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, March 18, 2023
Gatherings of Artists + Writers Coffee
Mar 18 @ 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Tryon Fine Arts Center

TFAC invites all artists: painters, sculptors, writers, performers & more — to a casual weekly drop-in gathering on Saturday mornings at 9 AM to share your works in progress, alert others, and chat about art and what’s happening in your community.

The first weekly Coffee is Saturday, August 20 at 9 am.

No RSVP needed, just drop by!

Free parking available on Melrose Avenue, behind and alongside TFAC.

Aleblazers Beer Fest
Mar 18 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Highland Brewing Company

Thanks to our partners at Highland Brewing Company for supporting Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy through the first ever Aleblazer Beer Festival! This festival celebrates creativity & innovation in craft beer and will feature 25+ of our fellow North Carolina breweries.

Private, Guided Tour with Corporate Friend Fjällräven
Mar 18 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
WNC Nature Center
 

Join Fjällräven Asheville and the Western North Carolina Nature Center to learn about native wildlife! This guided, private tour of the wildlife park will feature in-depth ecology of our flagship species, as well as share unique stories and facts about the animals who call the Nature Center home. Following the tour, each participant has access to the WNC Nature Center for the rest of the day. This interactive experience only has 20 spots available and may fill up fast!

Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour
Mar 18 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Porter Center

Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour -BREVARD

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is one of the largest and most prestigious mountain festivals in the world! Hot on the heels of the Festival that is held every fall in beautiful Banff, Alberta, the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour hits the road. With stops planned in about 550 communities and more than 40 countries across the globe, the Banff World Tour celebrates amazing achievements in outdoor storytelling and filmmaking worldwide! From the over 400 entries submitted into the Festival each year, award-winners and audience favorites are among the films that are carefully selected to play in theatres around the world. Traveling to remote vistas, analyzing topical environmental issues, and bringing audiences up-close and personal with adrenaline-packed action sports the 2022/2023 World Tour is an exhilarating and provocative exploration of the mountain world.

OUTPOST: Songs From the Road Band w/ special guests Into the Fog
Mar 18 @ 7:00 pm
The Outpost

– ALL AGES
– STANDING ROOM ONLY
– THE OUTPOST – 521 AMBOY RD

Songs From The Road Band is an Asheville, North Carolina based bluegrass supergroup featuring Mark Schimick (mandolin), Charles Humphrey III (bass), Sam Wharton (guitar), James Schlender (fiddle), and Gabe Epstein (banjo). The band takes flight with virtuosic  picking, singing, and grammy award winning songwriting.  Several of their most recent singles have gone to the top of the Bluegrass Today Grassicana chart. They have 6 studio albums available at all musical outlets.

Into The Fog

Adam Doleac: Barstool Whiskey Wonderland Tour
Mar 18 @ 8:00 pm
The Grey Eagle

– VIP PACKAGES AVAILABLE BY CLICKING HERE AND INCLUDE:  

  • VIP Laminate
  • Barstool Whiskey Wonderland Snowglobe
  • 30 Minute Q&A and Acoustic Performance
  • Meet and Greet Photo

ADAM DOLEAC

It takes time to craft a debut album. One worthy of the artist it introduces, and all the work behind it. But for Arista Nashville/Sony Music Nashville’s Adam Doleac, he’s had plenty. “I’ve had my whole life to write my first record, plus a two-year pandemic,” he says with a wry smile. “So that’s like two lifetimes.”

Luckily, he made the clock work for him. Creating a whole Barstool Whiskey Wonderland around 18 addictive tracks – almost totally from his own pen – the emerging star unveils a vision steeped in the romantic country soul of his early hits, while going much deeper as well. With tracks like the Gold-certified “Famous” and soul-mate anthem “Another,” both of which hit No. 1 on SiriusXM’s The Highway, fans have gotten only a glimpse of that wonderland so far. Now they get the full picture.

“It feels long overdue, and it’s the first time people can really see the whole me,” Doleac says. “An album is a cool thing. It allows you to tell a little bit more of your story, as opposed to just people knowing a song and not knowing you.”

And for him, a lover of all things old-school with an effortless charm and an intoxicating vocal – well suited to both champagne-popping ballrooms and keg-tapping taverns – that story is worth telling. Raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, you could call him a late musical bloomer, who credits devoted parents for his strong work ethic … and his dream-chasing determination.

ALANA SPRINGSTEEN

I’m alana! I was born and raised in VA Beach so I am a beach girl at heart! Ever since I can remember, I’ve been in love with music. I grew up singing in my Grandad’s church and everywhere we went, he would tell everyone, “ You gotta hear this girl sing!” So that’s what I did. :)  Everywhere I went, I was singing.

I got my first guitar when I was 7 years old. I was so drawn to it and all I knew was that I HAD to have it and I HAD to learn to play. My uncle would come over on weekends and teach me chords and strumming patterns and I was obsessed!

After a few years, I began putting lyrics to music. I wrote my first song when I was 9 and was instantly in love with telling my own stories. The more I wrote, the more I realized that it was what I was born to do.

Tom Waits Tribute with THE ALIEN MUSIC CLUB
Mar 18 @ 8:00 pm
White Horse Black Mountain

“Tom Waits: The Early Years” a very hip Tribute to Tom Waits, the neo-beatnik songwriter who grew weirder and wilder in the ’80s, earning a cult following that only grew larger as the years passed.

A unique musical experience where Swampy blues, Beat poetry, West Coast jazz, Tin Pan Alley, country, 1930s-era cabaret, and post-Civil War parlor songs meet neon-lit carnival music and wheezing, clattering, experimental rhythms.

THE ALIEN MUSIC CLUB features

Jonathan Pearlman

Chuck Lichtenberger

Zack Page

Ben Bjorlie

and

Dylan Hannan

>>> Opening the evening will be: MY MAGNIFICENT NEMESIS

The Alien Music club is led by Jonathan Pearlman.

Jonathan Pearlman (JP) is a veteran of the Western North Carolina Music Scene, making music under the Alien Music Club moniker for over 20 years.

JP has a formidable history of original material on covering a wide and diverse landscape of musical genres. On any given night, he might jump from straight ahead Rock to Jazz/Fusion to Reggae to Rockabilly; sometimes within the same song!

In addition to original music, JP also produces tributes shows. Currently, “Tom Waits: The Early Years” and “Leonard Cohen: The Deep Cuts” are garnering rave reviews!

The list of Pearlman’s musical collaborators is extensive. He has performed with Peggy Ratusz, Zack Page, Connor Law, Ben Colvin, Kelly Jones, Jesse Barry, Ryan Kijanka, Chuck Lichtenberger, Taylor Pierson, Micah Thomas, Jason DeCristofaro, Ben Bjorlie, Linda Mitchell, Jacob Rodriguez, Justin Ray, Justin Watt, Russ Wilson, Reggie Headen, Jay Hoots, Aaron Price, Eric Congdon…The list is long and continues to grow.

Pearlman’s influences are far-reaching: The Beatles, Hendrix, Clapton, Paul Simon, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Donald Fagen, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Jeff Beck, Wes Montgomery, Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Charles Mingus, and many more.

80s vs 90s Dance Party
Mar 18 @ 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm
The Orange Peel
Performance Image

80s vs 90s Dance Party

Sunday, March 19, 2023
$10 Sunday Fundays at Kolo Bike Park
Mar 19 all-day
Adventure Center of Asheville
5 minutes from Downtown Asheville

$10 Sunday Fundays at Kolo Bike Park

Ride Kolo Bike Park for $10 on Sundays with trails, pump tracks, jump line, skills park, Littleville, rock garden and bridges, skinnies, and table tops scattered through the Park.  Reservations not required.  Call for conditions.  828.225.2921

NOC Paddling School
Mar 19 all-day
Nantahala Outdoor Center

Voted “Best Place to Learn” by Outside, NOC Paddling School has taught more paddlers than anyone else, with 50 years of experience going into every class. Our commitment to the sport and to providing the best possible instruction has not waivered. So come and let us be your respected and experienced instructor.

Shrimp + Grits Hosted Weekend with Julia Tatum Banner at Half-Mile Farm
Mar 19 all-day
Half-Mile Farm

Julia Tatum Banner of Delta Grind Grits and Half-Mile Farm Chef Jason Tardo will present a Shrimp & Grits experience with a special tasting and hosted Social Hour including complimentary hors d’oeuvres. Breakfast each day will feature Delta Grind’s delicious products. Hosted events are for Half-Mile Farm guests only.

Blue Ridge Bicycle Club: Weekly B-Pace Ride
Mar 19 @ 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
various locations

Time & loc varies, typical avg spd 15-17mph, dist 30-50mi. For weekly emails, update your profile: Hover on your name upper right; select “Profile”; under “Your website functions” click “Interests”; then check “B Pace Rides”. Leader [email protected]

Kolo Bike Park $10 Sunday Fundays
Mar 19 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Kolo Bike Park

Join us on Sundays this Fall and Winter for $10 to ride Kolo Bike Park on over 125 acres beside Downtown Asheville!  Enjoy pump tracks, skills area, trails, skinnys, berms, table tops and much more! Littleville is also included for our youngest shredders. Rentals not included.

Reservations not required. Call for conditions: 828.225.2921.

Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour
Mar 19 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Porter Center

Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour -BREVARD

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is one of the largest and most prestigious mountain festivals in the world! Hot on the heels of the Festival that is held every fall in beautiful Banff, Alberta, the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour hits the road. With stops planned in about 550 communities and more than 40 countries across the globe, the Banff World Tour celebrates amazing achievements in outdoor storytelling and filmmaking worldwide! From the over 400 entries submitted into the Festival each year, award-winners and audience favorites are among the films that are carefully selected to play in theatres around the world. Traveling to remote vistas, analyzing topical environmental issues, and bringing audiences up-close and personal with adrenaline-packed action sports the 2022/2023 World Tour is an exhilarating and provocative exploration of the mountain world.

DANIELLE WERTZ Jazz Vocalist
Mar 19 @ 7:00 pm
White Horse Black Mountain

Described as, “untarnished by the politics of music” (Jazz Music Archives) and “at home alongside more contemporary exponents of improvising singing” (LoudMouth, AU) Danielle Wertz is an internationally recognized jazz vocalist, composer, arranger and educator. After being named a semi-finalist in the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, she self-released a duo project that was recorded at ABC Studios in Sydney, Australia, and has been receiving high praise since its 2017 release.

Danielle lived in Northern California from 2017-2022 and rapidly gained recognition as one of the Bay Area’s most in-demand vocalists. She just signed with Outside in Music for her forthcoming record, set to release in March 2023.

Danielle has also had the privilege of working and performing with many world class musicians in a professional, non-academic setting including Cyrille Aimée, Kate McGarry, Keith Ganz, Chris Botti, Michael Bowie, Lena Seikaly, Mark G. Meadows and Chris Grasso.

From renowned concert halls, performing arts centers and music venues, Danielle has performed on stages of all sizes:

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Arsht Center, SFJAZZ Center, Blues Alley, Black Cat SF, The Mansion at Strathmore, The Carlyle Club, Bethesda Blues and Jazz, The Creative Cauldron, Twins Jazz, Nocturne Jazz and Supper Club, and the St. Petersburg Jazz Philharmonic Hall.

Soulside w/ J. Robbins (Band)
Mar 19 @ 8:00 pm
The Grey Eagle

– ALL AGES
– STANDING ROOM ONLY

SOULSIDE

Soulside formed in Washington, DC, in 1985, split up in 1989, then reformed in 2014 and has continued playing and writing music since then. After releasing their debut album on Sammich/Dischord, they recorded Trigger (Dischord, 1988) and Hot Bodi-Gram (Dischord, 1989), which were combined on the Soon Come Happy CD in 1990. The band toured extensively in the US and Europe during these years, including groundbreaking shows in Poland and East Berlin shortly before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.  In 2020, Soulside put out a new 7-inch, This Ship, their first release in 30 years, which was recorded in Prague. Happy”, released in 1990 and re-mastered in 2003.

J. ROBBINS (BAND)

J. Robbins has been the guitarist/singer and primary songwriter (or pushiest collaborator) in several bands since the early ’90s, including Jawbox, Burning Airlines, Channels, and Office of Future Plans.

For the bulk of that time, he has also been active as a recording engineer/producer, working with musicians from around the world at his Baltimore-based studio, The Magpie Cage.

Monday, March 20, 2023
Hike With a Naturalist
Mar 20 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Chimney Rock State Park

Spend an hour hiking one of the Parks’ six trails with a naturalist. Watch the transformation from winter to spring on this educational excursion. You may even learn some of the Parks’ history as well. Meet in front of Cliff Dwellers Gifts.

Death To All
Mar 20 @ 7:00 pm
The Orange Peel
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Wilderness Medicine + Survival Skills at Nantahala Outdoor Center
Mar 21 all-day
Nantahala Outdoor Center

LEARN MORE THIS YEAR

Brush up on your wilderness medicine or learn new survival skills! SOLO Southeast & NOC are offering over 200 courses in 2023 and classes in locations across the southeast.

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Bryson City, NC
  • Chattanooga, TN
  • Collegedale, TN
  • Greenville, SC

Find your next course with SOLO Southeast and be prepared for the unexpected!

LEGO Builders Club
Mar 21 @ 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Pack Memorial Library

Come down the Pack Memorial Library and play with LEGOs!
Show off your building skills and make new friends with other LEGO maniacs.

Please leave your personal LEGOs at home, because we’ve got plenty.

School Age – (grades K-5)
Every Tuesday 1/2 off bottles of wine at 131 Main Restaurant
Mar 21 @ 5:00 pm
131 Main Restaurant

Every Tuesday 1/2 off bottles of wine at 131 Main Restaurant

Quinn Sullivan / Veronica Lewis
Mar 21 @ 8:00 pm
The Grey Eagle

– ALL AGES
– SEATED SHOW
– LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE

QUINN SULLIVAN

This spring, 22-year-old singer, songwriter, and guitarist Quinn Sullivan is set to release WIDE AWAKE, his new studio album, via Mascot Label Group/Provogue.

A rare artist who’s always sounded older than his years, Sullivan has been touring the world since he was 11-years-old, playing storied venues such as Madison Square Garden, the Hollywood Bowl and RFK Stadium in Washington D.C., as well as India’s Mahindra Blues Festival, Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, and three Montreux Jazz Festivals. Quinn has shared the stage with his hero and mentor Buddy Guy, as well as Carlos Santana on several occasions. Quinn’s performance experience includes appearances on leading national television programs such as The Ellen DeGeneres ShowLate Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, and The Oprah Winfrey Show, to name a few.

This Massachusetts native has taken the abundant skills of his youth and now, as a young adult, is letting them blossom and steer him into new directions of artistry and creativity. “I want to stay true to where I come from, and go from there,” says Sullivan. “The artists that inspire me to do that are always hungry for the new. They never repeat themselves. They just grow and become more unique — and that’s what I aim to do as an artist.”

Having developed genuinely jaw-dropping skills as a guitar player, Sullivan’s more recent learning curve has been with pen and paper. “I’ve always considered myself a songwriter,” he says. “On the last few records, it just wasn’t something I was doing all the time. I was focused on other things, like my guitar playing and developing my vocals, both of which I continue to do.” Since the release of 2017’s MIDNIGHT HIGHWAY, Sullivan has evolved into the singer-songwriter genre while effectively highlighting his guitar mastery.

VERONICA LEWIS

Veronica Lewis is one of the most exciting, emerging talents in the Indie Roots world. Bending genres from the Bayou to the north country, Lewis combines the true language of the Blues with the energy of early rock ‘n rollersA teenage prodigy, piano player, singer & prolific songwriter who is ”changing the game and upping the ante”, says American Blues Scene.  With the release of her critically acclaimed, Chart-topping, debut album “You Ain’t Unlucky”, 18-year-old Veronica Lewis, is poised to bring new generations back under that big old revival tent that is Blues and Roots rock and roll.  A mesmerizing live performer with serious piano chops, soaring vocals, and trailblazing original songs, Veronica gives her audience “every last drop, every single time”.

“You Ain’t Unlucky”  blasted Veronica Lewis’ career off to a mind-blowing start, debuting at Number #2 on the Billboard Blues charts,  #1 on iTunes Blues chart, and landing the title Track ‘You Ain’t Unlucky’ as the Number #1 Blues Song of The Year 2021 (Root Music Report), and snagging two Blues Music Nominations in 2022 for Best Emerging Artist Album  & Piano Player of the Year.

Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Wilderness Medicine + Survival Skills at Nantahala Outdoor Center
Mar 22 all-day
Nantahala Outdoor Center

LEARN MORE THIS YEAR

Brush up on your wilderness medicine or learn new survival skills! SOLO Southeast & NOC are offering over 200 courses in 2023 and classes in locations across the southeast.

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Bryson City, NC
  • Chattanooga, TN
  • Collegedale, TN
  • Greenville, SC

Find your next course with SOLO Southeast and be prepared for the unexpected!

Bountiful Cities FREE Workshop and Potluck
Mar 22 @ 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Stephens Lee (Multi-Purpose Room)

 

Stephens Lee (Multi-Purpose Room) Address: 30 George Washington Carver Ave.

Please join us for another Community Garden Network potluck/meetup and a 50 min workshop on Seed Starting presented by Laura Collins. Laura is the  Vegetable Program Lead at Gaia Herbs and she will share a demonstration about some of the best ways to start seeds this time of year. Everyone is invited to this free workshop and potluck.  Register today!

Champainting with the Animals
Mar 22 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
WNC Nature Center 
 

Enjoy a night out with the WNC Nature Center! Start off with a champagne toast, followed by a step-by-step creative painting of one of our river otters!

Adults Only Trivia Night Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company
Mar 22 @ 6:30 pm – 8:15 pm
Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company

EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 6:30 pm ~ FREE!

AGES 18+ ADULTS ONLY ~ NO KIDS ALLOWED

ON OUR HUGE SCREEN IN THEATER 2!

ENJOY DINNER & DRINKS (FULL BAR) WHILE PLAYING

There are 3 rounds with new winners each round so you can show up late, miss a round and still be a winner. Plus, we have mid-round prizes to create as many winners as possible.

The questions are presented by a hilarious host on our giant movie screen and includes fun videos in each round.  You haven’t played a trivia night like this one!

No Pressure, Tech Social Meetup
Mar 22 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Mills River Brewing Co.

This is a casual meetup for developers, tech-minded pros, and geeks at any experience level. All are welcome and newcomers are welcome. Hope to see you there.

Mills River Brewing has a permanent food truck onsite.

Witty Wednesday Trivia
Mar 22 @ 6:30 pm
Sweeten Creek Brewing

Beat the mid week grind with some fun trivia! Win a $25 gift card for our taproom along with a $25 gift card from our resident kitchen, Bears Smokehouse BBQ!

Trivia Night
Mar 22 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Hickory Tavern

Every Wednesday

Trivia Night

Sweet Pill
Mar 22 @ 8:00 pm
The Grey Eagle

– ALL AGES
– STANDING ROOM ONLY

SWEET PILL
Philadelphia’s Sweet Pill write eruptive emo songs that embrace the edges of pop and hardcore. The kind of band whose members are fully immersed in their local scene—through a handful of notable side projects and the show-promoting Philly staple 4333 Collective—the quintet’s sound takes wide-spectrum influence from its environment. The result is an amalgam of complex song structures and flourishes of technical acumen, wholly unconcerned with genre, yet evoking the specific styles of touchstones such as Paramore and Circa Survive.

On their debut longplayer Where the Heart Is, Sweet Pill’s unbound, raucous energy presents through ten autobiographical tracks that hinge on singer Zayna Youssef’s elastic, enrapturing voice—at times belting and controlled, at others textural and guttural. Supporting Youssef are guitarists Jayce Williams and Sean McCall, bassist Ryan Cullen, and drummer Chris Kearney. Their blistering lead single “Blood” sees Youssef exploring a deteriorated friendship over Williams and McCall’s trudging riffs and tactful counterpoint, with Cullen and Kearney rumbling nimbly in the song’s foundations.

Second single “High Hopes” counters with introspective, melodic punk that reshapes anxiety rather than succumb to it. But third single “Diamond Eyes” momentarily slows the pace, with McCall joining Youssef on vocals for a breakup lament laden with acoustic sentimentalism and an emotive flurry from guest flutist Jill Ryan. Such range is the central facet of Where the Heart Is, where Sweet Pill’s penchant for combining punkish tropes enlivened with the vibrance of math-rock and the aggression of post-hardcore sweetened with pop sensibility compound into something stylistically new yet still familiar.

Sweet Pill is Zayna, Jayce, Chris, Sean & Ryan

KEROSENE HEIGHTS
Kerosene heights is an emo band from Asheville North Carolina and make loud exciting emo punk that carries the torch of earlier emo bands. The energy of a sweaty basement show comes through even in their recordings with distorted twinkly riffs, yelled vocals, and raw production. Their debut LP comes out this summer on No Sleep Records.