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.

Monday, February 20, 2023
THE MOTH Presents: Asheville StorySLAM – “Love HURTS”
Feb 20 @ 7:30 pm
The Grey Eagle

– PARTIALLY SEATED SHOW
– GA SEATING IN FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. 

THE MOTH resumes their recurring monthly Asheville StorySLAM at The Grey Eagle at 7:30pm! This month’s theme is….

LOVE HURTS:  Prepare a five-minute tale about a love that made you go OUCH. The agony of deferred love! The misery of good love, gone bad! The anguish of one-way love! Bring stories of your heart, kicked to the curb by the people or places or things you love…or used to love. Love that “Hurts So Good” also welcome.
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Poetry Open Mic
Feb 23 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Shakedown Kava Lounge, Hendersonville

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.

Sunday, February 26, 2023
Work trade Opportunity: Organic Growers School 30th Annual Spring Conference
Feb 26 @ 9:30 am – 6:00 pm
Mars Hill University Campus

Organic Growers School is now accepting work trade applications for the 30th Annual Spring Conference & Market!

The OGS Spring Conference will be held at Mars Hill University from February 24-26, 2023.

In exchange for each shift worked you will be compensated for the same day of the Conference. For example; if you work trade on Saturday, you will have access to the Conference on Saturday and will be free to attend workshops throughout the day, as long as they don’t conflict with your shift hours.

Work traders can select two shifts if they would like to attend on Saturday and Sunday, or three shifts, if they would like to participate the whole weekend.

General work trade shifts do not require special skills or backgrounds. They do, however, require timeliness and a friendly demeanor. Classroom Assistants/Moderators require training and classroom experience.

You should expect to be working during some of the class time unless you are approved for a pre-or post-conference shift, or come as a paying participant.

Please review the website for shift descriptions and complete the Work Trade Application if you are interested.

Work Trade at Spring Conference – Organic Growers School

We appreciate your interest in work trading for the 30th Annual Spring Conference & Market. Work traders play a vital role in the success of this event!

Thanks for your support,

Work Trade Deposit:

All volunteers are required to submit a $40 deposit. Please complete one registration and submit only one deposit. You may include any additional interest shifts in the additional notes section of the work trade application. Deposits are refunded once you complete your work trade shift. Once your schedule and duties are confirmed, it is up to you to show up for your shifts on time and to complete your shift as asked. In the unfortunate event that you do not fulfill your shift, we will process your credit card for the deposit amount. If providing a deposit is not possible, please email [email protected] so we may consider other options.

Thursday, March 2, 2023
Poetry Open Mic
Mar 2 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Shakedown Kava Lounge, Hendersonville

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.

Thursday, March 9, 2023
Poetry Open Mic
Mar 9 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Shakedown Kava Lounge, Hendersonville

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.

Thursday, March 16, 2023
Poetry Open Mic
Mar 16 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Shakedown Kava Lounge, Hendersonville

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.

Monday, March 20, 2023
THE MOTH Presents: Asheville StorySLAM – “Stakes”
Mar 20 @ 7:30 pm
The Grey Eagle

– PARTIALLY SEATED SHOW
– GA SEATING IN FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. 

THE MOTH resumes their recurring monthly Asheville StorySLAM at The Grey Eagle at 7:30pm! This month’s theme is….

STAKES:  Prepare a five-minute story about when it was make-or-break, all-or-nothing. When you dug in your heels or rose to the occasion. Packed it up, moved on, or made your claim. Proceed at your own risk…

 

Thursday, March 23, 2023
The Learning Garden presents: Building an ADA Compliant Raised Garden
Mar 23 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Buncombe County Extension Office

Accessible gardens such as raised beds offer a chance for wheelchair bound and individuals with physical limitations grow vegetables and enjoy gardening. Join Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Alan Wagner and other members of the EMGV team in The Learning Garden for this program covering all the significant points on how to build an ADA compliant raised bed, including height, dimensions, and the materials to use.
Portions of this program may be held outside; please dress appropriately for the weather.
The presentation is free, but attendance is limited and registration is required.

Poetry Open Mic
Mar 23 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Shakedown Kava Lounge, Hendersonville

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.

Thursday, March 30, 2023
Poetry Open Mic
Mar 30 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Shakedown Kava Lounge, Hendersonville

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.

Monday, April 24, 2023
THE MOTH Presents: Asheville StorySLAM – “Clean”
Apr 24 @ 7:30 pm
The Grey Eagle

– PARTIALLY SEATED SHOW
– GA SEATING IN FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. 

THE MOTH resumes their recurring monthly Asheville StorySLAM at The Grey Eagle at 7:30pm! This month’s theme is….


CLEAN:  
Prepare a five-minute story about spotlessness. Leaving your vices behind, purity through virtue, or coming out unscathed. Germaphobes or slobs. Colossal messes or confessions. The tidy and the untainted. Mr. Clean in the house!

Public Onsale Begins:

Monday, April 3, 2023 3:00 PM

Thursday, April 27, 2023
West Asheville Library Book Discussion–in person. Bring a poem to share. 
Apr 27 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
West Asheville Public Library
  In celebration of National Poetry Month, bring a poem that you have liked, and share with the group. Please email [email protected] if you have questions!
Friday, April 28, 2023
THE DEAD POETS WITH GLENIS REDMOND AND ALLAN WOLF
Apr 28 @ 7:30 pm
Genevieve's

Experience poetry unlike you’ve heard before with this collective of performance poets. The Dead Poets take center stage resurrecting classic words of the likes of Shakespeare, Hughes and Frost with expert musicianship and whit. Then be swept by the literary prowess of Redmond and entertained by Wolf.

Each with their own performance style and acclaimed in their own right,  have spent nearly 30 years performing regionally and nationally, educating through the power of verse.

Saturday, April 29, 2023
3rd Annual Spring Fling Ross Farm Nursery Greenhouses + Appalachian Standard
Apr 29 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Ross Farm

3rd Annual Spring Fling with over 20 craft artists, live music & food truck. 22 Living Greenhouses full of exotic plants, annuals, perennials, veggie starts, bushes and trees. Our very own Appalachian Standard CBD products for purchase.
Raffle with proceeds benefiting Asheville’s very own Dementia Partners!

Peace Garden + Market Annual Spring Fling
Apr 29 @ 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Peace Garden & Market

Our annual Spring Fling! is just a few weeks away (April 29th). We’ve got a great line up of performers and local vendors…and of course there will be loads and loads of plants!
Things kick off at 11am with the puppet show and will wind down sometime around 5 pm. As always, plants are available on sliding scale honor system – and all proceeds go to support our free CSA and youth programs.

Friday, May 5, 2023
Bloom WNC Summer Concert Series: Andrew Wakefield
May 5 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Bloom WNC Flower Farm

We are delighted to welcome Andrew Wakefield to Bloom WNC Outdoor Summer Concert Series!

Andrew Wakefield is a guitarist, songwriter and singer based in Asheville, NC. He has an extensive and eclectic catalogue of compositions ranging from guitar-driven bluegrass to folk, old-time, newgrass, rock, american, and more!

Saturday, May 6, 2023
2023 SPRING FLING PLANT SALE
May 6 @ 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
The Interchange Building

2023 SPRING FLING PLANT SALE, sponsored by the Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Buncombe County, the Asheville-Blue Ridge Rose Society, and The Men’s Garden Club of Asheville.

Extension Master Gardener volunteers will offer a huge selection of plants for any garden spot. Choose among perennials, ground covers, native plants, vegetable starts, herbs, shrubs. Garden art, books and some hard goods will also be available. Master Gardeners will help you select the right plant for the right place and answer your gardening questions.

The Asheville Blue Ridge Rose Society will sell many varieties of roses, including own-root, fragrant, and miniature roses. Expert rosarians will be on hand to help you choose the perfect rose and to give practical advice on growing and caring for roses.

The Men’s Garden Club of Asheville will be selling popular annual flowering plants in a wide variety of colors including Sunpatiens, impatiens, geraniums, marigolds, begonias, non-flowering sweet potato vines, and several others.

A planting activity for children will be offered. Parental supervision required.

Rain or shine, we’ll see you there! Don’t forget to bring your wagon.

While the county mask mandate has been lifted, participants for all events and activities are welcome to wear a mask to feel more comfortable.

Monday, May 15, 2023
THE MOTH PRESENTS: ASHEVILLE STORYSLAM – “GOSSIP”
May 15 @ 7:30 pm
The Grey Eagle

– PARTIALLY SEATED SHOW
– GA SEATING IN FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. 

THE MOTH resumes their recurring monthly Asheville StorySLAM at The Grey Eagle at 7:30pm! This month’s theme is….


GOSSIP:  Delicious or malicious, chatty or bratty. Blatantly false or modestly exaggerated. Prepare a five-minute story about a rumor that raised eyebrows, dropped jaws, lowered the boom, rattled your cage or earned you a nasty or fabulous rep. In the office, the aisles of church or temple, in the family or in the streets. Tell us stories of the unfounded, the un-fact checked and the fabulously fabricated. Did you hear?

 

Friday, May 19, 2023
Black Mountain Garden Sale
May 19 @ 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Black Mountain Town Square

Black Mountain Garden Sale, one of the most popular gardening sales in WNC, will be held on Friday, May 19, 4-8pm and Saturday, May 20, 9am-4pm at the Town Square Parking Lot at the corner of E. State St. and Richardson Blvd.

Hosted by Black Mountain Beautification Committee the sale will feature annuals, carnivorous plants, cut flowers, edible shrubs, herbs, native plants, perennials, shrubs, trees, and vegetable starts from specialty plant vendors. Plus garden décor including bee cabins, garden art and containers, wood carvings, and other specialty items.

The popular Members’ Market will have personal services and baked goods for sale. Purchase raffle tickets to take a chance to win plants. Proceeds help support the Seed Money Award, Community Improvement Award, and to keep the town beautiful!

Additional information at blackmountainbeautification.org. Let us help you create the garden of your dreams!

Saturday, May 20, 2023
Black Mountain Garden Sale
May 20 @ 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Black Mountain Town Square

Black Mountain Garden Sale, one of the most popular gardening sales in WNC, will be held on Friday, May 19, 4-8pm and Saturday, May 20, 9am-4pm at the Town Square Parking Lot at the corner of E. State St. and Richardson Blvd.

Hosted by Black Mountain Beautification Committee the sale will feature annuals, carnivorous plants, cut flowers, edible shrubs, herbs, native plants, perennials, shrubs, trees, and vegetable starts from specialty plant vendors. Plus garden décor including bee cabins, garden art and containers, wood carvings, and other specialty items.

The popular Members’ Market will have personal services and baked goods for sale. Purchase raffle tickets to take a chance to win plants. Proceeds help support the Seed Money Award, Community Improvement Award, and to keep the town beautiful!

Additional information at blackmountainbeautification.org. Let us help you create the garden of your dreams!

Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Tom Tenbrunsel Virtual Writers Workshop: Poetry on my Mind
May 24 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
online w/ Carl Sandburg Home

You will find Tom Tenbrunsel a delightfully refreshing poet with a wide variety of subject matter and a style somewhere between Sandburg, Frost and the late Appalachian poet James Wright. Tom challenges one’s whit with a refreshing array of non-conforming rhyme, structure, rhythm and oft made-up words and hidden meanings. Uniquely Tom includes a photo and Author’s Notes with each poem. Join us in May to engage the spirit and myth of poetry with Tom’s “Poetry on my Mind”

Casual Poetry/Poetry on my Mind. Tom will read a couple poems for fun. He will ask guests to write a
short poem from a prompt with feedback from the group. Tom would like guests to feel free to bring short
poems to read and discuss. He encourages questions about writing poetry, about a poem of his or his
journey as a poet or his Self Help Series. So familiarize yourself with his works by scanning his website,
tenbrunsel.com Comments or questions are welcomed. Or feel free to email him in advance at
[email protected].  Check out his website tenbrunsel.com before the workshop. Send in one of your
poems to be commented on by Tom.

This workshop is open to writers of all skill levels and is a fun way to find inspiration from a new prompt or revise current work. It is hosted by the Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara and will use Microsoft Teams for the virtual connection. Sign up to attend the workshop here!

A writer and a poet, Dr. Tenbrunsel enjoyed a long successful career in Clinical Psychology. Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Tom graduated from Bellarmine University, obtained his doctorate from St Louis University in 1969. He taught, published and was in administration at Michigan State University and was VP for Advancement at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He and his wife reside in the Appalachians of Western North Carolina. They have three successful children and eight grand grandchildren. Dr T. enjoys photography, gardening, cycling, hiking, camping and stalking the elusive trout. His writings and publications speak for themselves. He has published numerous books including:  Casual Gardening,  Poetry on My Mind, The Fund Raising Resource Manual,  The Fund Raising Handbook, Fund-Raising and Grantsmanship:  Getting Money from the Community for the Community, The Lansing Area Doctors Directory, 1&2,   Dissertation “A Group Coupon Economy Program in Treating Mental Illness:  An Experiment in Social Innovation”,   A Wrinkle in My Time: My Memoirs (a work in progress)

Saturday, June 10, 2023
Compost Demonstration
Jun 10 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Jesse Israel @ WNC Farmers Market

Stop by and learn about composting at home. See five different composting methods on display, including a single bin unit, a tumbling composter, a wood pallet bin, a classic 3-bin system and an example of vermiculture on demo day.

Thursday, June 15, 2023
Gardening in the Mountain Presents: Encouraging Good Garden Bugs
Jun 15 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am
On-Line Event

Join entomologist Matt Bertone, NC State Director, Plant Disease and Insect Clinic as he shares his expertise and teaches us how to encourage the many beneficial organisms in our gardens and landscapes. Some of these lesser-known organisms have vital roles in healthy garden ecosystems, providing organic waste reduction and natural pest control services.

Poetry Open Mic Hendo
Jun 15 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Shakedown 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.

Friday, June 16, 2023
poetry + storytelling open mic night
Jun 16 @ 10:00 pm
The Magnetic Theatre

POETRY & STORYTELLING OPEN MIC NIGHT

Following a performance of Da Classroom Ain’t Enuf

Are you a poet or storyteller? We’d love to hear your work! Come out on Friday, June 16th, at 10pm, following the performance of Da Classroom Ain’t Enuf. We are offering up to 5 minute slots per person and you can sign up that night.

Don’t want to perform but would love to come watch? Please do! Audience tickets are pay what you can, first come, first serve. If you see the performance of Da Classroom Ain’t Enuf that night, you can stay for the Poetry Open Mic for free.

Come help us celebrate the uniquely human gifts of writing, performing and sharing this work in community!

Pay What You Can **Note: Attendees of the June 16th performance of Da Classroom Ain’t Enuf can stay for free!

 

Saturday, June 17, 2023
Plant Clinic
Jun 17 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Asheville City Market

Master Gardener volunteers will be available to answers your gardening questions and address your related concerns. Feel free to bring plant or insect samples for identification and/or problem resolution. Soil test kits and information about in-person programs and activities at The Learning Garden and the Gardening in the Mountains seminars will be available. Please stop by to learn more!

Saturday Seminar presents: Pollinator Plants in The Learning Garden
Jun 17 @ 10:00 am – 10:30 am
Buncombe County Extension Office

The Learning Garden is certified by Asheville Greenworks as a Pollinator Habitat. Plantings for pollinators thrive in several of the individual gardens, including the Pollinator Garden, the Sun and Shade Garden, the Four Seasons Garden and Cottage Gardens. This presentation will offer ideas and a plant list for creating your own Pollinator Garden. Portions of this program may be held outside; please dress appropriately for the weather. Presentation is free, but attendance is limited and registration is required.

Monday, June 19, 2023
THE MOTH Presents: Asheville StorySLAM – “Pride”
Jun 19 @ 7:30 pm
The Grey Eagle
– PARTIALLY SEATED SHOW
– GA SEATING IN FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. 

THE MOTH resumes their recurring monthly Asheville StorySLAM at The Grey Eagle at 7:30pm! This month’s theme is….


PRIDE:  Prepare a five minute story about being proud. The confidence and glory of owning your talents, embracing your identity or, perhaps, flying too close to the sun. Lion-hearted valiance for a job well-done or the stubborn sting of unburied hatchets or unspoken apologies. Staying faithful to values, swallowing pride or admitting you ain’t too proud to beg.
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Poetry Open Mic Hendo
Jun 22 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Shakedown 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.

Thursday, June 29, 2023
Poetry Open Mic Hendo
Jun 29 @ 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Shakedown 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.