Join us at Eliada Home’s campus for a small group guided walking Farm Tour. Tours last approximately 1 hour. Participants will learn about outdoor and greenhouse growing practices, aquaponics, hydroponics, market gardening, corn maze production, and learn about our Animal Therapy program.

We will be meeting at the PARC building and walking to the different greenhouses, garden site, and a visit with our animals. Reservations required, tickets are $10 each visitor (to be collected at the time of the tour).

We recommend bringing the following: comfortable shoes for walking on pavement and grass, hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen.  This tour is not handicap accessible and will require participants to climb stairs and walk on uneven ground.

We will begin out tour promptly at the starting time, so please arrive 5-10 min early to allow for parking and check-in. If you are running late or cannot make your tour, please email [email protected] or call #828-348-2287.

All proceeds from ticket sales from your farm tour go directly back to helping the Campus Farm Program grow more food for the children of Eliada!

Click above photo to sign up for a time slot and number of people in your group. Payment for tour will be collected when you arrive. Cards accepted.

This tour is best suited for school age children ages 10+ and adults.

Visiting Asheville soon and looking for a fun way to fill your Friday night? The Asheville Drum Circle is a tradition unique to the area. While locals usually begin the beating of drums, tourists are welcome to join, dance, or simply take in the incredible atmosphere at any point.

If you’re looking for things to do in the area during your stay, this is a must! Here’s everything you should know about the Drum Circle.

The Asheville Drum Circle is a free event that’s open to all.

Led by frontman, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Higdon, The Mango Furs are a psychedelic band for the modern world, swirling the vintage influences of 1960s garage rock, surf music, and other trippy sounds into contemporary records like 2021’s Passages. This is textured, transportive music, as warm and woozy as the sunbaked Gulf Coast shoreline that ran beside Higdon’s hometown.

Raised in coastal Florida, Chris first fell in love with rock & roll while sitting behind the dashboard of his father’s truck. “My dad would listen to Allman Brothers or Jimi Hendrix and play drums on the steering wheel,” he remembers. Before long, Chris was playing rock songs of his own, earning write-ups in the local paper while still a teenager. Along the way, he also spent some time living with his grandmother, an eccentric painter whose unchecked creativity inspired her grandson. “She dressed crazily and wasn’t afraid to do her own thing,” says Chris, who named Mango Furs after a brightly-colored item from his grandmother’s closet.

Passages arrives on the heels of Mango Furs’ 2019 debut, Inner Migrations. Higdon wrote more than 40 songs for the project, eventually choosing a collection of 10 tracks that mixed neo-psychedelia, shoegaze, chillwave, and rock & roll into the same track list. The result is an album grounded not only in spacey arrangements, but sharp songwriting, too. It’s a record that casts a mood while delivering a message, with Higdon writing about the various passages in his own life.

“I’d gone through some big life changes, having lost my grandmother and becoming a father,” he says of the creative process. “Time doesn’t stop, though. It just keeps moving, and it’s up to you to fulfill your dreams and chase down your goals. No one’s going to do it for us. Passages is about moving through those transitions in your life.”

Atmospheric and anthemic, Passages brims with synthesizers, electric guitar fuzz, snippets of field recordings, echoes of reverb, and plenty of melodic spark. There’s a roomy reach to songs like “Be the Wheel Not the Road” and “Heart Ghosts,” which Chris credits to the longtime influence of Pink Floyd. “I watched Live From Pompeii years ago, back when the world was still coming out of the grunge era,” he remembers. “At the time, the radio was playing a lot of in-your-face music, but Pink Floyd was different. Those guys laid back and only spoke up with their instruments when it was needed. It taught me a lot about learning to shut up, listen, and let other things happen.”

Years later, Chris Higdon is still listening. Passages is the latest chapter in a story that’s still unfolding, capturing a prolific songwriter reaching his peak as a producer, bandleader, guitarist, and musical auteur. It’s headphone music at its most compelling — evocative, ethereal, and immersive, designed to pull the listener into the album’s lush soundscape — performed by a band whose songs have been heard on MTV shows, Netflix programs, and concerts alongside headliners like Liz Cooper & the Stampede.

“Music should be about sincerity and intention,” he says. “It shouldn’t be about trying to ‘make it.’ To me, ‘making it’ is just having the ability to make music. I’ve learned that, and maybe that’s why Passages has a sunnier color to it than what I did before. It’s uplifting. It’s feel-good music.”

Bring your own skates and roll bounce with us to your favorite soundtrack.

Top of the Grade concert featuring Peggy Ratusz, 7-9pm, Come out to enjoy the music of Asheville Chanteuse Peggy Ratusz
who performs an infectious, sultry, multi-layered brand of original, traditional and modern Blues, Soul, R&B and Jazz music,
Attendees should bring their own chairs or blankets, Food, soft drinks, beer and wine, and coolers are allowed, Events are rain or
shine, Free, Ella Grace Mintz Stage at Top of the Grade Park at McCreery Park, Saluda, Saluda.co

A WNC PREMIERE! by Catherine Bush Directed by Rodney Smith Opening 8/19/2022 – 9/17/2022

Astronomers and educators from the PARI will be joining the Cradle of Forestry for the evening of August 26th, to share the wonders of the night sky. PARI scientists will be sharing all about the importance having dark skies, how light and telescopes work before heading outside to explore the night sky through telescopes with all in attendance. It is sure to be a great night with stars and science to share throughout the event.

Cradle educators will be joined by Melanie Crowson and Tim DeLisle of Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute: PARI

Have a yen to try a local hike, but don’t know where to begin? Join Buncombe County Parks & Recreation for scenic hikes close to home this summer and fall. The Sampler Hike Series is a free four-pack of popular treks lead by Parks and Recreation staff on Saturday mornings.

Explorers of all skill levels are invited to experience the fun of one hike, all four, or somewhere in between. Space is limited to 12 hikers and advanced registration is necessary.

Up first is the Lake Powhatan hike. We will begin our hike at Bent Creek River Park and take the Mountains to Sea Trail until we hop onto NC Arboretum property to join the Old Mill Trail and Bent Creek Road Trail that takes us into the Pisgah National Forest on our way to Lake Powhatan.

This hike follows a multi-use gravel path for most of the journey with some dirt paths here and there. The grade is flat and is considered a very easy hike. The overall distance that we will be traveling is 6.5 miles and it will take around 2.5 hours.

Stayed tuned to buncombecounty.org/parks for details on September’s hike.

What to Bring Hiking

• Daypack or backpack
• Weather-appropriate clothing (The temperature and wind can change with elevation, so moisture-wicking shirts and layers are recommended.)
• Hiking boots or shoes
• Water
• Trail snacks
• Sunscreen
• Insect repellant
• Sunglasses (optional)
• Hat or bandana (optional)
• Binoculars (optional)
• Camera (optional)
• Trekking poles (optional)
• Compass (optional)
• Whistle (optional)
• Knife or multi-tool (optional)
• First aid kit (optional)

Follow Parks & Recreation on Facebook and Instagram.

Verner Center for Early Learning is a nonprofit agency providing high quality, affordable early care and education to children birth to five years of age throughout Buncombe County. The mission of Verner Center is to foster holistic learning environments where young children and families thrive. The organization embraces a philosophy that includes excellence in early childhood practices, diversity among children and families, and partnerships and collaboration with families and communities. This philosophy is demonstrated through provision of high quality education, family services, health and nutrition services, and professional development for teachers.

We are currently looking for compassionate volunteers to support our experiential garden.

Volunteer Opportunity Includes:

• Pulling weeds
• Cleaning out garden beds
• Prepping new garden beds
• Building small projects
• Mowing
• Weed eating
• Laying mulch
• Watering

Volunteer Requirements:

• Respond to the shift
• Comfortable working in various weather conditions
• Comfortable bending, stooping, twisting
• Ability to stand for 1-2 hours at a time

The Squealers is a 4 piece Blues Punk band that draws inspiriation from rockabilly, country, bluegrass. Known for their erratic live performances, (namely the spontaneous antics of leader Jesse Harman and his dirty harmonica) The Squealers have been leaving audiences scratching their heads and excited to come back for another show. The tight yet fun timey rhythm of Taylor Olin (drums) and Johnny Caucasian (bass) juxtaposed against the lightning fast ferocity of Matt Daniels on the telecaster is a forced to be reckoned with

Currently working on thier debut album which will be released Halloween of 2022.

Super 60s performs a free concert at Firehouse Subs in Hendersonville. Classic cars will be on display from the Carolina Mountain Car Club. Free line-dance classes from Betty Busch from 5:30-6:30pm. Concert to follow from 6:30-8:30pm. Please note: no smoking, coolers or pets.

Summer 2022 Concert Schedule:
May 14 | Super 60s
May 28 | 3 Cool Cats
June 11 | Super 60s
June 25 | Fine Line
July 9 | Deano & The Dreamers
July 23 | Fine Line
August 6 | Sound Investment
August 20 | Fine Line
August 27 | 3 Cool Cats
September 10 | Deano & The Dreamers
September 24 | 3 Cool Cats
October 8 | Sound Investment
October 15 | Super 60s (Halloween event)

Join a Park naturalist on the Hickory Nut Falls trail, and watch as the Park comes alive under the shadow of darkness. Do you know whether that’s a frog or a toad calling from the undergrowth? What birds and mammals prefer the dark to the daylight? Get ready to learn more about the Park’s rarely-seen residents.

A WNC PREMIERE! by Catherine Bush Directed by Rodney Smith Opening 8/19/2022 – 9/17/2022