, theatrical locales, and domestic dramas.”

Give Me Wood is an imaginative and evocative collection of contemporary painting and wood sculpture. Central to the identity and creation of all the extraordinary two- and three-dimensional works in the exhibition is the common material of wood. The participating artists defy logic, explore space (both real and imagined), carve, bend, turn, and otherwise construct some truly amazing and innovative work! Featuring Michael Alm, Garry Knox Bennett, Gil Bruvel, Christian Burchard, Tom Eckert, David Ellsworth, Ron Layport, Wendy Maruyama, and Sylvie Rosenthal.

Youth Acting For ages 8-12
Aug 29 all-day
ACT

In this class, students will learn a variety of acting techniques with a focus on character development and relationships, deciding what your character wants and how you are going to achieve it, and making choices in scenes to fully develop the scene with specific blocking and movement. Students will work on scenes and monologues from a variety of popular youth plays and musicals, including Charlotte’s Web, Peter Pan, Into the Woods, The Secret Garden, and Beauty and the Beast, taking them from auditions to performance. They will also write their own original, creative scenes to perform in a final showcase during the last class.

Class Schedule:

Classes: September 7​ –​November 9, 2019: Saturdays from 1​1​:00 am-1​2​:00 ​pm
Final Showcase: Saturday, ​November 16, 2019 at 11:​0​0 am (combined with improv)
Cost: $150

Youth Art Competition Application Deadline October 1, 2019
Aug 29 all-day

Hot Works 4th Asheville Fine Art Show, October 26 & 27, 2019 takes place in Pack Square Park, downtown Asheville. This art show is juried by art professionals and brings artists to sell his/her art in all discipline including paintings, sculpture, clay, glass, fiber, jewelry, wood and more. All art is original and personally handmade by the artist who is present at the show. There is something for everyone, in all price ranges. You will see many artists at this show who do not attend other shows in North Carolina or South Carolina.

As part of our commitment to bring art education into the community, a Youth Art Competition for grades K-8 or ages 5-13 is integrated within a 10×20 space at the Asheville Fine Art Show. Sponsored by Institute for the Arts & Education, the associated 501c3 non-profit organization, all students in grades K-8 or ages 5-13 are encouraged to enter his/her original and personally handmade art that will be publicly displayed in the art show the entire weekend. On Sunday, October 27 at 3pm, there is $250 in youth art awards presented. Students are exposed to the rules and entrepreneurship opportunity of doing art shows for a living. The program brings families to the art show and exposes them to great art.

Youth Improv For ages 10-15
Aug 29 all-day
ACT

This class will include instruction on improv skills, including character development, connecting in scenes, “Yes and…” acceptance technique, and building the beginning, middle, and end of a scene. We will play a variety of fun and interactive improv games, including Freeze, Murder Mystery, Props, Styles, ABC game, Changing Channels, Survivor, and Slide Show. Some of the games will be similar to the show, Whose Line it Anyway? The last class will be open for parents to watch a mini improv show to demonstrate the games and skills learned during each class. This class is open to all levels of improv from beginning to advanced.

Class Schedule:

Classes: September 7​ –​November 9, 2019: Saturdays from 10:00-11:00 am
Final Showcase: Saturday, ​November 16, 2019 at 11:​0​0 am (combined with acting)
Cost: $150

Vance Elementary School and Ben & Jerry’s Art Showcase
Aug 29 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Ben & Jerry' s Scoop Shop

There’s more than Chunky Monkey and New York Super Fudge Chunk in downtown Asheville’s Ben & Jerry’s this summer.

Art created by Vance Elementary School fifth grade students of art educator Robbie Lipe is now on display on the brick walls opposite the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The exhibit depicts the students’ interpretation of the artist Kehinde Wiley and the contemporary portraits he creates inspired by traditional Baroque paintings. It will be featured through the end of the summer.

“Ben & Jerry’s is excited about showcasing art from the community inside our scoop shop,” said general manager Chris Carter. “Making use of our walls to show what local artists are creating complements our social mission — to be actively involved in the places we live and do business. I hope this is the first of many art exhibits on our walls.”

Carter gave all the credit for the exhibit to Ms. Lipe, who teaches kindergarten through 5th-grade students at Vance Elementary. She was named the North Carolina Arts Educators Association “Art Educator of the Year” in 2017-2018.

Ben & Jerry’s is located at 19 Haywood Street. Current hours are Monday-Thursday 12 pm to 10 pm; Friday 12 pm – 11 pm; Saturday 11:30 am – 11 pm; Sunday 11:30 am – 10 pm.

For more information, call Carter at 310-601-6247.

Batter Up! Rounding Third at Flat Rock Playhouse!
Aug 29 @ 2:00 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

Rounding Third, starring FRP favorites Scott Treadway and JP Sarro. This good-humored and sincere story about a Little League coach, his team of youngsters, and his new assistant coach, is sure to hit a home run, says Rounding Third Director, Charlie Flynn-McIver. “They say that life imitates art but what is really happening here is that the art has gotten it right about life. Sports are a great metaphor for many things and when it comes to youth sports, even more so.”

Batter Up! Rounding Third at Flat Rock Playhouse!
Aug 29 @ 7:30 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

Rounding Third, starring FRP favorites Scott Treadway and JP Sarro. This good-humored and sincere story about a Little League coach, his team of youngsters, and his new assistant coach, is sure to hit a home run, says Rounding Third Director, Charlie Flynn-McIver. “They say that life imitates art but what is really happening here is that the art has gotten it right about life. Sports are a great metaphor for many things and when it comes to youth sports, even more so.”

Friday, August 30, 2019
Adult Improv Classes Asheville Community Theatre
Aug 30 all-day
ACT

We’re offering three progressive levels of classes, Basic Improv, Beyond Basic, and The Performance Lab. There’s room for everyone in these classes, no matter your experience level!

Summer Exhibitions at Momentum Gallery
Aug 30 all-day
Momentum Gallery

Momentum Gallery in downtown Asheville hosts new summer exhibitions – Mariella Bisson, Setting Shapes; Oil paintings by two new painters: Samantha Keely Smith and Paul Sattler; and a group invitational called Give Me Wood. These exhibitions continue at 24 N Lexington Avenue through the end of August.

Mariella Bisson deftly delineates the sculptural planes of regional waterfalls and sylvan scenes creating refreshingly contemporary landscape paintings. Her oil-over-collage paintings feature built-up texture, suggesting the complex surface of stone and tree bark, lichen, and moss. Bisson’s paintings demonstrate a strong understanding of formal composition and reflect a sensibility honed from time she’s spent immersed in the outdoors. Of note, Bisson is a two-time recipient of the Pollock-Krasner grant and was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in painting.

Samantha Keely Smith creates inspired and stirring abstract paintings in oil. The Brooklyn-based artist sees her paintings “as an expression of our internal turbulence. They reflect the overwhelming reality of being constantly aware of what is happening in the wider world – Change is the only constant.” Smith’s nebulous compositions are evocative of luminous cloudscapes and primordial oceans. Brilliant areas of stained pigment collide with waves of painterly brush strokes ultimately conjuring imagined environments with a timeless quality. “These paintings are about the essence of who we all are, as human beings… We all want love and connection.” Smith’s works give form to fluctuations between turbulence and calm present in everything from our emotions to the temporal world. Overall, Smith’s focus is on the underlying psychological impact of the dawning awareness of our shifting reality.

An accomplished oil painter, Paul Sattler was the recipient of the John R. Solomon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. In 2004, he was selected to exhibit at the 179th Annual Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the National Academy of Design in New York, where he received the Wallace Truman Prize. Dramatic narratives unfold in his charged and enigmatic oil paintings which reference historic and literary sources. Sattler comments, “A diverse population of animals are enmeshed in my works’ human-inhabited environments, theatrical locales, and domestic dramas.”

Give Me Wood is an imaginative and evocative collection of contemporary painting and wood sculpture. Central to the identity and creation of all the extraordinary two- and three-dimensional works in the exhibition is the common material of wood. The participating artists defy logic, explore space (both real and imagined), carve, bend, turn, and otherwise construct some truly amazing and innovative work! Featuring Michael Alm, Garry Knox Bennett, Gil Bruvel, Christian Burchard, Tom Eckert, David Ellsworth, Ron Layport, Wendy Maruyama, and Sylvie Rosenthal.

Youth Acting For ages 8-12
Aug 30 all-day
ACT

In this class, students will learn a variety of acting techniques with a focus on character development and relationships, deciding what your character wants and how you are going to achieve it, and making choices in scenes to fully develop the scene with specific blocking and movement. Students will work on scenes and monologues from a variety of popular youth plays and musicals, including Charlotte’s Web, Peter Pan, Into the Woods, The Secret Garden, and Beauty and the Beast, taking them from auditions to performance. They will also write their own original, creative scenes to perform in a final showcase during the last class.

Class Schedule:

Classes: September 7​ –​November 9, 2019: Saturdays from 1​1​:00 am-1​2​:00 ​pm
Final Showcase: Saturday, ​November 16, 2019 at 11:​0​0 am (combined with improv)
Cost: $150

Youth Art Competition Application Deadline October 1, 2019
Aug 30 all-day

Hot Works 4th Asheville Fine Art Show, October 26 & 27, 2019 takes place in Pack Square Park, downtown Asheville. This art show is juried by art professionals and brings artists to sell his/her art in all discipline including paintings, sculpture, clay, glass, fiber, jewelry, wood and more. All art is original and personally handmade by the artist who is present at the show. There is something for everyone, in all price ranges. You will see many artists at this show who do not attend other shows in North Carolina or South Carolina.

As part of our commitment to bring art education into the community, a Youth Art Competition for grades K-8 or ages 5-13 is integrated within a 10×20 space at the Asheville Fine Art Show. Sponsored by Institute for the Arts & Education, the associated 501c3 non-profit organization, all students in grades K-8 or ages 5-13 are encouraged to enter his/her original and personally handmade art that will be publicly displayed in the art show the entire weekend. On Sunday, October 27 at 3pm, there is $250 in youth art awards presented. Students are exposed to the rules and entrepreneurship opportunity of doing art shows for a living. The program brings families to the art show and exposes them to great art.

Youth Improv For ages 10-15
Aug 30 all-day
ACT

This class will include instruction on improv skills, including character development, connecting in scenes, “Yes and…” acceptance technique, and building the beginning, middle, and end of a scene. We will play a variety of fun and interactive improv games, including Freeze, Murder Mystery, Props, Styles, ABC game, Changing Channels, Survivor, and Slide Show. Some of the games will be similar to the show, Whose Line it Anyway? The last class will be open for parents to watch a mini improv show to demonstrate the games and skills learned during each class. This class is open to all levels of improv from beginning to advanced.

Class Schedule:

Classes: September 7​ –​November 9, 2019: Saturdays from 10:00-11:00 am
Final Showcase: Saturday, ​November 16, 2019 at 11:​0​0 am (combined with acting)
Cost: $150

Vance Elementary School and Ben & Jerry’s Art Showcase
Aug 30 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Ben & Jerry' s Scoop Shop

There’s more than Chunky Monkey and New York Super Fudge Chunk in downtown Asheville’s Ben & Jerry’s this summer.

Art created by Vance Elementary School fifth grade students of art educator Robbie Lipe is now on display on the brick walls opposite the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The exhibit depicts the students’ interpretation of the artist Kehinde Wiley and the contemporary portraits he creates inspired by traditional Baroque paintings. It will be featured through the end of the summer.

“Ben & Jerry’s is excited about showcasing art from the community inside our scoop shop,” said general manager Chris Carter. “Making use of our walls to show what local artists are creating complements our social mission — to be actively involved in the places we live and do business. I hope this is the first of many art exhibits on our walls.”

Carter gave all the credit for the exhibit to Ms. Lipe, who teaches kindergarten through 5th-grade students at Vance Elementary. She was named the North Carolina Arts Educators Association “Art Educator of the Year” in 2017-2018.

Ben & Jerry’s is located at 19 Haywood Street. Current hours are Monday-Thursday 12 pm to 10 pm; Friday 12 pm – 11 pm; Saturday 11:30 am – 11 pm; Sunday 11:30 am – 10 pm.

For more information, call Carter at 310-601-6247.

Storytime & Art West Asheville Library
Aug 30 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
West Asheville Library

Come join in the fun with stories and songs, then make a hands-on art project just for the little ones! The Education Department staff is visiting public libraries for preschool storytime at locations near your neighborhood.

Storytime & Art takes place at West Asheville Library on second Thursdays.

Our program for preschool-aged students accompanied by an adult is at a library near you! During the school year, come join in the fun with stories and songs, then make a hands-on art project just for the little ones.

Arms and The Man Readers Theatre ACT
Aug 30 @ 2:30 pm
ACT: 35below

This comedy is often viewed as Shaw’s wittiest play! This is a borderline farce that will stimulate serious thinking about the nature of both romance and war. What is Raina to do when she finds that an enemy soldier has taken refuge in her room? What will her fiancée say? The plot, of course, thickens! Directed by Jim Reid and performed as Readers Theatre as a part of The Autumn Players’ Readers Theatre Showcase Series.

Batter Up! Rounding Third at Flat Rock Playhouse!
Aug 30 @ 8:00 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

Rounding Third, starring FRP favorites Scott Treadway and JP Sarro. This good-humored and sincere story about a Little League coach, his team of youngsters, and his new assistant coach, is sure to hit a home run, says Rounding Third Director, Charlie Flynn-McIver. “They say that life imitates art but what is really happening here is that the art has gotten it right about life. Sports are a great metaphor for many things and when it comes to youth sports, even more so.”

Saturday, August 31, 2019
Exploring Appalachia (Day Trip Package)
Aug 31 @ 8:30 am – 6:30 pm
Hickory Nut Gap Farm

Discover the beauty of the Appalachia’s both wild and rural. Your day begins with the expansive views of Chimney Rock State Park where your group is welcome to enjoy one of the many leisure or intensive hiking trails on the property. Lunch at the award-winning Old Rock Cafe is included with this package to enjoy at your leisure after 11am. At 2pm, join the park’s animal educators for the Animal Encounter, an interactive experience where you can touch, feel, and learn about the wildlife at the park. After meeting the animals of the wild, your group will drive an easy 20 minutes North up 74A for the evening portion of your day trip.

Starting at 4pm, your evening encounter begins with an in-depth tour of the farm’s history and agricultural model along with a meet-and-greet of our farm animals. Choose our standard top-tier tour or upgrade to a horseback ride for an intimate farm experience. Immediately following the tour, your group will be treated to a plated Farm-to-Fork meal prepared by our expert catering chef including an adult beverage of your choice. Finish the day with engaging conversations and gorgeous long-range views as the sun sets.

Labor Day Festival of the Arts
Aug 31 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Pack Square

2nd Annual Downtown Asheville Labor Day Weekend Festival of the Arts

This Labor Day Weekend art affair will feature a collection of national and regional artists specializing in hand-made works of art. There will be painters, potters, jewelers, glass blowers and much more. Asheville’s historic Pack Square is the picturesque venue for the Downtown Asheville Festival of the Arts. The show is set up on N. and S. Pack Square around Vance Memorial.

Vance Elementary School and Ben & Jerry’s Art Showcase
Aug 31 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Ben & Jerry' s Scoop Shop

There’s more than Chunky Monkey and New York Super Fudge Chunk in downtown Asheville’s Ben & Jerry’s this summer.

Art created by Vance Elementary School fifth grade students of art educator Robbie Lipe is now on display on the brick walls opposite the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The exhibit depicts the students’ interpretation of the artist Kehinde Wiley and the contemporary portraits he creates inspired by traditional Baroque paintings. It will be featured through the end of the summer.

“Ben & Jerry’s is excited about showcasing art from the community inside our scoop shop,” said general manager Chris Carter. “Making use of our walls to show what local artists are creating complements our social mission — to be actively involved in the places we live and do business. I hope this is the first of many art exhibits on our walls.”

Carter gave all the credit for the exhibit to Ms. Lipe, who teaches kindergarten through 5th-grade students at Vance Elementary. She was named the North Carolina Arts Educators Association “Art Educator of the Year” in 2017-2018.

Ben & Jerry’s is located at 19 Haywood Street. Current hours are Monday-Thursday 12 pm to 10 pm; Friday 12 pm – 11 pm; Saturday 11:30 am – 11 pm; Sunday 11:30 am – 10 pm.

For more information, call Carter at 310-601-6247.

“Rounding Third” at Flat Rock Playhouse
Aug 31 @ 2:00 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

Rounding Third, starring FRP favorites Scott Treadway and JP Sarro. This good-humored and sincere story about a Little League coach, his team of youngsters, and his new assistant coach, is sure to hit a home run, says Rounding Third Director, Charlie Flynn-McIver. “They say that life imitates art but what is really happening here is that the art has gotten it right about life. Sports are a great metaphor for many things and when it comes to youth sports, even more so.”

Arms and The Man Readers Theatre ACT
Aug 31 @ 2:30 pm
ACT: 35below

This comedy is often viewed as Shaw’s wittiest play! This is a borderline farce that will stimulate serious thinking about the nature of both romance and war. What is Raina to do when she finds that an enemy soldier has taken refuge in her room? What will her fiancée say? The plot, of course, thickens! Directed by Jim Reid and performed as Readers Theatre as a part of The Autumn Players’ Readers Theatre Showcase Series.

“Rounding Third” at Flat Rock Playhouse
Aug 31 @ 8:00 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

Rounding Third, starring FRP favorites Scott Treadway and JP Sarro. This good-humored and sincere story about a Little League coach, his team of youngsters, and his new assistant coach, is sure to hit a home run, says Rounding Third Director, Charlie Flynn-McIver. “They say that life imitates art but what is really happening here is that the art has gotten it right about life. Sports are a great metaphor for many things and when it comes to youth sports, even more so.”