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.

Friday, July 31, 2020
Farm Beginnings® Farmer-Led Training Program Virtual for 2020-2021
Jul 31 all-day
Online

Many skills are required to start and expand a successful farm business: passion, clear goals, production experience, financial and marketing know-how, and more. Farm Beginnings® will help you build these skills through one year of farmer-led training, mentoring, and networking. Using a holistic management frame, farmer-led classroom sessions, on-farm tours, and an extensive farmer network, Farm Beginnings® will help you clarify your goals and strengths, establish a strong enterprise plan, and start building a profitable and sustainable operation. Although students do not need to own land, some farming or production experience is required to get the most out of the program. As we know, farming is more critical than ever. Apply to this program and be prepared when crisis hits!

Program Details: December 2020 – September 2021

2020-2021 Farm Beginnings® Farmer Training is 200+ Hours including:

— Winter Whole-Farm Business Planning Courses – 60 hours (October – March)**
— ASAP’s Business of Farming Conference (February) – 8 hours
— OGS Conferences – 40+ hours
— Mentorship with an experienced Farmer Mentor (March – September) – 15 hours
— Production Training – 45 hours (April – October): WNC CRAFT tours on sustainable farms around WNC & Field Days with regional partners Living Web Farms  and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy Incubator Farm
— One year WNC CRAFT Farmer Network membership – Membership and mentoring in a regional farmer network

Introducing Bookfix: Custom Reading Recommendations
Jul 31 all-day
Buncombe County Libraries curbside pickup

Photo of typewriter

 

 

Miss browsing the library’s shelves? Let us help with Bookfix. Call or email your local library to have a librarian put together a bundle of books tailored to your specific interests. You can pick up your personal Bookfix bundle at our curbside hold pickup service. Our Ask a Librarian line is available Monday-Saturday at (828) 250-4700 or you can email [email protected].

Plastic Free July
Jul 31 all-day
Online

Image

Join us as we celebrate the global movement of going plastic-free this July! Our Plastic Reduction Task Force will be celebrating all month with community shoutouts, games, reading lists, resources, and more! Follow our Facebook page @goingplasticfreeAVL and Instagram @going_plasticfree for updates so that you won’t miss a thing.

Save these dates:
Saturday, July 11th – Going Plastic Free Scavenger Hunt
Thursday July 23rd – Plastic Free July Trivia

Staff Picks of the Week BMC: Explore Space With NASA at Home
Jul 31 all-day
Online

Around The Web w/ BMC

Live-streamed performances, resources, and activities we love from around the web, updated weekly.

Explore Space
With NASA at Home

Bring the universe into your home with virtual tours, family activities, podcasts, and more!

Staff Picks of the Week BMC: How to Understand The Circle of Fifths
Jul 31 all-day
Online

How to Understand
The Circle of Fifths

How is the Circle of Fifths used in music composition? Mark Newman uses visuals to help explain!

The Dancing Pitcher w/ Sarah Wells Rolland: 2 Hr. Video Demonstration Workshop
Jul 31 all-day
Online

This form has been a signature piece in Sarah’s body of work for years. The award winning Dancing Pitcher celebrates gracefulness, soft lines, and movement. The process making this unique form is inspiring and challenging.

This workshop is designed to push our limits as potters and push the limits of clay. We will cover many techniques. The goal is to stretch our thinking when making and designing pots. Creating designs where the flow of line and space are key. The making of this sectional graceful pot is perfect for discussion about design and training our eye to see.

We will cover:

  1. Throwing w/excellence
  2. Throwing in Sections
  3. Throwing with larger volumes of clay
  4. Darting
  5. Fluid Handles
  6. Pulling a large handle off the pot
  7. How to glaze this 24″ tall form and not ruin it
  8. Art that functions and why it matters

I will have several Pitchers in the different stages so we can all see this pot made to completion in the set 2 hours.

Hang on to you potters stool because you are in for a beautiful ride!

The video workshop is available for 30 days after purchase.

Environmental Impact II Exhibit
Jul 31 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
The North Carolina Arboretum

This exhibit will reopen on Wednesday, July 1, and will be on display daily through Sunday, August 2. On display daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. inside the Baker Exhibit Center, Environmental Impact II features more than 50 artworks, including paintings, photography, sculptures and film, focused on generating public attention surrounding environmental issues and unintended consequences…

To help protect the safety of our guests and staff, a one-way route will be enforced inside the exhibit hall. All guests ages 11 years and older will be required to wear a face covering while inside the Baker Exhibit Center. Thank you for your cooperation! 

Library Computer Appointments Available
Jul 31 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Buncombe County Libraries
The Perfect Turkey

Buncombe County Public Libraries will begin offering appointments for computer use on July 1. Forty-five minute appointments are available 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays at all library locations except the Oakley/South Asheville branch.

Fused Silver Earrings
Jul 31 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Ignite Jewelry Studios

Join me in the studio as we use hammers, saws, files and fire to transform silver wire into a beautiful pair of silver drop earrings. Class price includes all materials.

Saturday, August 1, 2020
Anti-Racisim: Resources Literacy Council
Aug 1 all-day
Online

Recognizing and understanding racism, and actively unlearning the everyday, built-in mechanisms of systemic racism is an ongoing effort that must be made by every single one of us. It can be difficult to navigate issues, origins, and solutions surrounding systemic racism, especially with so many different angles portrayed by the media.
There are countless truthful resources to help us find our way to social justice and equity. Here are just a few educational resources and ways to help our Black communities:
Educational reading:
The above photo has an excellent list of books!
Community:
Media:
Follow Black activists and voices on social media! Please reach out to us if you’d like suggestions on whom to follow.
Farm Beginnings® Farmer-Led Training Program Virtual for 2020-2021
Aug 1 all-day
Online

Many skills are required to start and expand a successful farm business: passion, clear goals, production experience, financial and marketing know-how, and more. Farm Beginnings® will help you build these skills through one year of farmer-led training, mentoring, and networking. Using a holistic management frame, farmer-led classroom sessions, on-farm tours, and an extensive farmer network, Farm Beginnings® will help you clarify your goals and strengths, establish a strong enterprise plan, and start building a profitable and sustainable operation. Although students do not need to own land, some farming or production experience is required to get the most out of the program. As we know, farming is more critical than ever. Apply to this program and be prepared when crisis hits!

Program Details: December 2020 – September 2021

2020-2021 Farm Beginnings® Farmer Training is 200+ Hours including:

— Winter Whole-Farm Business Planning Courses – 60 hours (October – March)**
— ASAP’s Business of Farming Conference (February) – 8 hours
— OGS Conferences – 40+ hours
— Mentorship with an experienced Farmer Mentor (March – September) – 15 hours
— Production Training – 45 hours (April – October): WNC CRAFT tours on sustainable farms around WNC & Field Days with regional partners Living Web Farms  and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy Incubator Farm
— One year WNC CRAFT Farmer Network membership – Membership and mentoring in a regional farmer network

The Dancing Pitcher w/ Sarah Wells Rolland: 2 Hr. Video Demonstration Workshop
Aug 1 all-day
Online

This form has been a signature piece in Sarah’s body of work for years. The award winning Dancing Pitcher celebrates gracefulness, soft lines, and movement. The process making this unique form is inspiring and challenging.

This workshop is designed to push our limits as potters and push the limits of clay. We will cover many techniques. The goal is to stretch our thinking when making and designing pots. Creating designs where the flow of line and space are key. The making of this sectional graceful pot is perfect for discussion about design and training our eye to see.

We will cover:

  1. Throwing w/excellence
  2. Throwing in Sections
  3. Throwing with larger volumes of clay
  4. Darting
  5. Fluid Handles
  6. Pulling a large handle off the pot
  7. How to glaze this 24″ tall form and not ruin it
  8. Art that functions and why it matters

I will have several Pitchers in the different stages so we can all see this pot made to completion in the set 2 hours.

Hang on to you potters stool because you are in for a beautiful ride!

The video workshop is available for 30 days after purchase.

Animal Habitats VIP Tours
Aug 1 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Grandfather Mountain

See where the cougars and otters sleep overnight, meet black bears that are not commonly on display, learn the ins and outs of what it takes to care for the animals year-round, observe a training session and find out why the animals call Grandfather Mountain home.

Offered on weekends, April – October.

Environmental Impact II Exhibit
Aug 1 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
The North Carolina Arboretum

This exhibit will reopen on Wednesday, July 1, and will be on display daily through Sunday, August 2. On display daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. inside the Baker Exhibit Center, Environmental Impact II features more than 50 artworks, including paintings, photography, sculptures and film, focused on generating public attention surrounding environmental issues and unintended consequences…

To help protect the safety of our guests and staff, a one-way route will be enforced inside the exhibit hall. All guests ages 11 years and older will be required to wear a face covering while inside the Baker Exhibit Center. Thank you for your cooperation! 

Virtual Pop-Up Book Sale
Aug 1 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Online

No photo description available.

www.facebook.com/SmartStartPFC

Additional Library Curbside Service
Aug 1 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Fairview, Leicester, and Oakley/South Asheville branches

 

Buncombe County Public Libraries will be opening three additional locations for curbside pickup service, the Fairview, Leicester, and Oakley/South Asheville branches. These locations will operate from 1-5 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, in addition to our current curbside pickup service locations at the Black Mountain, North Asheville, South Buncombe, and West Asheville locations. For more information about library curbside pickup service or to place an item on hold for pickup, please call your local library or the Ask-A-Librarian line (828-250-4700) or visit buncombecounty.org/library. We hope to see you soon!

Succulent Saturday
Aug 1 @ 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
AR Workshop Asheville

Image may contain: text that says 'PAINT SUCCULENT saturdays AIR WORKSHOP Asheville PICK PLANT'

Join us at AR Workshop for a Specialty Succulent Box Workshop! In this workshop, we will help you create an 8″ or 16″ Mini Centerpiece Box, and then we will teach you how to fill it and care for a selection of beautiful succulents!

The registration fee includes all materials to create a custom DIY Centerpiece Box, and the planting materials to create a one-of-a-kind custom planter! If you would like to add handles to your project, they can be purchased separately at the workshop.

Event

Sunday, August 2, 2020
Anti-Racisim: Resources Literacy Council
Aug 2 all-day
Online

Recognizing and understanding racism, and actively unlearning the everyday, built-in mechanisms of systemic racism is an ongoing effort that must be made by every single one of us. It can be difficult to navigate issues, origins, and solutions surrounding systemic racism, especially with so many different angles portrayed by the media.
There are countless truthful resources to help us find our way to social justice and equity. Here are just a few educational resources and ways to help our Black communities:
Educational reading:
The above photo has an excellent list of books!
Community:
Media:
Follow Black activists and voices on social media! Please reach out to us if you’d like suggestions on whom to follow.
Farm Beginnings® Farmer-Led Training Program Virtual for 2020-2021
Aug 2 all-day
Online

Many skills are required to start and expand a successful farm business: passion, clear goals, production experience, financial and marketing know-how, and more. Farm Beginnings® will help you build these skills through one year of farmer-led training, mentoring, and networking. Using a holistic management frame, farmer-led classroom sessions, on-farm tours, and an extensive farmer network, Farm Beginnings® will help you clarify your goals and strengths, establish a strong enterprise plan, and start building a profitable and sustainable operation. Although students do not need to own land, some farming or production experience is required to get the most out of the program. As we know, farming is more critical than ever. Apply to this program and be prepared when crisis hits!

Program Details: December 2020 – September 2021

2020-2021 Farm Beginnings® Farmer Training is 200+ Hours including:

— Winter Whole-Farm Business Planning Courses – 60 hours (October – March)**
— ASAP’s Business of Farming Conference (February) – 8 hours
— OGS Conferences – 40+ hours
— Mentorship with an experienced Farmer Mentor (March – September) – 15 hours
— Production Training – 45 hours (April – October): WNC CRAFT tours on sustainable farms around WNC & Field Days with regional partners Living Web Farms  and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy Incubator Farm
— One year WNC CRAFT Farmer Network membership – Membership and mentoring in a regional farmer network

The Dancing Pitcher w/ Sarah Wells Rolland: 2 Hr. Video Demonstration Workshop
Aug 2 all-day
Online

This form has been a signature piece in Sarah’s body of work for years. The award winning Dancing Pitcher celebrates gracefulness, soft lines, and movement. The process making this unique form is inspiring and challenging.

This workshop is designed to push our limits as potters and push the limits of clay. We will cover many techniques. The goal is to stretch our thinking when making and designing pots. Creating designs where the flow of line and space are key. The making of this sectional graceful pot is perfect for discussion about design and training our eye to see.

We will cover:

  1. Throwing w/excellence
  2. Throwing in Sections
  3. Throwing with larger volumes of clay
  4. Darting
  5. Fluid Handles
  6. Pulling a large handle off the pot
  7. How to glaze this 24″ tall form and not ruin it
  8. Art that functions and why it matters

I will have several Pitchers in the different stages so we can all see this pot made to completion in the set 2 hours.

Hang on to you potters stool because you are in for a beautiful ride!

The video workshop is available for 30 days after purchase.

Animal Habitats VIP Tours
Aug 2 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Grandfather Mountain

See where the cougars and otters sleep overnight, meet black bears that are not commonly on display, learn the ins and outs of what it takes to care for the animals year-round, observe a training session and find out why the animals call Grandfather Mountain home.

Offered on weekends, April – October.

Environmental Impact II Exhibit
Aug 2 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
The North Carolina Arboretum

This exhibit will reopen on Wednesday, July 1, and will be on display daily through Sunday, August 2. On display daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. inside the Baker Exhibit Center, Environmental Impact II features more than 50 artworks, including paintings, photography, sculptures and film, focused on generating public attention surrounding environmental issues and unintended consequences…

To help protect the safety of our guests and staff, a one-way route will be enforced inside the exhibit hall. All guests ages 11 years and older will be required to wear a face covering while inside the Baker Exhibit Center. Thank you for your cooperation! 

Monday, August 3, 2020
Dogwood Alliance: Woods + Wilds: The Podcast!
Aug 3 all-day
Online

https://www.dogwoodalliance.org/2020/07/woods-wilds-the-podcast-episode-one/?fbclid=IwAR1i8UtIuKNXhpfQPJbkQB4jw5XW4tWGLyXBTqpSz3hWejTTWROWIeYOAa8

For the safety and well-being of our supporters, Dogwood Alliance will not hold our annual Woods & Wilds live storytelling event this year. It’s an event we look forward to every year because it’s an opportunity to celebrate the magic of forests with our community. We still wanted to find a way to bring that same kind of magic to people wherever they are, so we teamed up with SlayTheMic to launch Woods & Wilds: The Podcast! We will be releasing an episode every other Monday.

The podcast will sometimes offer tales of the forest and other times will be an interview with our guests about their unique connection to nature – often touching on the connection between hip hop and nature.

We were overjoyed to welcome our very first guest, Dr. Thomas RaShad Easley aka RaShad Eas, also known as the Hip Hop Forester and the Assistant Dean of Community and Inclusion at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, where he helps strengthen community diversity and develops programming around workplace equity. He’s also the author of the incredible article How Hip Hop Can Bring Green Issues To Communities of Color.

Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Get Started on Ukulele or Guitar! (Virtual group class for KIDS)
Aug 4 @ 11:00 am – 11:45 am
Online

Image may contain: 6 people

During this 5-week online group class, Ben Brill will cover the fundamentals of ukulele and guitar and teach kids several cool-sounding songs they can play on the instrument right away. The group will even co-create an original song by the end of the class.

*For students interested in guitar, they’ll need to have a simple $10 device called a Capo to play along with the class.

This is a FUN, low-pressure way to have some enjoy music this summer. It’s great if students can attend all 5 classes, but they still can drop in any day and learn.

The event will happen weekly on Tuesday’s at 11 AM, starting July 7th, 2020. If you don’t yet own an instrument, Ben can make some suggestions. The cost of the sessions is $20 per class and can be paid upfront (all classes), OR per session.

If you’re interested in the group, send Ben a message so that you can receive the secure Zoom links to the meetings and farther instructions.

Additional Library Curbside Service
Aug 4 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Fairview, Leicester, and Oakley/South Asheville branches

 

Buncombe County Public Libraries will be opening three additional locations for curbside pickup service, the Fairview, Leicester, and Oakley/South Asheville branches. These locations will operate from 1-5 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, in addition to our current curbside pickup service locations at the Black Mountain, North Asheville, South Buncombe, and West Asheville locations. For more information about library curbside pickup service or to place an item on hold for pickup, please call your local library or the Ask-A-Librarian line (828-250-4700) or visit buncombecounty.org/library. We hope to see you soon!

Breastfeeding Class
Aug 4 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Mission Breastfeeding Center

Breastfeeding

Get breastfeeding off to the best start possible with our breastfeeding class. Designed for expectant mothers, we will go over everything you would want to know before your little bundle arrives.

There is a $20 class fee for this class that is due upon the start of class.

If you have to cancel this reservation, please call us at 828-213-1103.
Live Stream: Ron Rash Launches In the Valley
Aug 4 @ 6:00 pm
Live Stream

We’re thrilled to host the virtual launch for Ron Rash’s new story collection! This event is free but registration is required. Please click here to register. On the day of the event, registrants will receive the link required to attend. Pre-order In the Valley below to receive a bookplate signed by Ron Rash.

From bestselling and award-winning writer Ron Rash comes a collection of ten searing stories and the return of the villainess who propelled Serena to national acclaim, in a long-awaited novella.

In these ten stories, Rash spins a haunting allegory of the times we live in–rampant capitalism, the severing of ties to the natural world in the relentless hunt for profit, the destruction of body and soul with pills meant to mute our pain–and yet within this world he illuminates acts of extraordinary decency and heroism. Two of the stories have already been singled out for accolades: “Baptism” was chosen by Roxane Gay for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories 2018, and “Neighbors” was selected by Jonathan Lethem for The Best American Mystery Stories 2019. And in revisiting Serena Pemberton, Rash updates his bestselling parable of greed run amok as his deliciously vindictive heroine returns to the North Carolina wilderness she left scarred and desecrated to make one final effort to kill the child that threatens all she has accomplished. “A gorgeous, brutal writer” (Richard Price) working at the height of his powers, Ron Rash has created another mesmerizing look at the imperfect world around us.

RON RASH is the author of the PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling novel Serena, in addition to the critically acclaimed novels The Risen, Above the Waterfall, The Cove, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight; four collections of poems; and six collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, Nothing Gold Can Stay, a New York Times bestseller, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice the recipient of the O. Henry Prize and winner of the 2019 Sidney Lanier Prize for Southern Literature, he is the Parris Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University and lives in Clemson, SC.


Like most of our events, this online event is free. If you decide to attend and to purchase the author’s book(s), we ask that you purchase from Malalprop’s. When you do this you are supporting our work, keeping more dollars in our community, and telling publishers they should continue sending your favorite authors to Malaprop’s. Thank you!

Taking the Leap–Starting Your Business
Aug 4 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Online

No photo description available.

In this FREE four-week long cohort, participants will learn about different aspects of starting a business, including identifying potential markets, writing a business plan, running the finances of a business, and marketing a business.

You’ll attend sessions online and work closely with mentors and peers in fun breakout activities designed to help strengthen your business ideas and prepare you for success.

If you are interested in learning more or signing up, click here: http://www.sbtdc.org/takingtheleap/july/

WILD (Women in Lively Discussion) Book Club
Aug 4 @ 6:30 pm
zoom

Check the WILD book club’s Facebook page for COVID-19 related updates. Please RSVP the moderator at [email protected] for the Zoom meeting passcode for the meetings.  

Join former Malaprop’s General Manager Linda-Marie Barrett for this woman-only book club that seeks to have fun by reading books (fiction & non) by women writers. Click here to see a full schedule of what the club is reading. Club attendees get 10% off the book at Malaprop’s!

The club meets at 6:30 P.M. on the first Tuesday of the month at the Battery Park Book Exchange. It will be held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Event date:
Tuesday, August 4, 2020 – 6:30pm
Tuesday, September 1, 2020 – 6:30pm
Tuesday, October 6, 2020 – 6:30pm
Tuesday, November 3, 2020 – 6:30pm
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Library Computer Appointments Available
Aug 5 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Buncombe County Libraries
The Perfect Turkey

Buncombe County Public Libraries will begin offering appointments for computer use on July 1. Forty-five minute appointments are available 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays at all library locations except the Oakley/South Asheville branch.