Calendar of Events

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.

Enjoy a sweet treat and get to know Best Buddies NC at an upcoming social on Thursday, July 11th from 6:30 – 8 pm.  Best Buddies NC is a nonprofit organization consisting of volunteers that create opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Learn more about this group and help them gain awareness within the community. Everyone attending the social will receive a discount!

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.

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.