Join us on Saturday from 10 am-4 pm and Sunday from 12pm-4pm for a celebration of Southern Appalachian culture on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This festival has old-time music and demonstrations of the crafts of yesteryear. Chairmaking, quilting, heirloom apples, sheep shearing, cornshuck dolls, woodcarving, blacksmithing, weaving, stone carving, soap making, crocheting, knitting, spinning, rifle making, natural dyeing, basketry. Don’t Miss the World Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle Competition at 2:00 pm!!

Explore Asheville with the whole family!

Age Restrictions

All Ages Welcome!
(Content is geared towards ages 5-12 years old)
Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Children 3 and under do not need a ticket if they are sitting in an adults lap.

Duration

60 Minutes

What’s Included

Crazy funny guide
Off-bus characters
Fun facts about Asheville
Age-appropriate jokes

About

Now’s your chance to bring the whole family on the big purple bus! Educational and entertaining, LaZoom’s Kids’ Comedy tour features a perfect blend of Asheville information and kid-centric comedy. Geared specifically towards the 5-12 year old crowd, you’ll learn about our city’s history and see the sights in true LaZoom style – complete with our famously outlandish tour guides, hilarious comedy skits, and all sorts of special appearances! Perfect for birthday parties or school field trips, it’s the best thing to do with your kids in Asheville. It’s a show on wheels!

The tour is 60 minutes long and includes no stops. The tour is hosted by a zany tour guide, and along the way other characters will hop on the bus and perform kid-centric sketches (Candy Pirate, Ninja, and a Levitator) The tour is not only fun – it’s educational! Kids and adults will learn new and interesting facts about Asheville along the way. There must be 1 adult for every 4 children. We do not allow any unaccompanied children. Children 3 and under do not need a ticket if they are sitting in an adults lap.

Waitlist

If your desired time and availability is full, then please give us a call to be added to the waitlist.

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Each year locals look forward to the annual Scouting America Cub Scout Pack 17 and Scouts Troop 17 barbecue dinner benefit, The event set for Saturday, September 21, 2024 offers tender juicy Western North Carolina smoked BBQ dinners with all the fixin’s. Take out dinners will be served behind the Riceville Fire Department and Community Center, 2251 Riceville Road, Asheville, NC, 11:00AM – 4:00PM or while supplies last. Outside Creekside picnic tables are available for dining.

Pitmasters smoke premium North Carolina pork shoulders throughout the night prior to the event. All dinners include a generous portion of BBQ pork, homemade BBQ sauce, home baked beans, North Carolina BBQ slaw and southern roll.

The charge for BBQ dinner plates will be $12.00. Reservations are not required. Creekside Picnic Tables available for all. Donations to benefit the Scouts are always appreciated.

“Local Scouting America Packs and Troops raise funds to provide support for Scouts in their service area,” said Committee Chairman Dan Little. “Funds are used to provide assistance for Scouts from economically challenged communities by sending scouts to summer camp, providing scouting handbooks, uniforms and paying for the national Scouting America annual recharter fee. Raised funds are also used to purchase flags for our veterans graves.”

On Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day Cub Scout and Scouts BSA Troop 17 honor our deceased veterans at Bethel United Methodist Cemetery by placing flags on their graves.

If you have a youth between Kindergarten and 18 years that would be interested in Scouts, there will be a Scouting America representative at the BBQ event to provide information.

Scouts Serving Others: Since 1910, over 4,000 young men in Western North Carolina have earned the coveted rank of Eagle Scout. Through their Eagle Scout service projects, thousands of community service hours have been conducted to benefit our communities. Scouts in Western North Carolina will perform over 40,000 hours of community service in 2024.

In the early 1900s, travel by train and automobile became more accessible in the United States, leading to an increase in tourism and a revitalized interest in landscape painting. The relative ease of transportation, as well as the creation of National Parks, allowed people to experience the breathtaking landscapes of the United States in new ways. Artists traveled along popular routes, recording the terrain they encountered.

This exhibition explores the sublime natural landscapes of the Smokey Mountains of Western North Carolina and Tennessee. While there were several regional schools of painting around this time, this group is largely from the Midwest and many of the artists trained at the Art Institute of Chicago or in New York City. Through their travels, they captured waterfalls, sunsets, thunderstorms, autumn foliage, lush green summers, and snow-covered mountains—elements that were novel for viewers from cities and rural areas. Though some of these paintings include people, they are usually used for scale and painted with little to no detail, highlighting the magnificence of nature.

Rudolph F. Ingerle, Mirrored Mountain, not dated, oil on canvas, 28 × 32 inches. Courtesy of Allen & Barry Huffman, Asheville Art Museum.

The church and churchyard (cemetery) tours are sponsored by the St. John Episcopal Church
Docents. They start inside the Carriage Door entrance of the church. Docent leader E.R.
Haire, Jr. said, “Once again this year we are pleased to share with our neighbors and visitors
the history of this holy place that has seen its share of joys and sorrows. We share our history
even the painful parts, so that as we reflect upon our past we will be better able to be more
faithful as we move forward into the future. We are continuing to make and build our history,
and we seek to be a welcoming place for all who might wish to add to it.”
The tours are free but advance reservations must be made online through the church’s
website, www.stjohnflatrock.org/tours.  Space is limited for each tour.
The guided tours will be held the third Saturdays from March through December and the first
and third Saturdays from June through September.
They begin promptly at 11 a.m. and last about an hour. Participants are encouraged to wear
comfortable shoes. There will be no rain dates.
The historically significant churchyard contains graves of un-named 19th century people who
were enslaved as well as distinguished political figures, and local citizens.
The church is located at 1895 Greenville Highway. For more information call the church
office at 828-693-9783 or visit www.stjohnflatrock.org.

St. John in the Wilderness History

In 1827, Charles Baring, a member of the Baring banking family of England, built a home in
Flat Rock. He and his wife, Susan, wanted a summer place to escape the oppressive heat,
humidity, and malaria of the South Carolina Lowcountry where they lived.
The Barings built a chapel on the property of their newly constructed home. Soon after it was
built the small wooden structure burned down in a woods fire. In 1833 work began on a
second church built of handmade brick.
In August of 1836 the Barings deeded their chapel to the Diocese of North Carolina and 20
members of the Flat Rock “summer colony” formed an Episcopal parish. In the 1890s when
the Missionary District of Asheville (later Diocese of Western North Carolina) was formed,
St. John in the Wilderness transferred its affiliation. It is the oldest parish in the diocese.
With almost all the church members traveling back to the Lowcountry after the summer
season, the church mainly operated during summer months for its first 120 years. So rapid
was the growth of the Flat Rock community during the 1830s and 1840s that the parish
membership outgrew the capacity of the small chapel. In the early 1850s the decision was
made to rebuild the church, essentially doubling its size. With only a few minor modifications
the structure was completed in 1852. It is the one that stands today.

ASAP’s annual Farm Tour is a chance to experience how food is grown and raised through guided tours, demonstrations, and tastings. The Farm Tour showcases the diversity of working farms in Western North Carolina, including vegetables, livestock, vineyards, orchards, flowers, fiber, and more! This is a family-friendly event and a great outing for visitors of all ages, abilities, and interests. All are welcome.

ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) announced 21 farms participating in the 2024 Farm Tour, taking place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 21–22, noon to 5 p.m. All farms are located within an hour of Asheville. Tourgoers will experience working farms through guided and self-guided tours, demonstrations, interacting with farm animals, u-pick fruit and flowers, local food and drink tastings, and more. Spanish-language tours will be offered at several farms. The Farm Tour is appropriate for attendees of all ages and abilities.

Farms on the tour showcase the diversity of agriculture in the region, from vegetables to livestock, orchards to homesteads. Nine farms are new to the tour in 2024, including six in Polk and Rutherford counties. In the past, Polk and Rutherford farms have been part of the NC Foothills Farm Tour, but this year will be included on ASAP’s Farm Tour instead. The Farm Tour features five geographic clusters to help visitors maximize their time at farms. Tourgoers should select two to four farms to visit each day, spending around an hour at each. Descriptions of farm offerings, plus a map, driving directions, and tour tips, are available at asapconnections.org/farmtour. A free printed guide will also be available in mid-August.

Advance passes are on sale now for $35 at asapconnections.org/farmtour. One pass admits a carload of visitors to all farms both days. Pending availability, passes purchased the weekend of the tour will be $45. ASAP is also seeking volunteers to help staff the tour. In exchange for working one day of the tour, volunteers may attend for free on the other day. Sign up at asapconnections.org/farmtour.

Visit LEAF Global Arts every Saturday for an in-house cultural exchange with Adama Dembele. Experience the Ivory Coast with our Culture Keeper from the House of Djembe.

Block Therapy combines sustained pressure and diaphragmatic breathing to dissolve fascial adhesions connected to the bone. Fascia, which grips bone at 2000 pounds per square inch, can lead to misalignment over time. This method reverses misalignment and promotes body symmetry as the ribcage often collapses into core causing a cascade of issues for alignment and organs and glands.

Factors like poor posture, repetitive movements, gravity, surgery, injury, and shallow chest breathing can compress and wind down the body. Adhesions form to support posture but can restrict blood and oxygen flow, impair detoxification, and cause inflammation and chronic pain.

By releasing fascia, the free flow of blood, oxygen, and life force energy is enabled to previously deprived areas of the body. Fascia not only holds physical tension but also stores trauma and negative emotions. This is a great practice for somatic experiencing
range of movement.

Block Therapy effectively peels away layers of tension stored in the body over time, promoting self-healing and enhancing quality of life, detoxifying mind, body, and soul.

This is a great workshop for anyone aiming to improve posture, lymphatic cleansing, experiencing chronic pain or discomfort, athletes, or looking to improve overall health and aesthetics as Block Therapy has amazing anti-aging benefits.

Join us September 21st 1-3 pm for a 2 hour fascia decompression workshop and tap into your body’s innate ability to heal itself.

Giraffes strut. Birds swoop. Gazelles leap. The entire Serengeti comes to life as never before. And as the music soars, Pride Rock slowly emerges from the mist. This is Disney’s THE LION KING, making its triumphant return to the Peace Center!

More than 100 million people around the world have experienced the awe-inspiring visual artistry, the unforgettable music, and the uniquely theatrical storytelling of this Broadway spectacular – one of the most breathtaking and beloved productions ever to grace the stage.

Winner of six Tony Awards^®, including Best Musical, THE LION KING brings together one of the most imaginative creative teams on Broadway.  Tony Award^®-winning director Julie Taymor brings to life a story filled with hope and adventure set against an amazing backdrop of stunning visuals. THE LION KING also features the extraordinary work of Tony Award^®-winning choreographer Garth Fagan and some of Broadway’s most recognizable music, crafted by Tony Award^®-winning artists Elton John and Tim Rice.

There is simply nothing else like THE LION KING.

THE LION KING is recommended for a general audience. As an advisory to adults who might bring young people, Disney recommends its productions for ages 6 and up. All guests entering the theater, regardless of age, must have a ticket.

Note that strobe lights are also used for this performance.

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar–in concert, is heading to the Rock. Born of the evocative 1970 concept album, this groundbreaking production, with lyrics by Sir Tim Rice, is a rock radio play that immerses audiences in a formidable and emotional musical journey. Electrifying music, and gut-punching vocal stylings unite to help narrate the last seven days of Jesus’ life through the eyes of Judas Iscariot. In music industry parlance, it’s all killer, no filler. Expect a powerful and unforgettable experience that will resonate long after the final note is sung.

Darko Butorac, conductor
Alexi Kenney, violin

“Music begins where language ends.” Sibelius’s profound words echo deeply through this program steeped in nostalgia and emotional gravitas. Our Masterworks series begins with a defiantly optimistic WWII-era overture by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz as she lived through the war in Warsaw. Sibelius’s haunting and exquisite Violin Concerto follows, delivering an achingly beautiful tribute to a dream slipping just out of reach. Last is Dvořák’s sun-soaked Eighth Symphony, a nostalgic reflection of summertime bird calls, windswept trees, and happier times.

Hootie & the Blowfish are bringing their Summer Camp with Trucks Tour with special guests Collective Soul and Edwin McCain to Bon Secours Wellness Arena Greenville on Saturday 9/21! Get tickets this Friday 3/8 at 10a here: https://bit.ly/HootieGVL24

Hendersonville Theatre welcomes Leon Timbo & the Family Band as September’s intimate HT’s Hometown Sound Music Series concert! For country-soul singer-songwriter Leon Timbo, music is used as a form of growth and healing. Timbo’s country sound incorporates equal measures of vintage soul, gospel, folk, R&B, and even modern blues making for a unique experience that some have described as “transparent soul.”

Some write music as a creative release. Others feel compelled to perform. For country-soul singer-songwriter Leon Timbo, music is used as a form of growth and healing. The son of parents who are both church pastors, Timbo was raised in Jacksonville, Florida. He began pursuing music seriously at 16 and by age twenty, he began playing the guitar and performing in clubs, inspired by artists Bill Withers, James Taylor, and Tim Miner. He was discover by R&B superstar Tyrese Gibson, who asked the budding musician to open for him at the Dallas House of Blues. Tyrese introduced Timbo to GRAMMY-winning vocalist and producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, who signed Timbo to a record deal and took him on the road, cementing Timbo’s rapidly expanding career as one of the major young artists reclaiming American roots music’s association with the Black experience in the 21st century.

After years of spreading his Gospel roots, Timbo set his eyes on Country and Americana territory with his 2021 release, Lovers and Fools. The album explored themes of love, loss, and letting go. Timbo released the follow-up, Lovers and Fools Vol 2, in June 2022. He also released a Christmas album, Carols of Love and Healing, in 2022.

Timbo is currently on the road supporting his new music and has just finished touring with two-time Grammy Award®–winning bassist, Marcus Miller, during his residency with Blue Note New York. Timbo will continue touring with Miller along with The Black Opry as well as playing festivals, including American Roots Festival and Newport Folk Festival, throughout the summer.

You can learn more about Leon Timbo & The Family Band at leontimbolove.com.

The Montford Park Players is pleased to announce auditions for its 52nd  Season: 

Muse of Fire: Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses

Jason Williams, Artistic Director

5/10/2024 5/24/2024   Edward III, directed by Mandy Bean
5/31/2024 6/23/2024   Richard II, directed by Jason Williams
6/28/2024 7/21/2024   Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, directed by Dr. George Brown, Callista Brown and Elizabeth DeVault
7/26/2024 8/25/2024   Henry V, directed by David Doersch
8/30/2024 9/22/2024  Henry VI Parts 1, 2 & 3, directed by Glenna Grant, Ariel Robinson and Adam Kampouris
9/27/2024 10/27/2024 Richard III, directed by Kristi DeVille

Conveniently located in the heart of the Historic Montford District of Asheville, North Carolina, the Outdoor Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre is easy to get to and accessible from I-240 and I-26. And, it’s just a short drive down Montford Avenue from downtown.

Giraffes strut. Birds swoop. Gazelles leap. The entire Serengeti comes to life as never before. And as the music soars, Pride Rock slowly emerges from the mist. This is Disney’s THE LION KING, making its triumphant return to the Peace Center!

More than 100 million people around the world have experienced the awe-inspiring visual artistry, the unforgettable music, and the uniquely theatrical storytelling of this Broadway spectacular – one of the most breathtaking and beloved productions ever to grace the stage.

Winner of six Tony Awards^®, including Best Musical, THE LION KING brings together one of the most imaginative creative teams on Broadway.  Tony Award^®-winning director Julie Taymor brings to life a story filled with hope and adventure set against an amazing backdrop of stunning visuals. THE LION KING also features the extraordinary work of Tony Award^®-winning choreographer Garth Fagan and some of Broadway’s most recognizable music, crafted by Tony Award^®-winning artists Elton John and Tim Rice.

There is simply nothing else like THE LION KING.

THE LION KING is recommended for a general audience. As an advisory to adults who might bring young people, Disney recommends its productions for ages 6 and up. All guests entering the theater, regardless of age, must have a ticket.

Note that strobe lights are also used for this performance.

Marc Douglas Berardo and Walt Wilkins stop in to The Asheville Guitar Bar as part of their 2024 Beauty of This Tour to swap songs and tell some stories. Red Molly, Eric Taylor, The Pousette Dart Band, John Hiatt, and Livingston Taylor.

Darko Butorac, conductor
Alexi Kenney, violin

“Music begins where language ends.” Sibelius’s profound words echo deeply through this program steeped in nostalgia and emotional gravitas. Our Masterworks series begins with a defiantly optimistic WWII-era overture by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz as she lived through the war in Warsaw. Sibelius’s haunting and exquisite Violin Concerto follows, delivering an achingly beautiful tribute to a dream slipping just out of reach. Last is Dvořák’s sun-soaked Eighth Symphony, a nostalgic reflection of summertime bird calls, windswept trees, and happier times.

Steve Martin and Martin Short’s “The Dukes of Funnytown!” is a show that redefines the form in unexpected and profound ways, from two of the funniest, most influential and acclaimed talents of the past century. Their humor is often subversive, but it is always a joyous self-deprecating romp from two comedy masters driven to make each other laugh as much as the audience. The jokes come at you at a rapid-fire pace with little set-up and big punch lines as they mock Hollywood and the fickle nature of celebrity, but the comedy truly soars when they lovingly (and relentlessly) roast each other. Martin and Short’s chemistry and timing on stage reflects a friendship forged over three decades which developed when they met for the first time on the set of the 1986 film “Three Amigos.” These two titans of comedy have been touring together since 2015, when they launched their first live show entitled “A Very Stupid Conversation.”