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.
Presenting “Of The Universe: A Recital Benefiting Literacy Together,” a vocal recital to raise awareness for Literacy Together (www.lit-together.org). Originally conceived as an event in partnership with First Presbyterian Church of Asheville’s Mission Committee, this program will emphasize sacred text settings of a historically significant nature to bring attention to the fantastic and vital work done by Literacy Together, whose mission is to transform lives and communities through the power of literacy.
The program includes Harmonia Sacra selections by Henry Purcell, Spanisches Liederbuch selections by Hugo Wolf, an oratorio aria from George Frideric Handel’s La resurrezione, art songs by Ned Rorem and Libby Larson, and selections from Benjamin Britten’s The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Op. 35. The music program should last one hour with a reception afterward.
This event is *FREE* to the public, but all attendees are kindly asked to donate any amount to Literacy Together as they can. Please share this event with anyone you think may be interested!
Performing artists are as follows:
Casey Edwards, tenor
Barbara Weiss, harpsichord
Jeremy Roberts, organ
Katherine Haig, cello
David Berger, piano
Live music returns to the Old Rock Cafe with our new music series: Playing for our Partners. Come enjoy an evening of good food and good music on the deck overlooking the Rocky Broad River and support a good cause, too. A percentage of proceeds from each event in the series will benefit one of our local non-profit partners. The September event will feature musician Mike Pauer and support Appalachian Wildlife Refuge.
Bring your furry friends for a rooftop {paw}ty benefiting the Asheville Humane Society on Thursday, September 22nd from 5-7pm at the Pack Square Parking Garage off 26 Biltmore Avenue! This free event will include multiple breweries with beer tastings, live music, caricature art, pet portraits and more!
Join us on at Innisfree Farm at 1485 North Rugby Road for the WNC Family Fall Festival – a benefit for Hands On! Children’s Museum!
CALLING ALL WNC FAMILIES! Join us at the Innisfree Farm on Saturday, September 24, 2022 for the WNC Family Fall Festival- A Hands On! Reunion presented by Turf Mountain Sod. All proceeds from this event benefit Hands On! Children’s Museum, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
LOCATION & PARKING
The WNC Family Fall Festival is located at the Innisfree Farm located at 1485 North Rugby Road. Parking is free and avaliable on the property.
TICKETS
Tickets for this event is $40 per adult, $20 per child, and $75 per adult couple. Tickets include access to all festival activities, ONE (1) BBQ/Hot Dog Dinner, soft drinks, and ONE (1) alocholic beverage for adults 21+. Additional alocholic beverages will be available for purchase. All attendees are encouraged to bring a lawn chair and/or blanket.
ACTIVITIES
Event activites include but are not limited to: Fun Children’s Games, Old-Fashioned Cake Walk, Face Painting, Live DJ, Hay Rides, Pony Rides, 50/50 Cash Raffle, and Fireworks!
50/50 RAFFLE
Adults 18+ are eligible to purchase ticket(s) for the 50/50 raffle. At the conclusion of the WNC Family Fall Festival a drawing will take place to determine the winner of the raffle. The winner will receive 50% of the total raffle ticket sales.
Tickets are $5 each, or FIVE (5) tickets can be purchases for $20. Raffle tickets are available to purchase in-person at Hands On! Children’s Museum Tuesday – Satrurday between 9am and 5pm. The museum is located at 318 North Main Street in Downtown Hendersonville. Tickets will also be available for purchase during the WNC Family Fall Festival.
The drawing will take place at the conclusion of the event, and you do not need to be present to win. The winner of the 50/50 raffle is responsible for their taxes (federal and state). Any fees or other taxes in connection with the 50/50 raffle, are the sole responsibility of the winner. The winner will receive IRS Form W2G, and the amount of the winnings will be reported to the IRS of the winnings. State and Federal Taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner. The ticket purchase price does not qualify as a charitable contribution.
EVENT POLICIES
WEATHER: Please note this event is rain or shine. In the evevent of dangerous inclement weather conditons, the event will be cancelled and your ticket purchase will become a tax-deductible donation to the museum.
PETS: For the safety of all event attendees, non-service animals are not allowed on the property. Please do not bring your pet(s) to this event.
Jubilee showcases excellent local talent in many arts: music, poetry, theater, comedy and more.

Our partners at Wicked Weed Brewing are teaming up with Hickory Nut Gap Farm (protected by SAHC farmland conservation easement) to host an evening with live music from Rudy Ralis and Daniel Shearin and band, delicious food from HNG Meats and Garage BBQ food truck, cold Wicked Weed beers, and Fairview style fun! Proceeds from the event will benefit Southern Appalachian Highland Conservancy and Project HNG. Come celebrate #Appalachia! MORE DETAILS TBA

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Honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month with The MakeHER Market at Reynolds Village
The MakeHER Market returns to Reynolds Village in North Asheville on Saturday, October 22nd in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, an annual campaign to raise awareness about the impacts of breast cancer.
The October 2022 MakeHER Market will feature more than 20 female, independent creatives, makers, and designers and their unique, hand-crafted goods, as well as raise money for a local breast cancer support organization. The Hope Chest for Women is an organization that provides support to women living in all 22 counties of WNC and relieves some of the financial burdens created by breast or gynecological cancer treatment costs. Locally handmade art, accessories, and botanicals, as well as Fair Trade coffee, jewelry, and home décor, will be available to purchase at The MakeHER Market. The event is organized by Pride & Archive, Maadili Collective, and Hello, Gorgeous! Professional Bra Fitting & More, all women-led, local Asheville companies. In addition to shopping for local vendor goods, guests can donate gently used bras to Hello Gorgeous! Bra Drive for HelpMate. This year-round program aims to provide courageous survivors of domestic violence with bra fittings and gently loved, cleaned, and curated bras at no cost to the survivors. The MakeHER Market event aims to honor the empowerment and enterprising ventures of diverse women locally and abroad as well as honor the October observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and promote the mission for every woman to have access to the screenings she needs and the support she deserves.
Started in March 2019, the MakeHER Market began as a way to highlight and create connections between the talented community of Asheville female entrepreneurs, as well as establish a local event to celebrate International Women’s Day. Since its inception, the MakeHER Market has evolved to include a focus on women’s social and health-related issues and partner with local organizations in efforts to fundraise and raise awareness of various causes.
Event hours are 11 am to 5 pm, admission is free and families are welcome.
This will be a trunk or treat for children. There will be a beautiful collection of cars, candy prizes and loads of family fun.
Come out in a family friendly costume with your well behaved dog (costumes highly encouraged) and help raise funds for Eblen Charities work! All dogs will receive a treat, and all humans will be entered into raffles for prizes. All funds raised go to our work to keep people housed, with working utilities and other essential needs. Register by October 7th to be guaranteed a tshirt.
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Be one of Santa’s Important People with the fun new way to participate in the 42nd annual SMOKY MOUNTAIN TOY RUN!
SIP participants will have reserved parking at Kearfott, a specially designed commemorative Toy Run hoodie sweatshirt, rocker and patch. Additionally the SIP participants will lead the way to Downtown Asheville!
$75.00 per single rider or $100.00 per couple on a bike also includes event entrance fee.
Gates opens at 10:00 am and the SIP’s will lead the ride to downtown Asheville at 1:00 pm.
The Smoky Mountain Toy Run is the oldest running Toy Run in North Carolina!
Celebrating 42 years of insuring a Merry Christmas to children in need!
In an effort to guarantee shirts are available for all SIP participants we ask that you please pre-register before October 30!
Additional 2022 tee shirts and hoodies available at the event, as well as, a limited selection of vintage designs.
Come be a part of this wonderful community event that helps children of our community have a brighter holiday!
ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT
EBLEN CHARITIES
SAINT NICHOLAS PROJECT
You can be one of Santa’s Important People!
is almost here, and you can still be one of Santa’s Important People. Visit this link to learn more and sign up.
All funds and toys collected will go to support our St. Nicholas Project store, now in its 12th year. Last year we helped more than 1,350 families with holiday gifts for their children. We’re grateful to the Smoky Mountain Toy Run folks and all who help us make this a magical holiday season for kids, regardless of their family’s financial situation.

Join us for our monthly poetry event featuring three poets and coordinated by Mildred Barya. This month, we welcome Sarah Cooper, Barbara Costas-Biggs, and AE Hines. This is a hybrid event, meaning there is an option to attend virtually and a limited amount of seats available to attend the event in-store. The event is free but registration is required for both in-person and virtual attendance.
Please click here to register for the VIRTUAL event. The link required to attend will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.
Please click here to register for the IN-PERSON event.
This event includes a book signing. If you are not attending in person but would like a signed book you may request one using the comments field when you order online or by call the store at 828-254-6734 during store hours.
If you decide to attend and purchase the authors’ books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you! Feel free to email [email protected] with questions. We look forward to seeing you, whether in-person or online!
Sarah Cooper is the author of two poetry collections: Permanent Marker (Paper Nautilus, 2020) and most recently, 89% (Clemson University Press 2022). Her poems also appear in Lunch, Sinister Wisdom, Iron Horse and other anthologies and literary journals. Currently, Sarah is a PhD candidate in Rhetorics, Communication and Informational Design at Clemson University. Her dissertation project explores how spatial practices intersect with lesbian identity. She is a professor of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies at Clemson University where she received the Holman Award for teaching, was a 2021 LGBTQ+ Faculty Excellence Award winner, a 2022 Gentry Award winner for teaching excellence and the 2022 Tee A. Corrine Fellow at the University of Oregon. For more, visit https://www.sarahcooperpoet.com/poetry
Sometimes, a poem can show us a map of the human heart and all its pumping valves, all the blood it welcomes and lets go. In 89%, Sarah Cooper gives us that map from all angles-the love and loss of a mother, the loss and love of self, the way romantic love can scare us into silence. In this stunning debut collection, Cooper splays open these moments of tenderness with precision and skill. This book is both the carving knife and the soothing balm. These poems have an unflinching eye-they see all the way through us and then swaddle us in whole, critical heartbeat of truth. 89% won the poetry prize for the Clemson-Converse Literature Series.
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Barbara Costas-Biggs is a poet and librarian from Southern Ohio. Her work has appeared in Appalachian Review, Northern Appalachian Review, The Pikeville Review, 8Poems, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, The Other Shore, was a finalist for the Washburn Prize from Harbor Review. She holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and an MLIS from Kent State University. For more, visit http://stilljournal.net/interview-barbara-costas-biggs.php
“Things can be idyllic and then ugly,” Barbara Costas-Biggs writes. “A basket of pears in ochre, then piss the same color.” In Broken On the Wheel, the familiar is made strange, as it is in dreams. The speaker of these poems is a mother, a griever, a “hope-against-hoper,” so it’s no wonder this collection is packed with epiphanies and memories and crapshoots—“That in-between stuff./ What we, I hope, are mostly made of.” Broken On the Wheel is a perceptive, masterful debut.
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AE Hines’s debut collection, Any Dumb Animal, received Honorable Mention in the North Carolina Poetry Society’s 2022 Brockman-Campbell Book contest, and was also a daVinci Eye finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book award. His work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, Rhino, American Poetry Review, Poet Lore, The Greensboro Review, Ninth Letter, The Missouri Review, Tar River Poetry and elsewhere. Born and raised in rural North Carolina, AE resides in Charlotte and Medellín, Colombia. For more, visit https://www.aehines.net
Any Dumb Animal (Main Street Rag, 2021), AE Hines’s poetry collection, presents a memoir-in-verse as told by a gay man raised in the rural South who comes of age during the AIDS crisis. Flashing back and forth in time, a cast of recurring characters and circumstances are woven into a rich tale of survival and redemption, exploring one man’s life as a queer son, father, and husband, over a span of more than thirty years.
The Buncombe Partnership for Children and Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty invite you to an evening for BPFC’s Reach Out and Read partnership, bringing books to children and families. Bid on great silent auction items including art, gift baskets, classes, fine food and drinks, and gift certificates. Donations are also gratefully accepted. Help meet the ambitious goal of $9,000 raised for early literacy.
Together with French Broad Pediatrics and Our Family Doctor, BPFC gives over 3,100 books per year to children ages birth to 5 at their doctors’ visits. Pediatricians use books in these appointments to encourage families to read, sing, and talk with their kids. Then each child takes a book home. For some families, these books are the only ones they have in their homes.Parents in the program are 2.5 times more likely to read with their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. And children’s language development is improved by a whole 3-6 months by the age of 5!
Inspired by nature and following the self-published released of How to Heal the Planet from Wherever You Are, Cortina Jenelle introduces Oshanna Church of Spiritual Activism, with Oshanna debuting as a dynamic experience rooted in ceremony and inviting nature as a co-facilitator through theater, art and spoken word. After each production, all ticket proceeds are donated to a mission partner who is doing work in service to Mother Earth while also furthering truth, healing and reconciliation across race, gender and class.
Black Starseed: Immaculate Conception is the second installment of the Black Starseed series, which goes back in time as a prelude to Black Starseed: Revolutionary Reimagination (2020) – a debut partnership between adé PROJECT and PechaKucha Asheville co-creating a storytelling experience in voice of Black women at the intersection of creativity x spirituality. In this prelude, the life story of Cortina Jenelle becomes a moving memoir and an embodiment of a shared story from the matriarchs of Black, indigenous descent in a world where femininity, Blackness, sovereignty and indigeneity were not just criminal, but a threat to society. Black Starseed: Immaculate Conception may appear to just tell the story of one, yet is actually one version of the same story that constantly loops through time. Do you know how purposeful, brilliant and divine you already are, Starseed? This is heart song of the black sheep generation + millennials, and those born torn between ancestral remembrance and playing the game of life to win. Join us in a gathering of art, theater, ceremony (with a bonus book signing post-show) and storytelling and leave reminded of how to heal the planet from wherever you are.
Ticket proceeds benefit cleanup of the French Broad River with our mission partner for this show, Asheville Greenworks.

We are grateful to offer a benefit event again this December, the first since 2019.
This year’s performance will feature Chautauqua performer Carol Kessler, as Emily Dickinson, and the Asheville Flute Choir lending their talents to benefit Our Voice.
In the spirit of inclusivity and equity, PAN HARMONIA offers donation-based, pay-as-you-can community concerts. All are welcome.
Our VOICE serves all individuals in Buncombe County affected by sexual assault and abuse, through counseling, advocacy and education. https://www.ourvoicenc.org/
Advanced reservations are encouraged, as seating is limited. Those planning to attend are expected to be fully vaccinated for the safety of our community.
Email [email protected] or call the office at (828) 254-7123, if you have questions.
panharmonia.org
Punch Bucket Lit, West Asheville’s reading series at Cellarest Beer Project is back for more live readings in our taproom featuring authors Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn and Emily Paige Wilson. While the authors vary month-to-month you can always count on inspiring poetry, moving essays and heartfelt original literary works read aloud in the contemplative company of other lit nerds and creative types alike. We’ll booze, we’ll listen, we’ll feel feelings and we’ll see the world through a different lens for an evening.
– FULLY SEATED SHOW
THE MOTH resumes their recurring monthly Asheville StorySLAM at The Grey Eagle on the third Thursday of each month through December at 7:30pm! This month’s theme is….
ANNIVERSARY: Prepare a five-minute story about milestones. Enduring love or loss. The fondness of nostalgia and the lessons of growth. Seconds, minutes, hours, or when time stood still. Paper or silver…extra points if you make it to platinum. Rejoice or reflect on the past while plotting the course ahead. Cheers to many more years!
Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.
– STANDING ROOM ONLY
BENEFIT CONCERT FOR EVERGREEN COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL
Evergreen Community Charter School is a K-8 learning community committed to the pursuit of excellence in the holistic education of mind, body, and spirit. We prepare students for successful lifelong learning, social responsibility, environmental stewardship, and service. We value the voice of every member of our community.
Featuring….
THE LATE SHIFTERS
Southern rock meets jam band meets Americana with The Late Shifters, a necessity-born, passion-driven, local band, playing back holler, Asheville rock.
With a nod to their Southern rock and Appalachian roots, The Late Shifters have found a way to express their love for the region and its rich environment and culture through amplified and warm electric sound. Three guitars and three vocalists weave texture and melodic layers through their catchy original tunes that’ll have you singing along before the night is through.
In 2023, the band will be releasing their debut album featuring crowd-favorite originals like Highway 191 and Letting Go. They have an enthusiastic following around town and have plans to take their show on the road regionally this spring. These five, hardworking, hard-playing family men have brought together their individual talents from both southern corners of Buncombe County. The Late Shifters have been playing around the corner and around the campfire for years, and chances are, you probably know at least one of them. Bring your families and boogie shoes for a soul-warming, bootie shaking, rocking good time.
The Blushin’ Roulettes deliver sultry, smoky, swingin’ twang. “Their songs are stripped down, sexy little jewel boxes stuffed with ancient mountain magic,” says the San Francisco Free Folk Festival. Guitaress and songwriter Angie Heimann belts her stirring songs of damsels in their bliss and distress in a clarion vibrato often likened to Iris Dement. Cas Sochacki thumps the double bass and interlaces bright dobro stylings amid the rich lyrics of the Roulettes’ more serious songs, and rings in vocally with his molasses baritone on the occasional cheeky duet. The Roulettes have newly expanded their North Carolina lineup to include the prominent Asheville players Cynthia McDermott (mandolin and vocals,) Jay Brown (guitar and vocals) and James T. Browne (drums.)
The Blushin’ Roulettes’ appearances include performances at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival, San Francisco Free Folk Festival, North Bay Hootennany and the Humboldt Folklife Festival, as well as shared stages with the Wailin’ Jennies, Wayne the Train Hancock, Big Sandy and His Fly Right Boys, and The Devil Makes 3, and poet John Trudell. Angie has won songwriting awards in KZFR/Sierra Nevada’s Celebration of the Song, Woody Guthrie Songwriting Contest, Artists for Literacy SIBL Songwriting Contest, and South Florida Folk Festival.
JUAN HOLLADAY
Hailing from the desert southwest, Juan Holladay is a quiet storm, down tempo, lo-fi crooner.
This virtual event is free but registration is required.
Jameka Williams holds an MFA in poetry from Northwestern University. Her poetry has been published in Prelude Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, and Gulf Coast, among others. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she resides in Chicago, Illinois.
Diamond Forde’s debut collection, Mother Body, is the winner of the 2019 Saturnalia Poetry Prize. Forde has received numerous awards and prizes, including a Pink Poetry Prize, a Furious Flower Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the 2022 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. You can find more at her website, www.diamondforde.com.
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Kendra Allen is the author of The Collection Plate and When You Learn the Alphabet, an essay collection that won the 2018 Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction. She writes the music column Make Love in My Car for Southwest Review, and her memoir, Fruit Punch, is out now. You can keep up with her work at KendraCanYou.com.
Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.
Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.
Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.
Black Diamond Enterprise presents Black Poetry Theatre* for Black History Month @ The Foundry (*along with other happenings), Feb. 3rd, 5pm. This is a FREE event. Come join us as we explore the Joy, Pain, Sunshine & Rain of life. Enjoy the encouragement and singing with us!
Check for other dates as well.
Kate Steinbeck flute and Dewitt Tipton piano
Music of JS Bach, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Claude Debussy, Albert Roussel and Katherine Hoover
Read more about Adventure Armenia here: https://panharmonia.org/2023/01/02/adventure-armenia/
We are committed to ensuring that programs remain accessible to all members of the community. In the spirit of inclusivity and equity, PAN HARMONIA offers donation-based, pay-as-you-can community concerts. All are welcome.
Those planning to attend are expected to be fully vaccinated for the safety of our community. Advanced reservations are encouraged.
Email [email protected] or call the office at (828) 254-7123, if you have questions.
panharmonia.org
A portion of all sales will be donated to Sleep Tight Kids, a local non-profit that provides newly purchased bed time essentials to children who are experiencing trauma or displacement.

Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.


