Calendar of Events
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.
The North Carolina Arboretum is going wild for art and nature in 2021 with Wild Art! On view April 1 through September 26, this outdoor sculpture exhibition features works by 17 local and national artists drawing inspiration from the natural environment. Situated throughout the Arboretum’s spacious, open-air gardens, the show offers guests a doorway into the wild world from the comfort and safety of cultivated landscapes transformed by art.
The 18 sculptures on display represent a variety of approaches to the theme of “wild art,” from the literal to the abstract, and are crafted from a diverse array of materials that will delight and inspire. Let your imagination take you on a wild journey into the world of plants and animals near and far with Wild Art at The North Carolina Arboretum.
The exhibit is available to all guests during normal Arboretum hours, and there is no admission cost to view the sculptures beyond our usual parking fee of $16 per personal vehicle.
Looking for a way to give back and support our mission of eliminating racism and empowering women? The YWCA is looking for volunteers. If you have a few hours here and there or would like a regular volunteer gig, we could use your help. Please follow this link to see our current openings or email our volunteer coordinator to discuss alternate opportunities.
Included with admission
Our fun-for-all-ages botanical model train displays invite you to experience our grounds in an engaging new way. Located in the Conservatory in the Walled Garden, the displays feature replicas of structures connected with Biltmore and its founder George Vanderbilt. Each beautifully executed piece was handcrafted from such natural elements as leaves, bark, and twigs.
In compliance with state and local mandates related to COVID-19, all guests must enter the Conservatory via the ADA entrance in the back and follow a one-way route.
Looking to get involved, stay active, and meet some new friends? Sand Hill Community Garden workdays take place on Wednesdays (6-8 p.m.) and Saturdays (10 a.m.-noon) from Feb. 27-Oct. 30, 2021, at Buncombe County Sports Park. The garden is located on 16 Apac Dr. in West Asheville/Enka-Candler.
Join friends and neighbors as they come together on common ground to raise fresh, organic vegetables and fruits for the Enka community.
Expect to wear a mask and maintain social distance throughout. Tools and hand sanitizer are available, but any gloves, loppers, pruners, or gardening tools you can bring will decrease the amount of contact between volunteers. Please wear work clothes to get dirty and closed-toe shoes. Sunscreen, water, and a hat are also handy items to have on hand.
Sand Hill Community Garden has been growing fresh produce since 2011 and raised over 1,200 lbs. of organic produce last year.
NOTE: Community workdays are weather dependent. Please join the community garden email list (send your info to [email protected]) to stay up on workday tasks and other garden news.
To receive the I Heart Parks monthly newsletter, sign up online. Follow Buncombe County Recreation on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates.
Our volunteers:
- Improve the quality of living for animals in Henderson County.
- Make a difference in their community through our community programs like our Spay/Neuter Incentive Program and Meals on Wheels Pet Pals.
- Provide support for all departments and serve on our board and committees.
- Help raise crucial funds in our Thrift Store.
It’s easy to get started!
- Fill out the Volunteer Application.
- Attend a Virtual Volunteer Information Session to learn more about Blue Ridge Humane Society and current volunteer opportunities.
- Pick a Volunteer Assignment! Decide what volunteer position works best for you! Some assignments can get started right away and some require prior orientation and training such as animal handling training that you can get started on.
- Start Volunteering! Get started in your position. Our volunteers make a huge impact in Henderson County to ensure both pets and their people are happy, healthy, and thriving. We wouldn’t be able to accomplish all we do without them.
Heather Davis Studio & Gallery and GRIND have teamed up to bring plants to Pink Dog Creative on the weekends. Whynot Farm, which is affiliated with HDS&G, raises the plants on its farmland in Eastern TN, so they are locally-raised.
The plant sale will take place on Saturdays and Sundays, weather permitting, on the patio at Pink Dog Creative. During the week, select plants will be available for purchase in GRIND.
Gardening in the Mountains Presents:
Creating and Managing Pollinator Habitat
This presentation by Bryan Tompkins, Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service covers specific details about prepping, planting, and maintaining pollinator gardens as complete habitats. It will also discuss different opportunities and methods for implementing other pollinator-habitat components into your area—from assessing and developing a habitat suitable to your site to working with others in your neighborhood to create connected and contiguous habitat components. Bryan takes a deeper look into the elements and factors that are needed to go beyond just creating a nice flower garden. Armed with the information in this talk, you can create a habitat!
The North Carolina Arboretum is going wild for art and nature in 2021 with Wild Art! On view April 1 through September 26, this outdoor sculpture exhibition features works by 17 local and national artists drawing inspiration from the natural environment. Situated throughout the Arboretum’s spacious, open-air gardens, the show offers guests a doorway into the wild world from the comfort and safety of cultivated landscapes transformed by art.
The 18 sculptures on display represent a variety of approaches to the theme of “wild art,” from the literal to the abstract, and are crafted from a diverse array of materials that will delight and inspire. Let your imagination take you on a wild journey into the world of plants and animals near and far with Wild Art at The North Carolina Arboretum.
The exhibit is available to all guests during normal Arboretum hours, and there is no admission cost to view the sculptures beyond our usual parking fee of $16 per personal vehicle.
Included with admission
Our fun-for-all-ages botanical model train displays invite you to experience our grounds in an engaging new way. Located in the Conservatory in the Walled Garden, the displays feature replicas of structures connected with Biltmore and its founder George Vanderbilt. Each beautifully executed piece was handcrafted from such natural elements as leaves, bark, and twigs.
In compliance with state and local mandates related to COVID-19, all guests must enter the Conservatory via the ADA entrance in the back and follow a one-way route.
Our volunteers:
- Improve the quality of living for animals in Henderson County.
- Make a difference in their community through our community programs like our Spay/Neuter Incentive Program and Meals on Wheels Pet Pals.
- Provide support for all departments and serve on our board and committees.
- Help raise crucial funds in our Thrift Store.
It’s easy to get started!
- Fill out the Volunteer Application.
- Attend a Virtual Volunteer Information Session to learn more about Blue Ridge Humane Society and current volunteer opportunities.
- Pick a Volunteer Assignment! Decide what volunteer position works best for you! Some assignments can get started right away and some require prior orientation and training such as animal handling training that you can get started on.
- Start Volunteering! Get started in your position. Our volunteers make a huge impact in Henderson County to ensure both pets and their people are happy, healthy, and thriving. We wouldn’t be able to accomplish all we do without them.
Heather Davis Studio & Gallery and GRIND have teamed up to bring plants to Pink Dog Creative on the weekends. Whynot Farm, which is affiliated with HDS&G, raises the plants on its farmland in Eastern TN, so they are locally-raised.
The plant sale will take place on Saturdays and Sundays, weather permitting, on the patio at Pink Dog Creative. During the week, select plants will be available for purchase in GRIND.
Gardening in the Mountains Presents:
Creating and Managing Pollinator Habitat
This presentation by Bryan Tompkins, Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service covers specific details about prepping, planting, and maintaining pollinator gardens as complete habitats. It will also discuss different opportunities and methods for implementing other pollinator-habitat components into your area—from assessing and developing a habitat suitable to your site to working with others in your neighborhood to create connected and contiguous habitat components. Bryan takes a deeper look into the elements and factors that are needed to go beyond just creating a nice flower garden. Armed with the information in this talk, you can create a habitat!
POLLINATOR PHOTO CONTEST… WITH PRIZES!
Now until June 27
Break out your smartphones and cameras this Week and start snapping pics of WNC’s native pollinators!
Enter your best photos in our contest for a chance to win incredible prizes, like a $100 gift card to Reems Creek Nursery, and an Asheville Bee Charmer gift basket!
While you’re out taking photos, consider also participating in our BioBlitz.
The North Carolina Arboretum is going wild for art and nature in 2021 with Wild Art! On view April 1 through September 26, this outdoor sculpture exhibition features works by 17 local and national artists drawing inspiration from the natural environment. Situated throughout the Arboretum’s spacious, open-air gardens, the show offers guests a doorway into the wild world from the comfort and safety of cultivated landscapes transformed by art.
The 18 sculptures on display represent a variety of approaches to the theme of “wild art,” from the literal to the abstract, and are crafted from a diverse array of materials that will delight and inspire. Let your imagination take you on a wild journey into the world of plants and animals near and far with Wild Art at The North Carolina Arboretum.
The exhibit is available to all guests during normal Arboretum hours, and there is no admission cost to view the sculptures beyond our usual parking fee of $16 per personal vehicle.
Included with admission
Our fun-for-all-ages botanical model train displays invite you to experience our grounds in an engaging new way. Located in the Conservatory in the Walled Garden, the displays feature replicas of structures connected with Biltmore and its founder George Vanderbilt. Each beautifully executed piece was handcrafted from such natural elements as leaves, bark, and twigs.
In compliance with state and local mandates related to COVID-19, all guests must enter the Conservatory via the ADA entrance in the back and follow a one-way route.
Join naturalist, plant ecologist, and garden educator Lisa Wagner to learn how to create a landscape that supports native pollinators.
Native bees, honeybees, flower flies, butterflies, and hummingbirds are among North America’s best-known pollinators. Enjoyable to watch, they’re even more important in their role as pollinators; most flowering plants (90%) depend on pollinators for successful reproduction, including a third of our food plants. Join naturalist, plant ecologist, and garden educator Lisa Wagner to learn how to create a landscape that supports pollinators with plants that provide nectar and pollen throughout the growing season. She’ll talk about habitat characteristics that are important for pollinators, provide suggestions for plants to add to your garden, and discuss ways to support pollinators in your own garden and community.
.
Lisa was the Director of Education at the South Carolina Botanical Garden at Clemson University for over 20 years before she and her husband retired to Asheville, North Carolina. A plant ecologist by background (Ph.D. in Botany, UC Berkeley), she’s interested in native plants, sustainable gardening, vegetable gardening, and public outreach as well as being a keen gardener. She often teaches classes at the NC Arboretum and the Botanical Gardens at Asheville, in addition to doing presentations for groups (now as a volunteer). Her blogs, Natural Gardening (www.naturalgardening.blogspot.com) and Places of the Spirit (www.placesofthespirit.blogspot.com) reflect her observations about the natural world, gardening, and sense of place.
Gardening in the Mountains Presents:
Creating and Managing Pollinator Habitat
This presentation by Bryan Tompkins, Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service covers specific details about prepping, planting, and maintaining pollinator gardens as complete habitats. It will also discuss different opportunities and methods for implementing other pollinator-habitat components into your area—from assessing and developing a habitat suitable to your site to working with others in your neighborhood to create connected and contiguous habitat components. Bryan takes a deeper look into the elements and factors that are needed to go beyond just creating a nice flower garden. Armed with the information in this talk, you can create a habitat!
POLLINATOR PHOTO CONTEST… WITH PRIZES!
Now until June 27
Break out your smartphones and cameras this Week and start snapping pics of WNC’s native pollinators!
Enter your best photos in our contest for a chance to win incredible prizes, like a $100 gift card to Reems Creek Nursery, and an Asheville Bee Charmer gift basket!
While you’re out taking photos, consider also participating in our BioBlitz.
The North Carolina Arboretum is going wild for art and nature in 2021 with Wild Art! On view April 1 through September 26, this outdoor sculpture exhibition features works by 17 local and national artists drawing inspiration from the natural environment. Situated throughout the Arboretum’s spacious, open-air gardens, the show offers guests a doorway into the wild world from the comfort and safety of cultivated landscapes transformed by art.
The 18 sculptures on display represent a variety of approaches to the theme of “wild art,” from the literal to the abstract, and are crafted from a diverse array of materials that will delight and inspire. Let your imagination take you on a wild journey into the world of plants and animals near and far with Wild Art at The North Carolina Arboretum.
The exhibit is available to all guests during normal Arboretum hours, and there is no admission cost to view the sculptures beyond our usual parking fee of $16 per personal vehicle.
Included with admission
Our fun-for-all-ages botanical model train displays invite you to experience our grounds in an engaging new way. Located in the Conservatory in the Walled Garden, the displays feature replicas of structures connected with Biltmore and its founder George Vanderbilt. Each beautifully executed piece was handcrafted from such natural elements as leaves, bark, and twigs.
In compliance with state and local mandates related to COVID-19, all guests must enter the Conservatory via the ADA entrance in the back and follow a one-way route.
Gardening in the Mountains Presents:
Creating and Managing Pollinator Habitat
This presentation by Bryan Tompkins, Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service covers specific details about prepping, planting, and maintaining pollinator gardens as complete habitats. It will also discuss different opportunities and methods for implementing other pollinator-habitat components into your area—from assessing and developing a habitat suitable to your site to working with others in your neighborhood to create connected and contiguous habitat components. Bryan takes a deeper look into the elements and factors that are needed to go beyond just creating a nice flower garden. Armed with the information in this talk, you can create a habitat!
POLLINATOR PHOTO CONTEST… WITH PRIZES!
Now until June 27
Break out your smartphones and cameras this Week and start snapping pics of WNC’s native pollinators!
Enter your best photos in our contest for a chance to win incredible prizes, like a $100 gift card to Reems Creek Nursery, and an Asheville Bee Charmer gift basket!
While you’re out taking photos, consider also participating in our BioBlitz.
The North Carolina Arboretum is going wild for art and nature in 2021 with Wild Art! On view April 1 through September 26, this outdoor sculpture exhibition features works by 17 local and national artists drawing inspiration from the natural environment. Situated throughout the Arboretum’s spacious, open-air gardens, the show offers guests a doorway into the wild world from the comfort and safety of cultivated landscapes transformed by art.
The 18 sculptures on display represent a variety of approaches to the theme of “wild art,” from the literal to the abstract, and are crafted from a diverse array of materials that will delight and inspire. Let your imagination take you on a wild journey into the world of plants and animals near and far with Wild Art at The North Carolina Arboretum.
The exhibit is available to all guests during normal Arboretum hours, and there is no admission cost to view the sculptures beyond our usual parking fee of $16 per personal vehicle.
Included with admission
Our fun-for-all-ages botanical model train displays invite you to experience our grounds in an engaging new way. Located in the Conservatory in the Walled Garden, the displays feature replicas of structures connected with Biltmore and its founder George Vanderbilt. Each beautifully executed piece was handcrafted from such natural elements as leaves, bark, and twigs.
In compliance with state and local mandates related to COVID-19, all guests must enter the Conservatory via the ADA entrance in the back and follow a one-way route.
You might be aware of the plight of the pollinators. And maybe you’ve heard of issues affecting pollinator health such as pesticides, disease, loss of habitat, and climate change. But did you know that artificial outdoor lighting can adversely affect pollinator health? Recent research is
uncovering some surprising and alarming effects that artificial outdoor lighting can have on nocturnal and diurnal pollinators and the plants that they need to survive. In the last twenty years, light emissions have increased by 70% in residential areas around the world. From reductions in flower visits by pollinators to reduced seed and fruit set in plants, artificial outdoor lighting is impacting natural ecosystems in ways we never before imagined. Join us as we explore the research and effects of artificial lighting as well as mitigation measures we can all take to minimize the effects of the human desire to overcome the darkness of night.
Bryan has spent the past 15-years as a Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in Asheville, North Carolina. He currently serves as the USFWS – Southeast Region recovery biologist for the federally endangered rusty-patched bumble bee and is the Energy Project Coordinator for the Asheville Field Office where he reviews energy production and development projects such as hydropower, coal combustion, natural gas, solar arrays, and wind farms. His job responsibilities consist of coordinating with energy companies to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats from impacts associated with energy production projects. His recent efforts have been focused on the conservation of pollinator species with emphasis on the preservation and restoration of native pollinator habitat in North Carolina. He is a founding member of the North Carolina Pollinator Conservation Alliance – a diverse group of dedicated stakeholders from state and federal agencies, educational institutions, businesses, and non-profit organizations that have shared interests in advancing pollinator conservation in North Carolina and an active member of the Asheville Bee City Leadership Committee. In his free time, Bryan enjoys backcountry camping, float fishing the many beautiful rivers of western North Carolina, gardening, and spending time in the outdoors with his family.
Looking to get involved, stay active, and meet some new friends? Sand Hill Community Garden workdays take place on Wednesdays (6-8 p.m.) and Saturdays (10 a.m.-noon) from Feb. 27-Oct. 30, 2021, at Buncombe County Sports Park. The garden is located on 16 Apac Dr. in West Asheville/Enka-Candler.
Join friends and neighbors as they come together on common ground to raise fresh, organic vegetables and fruits for the Enka community.
Expect to wear a mask and maintain social distance throughout. Tools and hand sanitizer are available, but any gloves, loppers, pruners, or gardening tools you can bring will decrease the amount of contact between volunteers. Please wear work clothes to get dirty and closed-toe shoes. Sunscreen, water, and a hat are also handy items to have on hand.
Sand Hill Community Garden has been growing fresh produce since 2011 and raised over 1,200 lbs. of organic produce last year.
NOTE: Community workdays are weather dependent. Please join the community garden email list (send your info to [email protected]) to stay up on workday tasks and other garden news.
To receive the I Heart Parks monthly newsletter, sign up online. Follow Buncombe County Recreation on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates.
POLLINATOR PHOTO CONTEST… WITH PRIZES!
Now until June 27
Break out your smartphones and cameras this Week and start snapping pics of WNC’s native pollinators!
Enter your best photos in our contest for a chance to win incredible prizes, like a $100 gift card to Reems Creek Nursery, and an Asheville Bee Charmer gift basket!
While you’re out taking photos, consider also participating in our BioBlitz.
The North Carolina Arboretum is going wild for art and nature in 2021 with Wild Art! On view April 1 through September 26, this outdoor sculpture exhibition features works by 17 local and national artists drawing inspiration from the natural environment. Situated throughout the Arboretum’s spacious, open-air gardens, the show offers guests a doorway into the wild world from the comfort and safety of cultivated landscapes transformed by art.
The 18 sculptures on display represent a variety of approaches to the theme of “wild art,” from the literal to the abstract, and are crafted from a diverse array of materials that will delight and inspire. Let your imagination take you on a wild journey into the world of plants and animals near and far with Wild Art at The North Carolina Arboretum.
The exhibit is available to all guests during normal Arboretum hours, and there is no admission cost to view the sculptures beyond our usual parking fee of $16 per personal vehicle.
Included with admission
Our fun-for-all-ages botanical model train displays invite you to experience our grounds in an engaging new way. Located in the Conservatory in the Walled Garden, the displays feature replicas of structures connected with Biltmore and its founder George Vanderbilt. Each beautifully executed piece was handcrafted from such natural elements as leaves, bark, and twigs.
In compliance with state and local mandates related to COVID-19, all guests must enter the Conservatory via the ADA entrance in the back and follow a one-way route.
Join Sarah Fraser, New Belgium’s Sustainability Specialist, for a tour of their pollinator-friendly landscape. As part of a multi-faceted effort to make their Asheville brewery as sustainable as possible, New Belgium has incorporated an array of native, pollinator-friendly plants into their landscape. Stop by to learn more about what they’re doing to help pollinators and grab a beer afterwards! Please meet outside the Liquid Center.