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.

Sunday, January 28, 2024
Hot Cocoa Creation Bar
Jan 28 @ 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Make your own hot cocoa creation in Perspective Café

Every weekend in December 

 

Unlock the joy and creative spirit of the holidays while also supporting the Museum’s mission! Start your winter cocoa creation by choosing between traditional or white hot chocolate as your base. Next, decorate your creation with all kinds of toppings, including crushed peppermints, butterscotches, caramel syrup, mini marshmallows, candy canes, sprinkles, and more.

Jack’s Bluegrass Brunch
Jan 28 @ 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Jack of the Wood

Jack’s Bluegrass Brunch kicks off every Sunday at 12 noon — with lively bluegrass tunes courtesy of The Jack of the Wood Bluegrass Brunch Boys from 1-3pm. Sip a Bloody Mary or Mimosa or a warm Irish coffee. Tasty brunch specials alongside our regular menu and 18 taps of rotating craft brews! Sláinte, y’all!

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred
Jan 28 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Sigal Music Museum

Sigal Music Museum’s current special exhibition, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred, highlights items from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, which hails from all over the world. Showing November 2023 – May 2024, Worlds Apart uses a diverse range of historical instruments, objects, and visuals to bring together musical narratives from seemingly disparate parts of the globe.

 

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred aims to increase public access to historical instruments from around the world and improve visitors’ understanding of musical traditions at the global level. Expanding beyond the typical parameters of the Western musical canon, Worlds Apart seeks to expose audiences to musical instruments and customs that are often overlooked or exotified. The instruments and other exhibit materials will offer visitors new perspectives on global music and a chance to consider how music is used for prayer and leisure in cultures around the world. By celebrating these stories, the museum intends to further its mission to collect and preserve historical musical instruments, objects, and information, which engage and enrich people of all ages through exhibits, performances, and experiential programs.

 

Displaying various objects from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred focuses on international musical instruments and cultures, celebrating rites and traditions with ancient histories and contemporary legacies. Frank Edwinn, a successful basso in the mid-20th century, studied and toured internationally, eventually settling in North Carolina, where he taught music at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Throughout his life, he purchased various objects from around the world, aiming to expose students, and himself, to the wide and wonderful world of musical instruments. This impressive collection occupies a unique position for educating audiences unfamiliar with the vast scope of global music.

And, UNCA’s Ramsey Library Special Collections is now processing the Edwinn’s papers and a few recordings that will be accessible next semester!

TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC SESSION
Jan 28 @ 3:30 pm
Jack of the Wood

Jack’s long-running Traditional Irish Music Session is the perfect way to enjoy the Celtic-influenced sounds of talented pluckers from all over WNC & further afield! Stop in to enjoy a pint or afternoon Irish coffee with the music! Sláinte!

Karaoke Nights in The Draftsman
Jan 28 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
The Draftsman Bar + Lounge

“Sing your heart out every Sunday with Lyric Jones at our laidback basement bar. Whether you’re a classic crooner or want to relive your glam metal glory days, find your moment to shine between 8pm and 11pm. Remember: what happens at karaoke night, stays at karaoke night.

People in the biz get half off select appetizers and burgers all night!”

Monday, January 29, 2024
BOGO Treats at Jeremiah’s Ice!
Jan 29 all-day
Jeremiah's Italian Ice

It’s Monday and you know what that means – Buy One Flavorite, Get One FREE!

Choose your Italian ice flavor (or flavors), your Soft Ice Cream, AND your favorite decadent Layer-In! The options are endless and it’s all about YOU!!

*Offer valid on Small and Medium Flavorites on Mondays in January. In-store only. Offer includes Build-Your-Own Flavorites and pre-built Frog Squad Flavorites.

Growing Minds: “I Tried Local…” free virtual toolkit
Jan 29 all-day
online

Growing Minds has published “I Tried Local…” a Toolkit for Engaging Kids with Local Food and Farms. This resource—intended for early care and education through second grade classrooms—offers an immersive curriculum designed around 10 crops grown in North Carolina. The print toolkit is currently available to educators in North Carolina who participate in a virtual training with Growing Minds. A free digital version is also available to anyone on the Growing Minds website.

Each unit includes an overview of a North Carolina–grown crop, lesson plans, recipes, coloring pages, book recommendations, discussion prompts, and a link to the “Meet Your Farmer” video series featuring North Carolina farmers. The toolkit also offers resources for implementing the core elements of farm to school—gardens, classroom cooking and taste tests, farm field trips and farmer visits, and local foods in meals or snacks.
Growing Minds will host a series of virtual training to support educators interested in using the toolkit. The first will be held on Zoom on Tuesday, Feb. 20, from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. Register here or contact [email protected] for more information.
Registration open: Story Parlor Youth Summer Camps
Jan 29 all-day
Story Parlor

Wednesdays, Feb. 21-March 27 | In this 6-week series, participants ages 11-13 will unleash their imaginations, exploring the endless limits of their voice, creativity, and confidence. Students will learn about what a story includes, find inspiration in the world around them, and unleash their voices onto the page!

School Garden Grants
Jan 29 all-day
online

Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County are happy to announce for the seventeenth year we are offering School Garden Grants to Asheville City and Buncombe County public schools, including state charter schools.

We provide a notice of the application period along with instructions to all school principals, elementary through senior high. Additional information is available on our websitebuncombemastergardener.org where you can learn more about the guidelines for receiving a grant and get access to the online 2024 School Garden Grants Application.

All applications must be completed online. Completed applications will be accepted beginning January 12, 2024, and must be submitted no later than 9 p.m. on February 15, 2024. If you have any questions, please call the Extension Office at 828-255-5522.

We are proud of our partnership with Asheville City and Buncombe County public schools. Since 2007, we have awarded 60 School Garden Grants totaling over $47,000. These grants have involved more than 17,500 students and hundreds of teachers, parents, and community volunteers.

School gardens grow more than plants. They grow imagination and creativity. They make math and science come alive, and they build community. We hope your school will join us in 2024.

Click on the link below to review the guidelines for school garden grants:
Guidelines for 2024 School Garden Grants

 

Student Soil + Water Scholarship
Jan 29 all-day
online

Buncombe County students interested in entering the field of conservation, agriculture or another natural resource program can win a $1,000 scholarship from The Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District.

The William Hamilton Memorial Scholarship will provide a student with money to go towards their studies. Eligible students must attend or plan to attend an accredited college or university and must submit a proposal for a volunteer conservation project in Buncombe County.

One winner will be selected by a committee of Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District staff and Supervisors and the funds will be dispersed directly to the institution upon completion of the volunteer project.

Scholarship Timeline:

February 28, 2024 – Deadline to apply

April 11, 2024 – Winning applicant announced

June 30, 2024 – Deadline to complete volunteer project

July 11, 2024 – Presentation to the Board, award dispersed

The winner is also expected to attend a Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District Board meeting to present the results of their project and accept their scholarship.

Find the application below. Completed applications and questions can be sent to [email protected].

The application can also be mailed to:
Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District
Attn: Jen Knight and Rose Wall
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville NC, 28806

Valentine’s Day Take-Home Dinner Preorders
Jan 29 all-day
Red Fiddle Vittles

A special prix fixe dinner for two is now available for preorder online until Feb. 12 or while supplies last. Pickup is 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 14. Orders will be picked up chilled with complete reheating instructions included. The meal features lobster bisque with creme fraiche and brown butter croutons, port wine-braised beef short ribs, truffle risotto, dark chocolate lava cake with blueberry-lavender whipped cream.

Micro Monday program
Jan 29 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Ginger's Revenge - South Slope Lounge
Join us in January and February for our weekly Micro Monday program! Come in and get a Micro Monday passport to try all eight of our exclusive small batch beverages and earn prizes!
✨Here’s the fine print: Micro Monday participants will recieve a passport punch card with the opportunity to try a different beverage each week for eight weeks. To earn a punch on your passport, you must order a full pour or 32 oz growler of the beverage of the week. We strive to have enough product to last all week, so if you can’t come on a Monday, that’s ok!
Participants who get 5 punches will receive an exclusive complimentary “I’m With the Band” 16oz glass, and those who join for all 8 weeks will also recieve a branded stainless steel water bottle, and entry into our grand prize drawing, worth $100!
🤫(hint: join us at our Kick-off Party on January 1st to get an extra entry into the grand prize drawing!)
QUIZZO PUB TRIVIA Hosted by Jason Mencer
Jan 29 @ 7:30 pm
Jack of the Wood


Hosted by the witty & sagacious Jason Mencer, our epic pub trivia night runs every Monday from 7:30-9:30pm! Plus $5.00 well drinks all night!

Come test your brain power with tasty pub fare, an adult beverage or two — and a team of your smartest friends! Win prizes each round and crow a little about what a smarty-pants you are!

Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Growing Minds: “I Tried Local…” free virtual toolkit
Jan 30 all-day
online

Growing Minds has published “I Tried Local…” a Toolkit for Engaging Kids with Local Food and Farms. This resource—intended for early care and education through second grade classrooms—offers an immersive curriculum designed around 10 crops grown in North Carolina. The print toolkit is currently available to educators in North Carolina who participate in a virtual training with Growing Minds. A free digital version is also available to anyone on the Growing Minds website.

Each unit includes an overview of a North Carolina–grown crop, lesson plans, recipes, coloring pages, book recommendations, discussion prompts, and a link to the “Meet Your Farmer” video series featuring North Carolina farmers. The toolkit also offers resources for implementing the core elements of farm to school—gardens, classroom cooking and taste tests, farm field trips and farmer visits, and local foods in meals or snacks.
Growing Minds will host a series of virtual training to support educators interested in using the toolkit. The first will be held on Zoom on Tuesday, Feb. 20, from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. Register here or contact [email protected] for more information.
Registration open: Story Parlor Youth Summer Camps
Jan 30 all-day
Story Parlor

Wednesdays, Feb. 21-March 27 | In this 6-week series, participants ages 11-13 will unleash their imaginations, exploring the endless limits of their voice, creativity, and confidence. Students will learn about what a story includes, find inspiration in the world around them, and unleash their voices onto the page!

School Garden Grants
Jan 30 all-day
online

Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County are happy to announce for the seventeenth year we are offering School Garden Grants to Asheville City and Buncombe County public schools, including state charter schools.

We provide a notice of the application period along with instructions to all school principals, elementary through senior high. Additional information is available on our websitebuncombemastergardener.org where you can learn more about the guidelines for receiving a grant and get access to the online 2024 School Garden Grants Application.

All applications must be completed online. Completed applications will be accepted beginning January 12, 2024, and must be submitted no later than 9 p.m. on February 15, 2024. If you have any questions, please call the Extension Office at 828-255-5522.

We are proud of our partnership with Asheville City and Buncombe County public schools. Since 2007, we have awarded 60 School Garden Grants totaling over $47,000. These grants have involved more than 17,500 students and hundreds of teachers, parents, and community volunteers.

School gardens grow more than plants. They grow imagination and creativity. They make math and science come alive, and they build community. We hope your school will join us in 2024.

Click on the link below to review the guidelines for school garden grants:
Guidelines for 2024 School Garden Grants

 

Student Soil + Water Scholarship
Jan 30 all-day
online

Buncombe County students interested in entering the field of conservation, agriculture or another natural resource program can win a $1,000 scholarship from The Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District.

The William Hamilton Memorial Scholarship will provide a student with money to go towards their studies. Eligible students must attend or plan to attend an accredited college or university and must submit a proposal for a volunteer conservation project in Buncombe County.

One winner will be selected by a committee of Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District staff and Supervisors and the funds will be dispersed directly to the institution upon completion of the volunteer project.

Scholarship Timeline:

February 28, 2024 – Deadline to apply

April 11, 2024 – Winning applicant announced

June 30, 2024 – Deadline to complete volunteer project

July 11, 2024 – Presentation to the Board, award dispersed

The winner is also expected to attend a Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District Board meeting to present the results of their project and accept their scholarship.

Find the application below. Completed applications and questions can be sent to [email protected].

The application can also be mailed to:
Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District
Attn: Jen Knight and Rose Wall
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville NC, 28806

Valentine’s Day Take-Home Dinner Preorders
Jan 30 all-day
Red Fiddle Vittles

A special prix fixe dinner for two is now available for preorder online until Feb. 12 or while supplies last. Pickup is 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 14. Orders will be picked up chilled with complete reheating instructions included. The meal features lobster bisque with creme fraiche and brown butter croutons, port wine-braised beef short ribs, truffle risotto, dark chocolate lava cake with blueberry-lavender whipped cream.

Growing Minds Farm to School Mini-Grant
Jan 30 @ 6:30 am
online
ASAP’s Growing Minds mini-grants help early childhood education (ECE) centers and K-12 schools throughout the 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina provide children positive experiences with healthy local foods through these components of farm to school: school gardens, farm field trips and farmer classroom visits, and local foods served in meals, snacks, and/or taste tests.

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

  • November 30, 2023
  • January 30, 2024
  • March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Growing Minds: “I Tried Local…” free virtual toolkit
Jan 31 all-day
online

Growing Minds has published “I Tried Local…” a Toolkit for Engaging Kids with Local Food and Farms. This resource—intended for early care and education through second grade classrooms—offers an immersive curriculum designed around 10 crops grown in North Carolina. The print toolkit is currently available to educators in North Carolina who participate in a virtual training with Growing Minds. A free digital version is also available to anyone on the Growing Minds website.

Each unit includes an overview of a North Carolina–grown crop, lesson plans, recipes, coloring pages, book recommendations, discussion prompts, and a link to the “Meet Your Farmer” video series featuring North Carolina farmers. The toolkit also offers resources for implementing the core elements of farm to school—gardens, classroom cooking and taste tests, farm field trips and farmer visits, and local foods in meals or snacks.
Growing Minds will host a series of virtual training to support educators interested in using the toolkit. The first will be held on Zoom on Tuesday, Feb. 20, from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. Register here or contact [email protected] for more information.
Pacolet Adult Appalachian Music (PacJAM) Spring Semester
Jan 31 all-day
Tryon Fine Arts Center

Adult Classes

Wednesdays

2:45-3:45 pm & 6:15-7:15 pm

 

Afternoon adult classes are for fiddle, beginning guitar, and beginning mandolin. Evening adult classes are for bluegrass jam, and beginning clawhammer banjo.

“If you don’t let things develop, it’s like keeping something in a bag and not letting it out to fly”
— Earl Scruggs

It’s never too late to learn to play and/or enjoy being part of the synergy that is created by adult PacJAMMERs!

Adult classes are $15/session, for a total of $210 for the 14-week session.

 

Registration open: Story Parlor Youth Summer Camps
Jan 31 all-day
Story Parlor

Wednesdays, Feb. 21-March 27 | In this 6-week series, participants ages 11-13 will unleash their imaginations, exploring the endless limits of their voice, creativity, and confidence. Students will learn about what a story includes, find inspiration in the world around them, and unleash their voices onto the page!

School Garden Grants
Jan 31 all-day
online

Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County are happy to announce for the seventeenth year we are offering School Garden Grants to Asheville City and Buncombe County public schools, including state charter schools.

We provide a notice of the application period along with instructions to all school principals, elementary through senior high. Additional information is available on our websitebuncombemastergardener.org where you can learn more about the guidelines for receiving a grant and get access to the online 2024 School Garden Grants Application.

All applications must be completed online. Completed applications will be accepted beginning January 12, 2024, and must be submitted no later than 9 p.m. on February 15, 2024. If you have any questions, please call the Extension Office at 828-255-5522.

We are proud of our partnership with Asheville City and Buncombe County public schools. Since 2007, we have awarded 60 School Garden Grants totaling over $47,000. These grants have involved more than 17,500 students and hundreds of teachers, parents, and community volunteers.

School gardens grow more than plants. They grow imagination and creativity. They make math and science come alive, and they build community. We hope your school will join us in 2024.

Click on the link below to review the guidelines for school garden grants:
Guidelines for 2024 School Garden Grants

 

Student Soil + Water Scholarship
Jan 31 all-day
online

Buncombe County students interested in entering the field of conservation, agriculture or another natural resource program can win a $1,000 scholarship from The Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District.

The William Hamilton Memorial Scholarship will provide a student with money to go towards their studies. Eligible students must attend or plan to attend an accredited college or university and must submit a proposal for a volunteer conservation project in Buncombe County.

One winner will be selected by a committee of Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District staff and Supervisors and the funds will be dispersed directly to the institution upon completion of the volunteer project.

Scholarship Timeline:

February 28, 2024 – Deadline to apply

April 11, 2024 – Winning applicant announced

June 30, 2024 – Deadline to complete volunteer project

July 11, 2024 – Presentation to the Board, award dispersed

The winner is also expected to attend a Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District Board meeting to present the results of their project and accept their scholarship.

Find the application below. Completed applications and questions can be sent to [email protected].

The application can also be mailed to:
Buncombe Soil & Water Conservation District
Attn: Jen Knight and Rose Wall
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville NC, 28806

Valentine’s Day Take-Home Dinner Preorders
Jan 31 all-day
Red Fiddle Vittles

A special prix fixe dinner for two is now available for preorder online until Feb. 12 or while supplies last. Pickup is 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 14. Orders will be picked up chilled with complete reheating instructions included. The meal features lobster bisque with creme fraiche and brown butter croutons, port wine-braised beef short ribs, truffle risotto, dark chocolate lava cake with blueberry-lavender whipped cream.

Growing Minds Farm to School Mini-Grant
Jan 31 @ 6:30 am
online
ASAP’s Growing Minds mini-grants help early childhood education (ECE) centers and K-12 schools throughout the 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina provide children positive experiences with healthy local foods through these components of farm to school: school gardens, farm field trips and farmer classroom visits, and local foods served in meals, snacks, and/or taste tests.

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

  • November 30, 2023
  • January 30, 2024
  • March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

Pacolet Junior Appalachian Music (PacJAM) Spring Semester
Jan 31 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Tryon Fine Arts Center

Beginning & Intermediate youth music classes on traditional and ol’ time instruments including but not limited to, fiddle, mandolin, banjo and guitar. Students will attend 40 minutes of music enrichment, including multiple flat-footing sessions led by Alice Kexel, story-telling, visits from guest musicians, as well as learn about the heritage of the music and the region. They will have 40 minutes of group music classes, and 40 minutes of singing or JAM rehearsal.

Advanced students will have 40 minutes of group instrument lessons, followed by 30 minutes of advanced singing including harmony and shape-note singing, and finish with 50 minutes of coached, small-ensemble rehearsal.

Classes are $15/session, for a total of $210 for the first student, and a 20% discount of $168 for each additional sibling. Parents may choose to split payments when registering. Inquire with Julie Moore at [email protected] or 864-420-6407 about scholarships.

Youth Classes

Wednesdays, 4-6 pm

OLD-TIME JAM Old-Time Mountain + Folk Music
Jan 31 @ 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Jack of the Wood


Grab some dinner and a pint while enjoying our long-running Old-Time jam! Featuring many talented musicians from the local WNC area, our traditional Appalachian mountain music jam runs from 5-9pm every Wednesday night at Jack of the Wood!

Sip + Paint
Jan 31 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Oak and Grist Distilling Company

 

 

Join us at the distillery for a fun and creative night of painting. An instructor with Crafted Clarity Sip & Paint will walk you through the steps to create your very own masterpiece.

Each ticket holder will receive a prepared (16×20”) canvas with a pre-sketched drawing and all painting materials at the start of the class.

We ask that each guest makes at least one drink purchase during the event to help support the venue.

French Wine Dinner
Jan 31 @ 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Sage & Spice

Join chef Sergio Castro for an elegant French dinner paired with specially curated French wines. The evening begins with a charcuterie spread and Champagne followed by four courses ranging from lobster bisque to pots de crème.

To reserve your spot please call 828.500.1450 or email [email protected]