Calendar of Events

Experience firsthand how food is grown and raised in the Southern Appalachian Mountains! Choose from over 20 WNC family farms to visit and encounter the sights, tastes, and stories of working farms through guided tours, demonstrations, and hands-on activities. The tour is family-friendly and a wonderful summer adventure for visitors of all ages and interests. Learn more and purchase your tour pass at asapconnections.org.

Experience the exotic sounds and rhythms of Balinese Gamelan music. Gamelan is a ceremonial ensemble-style of music, indigenous to Indonesia, Bali, and Java. The ensemble arrangement is comprised of metallophones, metal keyboard instruments struck with mallets, and other percussion instruments, including gongs, chimes, and kendhang drums.The music often accompanies traditional dances and is played to summon the gods.

4-5:30pm/ FREE
Gamelan Workshop with Gamelan group Yowana Sari hosted by Michael Lipsey director of Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY.
Instruments provided.
*At Black Mountain Museum & Arts Center: 120 College St, Asheville, NC 28801.
Please register for this free ticket on-line at:
http://www.ashevillepercussionfestival.com/info

This workshop is part of the Asheville Percussion Festival, a week-long celebration of diverse percussion traditions that take place at a variety of venues. To see a complete list of the various workshops, concerts, and other happenings that week and the specific times, days, and locations, please see:
http://www.ashevillepercussionfestival.com/info

Tickets are à la carte for the array of workshop and concert offerings, so you can create your own custom experience for the week or for specific days and events.

ARTIST BIO
Gamelan Yowana Sari has been a performing Balinese Art Ensemble since 2011. The group is currently in residence at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. They’ve recently returned from a two week tour in Indonesia, performing in Pengosekan, Bali, at the home of the extraordinary composer I Dewa Ketut Alit. Gamelan YS performed two of Alit’s works along with other kreasi baru (new works) by Evan Ziporyn and Pak Windha. Gamelan YS has a long relationship with Alit as a constant source of encouragement and instruction. The group plans to return in 2019 for a longer tour of the island.

Percussionist Michael Lipsey has performed at festivals in Bali, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Mexico City, Taipei, Macao, Tokyo, La Jolla, New York, Moscow, Bogota and France. Michael is the founding member of Talujon Percussion and has also performed with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Steve Reich, Bang on a Can, Tan Dun, New York New Music Ensemble and Riverside Symphony. He has recorded for Sony Records, Red Poppy Records, Nonesuch, Albany, Capstone and Mode. Michael has performed throughout the world and given master classes at numerous schools including the Juilliard School of Music and California School of the Arts. Michael is a full-time Professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY, Queens College and Director of the Percussion Program and the New Music Ensemble.

Video of Yowana Sari performance with dancer:
https://youtu.be/xCJb_k94xTQ

Experience the exotic sounds and rhythms of Balinese Gamelan music. Gamelan is a ceremonial ensemble-style of music, indigenous to Indonesia, Bali, and Java. The ensemble arrangement is comprised of metallophones, metal keyboard instruments struck with mallets, and other percussion instruments, including gongs, chimes, and kendhang drums.The music often accompanies traditional dances and is played to summon the gods.

8:00pm/ $15
A special evening of contemporary and traditional music featuring NYC Gamelan group, Yowana Sari.
*At Black Mountain Museum & Arts Center: 120 College St, Asheville, NC 28801.
Tickets to this concert are $15 and available on-line at:
http://www.ashevillepercussionfestival.com/info

This concert is part of the Asheville Percussion Festival, a week-long celebration of diverse percussion traditions that take place at a variety of venues. To see a complete list of the various workshops, concerts, and other happenings that week and the specific times, days, and locations, please see:
http://www.ashevillepercussionfestival.com/info

Tickets are à la carte for the array of workshop and concert offerings, so you can create your own custom experience for the week or for specific days and events.

ARTIST BIO
Gamelan Yowana Sari has been a performing Balinese Art Ensemble since 2011. The group is currently in residence at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. They’ve recently returned from a two week tour in Indonesia, performing in Pengosekan, Bali, at the home of the extraordinary composer I Dewa Ketut Alit. Gamelan YS performed two of Alit’s works along with other kreasi baru (new works) by Evan Ziporyn and Pak Windha. Gamelan YS has a long relationship with Alit as a constant source of encouragement and instruction. The group plans to return in 2019 for a longer tour of the island.

Percussionist Michael Lipsey has performed at festivals in Bali, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Mexico City, Taipei, Macao, Tokyo, La Jolla, New York, Moscow, Bogota and France. Michael is the founding member of Talujon Percussion and has also performed with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Steve Reich, Bang on a Can, Tan Dun, New York New Music Ensemble and Riverside Symphony. He has recorded for Sony Records, Red Poppy Records, Nonesuch, Albany, Capstone and Mode. Michael has performed throughout the world and given master classes at numerous schools including the Juilliard School of Music and California School of the Arts. Michael is a full-time Professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY, Queens College and Director of the Percussion Program and the New Music Ensemble.

Video of Yowana Sari performance with dancer:
https://youtu.be/xCJb_k94xTQ

Wrenegade Sports is very excited to announce another brand new event for 2019: Farm to Fork Fondo – Asheville on June 29 & 30, 2019 in the picturesque foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview, NC!
An organized bicycle ride where you get to choose the distance best for you and stop for chef-prepared bites at farms along the way.

All activities at Hickory Nut Gap Farm, 57 Sugar Hollow Rd. NC 28730

SATURDAY JUNE 29, 2019
• 4 to 6:30pm Packet pickup at Hickory Nut Gap Farm
• 6:30pm Meet the Farmers Dinner (tickets required)

SUNDAY JUNE 30, 2019
• 6:30 to 7:45am Packet Pickup Forto Coffee Station, and Bicycle Tune-Up Station open
• 8am Farm to Fork Fondo (Piccolo, Medio and Gran) departs (pre-registration required)
• 10:30am Ramble Ride departs
• 11:30am to 6pm Post-Ride Farm to Fork Barbecue (tickets required)
• 1 to 5pm Live music
• 5pm Volunteer Competition Awards Ceremony

Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to see some of our area’s most inspirational, diverse and beautiful private gardens!

On June 29, 2019 the Garden Club of Weaverville presents the Weaverville Gardens Galore Tour, which will feature seven private gardens and the Weaverville Main Street Nature Park. This self-guided tour opens at 10AM and closes at 4PM. The themed gardens on the tour include an English Cottage Garden, Laughing Crow Ornamental Garden, Whimsical Fantasy Garden, Stone Fire Pit and Garden, Urban Food Garden, Kaleidoscope Garden and a Meandering Mediterranean Garden.

Visit the Garden Club website to view a Tour flier, descriptions of the gardens on the tour, & to pre-reserve a ticket (optional): https://gardenclubofweaverville.org/

Tickets and a Tour map for this fundraising event are available on June 29 at the Weaverville Town Parking Lot on Main Street beginning at 9:30AM. Suggested Adult Donation: $20. Supervised children 12 years and under are admitted free.

The Tour proceeds will support the programs, organizations and scholarships sponsored by the Garden Club of Weaverville, a non-profit organization. The Club is committed to providing gardening-related educational programs and promoting beautification and conservation in the Weaverville community.

Start off your 4th of July with a BANG and join us at Asheville Outlets (ShopAshevilleOutlets.com) for a fun, flat and fast 5K at the Asheville Outlets. Choose from the timed 5K run/walk or a 1 mile untimed walk.

Event Schedule:
July 4 – 6:30 a.m. – Race Day Packet Pick-Up and Registration Begins
July 4 – 8:00 a.m. – 5K Adult and Youth Race Begins
July 4 – 8:05 a.m. – 1 Mile Walk Begins
July 4 – 9:00 a.m. – 5K Awards

$5 from every registration will go towards Wounded Warrior Project or Veterans for Peace. To register, visit: https://raceroster.com/events/2019/22665/asheville-independence-day-5k. All runners will receive a drawstring goodie bag courtesy of Asheville Outlets.

Asheville’s Independence Day 5k will get you starting your July 4th with a bang! This is a flat, family friendly course that starts and ends at the Asheville Outlet Mall.

Every Saturday in July the park stays open late, until 9:00 p.m., so you can make more time for family memories. Enjoy evening train and stage shows, rides at dusk, and fun throughout the park.

This tour goes exploring through our 80 acres of working farmland. Head to the top of UFO hill for a spectacular view, walk alongside the creek through forest, see the grazing animals on pasture, and learn about regenerative agriculture. You will get an overview of our farm history but a more in-depth look at our farming practices. We will be traversing over rough terrain, so suitable hiking attire is suggested.

Every Saturday in July the park stays open late, until 9:00 p.m., so you can make more time for family memories. Enjoy evening train and stage shows, rides at dusk, and fun throughout the park.

Summer Cycle is This Saturday!

HOSTED BY: Asheville on Bikes and the event sponsors.

This free, family-friendly event is open to the public and includes easy-to-follow route options for bike riders of all ages and abilities, followed by a celebration at New Belgium Brewing. Summer Cycle is perfect for the new or returning bike rider to get started and meet new friends to ride with in Asheville. Volunteers needed too!

Pick your Summer Cycle route! 

• 2 mile easy River Arts District loop
• 10 mile Main Route that tours the best of the RAD& West Asheville.
• 14 mile Ride More Route that adds an extra loop to the Main Route

Summer Cycle ’19 Schedule:

• 3:00pm – Gather at New Belgium Brewing
• 3:30pm – Kick off with all-ages balance bike loop, then all rides depart
• 4:30pm (ish) – Return to New Belgium Brewing for post-ride celebration.

Participants are asked to have their bicycle in good condition and bring a water bottle, lights, and bike bell. Costumes are encouraged, helmets are required!  There is lots more info at AoB’s Facebook page, where you can RSVP and even VOLUNTEER to help make it happen.

Come get SPARKLED with Finklepott’s Original Fairy Hair!
Sierra Nevada Brewing IN LOWER PARK
100 Sierra Nevada Way Mills River, NC 28732
***ENTRANCE FEE REQUIRED***
Sign up here to reserve your spot and for more information:
http://bit.ly/SierraNevada07172019

In this free, fun and educational event, you’ll have a chance to learn about the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel and build nest boxes to aid in its recovery!

Join Defenders and special guest presenter U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist Sue Cameron on Thursday, July 18th to learn about the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel. Ms. Cameron coordinates efforts to recover the squirrel, and you’ll learn what makes it special and why it is endangered, as well as effective strategies aimed at helping it recover. You’ll also hear from Anna Norton – live and on location at Southern Highlands Reserve – about the unique role the Reserve is playing in the squirrel’s recovery.

Following the presentation, you’ll have the chance to help these critters in the wild by assembling flying squirrel nest boxes that the NC Wildlife Resources Commission will install as part of their monitoring program. Refreshments will also be provided.

Then, join us on Saturday, July 20th for a walkabout along Flat Laurel Creek Trail, Pisgah National Forest, NC. We’ll enjoy this cool, high elevation spruce-fir forest – an endangered ecosystem in our region and home to several other rare species – while we explore what makes this squirrel habitat unique. We’ll also examine previously installed nest boxes in the area for upgrading through the Resource Commission’s programs and a collaborative red spruce restoration project underway.

Sponsored by weilerwoodsforwildlife.com. Nest boxes made possible by deltechomes.com.

Wildlife Workshop: Carolina Northern Flying Squirrels

Thursday, July 18th, 2019, 5:15pm – 7:00pm
Defenders of Wildlife’s Southeast Office
1 Rankin Avenue, 2nd Floor
Asheville, NC 28801

-AND-

Wildlife Walkabout

Saturday, July 20th, 2019, 8:00am – 1:00pm
Flat Laurel Creek Trail, Pisgah National Forest
Route 215
Canton, NC 28716

For more info, contact Tracy at [email protected].

Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force

Vision: For Asheville to be a community of connected pathways that is healthy, safe and accessible for people of all ages.

Mission: To educate the public about bicycle and pedestrian transportation; to advocate for the development and maintenance of safe, convenient and inter-connected facilities; to promote the benefits of walking and biking for individuals and community health.

Jesse Barry, known for her soulful blues pipes and contagious enthusiasm on stage, began her music career at the tender age of eight years old. Influenced by Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Carole King, Etta James, and Susan Tedeschi, Jesse has created her own, unique blues sound. She is often described as an “old soul” and audiences are stunned by the huge voice that comes out of her small body. Popularly known as “Skinny Legs” from Skinny Legs and All, a band she created as a teenager, Jesse has placed in the Mountain Xpress “Best Of” blues band category three years in a row, and has performed at B.B. King’s Club for the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, and at the Springing the Blues Festival in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Jesse competed on the popular TV show “American Idol” in season 9 and has made a lasting impact on her hometown, Asheville, North Carolina. She has recorded 3 albums with Skinny Legs and All and is currently working with her blues, funk, and soul group Jesse Barry and The Jam, special events band A Social Function, and her new Steely Dan tribute band Dirty Logic.

Join us at Hickory Nut Gap to see Jesse Barry and The Jam perform, eat farm-to-fork food, and prepare to dance!

Every Saturday in July the park stays open late, until 9:00 p.m., so you can make more time for family memories. Enjoy evening train and stage shows, rides at dusk, and fun throughout the park.

Put on your dancing boots and join Friends of the Smokies for the 2nd annual “Smokies Stomp” Barn Party just outside of Asheville, NC. The Smokies Stomp supports projects and programs in Great Smoky Mountains National Park like Parks As Classrooms, which brings thousands of schoolchildren into the Smokies every year. Folks will be treated to a gourmet farm-to-table dinner, live music, drinks, square dancing, and the opportunity to visit with rangers from the National Park Service. So come on out for fun and fundraising at the Smokies Stomp Barn Party!

Do you love cars? If so, then join us at Asheville Outlets (ShopAshevilleOutlets.com) for Cruise ‘In, a monthly car show featuring an exciting display of cars, trucks, motorcycles and special interest vehicles behind the Food Court on Sundays, May 19, June 16, July 21, August 18, September 15, October 20 and November 17, 2019 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Cruise ‘In is free to car owners and spectators.

ASHEVILLE, JULY 23, 2019– The West Asheville Tailgate Market will be hosting their very first “Pepperpalooza” in the parking lot of the Grace Baptist Church, 718 Haywood Road, from 3:30-6:30pm. Pepperpalooza is a festival dedicated to celebrating the pepper is all it’s many colors, shapes, sizes, flavors…and levels of heat intensity.

Pepperpalooza is a fundraiser for the West Asheville Tailgate Market and all proceeds will go toward the growth of the market including kids activities, food tastings, cooking demos, and partnerships with other local non-profits for food-based educational programs in the future.

This at-market festival has several components including a raffle, hot pepper eating contest (for adults), bell pepper tastings (for kids), local hot sauce tastings, pepper roasting, ristra making, kids crafts, and a talk on the history of peppers. And of course, Pepperpalooza wouldn’t live up to its name without some rockin’ live music from local musicians.

The raffle includes 5 big prize packages including an assortment of food and crafts from WATM vendors. Raffle tickets are just $5 to enter or $12 for 3 and can be purchased on the WATM website or in person at the Pepperpalooza festival on July 23rd.

The main event will be the hot pepper eating contest where those who enter will get to eat their way up the Scoville Scale in intensity (milk and bread will be available to contestants once they tap out). The person who can take the most heat will win $50 in market bucks and a WATM t-shirt. The kiddos can play too! We’ll have a colorful bell pepper tasting where they can eat the rainbow of sweet peppers to pick which color they like best.

All those who yearn to feel the burn can taste an assortment of hot sauces which are being donated from local companies. For $3 you get a bowl of chips as a blank canvas to taste an assortment of sauces. That same $3 enters you into a raffle to win a bottle of all the hot sauces in the tasting.