The Battery Park end of the Grove Arcade is home to the Makers Market, an outdoor bazaar with a dozen stalls filled by artisans selling their craft directly to the public. The market is now accepting vendor applications for local artist to sell their wares, and the application fee is currently waived due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more about the process and vendor regulations, as well as how to apply, here.

As families are looking to start the 2020/2021 school year with remote learning, Henderson County Public Schools is addressing the need of families without access to internet in their homes. Families without internet access can request hotspots from HCPS. Spanish form available.

100% grassfed ground beef. Balanced at a perfect 80% lean, 20% fat blend, every bite of this ground beef is delicious and flavorful. Whether you’re spending the day out at the grill, or perfecting your signature spaghetti sauce recipe, Hickory Nut Gap Farm’s ground beef provides an exceptional and nutritious staple to your cooking adventures.

Always 100% grassfed, always 100% hormone and antibiotic free.

Ground Beef is cryovac packed and frozen. If kept frozen, maintains a 12 month shelf life from pack date.

Child Care Hotline Available to Help Families with School-Age Children Find Care Families have experienced an interruption in child care plans due to the COVID19 pandemic and North Carolina has responded with a hotline that can help connect families with child care options. Families and caregivers in need of child care for children up to age 12 can call the child care hotline at 1-888-600-1685 to be connected directly to care options in their community that meet their families’ needs. As of Aug. 10, there are about 30,000 slots available for school-age children in licensed child care programs across the state.

The first in our series of videos empowering you to make your own endless kombucha from scratch- follow along as we use a bottle of live, active Buchi kombucha to grow our own SCOBY for fermenting kombucha! Questions? Check out our FAQ: http://www.drinkbuchi.com/blog/make-y… Follow us on insta! http://instagram.com/drinkbuchi

The City of Asheville is looking for input from the community on a report prepared by the I-26 Aesthetics Committee.  Read more and weigh in on the report at https://t.e2ma.net/click/nkulzj/jl0fq2/j5zs7ee

Classic Family Adventure in Western North Carolina

North Carolina’s shimmering Nantahala River, located just outside Bryson City, NC, at 13077 Highway 19 West, Bryson City, NC 28713. This location offers river rafting through family-friendly rapids that are mild but exciting. The Nantahala features eight miles of practice on easy Class II rapids before splashing through the exciting Class III whitewater of Nantahala Falls.

The Nantahala is also headquarters of the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Founded in 1972, NOC is located at the intersection of the Appalachian Trail and the Nantahala River in the Nantahala National Forest. Originally a roadside inn, the company has evolved into one of the largest outdoor recreation companies in the nation, hosting well over one million guests each year.

NOC’s 500-acre adventure center offers whitewater rafting, four aerial and zipline activities, mountain biking on nine miles of private trails, and stand-up paddleboarding on Lake Fontana. In between activities, you can shop at one of NOC’s four retail stores including NOC’s flagship Outfitter’s Store, eat at NOC’s two riverfront restaurants, and even stay in a cabin adjoining the Appalachian Trail.

Equity underlies everything we do. We serve immigrants, low-wealth, and disadvantaged individuals of every age. We know that literacy is the primary determinant of health, employment, income levels, and constructive self-expression. In 2017, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that sixty percent of children nationwide are not reading proficiently. Without intervention children who do not read proficiently become adults with low literacy and the cycle continues. Our one-on-one and small group tutoring is free and based on students’ schedules, making it accessible to those who would otherwise be unable to afford or attend traditional classroom settings.

Our Ideal Volunteer Tutor

The ideal volunteer tutor is someone seeking to make a one-year commitment of two hours per week to help someone else make the change of a lifetime. For our volunteer tutors, an education background is helpful, but not necessary. The most important qualities are patience, an open mind, and resourcefulness. Tutors also need to be non-judgmental and sensitive to cultural differences. A GED or high school diploma is required. Ideal tutors enjoy seeing concrete outcomes from their efforts and sharing in the life-changing successes of others. See our full tutor position description here.

Hey Q Nation!  Here’s a way to wear the Q logo proudly AND support local businesses!  Thanks to Dave Riddell and Big Frog Custom T-shirts for the Love Local movement!  Order your WTZQ T-Shirt (link below) and WTZQ will use 100% of the profit to purchase gift certificates and gift cards from local businesses to give away as part of our Love Hendo prize packs!  It’s a win-win-win!  Order your Q-shirt today by clicking the link below.  JUST CLICK PICK UP AT BIG FROG —  We’ll get them delivered to the radio station and let you know when you can get them her at the Q!  These are high quality, ultra-comfortable T-shirts that you are gonna LOVE!  Thanks for supporting our local businesses!

Click HERE to order my Love Local WTZQ T-shirt now!!

If you’re able to volunteer, all of us at MANNA, as well as recipients of food boxes across WNC, would be incredibly grateful for your support. If you’re unable to volunteer, we would greatly appreciate you spreading the word and letting friends, family members and neighbors know of the need for food assistance that exists right now and how they can help by volunteering with us here at MANNA. Those interested in volunteering can sign up for a shift on MANNA’s website. Volunteer shifts are Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, and 1:00 – 3:00 PM.

MANNA NEEDS VOLUNTEERS Without Key Groups of Volunteers, MANNA is Straining to Meet the Food Needs for 100,000 People Each Month

Laura Brooks, co-chair of The Learning Garden’s vegetable plot located at the Buncombe County Extension office, highlights the three most common pests that were encountered last year in The Learning Garden: squash vine borers, flea beetles, and Mexican bean beetles. She describes the organic methods that Master Gardeners used to help ward off these pesky insects. Laura explains the life cycle of these insects, what they look like from larvae to adult stages, when they emerge, and effective treatments.

Friday, August 21, 2020 at 12 noon WNC Communities held the 30^th Western North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Mountain Horticulture Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River. North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Steve Troxler, was inducted during a modified awards presentation. Due to current restrictions regarding public gatherings, the scaled-down ceremony was livestreamed and a limited number of attendees were present to substitute for the normal luncheon and gathering of peers, guests and friends. The ceremony can be viewed via the WNC Communities Video YouTube Channel accessible through a link at wnccommunities.org.

Pardee Hospital Foundation is pleased to honor women in our community for sharing their story of courage, determination, and will as they have faced cancer and other diseases in their lives and in the lives of their families. Each year Women of Hope are honored as part of the Foundation’s Women Helping Women annual celebration. Nominees must be local residents. Preference is given to nominees who have survived any women’s health crisis (breast cancer and other cancers, heart disease, osteoporosis, to name a few), and who have received their treatment at Pardee UNC Health Care. Nomination forms are available online or in person at: Pardee Hospital Foundation office 561 Fleming Street, Hendersonville, NC 28739 Deadline for applications is September 1, 2020. Contact the Pardee Hospital Foundation office with any questions, 828-233-2700.

Now available as Video On Demand!

All tickets are $25.00 plus taxes and fees and benefit ACT.

Asheville Community Theatre’s annual fundraiser Costume Drama: A Fashion Show is a fashion show where designers create garments from unconventional materials. Twelve designers competed in this year’s challenge, four were chosen as category winners – and one was named the Best in Show winner.

As in years past, Best in Show will receive a $500 prize, and the other 3 winners will each receive a $250 prize. Winners are revealed at the end of the broadcast!

Costume Drama: A Fashion Show originally aired on Saturday, August 8, 2020. Video On Demand of this show will be available for purchase until September 30, 2020 at 11:59 pm.

We need your help to raise $20,000 to fully fund our Preservation Grant program for 2021.  Donate to this program before the end of August and have your gift matched by our Board of Directors up to $5850!  Over the last two years, this program has succeeded in expanding our reach in our underserved communities, but there is so much more to do.  With events like the Time Traveling Gala canceled and the impact of COVID-19 on giving, your support is more important than ever.  Now is your chance to double your impact and help us continue this work!

Apply to become a Featured Artist

https://sandhillartists.com/featured-artists/

28806, 28715, 28728, 28716, and 28810 are the eligible zip codes for entry.

While the UN reported that over 1 million species around the globe are at risk of extinction, the Trump administration responded by proposing rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act. Again and again, they have shown that they value profit over planet. But hope is not lost. Here is something you can do today. When you get any item in the Save the Bees collection, you are supporting LCV’s work to stop the climate crisis and protect endangered species. 

Chef Mike McCarty, Co-owner of The Lobster Trap, fills us in on how they’ve created ways to keep guests safe while enjoying the restaurant. They are also offering “Finish at Home” meals with a curbside pick up. See the video interview here! While we’ve all had to adjust to the “new normal” (whatever that is), our local business owners and managers each have their own story to tell about how they’ve been affected and what they are doing during these unprecedented times. Dig Local is proud to partner with our friend, Ann Smith, at Leap Frog Tours to interview some of the awesome folks who make Asheville, Asheville.

Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy. The Legacy of Congressman Lewis and Voting Rights

http://participate.lwv.org/c/10065/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=13972&utm_source=ActionAlert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=080620

On the 55th Anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we take this opportunity to think of the work of giants and those before us who have created the foundation on which we stand. As we commemorate this historic day for voting rights, we look back at the legacy of Congressman John Lewis, and his tireless fight and advocacy for voting rights and justice for Black people across the country. 

Congressman Lewis presided over the historic House vote in December 2019 for the Voting Rights Advancement Act. To fully honor his legacy would mean to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act in the Senate and restore protections for voters in a critical election year.

 The protections outlined in the Voting Rights Advancement Act will: 

• Re-establish preclearance coverage for states and localities with a history and pattern of discrimination in voting
• Provide preclearance nationwide for states and localities with substantial minority populations to enact voting changes that have historically contributed to voter suppression, such as changes in methods of election and cuts in polling locations
• Create greater transparency and public notice for last-minute voting information changes, such as polling location changes and ballot information