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.

Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Forces of Nature
Feb 19 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Ceramic artists throughout history have become masters of all four elements—creating clay from a mixture of earth and water to shape their work, drying it in air, and hardening it in fire. Throughout this process, the artist decides which aspects of the work will be tightly controlled, and when the elements can step in to leave nature’s mark. This exhibition traces the historical, stylistic, and conceptual origins of work that either embraces or refuses the element of chance in ceramics, looking at modern and contemporary work made in Western North Carolina.

Greetings From Asheville
Feb 19 @ 11:00 am
The Asheville Art Museum

This exhibition explores how the land, the people, and the built environment of Asheville and its surrounding environs were interpreted through early 20th century vintage postcards. Some images show the sophisticated architecture of the region, including views of downtown Asheville, the Biltmore Estate, and Grove Park Inn. Other images show views of the scenic mountains and landscapes that first drew tourists and outdoor enthusiasts to the region.

Asheville Restaurant Week
Feb 19 @ 12:00 pm
All over Asheville

Double the deliciousness – Asheville Restaurant Week returns January 21-27 & February 17-23!

For many, the delicious culinary creations of local restaurants are a big part of what makes Asheville special. Asheville Restaurant Week celebrates Asheville’s great food scene. Show your favorite restaurants some love or try someplace new!

Check back for additional menus/special offerings.

Asheville Restaurant Week – Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce

Midday Mingle
Feb 19 @ 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Rye Knot

Join the Chamber for Midday Mingle at Rye Knot next Wednesday, February 19th, from 12 – 1:30 PM to connect and support the businesses that make Asheville strong! This lunch gathering is all about coming together to share stories, build our connections, and show our support for local restaurants and breweries.

The Real Bonhoeffer: Theology for Faith In Times of Crisis
Feb 19 @ 6:00 pm
First Baptist Church of Asheville

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a beloved pastor and theologian whose work has blessed countless people around the world. Christians especially have cherished his practical theology, approachable writing style, and prophetic vision. This Epiphany chapel study will engage Bonhoeffer’s works to help us learn how to be faithful in times of political and social upheaval.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Feb 19 @ 7:30 pm
Peace Center

Experience America’s most popular dance company when Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater brings its unique mix of contemporary and classic movement to the stage. In this season celebrating lineage and legacy, Ailey’s extraordinary dancers will perform the beloved masterpiece Revelations and will bring to life works by numerous choreographers for whom Mr. Ailey paved the way, reminding us that dance is both a reflection of our past and a guide to our future.

Rory Scovel and Friends
Feb 19 @ 7:30 pm
Wortham Center for Performing Arts

Asheville Comedy Festival presents A WNC Benefit Show with comedian Rory Scovel and Friends. February 19, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.

A WNC Benefit Show with comedian Rory Scovel and friends presented by Asheville Comedy Festival. Rory Scovel is an actor, comedian, and writer. His latest comedy special RORY SCOVEL: RELIGION, SEX, AND A FEW THINGS IN BETWEEN released in February, 2024 on MAX to rave reviews. Joining the lineup are local comedy sensations Hilliary Begley and Cayla Clark. Don’t miss the opportunity to catch this hysterical event benefiting the local businesses of Asheville affected by Helene!

Thursday, February 20, 2025
Mixtape Vol. 2: The Music of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s
Feb 20 all-day
Flat

Mixtape Vol. 2: The Music of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s – February 20 – 23

It’s February, which means ‘the boys are back…again! From the same outstanding musical talent who brought you the Music of Queen, the Eagles, and the Beatles, Mixtape! Vol 2: The Best of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s is back by oh-so popular demand! Shake off the winter blues with a red-hot rockin’ playlist featuring all new hits you know and love. You ‘dig it?’ ‘Let’s boogie!’ ‘Like, totally!’

Event Times: 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM

Ticket Prices: $48 / $58 / $68

Child Pricing Available (17 & under)

Gardening in the Mountains presents: Soil Health – Post Helene
Feb 20 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Online

Depending on location, heavy rains and flooding from Hurricane Helene impacted soils throughout WNC. Many gardeners have questions about how to address everything from sediment and rock deposition to potential contamination. Michael Rayburn, Urban Ag Extension Agent in Buncombe County will walk us through the process of determining how to move forward with addressing soil health post Helene.

The presentation is free, and registration with Eventbrite is required.

Check the Events Calendar on the website for information on how to register via Eventbrite. https://www.buncombemastergardener.org/upcoming-events/
If you have questions, contact the Buncombe County Extension office at 828-255-5522.

Max Adrian: RIPSTOP
Feb 20 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft
The Center for Craft is thrilled to announce the opening of Max Adrian: RIPSTOP. Adrian (he/they), a textile artist who was awarded a Windgate-Lamar Fellowship by the Center in 2015 and a Career Advancement Fellowship in 2022, will bring the playful, experiential, and provocative solo exhibition of textiles and inflatable sculptures to the Bresler Family Gallery beginning July 26, 2024 through March 29, 2025.

Pieces made from nylon fabric ripstop, which keeps tears from spreading, invite viewers into created, fantastical worlds, only to highlight the complex—even impossible—architectures of their construction. Before the pandemic, Adrian primarily focused on personal experiences and interrogations of queerness, identity, and sexuality. Since then, the work has zoomed out in its scope, still centering identity but placed in larger infrastructure and surveillance systems that mediate, manipulate, and control desire.

Adrian counts queer fiber art, BDSM and kink culture, theatre, camp horror, puppetry, and drag among his many influences. Works in RIPSTOP, like the modernist bounce house sculpture A Fallible Complex (2021), evoke spaces for play, beckoning visitors in through their alluring aesthetic and then blocking their entrance or revealing structural instabilities, like missing floors. Others, like The Sensational Inflatable Furry Divines (2017-19), use sensual materials, like faux fur, spandex, and pleather, which connect to theatrical performance and counterculture. The materials “play on people’s initial associations and serve as a gateway into greater conversations about identity construction, performance, desire, and technology,” he shares.Pieces also nod to the history of quilting, including the AIDS Memorial Quilt, another influence on Adrian’s work. “Even when pieces aren’t explicitly making quilt references, I want the history of quilting and sewing-based craft to be part of the conversation of the work,” he says. “Craft is so much about the processes and histories behind materials. It’s about connecting with communities of people who practice those techniques. It’s about material and technique being a doorway into a greater relationship with an object.”

Themes of transformation—of structures, identities, and bodies—run throughout the show. “What I love about drag and puppetry is the sense of transformation and play, specifically with bodies,” Adrian says. “Within these art forms, a body can become mutable and capable of performing and becoming in unexpected states.” The sculptures also transform throughout viewers’ experiences, going through stages of inflation and deflation and existing in many different states.

RIPSTOP’s constant interplay between surface and depth, assumption and reality, are all a part of what Adrian describes as “looking behind the curtain,” which they trace back to the theatre. “When I’m thinking about systems, and the systems desire fits into, I’m thinking of stage construction, the backstage, the things that go on behind the show, and performance of our desires,” they explain.

As a craft artist, Adrian’s philosophy “comes down to having an intentional relationship with material, process, and technique,” he says. “Those aspects of art making are just as – if not more – important than an intellectualized concept being illustrated by an artwork.”

“Broadened definitions of craft that highlight communities of practice are foundational for the Center for Craft’s new strategic direction,” explains Executive Director Stephanie Moore. “Max Adrian’s work in RIPSTOP exemplifies the expansive and meaningful forms craft can take.” The Center for Craft is an institution Adrian credits for their professional growth. “The Center for Craft has felt like such a supporting institution for me specifically and for so many other craft artists I know,” they note. “To be able to bring this amount of work to Asheville is pretty cool.”

See Max Adrian: RIPSTOP at the Center for Craft Beginning July 26. A reception will be held on August 15. RIPSTOP is organized by Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and curated by Sarah Darro.

# # #
ABOUT CENTER FOR CRAFT Founded in 1996, the Center for Craft’s mission is to resource, catalyze, and amplify how and why craft matters. As a 501(c)3 national nonprofit that increases access to craft by empowering and resourcing artists, organizations, and communities through grants, fellowships and programs that bring people together. The Center is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential organizations working on behalf of craft in the United States. For more information, visit www.centerforcraft.org.
The Learning Garden presents: Pruning Roses in Late Winter
Feb 20 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Buncombe County Extension Office — Learning Garden

Western North Carolina, roses are usually ‘hard pruned’ in the late winter or early spring. Dead or damaged canes are removed, and the plant is shaped for optimal growth and blooms. Many rose growers are uncertain of how to correctly prune their roses. This program unravels the mystery of pruning and will help you have healthy and happy roses.

This will be an in-person program at the Extension office at the address above. Portions of this program may be held outside; please dress appropriately for the weather. The classroom size is limited so register to reserve your seat!

Registration: The talk is free but registration via Eventbrite is required. Please click on the link below to register. If you encounter problems registering or if you have questions, call 828-255-5522.

Asheville Strong: Celebrating Art and Community After Hurricane Helene
Feb 20 @ 11:00 am
The Asheville Art Museum

The Asheville Art Museum is proud to present Asheville Strong: Celebrating Art and Community After Hurricane Helene, a poignant and inspiring exhibition on view February 13–May 5, 2025, in the Appleby Foundation Exhibition Hall. This non-juried exhibition
showcases the works of artists from the Helene-affected Appalachia region, celebrating their
resilience, creativity, and strength while highlighting the power of art to inspire and bring communities
together.

Forces of Nature
Feb 20 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Ceramic artists throughout history have become masters of all four elements—creating clay from a mixture of earth and water to shape their work, drying it in air, and hardening it in fire. Throughout this process, the artist decides which aspects of the work will be tightly controlled, and when the elements can step in to leave nature’s mark. This exhibition traces the historical, stylistic, and conceptual origins of work that either embraces or refuses the element of chance in ceramics, looking at modern and contemporary work made in Western North Carolina.

Greetings From Asheville
Feb 20 @ 11:00 am
The Asheville Art Museum

This exhibition explores how the land, the people, and the built environment of Asheville and its surrounding environs were interpreted through early 20th century vintage postcards. Some images show the sophisticated architecture of the region, including views of downtown Asheville, the Biltmore Estate, and Grove Park Inn. Other images show views of the scenic mountains and landscapes that first drew tourists and outdoor enthusiasts to the region.

Asheville Restaurant Week
Feb 20 @ 12:00 pm
All over Asheville

Double the deliciousness – Asheville Restaurant Week returns January 21-27 & February 17-23!

For many, the delicious culinary creations of local restaurants are a big part of what makes Asheville special. Asheville Restaurant Week celebrates Asheville’s great food scene. Show your favorite restaurants some love or try someplace new!

Check back for additional menus/special offerings.

Asheville Restaurant Week – Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce

JUDY COLLINS
Feb 20 @ 7:00 pm
Wortham Center for Performing Arts

MaxxMusic presents JUDY COLLINS Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.

In her 50-plus years in music, Judy Collins has always exhibited impeccable taste in songcraft. On her landmark 1967 album, Wildflowers, she curated a stunning collection featuring originals alongside songs by not-yet household names such as Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, and adventurous selections by Jacques Brel and Francesco Landini. Her discerning palette, and her literary gifts, have enabled her to evolve into a poetic, storyteller songwriter. Now, in her 6th decade as a singer and songwriter, Judy is experiencing a profound level of growth and prolific creativity.

Soprano Larisa Martinez in Concert
Feb 20 @ 7:30 pm
Brevard Music Center

Experience the mesmerizing voice of soprano Larisa Martínez as she enchants with resplendent arias and art songs. Larisa’s awe-inspiring vocal prowess and captivating stage presence have thrilled audiences worldwide. Do not miss this soaring highlight of the Parker Concert Hall Series, showcasing the brilliance of this rising operatic star.

Marc Maron: All In
Feb 20 @ 8:00 pm
The Orange Peel

Marc Maron: All In in concert at The Orange Peel on Thursday, February 20.

Show: 8pm | Doors: 7pm

Ages 18+
MARC MARON: ALL IN
Feb 20 @ 8:00 pm
The Orange Peel

 Show: 8pm | Doors: 7pm
Ages 18+

FULLY SEATED SHOW

Friday, February 21, 2025
Mixtape Vol. 2: The Music of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s
Feb 21 all-day
Flat

Mixtape Vol. 2: The Music of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s – February 20 – 23

It’s February, which means ‘the boys are back…again! From the same outstanding musical talent who brought you the Music of Queen, the Eagles, and the Beatles, Mixtape! Vol 2: The Best of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s is back by oh-so popular demand! Shake off the winter blues with a red-hot rockin’ playlist featuring all new hits you know and love. You ‘dig it?’ ‘Let’s boogie!’ ‘Like, totally!’

Event Times: 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM

Ticket Prices: $48 / $58 / $68

Child Pricing Available (17 & under)

Rouge
Feb 21 all-day
Wortham Center For The Performing Arts

Expect the Unexpected.

Rouge features daring aerial acts, thrilling acrobatics and poetic dance that cannot be missed. The Madame of Ceremonies, Rachel Houdek, is your guide for a mesmerizing good time that holds audiences spellbound. Rouge is the perfect event for a date night or night out with friends.

The Play That Goes Wrong
Feb 21 all-day
Asheville Community Theater

The Play That Goes Wrong at the Asheville Community Theater Fridays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays & Sundays at 2:30 PM.

Welcome to opening night of the Cornley University Drama Society’s newest production, The Murder at Haversham Manor, where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. This 1920s whodunit has everything you never wanted in a show—an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines). Nevertheless, the accident-prone thespians battle against all odds to make it through to their final curtain call, with hilarious consequences! Part Monty Python, part Sherlock Holmes, this Olivier Award–winning comedy is a global phenomenon that’s guaranteed to leave you aching with laughter!

A talkback with the cast & crew of The Play That Goes Wrong will be held following the performance on Sunday, February 9. Run Time: Two Hours (Approx.) There will be a fifteen-minute intermission for this show. Content Awareness: This production depicts some violence in a comedic manner and mild sexual innuendos.

Performing on February 6, 8, 14, 16, 20 & 22:

  • Drew Dyer, Jade Fernandez, Mash Hes, Lucien Hinton, Jason Phillips, River Spade, Allie Marée Starling & Matt Wade

Performing on February 7, 9, 13, 15, 21 & 23:

  • Gabby Bailey, Emily Dake, Holly Oakley, Paula O’Brien, Chandler Peveto, Jon Robinson, Jackson Wilhelmi & Henry Williamson
Tuckasegee River Excursion
Feb 21 all-day
Great Smoky Mountains Railroad

Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, Bryson City, NC

The Tuckasegee (tuck-uh-SEE-jee) River Excursion includes an 1 hour and 20 minute layover in the historic town of Dillsboro, where you’ll find more than 50 shops, restaurants, a brewery, and country inns. There is time to shop, snack, and visit the many unique shops before returning to Bryson City.
Winter Jam Tour 2025
Feb 21 all-day
Bon Secours Wellness Arena

World Vision presents the WINTER JAM 2025 TOUR, founded by Newsong and produced by TPR. is returning to arenas across the United States in 2025. Christian music’s biggest tour will feature performances by Skillet, Anne Wilson, KB, Colton Dixon, Newsong, Micah Tyler and speaker Zane Black. Winter Jam 2025 kicks off on January 10, 2025 and will hit a total of 38 cities and arenas across the country.

Max Adrian: RIPSTOP
Feb 21 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft
The Center for Craft is thrilled to announce the opening of Max Adrian: RIPSTOP. Adrian (he/they), a textile artist who was awarded a Windgate-Lamar Fellowship by the Center in 2015 and a Career Advancement Fellowship in 2022, will bring the playful, experiential, and provocative solo exhibition of textiles and inflatable sculptures to the Bresler Family Gallery beginning July 26, 2024 through March 29, 2025.

Pieces made from nylon fabric ripstop, which keeps tears from spreading, invite viewers into created, fantastical worlds, only to highlight the complex—even impossible—architectures of their construction. Before the pandemic, Adrian primarily focused on personal experiences and interrogations of queerness, identity, and sexuality. Since then, the work has zoomed out in its scope, still centering identity but placed in larger infrastructure and surveillance systems that mediate, manipulate, and control desire.

Adrian counts queer fiber art, BDSM and kink culture, theatre, camp horror, puppetry, and drag among his many influences. Works in RIPSTOP, like the modernist bounce house sculpture A Fallible Complex (2021), evoke spaces for play, beckoning visitors in through their alluring aesthetic and then blocking their entrance or revealing structural instabilities, like missing floors. Others, like The Sensational Inflatable Furry Divines (2017-19), use sensual materials, like faux fur, spandex, and pleather, which connect to theatrical performance and counterculture. The materials “play on people’s initial associations and serve as a gateway into greater conversations about identity construction, performance, desire, and technology,” he shares.Pieces also nod to the history of quilting, including the AIDS Memorial Quilt, another influence on Adrian’s work. “Even when pieces aren’t explicitly making quilt references, I want the history of quilting and sewing-based craft to be part of the conversation of the work,” he says. “Craft is so much about the processes and histories behind materials. It’s about connecting with communities of people who practice those techniques. It’s about material and technique being a doorway into a greater relationship with an object.”

Themes of transformation—of structures, identities, and bodies—run throughout the show. “What I love about drag and puppetry is the sense of transformation and play, specifically with bodies,” Adrian says. “Within these art forms, a body can become mutable and capable of performing and becoming in unexpected states.” The sculptures also transform throughout viewers’ experiences, going through stages of inflation and deflation and existing in many different states.

RIPSTOP’s constant interplay between surface and depth, assumption and reality, are all a part of what Adrian describes as “looking behind the curtain,” which they trace back to the theatre. “When I’m thinking about systems, and the systems desire fits into, I’m thinking of stage construction, the backstage, the things that go on behind the show, and performance of our desires,” they explain.

As a craft artist, Adrian’s philosophy “comes down to having an intentional relationship with material, process, and technique,” he says. “Those aspects of art making are just as – if not more – important than an intellectualized concept being illustrated by an artwork.”

“Broadened definitions of craft that highlight communities of practice are foundational for the Center for Craft’s new strategic direction,” explains Executive Director Stephanie Moore. “Max Adrian’s work in RIPSTOP exemplifies the expansive and meaningful forms craft can take.” The Center for Craft is an institution Adrian credits for their professional growth. “The Center for Craft has felt like such a supporting institution for me specifically and for so many other craft artists I know,” they note. “To be able to bring this amount of work to Asheville is pretty cool.”

See Max Adrian: RIPSTOP at the Center for Craft Beginning July 26. A reception will be held on August 15. RIPSTOP is organized by Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and curated by Sarah Darro.

# # #
ABOUT CENTER FOR CRAFT Founded in 1996, the Center for Craft’s mission is to resource, catalyze, and amplify how and why craft matters. As a 501(c)3 national nonprofit that increases access to craft by empowering and resourcing artists, organizations, and communities through grants, fellowships and programs that bring people together. The Center is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential organizations working on behalf of craft in the United States. For more information, visit www.centerforcraft.org.
Asheville Strong: Celebrating Art and Community After Hurricane Helene
Feb 21 @ 11:00 am
The Asheville Art Museum

The Asheville Art Museum is proud to present Asheville Strong: Celebrating Art and Community After Hurricane Helene, a poignant and inspiring exhibition on view February 13–May 5, 2025, in the Appleby Foundation Exhibition Hall. This non-juried exhibition
showcases the works of artists from the Helene-affected Appalachia region, celebrating their
resilience, creativity, and strength while highlighting the power of art to inspire and bring communities
together.

Forces of Nature
Feb 21 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

Ceramic artists throughout history have become masters of all four elements—creating clay from a mixture of earth and water to shape their work, drying it in air, and hardening it in fire. Throughout this process, the artist decides which aspects of the work will be tightly controlled, and when the elements can step in to leave nature’s mark. This exhibition traces the historical, stylistic, and conceptual origins of work that either embraces or refuses the element of chance in ceramics, looking at modern and contemporary work made in Western North Carolina.

Greetings From Asheville
Feb 21 @ 11:00 am
The Asheville Art Museum

This exhibition explores how the land, the people, and the built environment of Asheville and its surrounding environs were interpreted through early 20th century vintage postcards. Some images show the sophisticated architecture of the region, including views of downtown Asheville, the Biltmore Estate, and Grove Park Inn. Other images show views of the scenic mountains and landscapes that first drew tourists and outdoor enthusiasts to the region.

Asheville Restaurant Week
Feb 21 @ 12:00 pm
All over Asheville

Double the deliciousness – Asheville Restaurant Week returns January 21-27 & February 17-23!

For many, the delicious culinary creations of local restaurants are a big part of what makes Asheville special. Asheville Restaurant Week celebrates Asheville’s great food scene. Show your favorite restaurants some love or try someplace new!

Check back for additional menus/special offerings.

Asheville Restaurant Week – Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce

Plant Bar Presents: Hunter The Gatherer & Haus Maus!
Feb 21 @ 6:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Plant Bar

Mark your calendars & don’t miss PLANT BAR PRESENTS, an evening of high vibes, immersive energy & community on February 21st at Plant Bar Asheville. Enjoy the rhythmic sounds of Asheville’s hottest local DJ’s, sip endless tea, try a relaxing or invigorating zero-proof botanical elixir, enjoy local healthy food and take in the vibes with old & new friends.

Date: Friday, 2/21/25
Time: 6:00 -10:30 PM
Music: Live DJ’s
Haus Maus – 6:45 – 7:45 PM
Hunter The Gatherer – 8-10PM
Food:
Habibi Village – Organic, gluten-free Lebanese food