Calendar of Events

The application to be a food vendor at our events is now available. We’re seeking vendors for Downtown After 5, the Independence Day Celebration and Asheville Oktoberfest.

Click here to fill out the application. Application deadline is Friday, February 10.

Extension Master Gardener^SM Volunteers of Buncombe County are happy to announce for the sixteenth year we are offering School Garden Grants to Asheville City and Buncombe County public schools, including state charter schools.

We provide a notice of the application period along with instructions to all school principals, elementary through senior high. Additional information is available on our website, buncombemastergardener.org, where you can learn more about the guidelines for receiving a grant and get online access to the 2023 School Garden Grants Application.

All applications must be completed online. Completed applications will be accepted beginning January 9, 2023, and must be submitted no later than 9 p.m. on February 3, 2023. If you have any questions, please call the Extension Office at 828-255-5522.

We are proud of our partnership with Asheville City and Buncombe County Schools. Since 2007, we have awarded 52 School Garden Grants totaling over $45,000. These grants have involved more than 16,500 students and hundreds of teachers, parents, and community volunteers.

School gardens grow more than plants. They grow imagination and creativity. They make math and science come alive, and they build community. We hope your school will join us in 2023.

Click on the link below to review the guidelines for school garden grants:
Guidelines for 2023 School Garden Grants

Purchase a subscription to the Music on the Rock® Winter / Spring Concert Series and receive a 10% Discount!

Asheville Outlets will again team with MANNA FoodBank to hold a Food is Love Food Donation Drive during the month of February 2023. The drive will focus on collecting healthy, nonperishable foods for distribution to those in need in western North Carolina. Items of need include low-sodium canned vegetables, canned tuna and chicken, low salt nuts, no sugar added fruits, shelf stable milk, whole grain pasta, brown rice, oatmeal, canola & olive oil, peanut butter, low sodium soups, canned and dried beans, and low sugar cereals Collection bins will be in the Asheville Outlets food court. Monetary donations can be made at MANNAFoodBank.org. For more information, visit ShopAshevilleOutlets.com.

Join us throughout February as we celebrate Black Legacy Month with programs and events for all ages! In addition to the programs listed below, we will have special story times and exhibits at most of our libraries.

• Bright Star Touring Theatre: African Folktales – February 1 at 4pm at the Weaverville Library (for children ages 3 and up)
• Book Club: Jazz by Toni Morrison – Thursday, February 2 a 3pm at the Weaverville Library
• Book Club: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – Tuesday, February 7 at 6pm
• Book Club: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict Tuesday, February 14 at 1pm at the Leicester Library
• Book Club: Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland – February 16 at 2:30pm at the Skyland/South Buncombe Library
• Book Club: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – February 21 at 7pm at the Fairview Library
• Black Experience Book Club: The Furrows by Namwali Serpell – February 23 at 6:30pm at the Noir Collective, co-sponsored by the East Asheville library

Drop by your local library and check us out. Email or call if you have any questions.

Our librarians have also put together a Black Legacy Month reading list for all ages.

Black Legacy Month Reading List 2023

Books for Adults

Adult Fiction

• Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
• On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library edited by Glory Edim
• What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harries
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois by Honoree Fannone Jeffers
• How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemison
• Deacon King Kong by James McBride
• Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
• Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall
• The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
• Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
• Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
• Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Adult nonfiction

• Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
• Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black women in Popular Culture by Zeba Blay
• The 1619 Project edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones
• Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
• Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby*
• The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
• All That She Carried by Tiya Miles
• Please Don’t Sit On My Bed In Your Outside Clothes by Phoebe Robinson*
• You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin*
• Counting Descent by Clint Smith
• The Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor
• Here For It by R. Eric Thomas*
• Koshersoul: the faith and food journey of an African American Jew by Michael W. Twitty

*especially good on audio because the authors read their work!

Picture books for families to share

• My Heart Flies Open by Omileye Achikeobi-Lewis
• Only the Best: The Exceptional Life and Fashion of Ann Lowe by Kate Messner
• My N.C. From A to Z by Michelle Lanier
• Shhh! The Baby’s Asleep by JaNay Brown-Wood
• Curls by Ruth Forman
• Fly by Brittany J. Thurman
• Opal Lee and What it Means to be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth by Alice Faye Duncan
• Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens
• Bright Brown Baby, A Treasury by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson

Chapter books for older kids

• Isaiah Dunn is My Hero by Kelly J. BaptistBlended by Sharon Draper
• Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor
• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
• Tristan Strong Trilogy (Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, Tristan Strong Destroys the World, and Tristan Strong Keeps Punching) by Kwame Mbalia
• From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
• Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood edited by Kwame Mbalia
• Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson
• Operation Sisterhood by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
• The Door of No Return by Alexander Kwame

Books for teens

• Quincredible by Rodney Barnes
• The Legendborn Cycle (Legendborn and Bloodmarked) by Tracy Deonn
• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
• You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
• Survive the Dome by Kosoko Jackson
• Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther’s Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon
• Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds
• Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi
• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
• Okoye to the People by Ibi Zoboi

If you’ve been struggling to complete a septic system repair at your home, Buncombe County may be able to help provide grant funding. The Septic Repair Assistance Program (SRP) launched in November of 2022, and Permits & Inspections is still accepting applications through Wednesday, Feb. 15 to determine if homeowners may qualify. The SRP provides financial assistance to repair failing septic systems of qualifying homeowners who do not meet the income limit of 80% of Buncombe County Area Median Income($64,250 for a family of four). There is limited time to apply, and if you think you may qualify, please call 250-5360.

To apply for financial assistance, you must:

1. Be a resident of Buncombe County and own and occupy your home.
2. Obtain a septic system repair permit from Buncombe County Environmental Health. To request a repair permit, you must submit an application to Environmental Health. Once the application is received, an Environmental Health Specialist will make a site visit and evaluate the existing system, determine repair options, and issue a repair permit.
3. Obtain bids from at least three septic system contractors. Once the repair permit has been issued, you are responsible for obtaining bids from at least three contractors. A bid is an estimate of how much the repair will cost. We recommend that you request bids from more than three contractors to ensure that you receive at least three of the bids in a timely manner.
4. Complete a Grant Application form. This form requests specific information needed to determine grant eligibility, including verification of income.
5. Submit the Grant Application and copies of three contractor bids to Buncombe County Permits & Inspections, 30 Valley St., Asheville, NC 28801 or [email protected]

For more information, please see the attached documents. Applications will be accepted through Feb. 15, 2023. Funding is limited.

The Go Local Card celebrates the interdependence of our businesses to each other, public education and to the youth in our community.

Our community values equitable educational opportunities for everyone and the Go Local Card is an annual fundraiser for Asheville’s city public schools.

Since inception, we have raised nearly $220,000 for our schools. This program connects 4,000 children and their families to a healthy local economy and locally owned businesses that support their school.

Everywhere across this great land, we see, hear and feel impressions of the peoples that once cultivated it. In this year’s Spring Retreat, we will uplift and honor First Nations, Indigenous & LatinX peoples as a precursor to our Fall Festival, and honor our own community leaders. We also have a yearly focus on Health: mental, physical & emotional wellbeing. It is a time of rejoicing and celebrating those that came before us. A rekindling of the wisdom passed down through generations; a time of honoring beautiful legacies, stories and traditions. Please join as we enter a world of learning through the eyes of the greats, this May 11-14th at LEAF Retreat!

If you’re behind on your water bill or afraid your water might get cut off, a new resource might be able to help you. On Jan. 4, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved more than $450,000 in federal funding for the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP). The initiative is aimed at preventing water disconnections and helping reconnect drinking and wastewater services.

The LIHWAP will be administered by Buncombe County-based Eblen Charities. The nonprofit will make payments directly to utilities on behalf of qualifying households. The program is slated to run through Sept. 30, 2023 or until funds are exhausted.

Eligibility requirements

Households that currently receive Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Work First services, or those that received Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) services from Oct. 1, 2020-Sept. 30, 2021, are automatically eligible to receive this benefit if their water services have been cut off or are in danger of being cut off.

For additional eligibility information or to apply, please contact Eblen Charities at (828) 255-3066.

The Asheville Downtown Association’s (ADA) Wristband Partner Program provides an opportunity for local nonprofits to sell wristbands at ADA events. The selected nonprofit receives a grant of $2,000, as well as the opportunity to share their program of work with the large audiences at these events. Deadline to apply is Friday, February 24, 2023.

Register for our Cuba Agroecology Tour! April 4-13, 2023 Want to learn from farmers and food activists about Cuba’s transition to agroecological farming practices and its national policies that prioritize sustainable farming and hunger remediation? This is your opportunity to join our 9-day tour of Cuba’s sustainable farms! On our tour, we visit with farmers, NGOs, policymakers, and experts to learn about the history of Cuba, their transition to organic agriculture, and ongoing initiatives to support farmers and expand agroecological practices.

For the past 30 years, the Organic Growers School Spring Conference has served as a gathering place for growers in Appalachia to connect, learn from one another, and deepen connections to land and community. The Spring Conference began as an entirely volunteer-run and free event and has expanded to support an organization of ten staff with year-round programming. As we have grown, we have experimented with different approaches to keeping the event affordable and accessible while also working on compensation for our speakers and supporting our growing staff. We encourage you to check out our recent blog post exploring this in more depth. This year, we are excited to be experimenting with sliding scale ticket pricing for the first time, and we wanted to take some time to explain how this works and why we decided to implement it this year.

Looking beyond scholarships

Over the past several years, we have started implementing different scholarship options. We have set aside around $3000 in our internal budget for scholarships, and we have increased our outreach to other groups in the area who have funding to support individuals to attend conferences. We also offer work-trade opportunities for people who are interested in helping out with our event in exchange for attendance. We have around 100 work-traders access the conference each year through these opportunities, but we have never used up our entire scholarship fund for the event. We know that there are many individuals in our community that we are not reaching through our scholarship opportunities. We began to wonder if scholarship applications were creating a barrier to participation and started researching other options, landing eventually on sliding scale as our preferred model.

How alternative pricing models address accessibility

The sliding scale model, which offers the opportunity for participants to select a price to pay for their ticket, meets several of the parameters we were looking for in an accessible pricing model. Most importantly, it is a seamless way for attendees to access the price that meets their needs. So many things are means-tested in our society, and it can be exhausting to justify why one needs a more affordable price point. While many of our community members need financial support, there are also members of this community who have more than enough to share and are excited about supporting their fellow co-learners. These attendees can select the higher end of the sliding scale, which will be set at a price to offset the lower price paid by other attendees. We trust our attendees to select the option that best works for them while also considering how their selection would affect the ability of other participants to access a lower price point.

Accessibility is a priority for OGS, and implementing it is a risk for us as a small non-profit, given that we rely on our large events like the Spring Conference to support our year-round programming and staff salaries. This will certainly be an experimental year, and if we are not able to secure enough income through sliding-scale registrations, we will have to rethink our approach to pricing. We trust that our community will be thoughtful in thinking about the value that this conference has to them and about what they are able to pay for at this time. Thank you for being on this journey of discovery with us!

PUBLIC TICKETS FEB 3rd

“Not The Smile as in ha-ha-ha, more The Smile as in the guy who lies to you everyday”… so speaks Thom Yorke on the inspiration behind the name of the new trio consisting of himself, his Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner of UK jazz outfit Sons of Kemet. The description is borne out by The Smile’s acerbic first single “You Will Never Work In Television Again,” a 2:48 blast of ragged, raw energy that moved The New York Times to rave: “Over a bruising 5/4 beat and flailing guitars climbing through three chords, Yorke snarl-sings his avenging fury at some gangster troll promising the moon who’d devour all those beautiful young hopes and dreams, and you can almost feel the spittle flying.” “You Will Never Work In Television Again” was one of eight songs played by The Smile during the band’s debut performance as part of the 2021 global streaming Glastonbury event Live At Worthy Farm. Following the release of second track “The Smoke,” The Smile played three back to back live shows across 16 hours and three timezones at Magazine London. Performed in the round to an in-person audience and simultaneously livestreamed worldwide, the hybrid shows featured multiple songs that comprise The Smile’s first album, A Light For Attracting Attention, released digitally May 13th via XL Recordings.

Produced by Nigel Godrich and featuring additional critically acclaimed singles “Skrting On The Surface, “Pana-vision”, “Free In The Knowledge” and “Thin Thing”, A Light For Attracting Attention features strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of contemporary UK jazz players including Byron Wallen, Theon and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman and Jason Yarde. The Smile began their 2022 European tour on May 16th in Croatia with UK dates in London, Edinburgh, and Manchester, before heading back into Europe, finishing their headline shows in Taormina, Sicily, on July 20th and with a final UK date in London’s All Points
East on 28th August.

Members of Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County created original pieces of artwork and the finalists drawings that you will find attached were chosen by Club staff.  The finalists’ artwork will be digitally displayed at UScellular’s Hendersonville location at 1900 Hendersonville Blvd.

The winners will be announced in March and prizes include gift cards in the following amounts:

• $250 for 1st Place
• $150 for 2nd Place
• $100 for 3rd Place

The public can vote for their favorite artwork by going to newsroom.uscellular.com