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.
Penn’s first time in Brevard, NC.
Free show || 21+ || Food truck
“An old soul in a 21st century body, Penn Johnson is a Barefoot Vandit spreading seeds of mindfulness through storytelling and song. Originally a Massachusetts native, he’s been 150,000 miles since 2015. Penn has performed on festivals and shows with Nahko, Satsang, Iya Terra, Bumpin Uglies, Treehouse!, Wookiefoot, Sessions Americana, and Christina Holmes. His sound is best described as danceable spoken word with poetic vocals and percussive strumming. His newest material sheds light into the dark forests of consciousness and illuminates a more harmonious life.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhFNR5XvpPk
https://www.facebook.com/events/331051297420022/
We need your help to reach voters this fall, and we have the perfect training to get you ready!
Interested in ways we can fight the anti-voter amendments on the ballot this fall? Come join this upcoming training on how to coordinate outreach events – including phonebanking, tabling, pledge cards, and canvassing events. We’ll have a break-out style training so that you can focus on your outreach method of choice.
Trainings are free and open to any group. Lunch will be provided.
WHAT: Amendment Outreach Coordinator Training
WHEN: Wednesday, August 29, 5:30 – 8 PM
WHERE: YWCA of Asheville (185 S. French Broad Ave., Asheville 28801)
RSVP to let us know you’ll be there!
For more information, place contact Darlene Azarmi at (828) 216-3430 or [email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/events/255083085102476/
Focus on the Library After 5
FABA and New Fletcher Library Partners will host this very special Focus on the Library event on Wednesday August 29th from 5:30 – 7 at the Fletcher Library.
This event will be centered around the New Fletcher Library Partners’ campaign to build a new library in Fletcher to better service it’s citizens. Doug Agor from the New Fletcher Library Partners will share on the importance of library to the community and the efforts that already underway.
As the library will be an asset to the community, we encourage you to invite friends and influencers who would share in this interest and can help make this dream a reality!
For more information on New Fletcher Library Partners visit their website at http://newfletcherlibrary.org/ and follow their Facebook page @nflpartners.
https://www.facebook.com/events/497987817318239/
An Evening About Fostering and Adoption in Appalachia with Authors Deborah Gold and Wendy Welch
Deborah Gold, author of Counting Down
When Deborah Gold and her husband signed up to foster parent in their rural mountain community, they did not foresee that it would lead to a roller-coaster fifteen years of involvement with a traumatized yet resilient birth family. In Counting Down, Gold tells the story of forging a family within a confounding system. We meet social workers, a birth mother with the courage to give her children the childhood she never had herself, and a father parenting from prison. We also encounter members of a remarkable fellowship of Appalachian foster parents–gay, straight, right, left, evangelical, and atheist–united by love, loss, and quality hand-me-downs.
Wendy Welch is the author of Fall or Fly
In depictions of foster care and adoption, stories tend to cluster at the dark or light ends of the spectrum, rather than telling the day-to-day successes and failures of families working to create themselves. Who raises other people’s children? Why? What’s money got to do with it when the love on offer feels so real? And how does the particular setting of Appalachia–itself so frequently oversimplified or stereotyped–influence the way these questions play out? In Fall or Fly, Welch invites people bound by a code of silence to open up and to share their experiences. Less inspiration than a call to caring awareness, this pioneering work of storytelling journalism explores how love, compassion, money, and fear intermingle in what can only be described as a marketplace for our nation’s greatest asset.
These books are available for purchase in-store, by phone, or online by visiting https://www.malaprops.com.
We ask that you purchase the books you want to be signed at our events from Malaprop’s. When you do this you are not only supporting the work it takes to run an events program, you are also telling the publishers that they should keep sending authors here.
Can’t make it to the store for the event? Call us or order the book on our website in advance, and we’ll get it signed for you. Make sure you write your preferences in the comments if you purchase online.
https://www.facebook.com/events/267531913813478/
Sign up here or just show up on the 29th! https://secure.ngpvan.com/jY1ykj-A-kqbTA3q4K4A0Q2 We need to call over 100,000 voters in the 10th District between now and November! Volunteers will learn how to use the campaign’s new phone-banking system. Bring your fully-charged cell phone, headphone/earbuds (with a microphone), and a laptop. We have a fair number of laptops and headphones for training, but please bring your own if possible. When making calls, your phone number WILL NOT show up on recipients’ screens. Be prepared to log in to your email address because we will send you a phone bank link upon your arrival at the training. After you learn our system, we hope you will plan to stay to make calls with us…and you can continue to do so from home afterwards. Each week, all callers who make at least 2 hours of phone calls will be included in a raffle for a $50 gift card to show our appreciation for your hard work. Of course, we’d love for you to make even more calls! Thank you for joining our people-powered movement to defeat McHenry!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1827773550671659/
Monday, August 29th at 6:00 PM
at the Morganton Public Library
Free Adult Program ~ All Materials Provided
Registration Required ~ Sign up begins on 7/30/18.
Call 828-764-9260 for more information.
https://www.facebook.com/events/206901980004883/
Concerned about clean air, clean water, and the health of our earth? Come talk to Norm about it. He believes we should be taking care of our resources, and that a strong environmental policy creates good jobs and healthy people. Please join us for an evening of conversation on these topics.
https://www.facebook.com/events/647625688949430/
Annual dinner & evening to celebrate & thank the hundreds of volunteers who support Folkmoot through their gifts of time, talent & treasure. Please email [email protected] if you plan to attend.
https://www.facebook.com/events/484751465327006/
Come join us to learn more about what we want to do this year and what we stand for! We are the Asheville branch of the International Socialist Organization and we are based primarily on UNCA’s campus and will be meeting in Rhoades/Robison 103.
https://www.facebook.com/events/246062429292316/
https://www.facebook.com/events/726542004345395/
Plates and Mugs: Focusing On Surface and Form With Laurie Caffery Harris
Tuesdays, 6:30-9pm
August 28- October 2
These two popular forms offer endless possibilities of expression to the clay artist. In this intermediate level class, we will use the potter’s wheel to create our forms, then focus on creating a unique surface that reflects your individuality. Through demonstrations and practice on our own test tiles, we will cover surface design including mishima (slip inlay), painting, and sgraffito carving. There will also be a heavy emphasis on handle making, as we seek to create forms that are both beautiful, and easy to use.
Level: Intermediate and Advanced
Tuition: $255 + $35 Lab Fee
*YOU MUST be on the Brown Paper Ticket attendee list to have access to the delicious vegan cheese from Plant.* THE CHEESE TASTING IS SOLD OUT, but you are welcome to attend the talk by Dr. Lanou.
Join AVS in welcoming UNCA professor Dr. Amy Lanou as she enlightens us on the benefits of going dairy-free, with her talk “Dairy-Free and Fabulous: Why ditching dairy is better for your health and the planet.”
Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D., is chair and professor of health and wellness for the University of North Carolina Asheville (UNC Asheville). Dr. Lanou currently teaches nutrition, food politics and nutrition policy, health communication and senior seminar in health promotion at UNC Asheville.
Her research interests include nutrition for the prevention of chronic disease, nutrition and bone health and how experiential food education impacts what individuals know, think and do with respect to dietary choices.
She is co-author of the 2009 book Building Bone Vitality: A Revolutionary Diet Plan to Prevent Bone Loss and Reverse Osteoporosis.
Drinks – both alcoholic and non – will be available for purchase at the bar.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2127039914229690/
I’ll be performing my spoken-word piece “How to Live with a Broken Heart,” accompanied by Jason Smith of Nights Bright Colors, at the final Summer Fringe Night at Crow and Quill. There will be other performers and performances and an opportunity to learn more about the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival.
Adult beverages, free show, weirdness. Yay!
More details from the Fringe organizers:
• 7-8 p.m. — Mix & mingle with Fringe crew and check in on what’s new for 2019. Find out about our new Performer Guidelines! They are NEW. And Improved…
• 8-10 p.m. — Performances by Amanda Levesque, Emily Thomas, Alli Marshall and the Asheville Butoh Collective! A stellar line up, for sure. Bring you friends and catch these amazing performances scattered throughout the evening.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2114246135459081/
Select Evenings, May 17–October 7, 2018
Biltmore House & Gardens opens to the public on Thursday–Sunday evenings for a special reservations-only viewing of Chihuly’s stunning large-scale glass sculptures. Chihuly Nights at Biltmore is an enchanting opportunity to witness the effects of dramatic nighttime lighting upon the luminous colors and graceful forms of these spectacular pieces. Sunset over the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains, live music in the gardens, and a wine bar make the evening experience all the more enticing. Chihuly’s towering works of art illuminated against a night sky surrounded by the timeless beauty and magnificence of Biltmore House & Gardens: a truly moving, memorable experience
The first Hendersonville Dueling Pianos show with two of our favorite artists…. Johnnie Blackwell and Daniel Sage.
And…. don’t bother with dinner because pizza is included!
Price for this event is only $10, includes the pizza, and is limited to 63 people! RSVP for your tickets to Henderson County’s first show with the two guys that make Hendo-music what it is! You can message us or call us at 828-676-6718.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1875911599383515/
Jazz Night at SAB will feature vocalist Elise Pratt performing a special set of standards around the theme of time. She will be joined by special guest Byron Hedgepeth (vibes and drums), Danny Iannucci (bass), and Jason DeCristofaro (vibes and piano). 7 – 10 PM, and no cover. Second set is a Jazz jam!
https://www.facebook.com/events/2160407114284086/
Tasting beer blind Is a totally different ball game. In this class, you’ll have the opportunity to taste a variety of Archetype beers, without knowing what they are or what they’re “supposed” to taste like. Brett, mixed-culture, barrel-aged, and everything in between. You’ll learn to pick up on flavors and aromas without tasting descriptions, and describe them with industry lingo that you’ll recognize and understand.
After tasting, our brewers, Steven Anan and Erin Jordan, will give a rundown of each beer with our house tasting notes plus a little extra instruction on how we perceive each beer. Bring all your burning questions, they’ll do their best to answer! We’ll have the class set up in the brewery, so you can tour, poke around, and see up close and personal how we brew our beer here at Archetype. You’ll leave with a better understanding of how the pros taste beer and of how your own palette tastes beer (plus a few helpful guides to take home with you).
The class is $20 and will last roughly two hours.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1835056586609530/
Wyatt Easterling and Rod Abernethy perform solo sets from each other’s high charting albums on Folk Alliance’s Folk DJ Chart, complimenting each other in styles reminiscent of Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Jason Isbell, and Leo Kottke. Come spend a rare evening with two of North Carolina’s premiere acoustic singer-songwriters.
https://www.facebook.com/events/424483814722435/
WHERE: THE BLOCK off biltmore, 39 S. Market St, 28801
WHEN: Wednesday August 29, 2018
TIME: 8pm
GENRE: soul / funk / acoustic
AGES: 21+
SEATS: seats / standing
TICKETS: $5 at the door
WEB LISTING: http://theblockoffbiltmore.com/index.php/event/okrend
Jordan Okrend Experience:
WEBSITE: www.jordanokrend.com
HEAR SOME MUSIC: https://soundcloud.com/jordanokrend
SEE A VIDEO: https://youtu.be/O4DAoMGneFo
The Jordan Okrend Experience is more than one thing. First, there is the signature sound, vintage pop imbued with an infectious funky jazz edge. There is also something else. Soulful music with socially conscious lyrics, that has all been but lost in today’s current pop climate.
The Asheville NC based singer/songwriter released his first two EP’s, Unpredictable and Rising Up, between 2010 and 2012 while attending Berklee College of Music in Boston and has been performing extensively throughout the East Coast ever since. His 2015 EP World Keeps Turnin was a clear indication that Okrend had thrown his hat into the ring of other soul revival upstarts such as Allen Stone and Michael Kiwanuka. The EP blended the old school with the contemporary while echoing the conscious elements of his musical heroes-Lennon, Hendrix and Marley. Since settling in Asheville NC in 2016, Okrend has continued with his impressive musical journey. He was a winner in Asheville’s Brown Bag Songwriting Competition and was also named as one of the top acts to see at MONDO, NYC .
Okrend’s new album, Dance By The Riverside is a buoyant meditation of the stresses of the modern world, with a distinctively funk and retro soul vibe. It may bring to mind classic soul artists like Stevie Wonder, but has a sound that firmly belongs in these times. With lyrics that reference “social media” as in the single Dance by The Riverside, the phenomenon of “ghosting” as in the hooky electric guitar driven Stranded, the call for “Unity” in the bonus live acoustic track written in response to the 2016 election, these songs resonate.
Recorded at Sound Temple Studios in Asheville, NC with engineer Robert George, there is a certain uncontrived timeless quality in the material that resulted from Jordan’s spontaneous approach to playing and recording. Four of the eight tracks on the album are marked by their use of horns that echo over catchy hooks including the single, Dance By The Riverside. The single also made into an Official Video was filmed by the French Broad River in Asheville, NC and captures the joy, freedom and positive vibes of Jordan’s music. “The emphasis is on speaking to the human experience”, Okrend asserts. “I hope this album inspires and uplifts all who hear it.”
https://www.facebook.com/events/284460595646742/
FREE SHOW
https://www.facebook.com/events/299384054224944/
Asheville Rock Collective: Volume 1 Album Release (ft. The Dirty Badgers, BROTHRS, The Mercury Arcs) at The Grey Eagle
https://www.facebook.com/events/2102049513199290/
From the historic Apollo Theater to the open air of Washington Square Park, 5j Barrow has inspired audiences with soulful music, evocative imagery, and lyrics that tug at the heart. Founded by Broadway performers and newlyweds, Eryn Murman and Jason Hite in the fall of 2011 in NYC, 5j Barrow was named “Best Band in NY” after winning The Greene Space WNYC/WQXR’s ‘Battle of the Boroughs 2014’. They’ve built a loyal following on the streets of the city and just completed a year-long tour of North America with performances that are both intimate and rousing. 5j Barrow released their debut album From the Dim Sweet Light in 2014, and their first two installments of three upcoming EPs produced by Grammy nominated David Mayfield, was released October 6th, 2017 titled The Journey, Vol. 1. The Journey, Vol. 2 was just released May 19th, 2018. While they continue to tour extensively, they are now based out of Asheville, NC.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1873103156332500/
Cheap deals on Jameson, Jameson Caskmates, and Jameson Black Barrel!
Get ready to pick your hearts up off the floor because they are sure to drop when Hearts Gone South hits their first notes! These local lovelies are a Honky-Tonk Country band that plays original hits and classics made for dancin’, drinkin’, hollerin’, and cryin! Not to be missed!
Here’s a music video partly filmed at the Double Crown! https://youtu.be/hyxDefQQrhg
https://www.facebook.com/heartsgonesouth/
https://www.reverbnation.com/heartsgonesouth
Stick around after the band for DJ Dabid Wayne Gay spinning Classic Country hits!
https://www.facebook.com/events/255972051807275/
Santoros (Mexican American Garage Surf Rock)
w/ The Cannonball Jars, Slow Poison
at The Mothlight
August 29th
Doors 8:30
Tickets: $10adv, https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1731284?utm_medium=bks
https://www.facebook.com/events/218956168731084/
Zoso – The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience
All Ages
Doors: 8:00 pm
Show: 9:00 PM
Tickets: $12 advance / $14 day of show
Tickets & Info: www.theorangepeel.net/events/zoso-the-ultimate-led-zeppelin-experience-6/
Zoso – The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience formed in 1995 to perform the most accurate and captivating Led Zeppelin live show since the real thing. For Zoso, it’s much more than just being a tribute. It’s about touching a golden era in music. Zoso embodies Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones in their spirit, tightly-wound talent and authenticity.
Each band member has been carefully selected to portray both the appearance and playing styles of their Led Zeppelin counterparts. In eighteen successful years of touring, they have perfected their art. As one of the longest tenured Zeppelin tributes, Zoso‘s 2400 live shows around the world, including slots at major festivals such as Bonnaroo and Rib America Fest, have established them as the most traveled and successful band in the market.
Zoso‘s live shows are not about simply playing the right notes, they are about aura and feeling, harkening back to the unique atmosphere Led Zeppelin created. It’s in the way they play: Each band member’s mastery of authentic vintage instruments coupled with spot-on vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, their compelling stage persona and distinct Led Zeppelin sound, with astounding visual imagery recreates the music, magic, and mystery of a Zeppelin concert. The impact is so powerful that band members constantly hear from young rockers that they were the catalyst behind turning them into new, die-hard Zeppelin fans.
www.zosoontour.com
The Orange Peel
www.theorangepeel.net
www.facebook.com/TheOrangePeelAsheville
www.twitter.com/ThePeel
www.instagram.com/the_orange_peel
https://www.facebook.com/events/2014860155254530/
For the seventh consecutive year, the Asheville Habitat ReStore at 31 Meadow Road near Biltmore Village is encouraging residents to show off their creativity and talent for a chance to win in the ReStore ReUse Contest. Garden shed, artist studio, chicken coop…tree house, playhouse, tiny house…if you recently built a structure like this using predominantly reused building materials, Habitat wants to know. The contest runs July 1-August 31 and submissions must be sent electronically. Information and entry form will be available on ashevillehabitat.org starting July 1 st . The purpose of the contest is to showcase innovative building projects constructed predominantly of used building materials. “Our customers often tell us about the projects they make using materials purchased at the ReStore. This contest is a great way to showcase their projects and inspire others to reuse, recycle and repurpose usable materials,” said Scott Stetson, ReStore General Manager. Five judges will select winners in the following categories: Furniture, Homesteading, Live and/or Work Space, Home Décor, Youth (age 16 and under), and Best in Show. Winners will be announced in mid-September.
From the writing team behind last year’s smash sensation The Dixie Swim Club. In this rollicking comedy, four friends have sworn to keep the promise they made on the night of their Senior Prom: to be in each other’s weddings, and hilarity ensues. If you’ve ever elbowed a stranger to catch a bride’s bouquet or have been forced to wear the world’s ugliest bridesmaid dress, this deliriously funny play by Jones Hope Wooten is definitely for you…and your dearly beloved.
Matinees: Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00PM
Evenings: Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30PM. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00PM
Flat Rock Playhouse Mainstage
2661 Greenville Highway Flat Rock, NC 28731
Students at the Visual Arts Preschool at Roots + Wings School of Art and Design engage with pre-K education fundamentals through a dynamic, arts based curriculum. Literacy, numeracy, social skills, community building, cultural and environmental studies are approached through an art and design thinking lens, as students explore learning concepts experientially across multiple platforms.
The Roots + Wings Visual Arts Preschool ‘Best of 2018’ collection is a cross section of the diverse pre-K education program and includes investigations into art movements, community and culture, storytelling, and creative play.
The Biltmore Estate has been planning the largest exhibition in its historic gardens for almost a decade. And finally, last week, Chihuly at Biltmore opened with a mega installation of glass sculptures from the famous artist Dale Chihuly. Tens of thousands of glass pieces from all around the world reside in 14 locations around the Estate (which is the very first large-scale N.C. Chihuly installation).
The exhibition is up from now until Oct. 7th, free admission with a Biltmore day pass (and free for annual pass holders). Chihuly at Nightis a special, ongoing event where the glass sculptures are lit up, plus live music in the gardens + a wine bar. Tickets are $37.50 for kids + range from $65 – 75 for adults ($10 discount for pass holders).
Three new works were blown just for Biltmore, and 6 new compositions were put together.
This exquisite, interactive exhibit is designed to inspire and educate visitors about the storied history and evocative power of scent while taking them on a full sensory journey, literally! Blending flora, fashion and science, Making Scents showcases some of Mother Nature’s most fragrant botanicals and unveils the plants and flowers behind some of the world’s most iconic perfumes. Visitors will explore the mysterious power of the sense of smell, learn about the artistry and science behind the fragrance industry and even compose their own basic fragrance.
From traditional harvest and extraction methods to chemical combinations of synthetic fragrances, Making Scents uncovers the technical processes behind fragrance creation through an immersive, multisensory experience. Art, passion and craft come together inside the exhibit’s iconic bottle display, which showcases the unique designs of more than 100 perfume bottles, some dating back to ancient the Greek and Roman eras. By integrating horticulture, history and pop culture, Making Scents is sure to enlighten the senses and engage the minds of visitors about the fragrance industry and the living world in a fun, dynamic way.