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.

Saturday, May 4, 2019
Springtime Plant Exchange and Plants for Pollinator Talk
May 4 @ 9:30 am
Black Mountain Library

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!

Madison MayFest: A Night at ReClaim
May 4 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
ReClaim Madison: Salvage & Hardware

Madison MayFest: A Night at ReClaim
A Unique and Unexpected Fundraiser Event!

Join the Community Housing Coalition of Madison County at “ReClaim
Madison Salvage & Hardware,” formerly the Coal, Feed and Lumber Store
where you’ll find yourself in an early 20th century social club – with live
music to match!

Emcee Joel Friedman, of Zuma Coffee fame, will lead us through an
evening of:

* Live music – a soundscape straight out of the past! Musicians Steve Davidowski and Melody King will serve up originals and the classics
* Scrumptious food and libations!
* Community brick-making and other creative activities!
* Fun photo opps with your friends!
* Dazzling raffle prizes – worth $500 each!
* And much, much more!

PLUS, the Preferred Pairings Salon!
Local wines, gourmet chocolates, artisan roasted coffees – curated and
paired, for this mini-event limited to 60 guests.

Proceeds go to CHC’s mission, which aims to find solutions to the national affordable housing crisis right here in WNC by promoting and facilitating healthy, safe, and affordable housing through advocacy, education, and resource development.

CODE BLUE Premier Film Screening!
May 4 @ 7:00 pm
Foster Church

A documentary film that redefines the practice of medicine by highlighting the practice of Lifestyle Medicine to prevent, treat, and manage chronic diseases.

Monday, May 6, 2019
Ending the Diet Mindset with Becca Clegg, LPC, CEDS-S
May 6 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Jewish Community Center

CRC for ED is excited to participate in #NoDietDay and to host Becca Clegg the author of Ending the Diet Mindset! This is an important and timely workshop that will address dieting and its potential for unhealthy behaviors and health outcomes.
To register and learn more about this event, visit the following link:
https://crcforednodietday.brownpapertickets.com/
This session is appropriate for professionals and the general public.Attendees will take away cognitive, experiential, and behavioral interventions they can use to reclaim a more balanced relationship with food and body image.
Carolina Resource Center for Eating Disorders has served WNC as T.H.E. Center for Disordered Eating since 2004. With our new name, we remain the only nonprofit in North Carolina supporting individuals, families, and professionals concerned with disordered eating and recovery from eating disorders. To learn more about CRC for ED, please visit https://www.crcfored.com/

Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Basic Photo Image Management
May 7 @ 2:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Barnwell Photography

BASIC PHOTO IMAGE MANAGEMENT
Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2019; 2:00-5:30 pm (preregistration is required, call to enroll)
This workshop is designed as an introduction to managing photographs on the home PC or MAC computer. It will cover basic computer operation and workflow related to image handling and photo manipulation. Topics include importing photographs into the computer, basic image manipulation in Photoshop Elements, converting Jpeg images to Tiff and uses of each type file, sizes and resolution (dpi/ppi), storing, organizing, and archiving images on the computer for easy retrieval, preparing files for email, web page, print output. Participants use Photoshop Elements to improve images by cropping, resizing, color correcting, sharpening, correcting flaws, and much more. A basic understanding of your computer is needed, but no prior Photoshop knowledge is necessary. Full course description is available at www.barnwellphoto.com Preregistration is required. Tuition is $55. Class taught at Barnwell Photography, 244 Coxe Ave., Asheville. Call 828-251-0040 to enroll.

Friday, May 10, 2019
Leadercast 2019 to benefit Eblen Charities
May 10 all-day
Lake Hills Church

Leadercast Live is the largest one-day leadership event in the world. Broadcast live from Atlanta to hundreds of locations around the world each year, Leadercast brings together some of the most recognized and respected global leaders to create a leadership experience unlike any other. This is a simulcast of the Live Event. Ticket proceeds benefit Eblen Charities.

Leadercast Live focuses on the leadership issues most relevant to today’s time-starved leader. It is a place of inspiring messages coupled with rich interaction between fellow leaders that want to be intentional about raising their standard of leadership…all delivered with a creative, energetic and memorable approach. Leaders across all industries and various levels of their career are able to leave this event better equipped to take on their next challenge.

Saturday, May 11, 2019
Spring Fling Plant Sale
May 11 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
American Red Cross

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.

Thursday, May 16, 2019
Wildlife Workshop & Walkabout – Southern Appalachian Salamanders
May 16 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Defenders of Wildlife

Defenders is excited to announce the launch of our 2019 seasonal series: Wildlife Workshops & Walkabouts! In this free, fun and educational series, you’ll have a chance to learn about your local wildlife and the habitat on which they depend. These lectures and hands-on activities will get you out into the great outdoors to discover the amazing world around you. 

Our first event celebrates the salamanders of Southern Appalachia. Join us and special guest presenter, herpetologist and salamander expert R. Graham Reynolds, PhD on Thursday, May 16th to learn about the salamanders of our area – including rare and imperiled species such as the hellbender and green salamander – why they’re important and how we’re addressing conservation challenges they face. Dr. Reynolds is an Assistant Professor of Biology at UNC Asheville and an Associate at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, MA. Following his presentation, we will learn how to create backyard salamander sanctuaries of our own. Then, join us on Saturday, May 18th for a walkabout in Rocky Fork State Park, TN. We’ll look for salamanders and explore this important area that supports an array of wildlife.

To learn more about our work to recover the imperiled eastern hellbender salamander, click here. https://medium.com/wild-without-end/diving-in-for-hellbender-conservation-a04219501768

Lecture and Hands-On Activity — Thursday May 16, 2019
5:30-7:00pm
Defenders of Wildlife’s Southeast Office
1 Rankin Avenue, 2nd Floor
Asheville, NC 28801

Refreshments provided.

AND

Walkabout — Saturday, May 18, 2019
7:30am – 3:00pm
Rocky Form State Park, TN
501 Rocky Fork Rd., Flag Pond, TN 37657

For more info, email Tracy at [email protected]

This 2019 series is sponsored by weilerwoodsforwildlife.com

Thursday, May 23, 2019
City Dance
May 23 @ 7:30 pm
Landmark Hal

Beginner’s workshop lesson at 7:30 P.M., then 8-11 P.M. Contra Dance with Country Waltzing at the break and the final dance. This is a partner dance but it’s not necessary to come with a partner. We have different live bands and callers.

Saturday, June 1, 2019
3rd Annual Prama Day
Jun 1 all-day
3rd Annual Prama Day

The Prama Institute and Wellness Center will hold an all-day festival on Saturday, June 1st, 2019 to celebrate health and wellness. Join us for this free celebration, taking place from 8:30am-6pm at Prama’s double-domed facility, located at 310 Panhandle Rd., just south of Marshall and 20 minutes from Asheville.

There will be a variety of free yoga, dance, music, workshops, playshops, sound healing, nature walks, and many more activities taking place throughout the day from which to choose from. We will have local vendors and information booths, as well as a children’s tent. Participants will also be able to purchase a delicious and nutritious lunch prepared by Prama’s chefs.

Since 2007, the Prama Institute has become a landmark retreat and conference center in the Southeast, hosting events that promote holistic health, spirituality, the arts, environmentalism, and social activism. In 2012, it opened the Prama Wellness Center, an innovative health center that promotes positive lifestyle changes through its retreats and individualized coaching. Both facilities are located on 130 acres of idyllic, secluded rolling hills that border the French Broad River. The land is interlaced with hiking trails that connect the many affiliated projects of the Prama community.

Beyond the Garden Gate – Garden Tour!
Jun 1 @ 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Asheville Visitors Center

Come and be inspired with new ideas for your garden! Join us for, Beyond the Garden Gate, tour starting at 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, June 1, 2019. Coordinated by Buncombe County Extension Master Gardener Volunteers (EMGV), this year’s self-guided garden tour showcases 5 diverse gardens, including The Learning Garden. The Learning Garden is a newly developed group of gardens established by EMGVs which are intended to demonstrate to the public sustainable gardening practices relevant to our area.

This biennial event features unique home gardens designed and tended by Master Gardener volunteers, as well as The Learning Garden. Learn while you explore the private gardens and educational demonstration sites at The Learning Garden. The Master Gardener volunteers will be on hand to answer your gardening questions and provide helpful information.

Tickets for this special event are $20 and available for purchase beginning on April 15th online at buncombemastergardener.org, NC Cooperative Extension Buncombe County Center at 49 Mt. Carmel Rd., and at EMGV events. Tickets may also be purchased on garden tour day at the Tour Registration Table at the Asheville Visitor Center, 36 Montford Avenue in Asheville. The tour is held rain or shine. For more information visit our website or call 828-255-5522.

All proceeds help support EMGV programs, such as School Garden Grants which benefits children in Buncombe County, continued development and maintenance of demonstration gardens at The Learning Garden, and other programs.

Please bring a friend, sun hat, bottle of water, and spend the day enjoying a selection of some of the most beautiful gardens in Buncombe County!

Bear Banter + Brews
Jun 1 @ 5:30 pm – 11:00 pm
UpCountry Brewing

Bears Bees + Brews and UpCountry Brewing are celebrating National Black Bear Day, Saturday, June 1st. Join us for a fun and educational evening with two live interactive brewery talks, trivia, and much more:
> NC Wildlife Resources Commission biologist Ashley Hobbs: Coexisting with Black Bears
> Wildands Network scientist Liz Hillard: The Importance of Habitat Connectivity for Wildlife
> Frugal Backpacker: Leave No Trace workshop
> Center for Honeybee Research shares world honey for you tasting pleasure.
> Grift Town Goods live printing Bears Bees + Brews t-shirts to raise funds for our continued wildlife conservation efforts.
> UpCountry brews will be flowing all night long!

Brewery Bear Talks start at 6pm and live music at 8pm.
Come one, come all! Let’s party… FOR BEARS!

Monday, June 3, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 3 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 4 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 5 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Thursday, June 6, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 6 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Friday, June 7, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 7 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Saturday, June 8, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 8 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Asheville Angel Pets Conference
Jun 8 @ 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Renaissance Hotel

Angel Pets Conference 2019 – Asheville, Saturday, June 8th at the Renaissance Hotel, 8-5p.m (Salon A). This pioneering, unique, and much-needed conference covers many topics on senior pet care needs, end-of-life care, caregiver support and grief healing. The conference highlights important medical topics for senior animal needs and resources, assessing animal quality-of-life, explaining animal hospice and palliative care, and covering the medical, practical, emotional considerations for pets at the end-of-life transition. Special focus will also be on grief healing from pet loss for ourselves and family, which is often complex and under-addressed in our society. Some presentations offer professional RACE CE credits. Great for pet parents and pet professionals. Tickets $125. (PetLove code for 10% off). AngelPetsConference.com

Seed Saving Workshop
Jun 8 @ 10:00 am – 11:15 am
Black Mountain Library

Come join us on June 8 at 10 am for a Seed Saving Techniques Workshop given by Lee Barnes, PhD. at the Black Mountain Library, 105 N. Dougherty Street. Saving seeds has many benefits, with a few tips and an understanding of what to grow, how to plant, and how to collect seeds, you’ll be on your way to seed saving in no time. This hour long presentation is free and sponsored by Black Mountain Blooms Seed Lending Library. We welcome you to be apart of our growing community!

Concerts in the Park Series
Jun 8 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Cecil Park, Biltmore Park Town Square

We invite you to bring your family, friends and neighbors to enjoy a musical evening in Biltmore Park Town Square. Grab a blanket and join us in Cecil Park, the green space near Hickory Tavern and Brixx Wood Fired Pizza. We will be hosting the Marsha Morgan Band – MMB plays a variety of music including beach, dance, rock, country and more. Come enjoy two full hours of live music, dancing and fun – free for everyone!

Sunday, June 9, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 9 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Monday, June 10, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 10 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Basic Phot Image Management
Jun 11 – Jun 12 all-day
Barnwell Photography

BASIC PHOTO IMAGE MANAGEMENT
Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2019; 2:00-5:30 pm (preregistration is required, call to enroll)
This workshop is designed as an introduction to managing photographs on the home PC or MAC computer. It will cover basic computer operation and workflow related to image handling and photo manipulation. Topics include importing photographs into the computer, basic image manipulation in Photoshop Elements, converting Jpeg images to Tiff and uses of each type file, sizes and resolution (dpi/ppi), storing, organizing, and archiving images on the computer for easy retrieval, preparing files for email, web page, print output. Participants use Photoshop Elements to improve images by cropping, resizing, color correcting, sharpening, correcting flaws, and much more. A basic understanding of your computer is needed, but no prior Photoshop knowledge is necessary. Full course description is available at www.barnwellphoto.com Preregistration is required. Tuition is $55. Class taught at Barnwell Photography, 244 Coxe Ave., Asheville. Call 828-251-0040 to enroll.

Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 11 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 12 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

“Beyond my Dreams – the African American Experience in Ballet”
Jun 12 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
the BLOCK off Biltmore

A rare opportunity to meet Claudia Foltz, co-author of dance icon Mel Tomlinson’s autobiography, “Beyond My Dreams”. Come here his story of how talent, determination and hard work broke through walls, making him one of the first African Americans featured at the NYC Ballet. Terpsicorps dancers Keith Reeves and Lydia McRae will join the discussion to share their view of life in today’s world of ballet from an African American perspective.

Thursday, June 13, 2019
8th Annual International Black Jar Honey Tasting and Cocktail Event
Jun 13 all-day
Renaissance Asheville Hotel

The 8th Annual International Black Jar Honey Tasting & Cocktail Event begins on Thursday, June 13, 2019, at 5:30pm, just about the time our panel of celebrity judges are completing their mission to choose the Best Honey In The World from submissions from all over the world. Attendees will also get to taste national and international honeys, bid in our silent auction, mingle with the judges who include Mayor Esther Manheimer, internationally reknown Chef Katie Button of Curate, singer Kat Williams and more, snack, drink and schmooze, all to the sounds of live music. It all takes place at the Renaissance Hotel where the Center for Honeybee Research, beneficiary of this fundraiser, maintains hives on the roof. This is our 8th Annual event, marking the same number of years that the Center’s research into colony collapse disorder has been underway – possibly the longest running such project anywhere! CCD is threatening the lives of honeybees around the planet, so supporting the Center’s work is critically important, and we’ve planned a delicious, pleasant way for attendees to do it.

Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 13 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.

Friday, June 14, 2019
Odyssey ClayWorks Summer Kids Clay Camp 2019
Jun 14 all-day
Odyssey ClayWorks

Come experience the love of clay with our talented artists at Odyssey ClayWorks! Learn to sculpt, coil, and even get to try your hand at throwing on the potter’s wheel in a fun and upbeat atmosphere. All skill levels welcome.