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.
Grovewood Gallery will present Inqwiry, an outdoor exhibition of wire animal sculptures by Bakersville, NC, artist Josh Coté. This event is open to the public and free to attend. Inqwiry will remain on view through August 13, 2023.

If you’re behind on your water bill or afraid your water might get cut off, a new resource might be able to help you. On Jan. 4, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved more than $450,000 in federal funding for the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP). The initiative is aimed at preventing water disconnections and helping reconnect drinking and wastewater services.
The LIHWAP will be administered by Buncombe County-based Eblen Charities. The nonprofit will make payments directly to utilities on behalf of qualifying households. The program is slated to run through Sept. 30, 2023 or until funds are exhausted.
Eligibility requirements
Households that currently receive Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Work First services, or those that received Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) services from Oct. 1, 2020-Sept. 30, 2021, are automatically eligible to receive this benefit if their water services have been cut off or are in danger of being cut off.
For additional eligibility information or to apply, please contact Eblen Charities at (828) 255-3066.
The addition of preservation grants to our existing efforts in advocacy, technical support, preservation easements, and education, will allow us to reach a new and diverse audience. This program will allow us to support both large and small projects from downtown Asheville to our rural and under-served communities.
Click here for the Grant Application
We look forward to helping with emergency stabilization projects and restorations of important places, to helping neighborhoods receive designations such as recognition on the National Register of Historic Places and to encouraging and supporting new and unique education and research opportunities. We want to be surprised and humbled by the projects our community asks us to support!
As our city faces the inevitable challenges of growth, PSABC’s voice and reach must expand. The important addition of this Preservation Grant Program comes in response to the needs of our community.
*Deadline to apply for the current grant round is Friday August 11th*
Preservation grants from $500 – $5000 will be offered to the public in three categories:
- Bricks-And-Mortar
Rehabilitation, restoration and repair of structures that are 50 years of age or older
Some examples: Windows and doors • Exterior painting • Porches • Roofs and gutters • Electrical and plumbing • Hardscaping • Foundation • Original exterior or interior details
- Public Education
Development of educational materials and programs that advance knowledge of our shared history
Some examples: Research and documentation • Oral histories • Installations specific to buildings, place history, and culture • Exhibitions • K–12 educational publications • Seminars and lectures • Documentary films
- Planning, Survey and Designation
Planning and design for building rehabilitation and restoration projects, historic resource surveys and local or national designations
Some examples: Historic building condition reports • Engineering and rehabilitation plans • Feasibility studies • Historic resource surveys • Updates of previous surveys • Local and national historic designations
Read about our past winners here!
Apply for a Grant Today!We are currently accepting preservation grant applications! Grants from $500 – $5000 will be offered to the public in three categories:1. Bricks-And-MortarRehabilitation, restoration and repair of structures that are 50 years of age or older2. Public EducationDevelopment of educational materials and programs that advance knowledge of our shared history3. Planning, Survey and DesignationPlanning and design for building rehabilitation and restoration projects, historic resources surveys and local or national designations(Deadline is Friday August 11th)
3.1 WEB – WebTrac Activity Search (vermontsystems.com)
Social Seniors
Grove Street Card Sharks
Senior Dining
Billiards
Exercise
Be Active Live Longer
A Cappella Alive
Square Dancing
Groove at the Grove
Pen to Paper Writing Group
Founded in 1991, we are Warren Wilson College’s educational program of summer folk arts workshops held on our campus in the Swannanoa Valley near Asheville in the heart of North Carolina’s beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
Each year, we offer a variety of week-long programs in various forms of folk music and dance over a five-week period in July and August, taught by some of the finest folk artists and instructors in the world.
We invite you to join us.
This month-long Celtic music festival takes place on the campus of Warren Wilson College. The festival’s workshops and public performances are joyous celebrations of Scots-Irish music and dance and the many musical forms they have inspired. Check website for programs, location, dates and time.
July 9-15: Celtic Week
July 16-22: Old-Time Week
July 23-29: Contemporary Folk Week

Eblen Charities - Transportation Assistance for Western North Carolina Residents for Job Access: Eblen Charities aims to provide transportation assistance to low-income residents to improve job access and economic mobility. They offer gas vouchers ranging from $25 to $50 to help individuals attend job interviews and medical appointments and cover transportation costs until they receive their first paycheck. The organization plans to expand its transportation assistance program by creating an online portal for voucher requests. With this grant, they aim to serve an additional 200 job seekers, increase the voucher amounts to address rising gas prices and double their program budget.
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LEARN MORE THIS YEAR |
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Brush up on your wilderness medicine or learn new survival skills! SOLO Southeast & NOC are offering over 200 courses in 2023 and classes in locations across the southeast.
Find your next course with SOLO Southeast and be prepared for the unexpected! |
Food Scraps Drop Off
The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in
two locations for all Buncombe County residents. This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Register for Food Scraps Drop Off
Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin? Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.
Locations
Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot
30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville
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- Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
- Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.
Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot
749 Fairview Road, Asheville
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- Dawn – Dusk
West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building
942 Haywood Road, Asheville
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- Library open hours
- Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander
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- Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday, 8 a.m. – 12:30 pm
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Food Scraps Drop Off
The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in two locations for all Buncombe County residents. This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Register for Food Scraps Drop Off
Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin? Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.
Locations Holidays call for hours
Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center
85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander
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- Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday, 8 a.m. – 12:30 pm
Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot
749 Fairview Road, Asheville
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- Dawn – Dusk
Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot
30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville
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- Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
- Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.
West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building
942 Haywood Road, Asheville
-
- Library open hours

The WNC Farmers Market is the premier destination for buying and selling the region’s best agriculture products directly from farmers & food producers to household & wholesale customers in an environment that celebrates the region’s diverse culture, food & heritage.
House of Operation:
WNC Farmers Market: 24/7, 361 days a year market access for farmers
Office: Monday- Friday, 8am-5pm
Market Shops: 7 days a week, 8 am-5 pm
Wholesale and Truck Sheds: 7 days a week
Included with admission
Embark on a scenic journey across George Vanderbilt’s Italy with a large-scale outdoor display that combines brilliant botanical designs with authentic messages written by Vanderbilt himself.
Beautifully handcrafted of natural elements, each sculptural postcard depicts a location or landmark Vanderbilt visited more than a century ago. This captivating complement to Biltmore’s Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition reveals Vanderbilt’s passions for travel, culture, architecture, and art as well as his personal experience of such renowned Italian cities as Milan, Florence, Venice, Pisa, and Vatican City.
Adding to the charm and visual appeal of Ciao! From Italy—sure to be a hit among kids of all ages—is the G-scale model train that travels in and out of each postcard in this enlightening display!
Funds for Fields: Youth Wellness Initiative
Pisgah Health Foundation is raising funds for renovations to the Ecusta Field, which is currently used by area athletes and community members and is in dire need of upgrades. The upgraded facility will allow for the expansion of youth athletic programs as well as open the field up for more events and recreational activities for everyone in Transylvania County.
With your donations and support, you can positively impact the lives of young athletes now! Soccer and other sports are integral in youth development, fostering physical, mental, and emotional growth. Additionally, outdoor recreational facilities are vital to our community’s wellbeing, especially since the pandemic led to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and stress as a result of decreased physical activity.
Along with others in our community, we hope you will join us in raising funds to renovate this field for all to enjoy in Brevard.
- June 14 – Lake Julian
- June 28 – Buncombe County Sports Park
- July 12 – Charles D. Owen
- July 26 – Karpen Soccer Fields
- August 9 – Hominy Valley
- What is better than hanging out at a park, pool, or community center? Doing so while participating in fun games! This summer, the Buncombe County Recreation Services will be visiting county pools, parks, and community centers to provide free entertaining activities for anyone in the community.
This includes yard games, pool activities, balls, and other activities for enjoyment. While the games can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of age–with something available for anyone–the programming is aimed at those 5 to 15 years of age.
This is part of the CORE program (Community Outreach and Recreation Experiences) which seeks to provide fun to everyone in the community.
“We were interested in expanding recreational opportunities to communities that may or may not have parks and facilities,” says Mac Stanley, program coordinator with the County’s Recreation Services. “Also, an opportunity to expand and collaborate with county community centers such as Big Ivy, Sandy Mush, and Bent Creek Community Park. Core programming is designed to diversify our programming opportunities and outreach into the community.”
From June through August, Recreation Services will be out and about in its CORE van, a green, Ford Transit van outfitted with County logos and a big sasquatch on the back.
Anne is hosting the Wednesday Fika at this lovely Asheville Park. We will meet in the rear of Weaver Park right near the parking area off Murdock Ave and Norwood Ave (not the front area along Merrimon with the tennis courts).
Look for our group in the grassy area near the pavilion, right near the parking. Or, we might be under the pavilion.
Please bring your own chair.
Bring your own coffee and snacks, or get take out from these places which are all less than five minutes away:
Green Sage Cafe North – 633 Merrimon Avenue at Edgewood Rd
City Bakery – 88 Charlotte St at Chestnut St
Geraldine’s Bakery – 840 Merrimon at Lakeshore Drive (brewed coffee only, no Espresso beverages)
High Five Coffee – 190 Broadway Street at Bordeau Place
There is parking in the parking area off of Murdock Avenue. If that’s full you can also park on a nearby side street.
Always check the meetup.com event page, your email or the meetup app the morning of the event in case there is a change!
Meet 10 AM Wednesday July 26 2023 Botanical Gardens at Asheville 151 Weaver St AV. 28804.Meet in the parking lot. Look for RFAR signs. The Botanical Gardens at Asheville is a 10-acre independent, non-profit botanical garden dedicated to the study and promotion of the native plants and habitats of the Southern Appalachians. Walk the grounds with Meg as our guest guide for about 2 miles. This is a nature type walk where we will be stopping to look at plants. Supposedly a ‘Moon Tree’ grown from the seed of a tree taken on the 1971 Apollo 14 mission.If we add in a little of the UNCA Perimeter Trail we can get about two good miles. There is also a patch of Oconee Bells – a rare wild flower that folks might like to see. It is not a strenuous hike but walking sticks would be a plus. It is a mix of shade and sun, some gravel, some wooded trail, no pavement walking. Free but please bring $$ for donations. (Thanks) . Bring picnic lunch to leave in your car. Bring a chair and we will find a picnic spot. Hope you can make it.

Laura Gaskin will be demonstrating how she “paints with stitches” to create her captivating images. She will be in the lobby of the Folk Art Center
Photo credit:
Sae Honda. Courtesy of the Artist.
NEO MINERALIA suggests that recent rock formations no longer fit within the traditional groups: Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary. Instead, the Anthropocene, the era of human influence on the climate and environment, has introduced two post-natural rocks: Synthetic and Digital.
NEO MINERALIA presents a selection of new geological specimens crafted by ten international artists exploring rocks as reflections of our effects on human and nonhuman ecologies. By embedding synthetic materials (plastics, e-waste) and layers of data points (critical, financial, social) into the craftsmanship of these artifacts, the artists transgress the definition of rocks, turning them from passive aggregates of minerals into metaphorical aggregates of data. Within their apparent “rockness” we can decode hopes, warnings, and speculative future scenarios.
The featured works stemming from places as varied as Mexico, Japan, Poland, and Australia (including a curated artists’ books library), collectively signal a new era of planetary and geological consciousness where we are asked to read, feel, and listen to rocks in new ways.
Photo credit:
J Diamond, “Pony II,” 2022. Courtesy of the Artist
Something earned, Something left behind is an exhibition of objecthood; a critical analysis of the transactional and political languages of everyday and culturally significant objects. This exhibition challenges a history of exclusion and inclusion of People of Color (POC) and their narratives from the canon of craft based on subject matter. It dissects this history’s origins and precedent as an economic transaction to gain access to white spaces.
Racial and ethnic identity influences the way individuals perceive themselves, the way others perceive them, and the way they choose to behave. For this reason, People of Color are expected to perform certain roles in order to fit into hegemonic institutions. These roles can be an active shrinking of themselves and the racialized part of them, or a personal exploitation of their racialized selves. This exhibition addresses and redresses the ways narrowed populations have been included, and the ways in which they have been asked to participate.
Together, this work creates space for and legitimizes POC narratives with depth and care. The exhibiting artists’ practices work against institutionalized expectations of POC work, expanding discourse and inserting new subjectivity into the canon of craft art. It engages with a community hungry for the revitalization and resuscitation of non-Western voices within art spaces. This exhibition challenges the expectations of art from artists of marginalized backgrounds and embraces a new subjectivity of interrogating one’s inherited experiences.
Photo credit:
Photograph by Bowery Blue Makers
Jeans – with their standardized pockets, rivets, and denim – are so much a part of everyday wardrobes that they are easy to overlook. Yet, in workshops across the nation, independent makers are reevaluating the garment and creating jeans by hand, using antiquated equipment and denim woven on midcentury looms. Crafting Denim explores how and why jeans have come to exist at the intersections of industry and craft, modernity, and tradition.
A product of industrial factory production for over a century, jeans are being recast by a new cohort of small-scale makers including craftspeople like Ryan Martin of W.H. Ranch Dungarees, Takayuki Echigoya of Bowery Blue Makers, and Sarah Yarborough and Victor Lytvinenko of Raleigh Denim, who favor choice materials and small-batch fabrication. The jeans they make merge craft traditions with industry and extend the conversation between hand and machine.
Each maker creates a distinctive product but shares a deep appreciation for materials, tools, history, and denim. These jeans are in dialogue with the past and in line with contemporary interests in sustainability. The small workshops featured here are sites of innovation and preservation, and visitors are invited to take a close look at an everyday item and imagine alternative contexts for making and living in our own clothes.
Food Scraps Drop Off
The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in
two locations for all Buncombe County residents. This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Register for Food Scraps Drop Off
Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin? Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.
Locations
West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building
942 Haywood Road, Asheville
Library open hours
Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot
30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville
-
- Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
- Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
- Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.
Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot
749 Fairview Road, Asheville
-
- Dawn – Dusk
Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander
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-
-
- Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday, 8 a.m. – 12:30 pm
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Explore Biltmore House with an Audio Guide that introduces you to the Vanderbilt family and their magnificent home’s history, architecture, and collections of fine art and furnishings.
PLUS: Immersive, multi-sensory Italian Renaissance Alive exhibition created by Grande Experiences
PLUS: FREE next-day access to Biltmore’s Gardens and Grounds
This visit includes access to:
- Italian Renaissance Alive at Amherst at Deerpark®
- 8,000 Acres of Gardens and Grounds for two consecutive days
- Antler Hill Village & Winery
- Complimentary Wine Tastings at the Winery
- Tastings require a Day-of-Visit Reservation, which can be made by:
- Scanning the QR Code found in your Estate Guide
- Visiting any Guest Services location
- Complimentary parking
Art Exhibition: Italian Renaissance Alive
This fascinating experience takes you on a spellbinding tour of Italy, fully immersing you in the beauty and brilliance of iconic masterworks from the greatest artistic period in history
Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.
- Guided comedy tour bus of historical Asheville
- 90-Minutes – tours run daily
- 15-minute break at Green Man Brewing
- $39 per person (ages 13+ only)

Sandra Rowland will be demonstrating sun-printed fabric outside of the Folk Art Center’s entrance. In the event of rain or a really cloudy day Sandy will be inside.
“Shine and Dine” on the railway! We cordially invite you to hop on board The Carolina Shine, GSMR’s All-Adult First Class Moonshine Car! We will be proudly serving hand crafted, triple-distilled, craft moonshine. Some of the smoothest tasting moonshine in the Carolinas! Offered on the Nantahala Gorge excursion, this shine and dine experience begins in a renovated First Class train fleet car, The Carolina Shine. The interior features copper lined walls filled with the history of moonshining in North Carolina. Learn about the proud tradition that the Appalachians established when bootlegging was an acceptable way of life and local home brews were the best in town. Read about Swain County’s very own Major Redmond, the most famous mountain moonshine outlaw of the 19th century. Once your appetite for knowledge is satisfied, enjoy sample tastings of flavors like Apple Pie, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach, and Strawberry moonshine. If the samples are not enough, there will be plenty of Moonshine infused cocktails like Copper Cola or Moonshiner’s Mimosa available for purchase. GSMR is excited to feature multiple craft NC based distilleries to serve our guests only the best! Each jar is handcrafted and authentically infused with real fruit, the way moonshine was meant to be made. Passengers will also enjoy a full service All-Adult First Class ride with an attendant and our popular Cajun seasoned Pulled Pork BBQ with Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce cooked in our special spices and slow roasted to perfection! During the month of October, 9am departures will feature the option of a delicious Cheesy Shrimp & Grits or Cheesy Ham Hash Brown Casserole while 2pm departures will be served the popular BBQ meal.
Black Mountain College and Mexico (BMC/MX): Exhibition, Publication, and Public Programming
Black Mountain College (1933–1957), a small but remarkably influential liberal arts school in rural North Carolina, had important links to Mexico that until now have been little investigated. A crucible of twentieth-century creativity, BMC galvanized and inspired artists and intellectuals from around the world, while Mexico’s innovations and age-old traditions—in fine and applied arts, architecture, poetry, music, performance, and more—dovetailed with, and indeed drove, global impulses toward modernism and beyond. Among the many key BMC figures whose lives were importantly touched by experiences in Mexico were Anni and Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, John Cage, Jean Charlot, Elaine de Kooning, Buckminster Fuller, Carlos Mérida, Robert Motherwell, Charles Olson, Clara Porset, M.C. Richards, and Aaron Siskind. In turn, engagements with BMC and its legacy have played a significant role in shaping contemporary approaches to art in Mexico, evident in the works of Jorge Méndez Blake, Iñaki Bonillas, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Jose Dávila, Gerda Gruber, Lake Verea, Gabriel Orozco, and Damián Ortega, among others.
The exhibition BMC/MX features works by these and other prominent contemporary Mexican artists alongside a selection of historic works by BMC artists, highlighting the ways in which ideas and modalities are translated across materials, space, and time.
Related programming, planned in collaboration with Mexican artists, features a series of public events, including a performance by artist (and BMC/MX co-curator) David Miranda to take place at Different Wrld; an exhibition visit (in Spanish and English) with BMC/MX Project Director Eric Baden; and a series of experiential art events in the BMCM+AC library.
The exhibition is accompanied by the book Black Mountain College and Mexico (forthcoming late summer 2023), which investigates the people, ideas, and practices linking BMC and Mexico during the life of the school, as well as resonances between BMC and the work of contemporary Mexican artists. With contributions by BMC/MX’s curators, as well as by artist Abraham Cruzvillegas, design scholar Ana Elena Mallet, and author and activist Margaret Randall, this fully illustrated volume brings new light to this complex and underexplored subject.
BMC/MX is an investigation into modes of communication—the arenas in which new ideas and alliances may come to be—between Black Mountain College and Mexico, between past and present, between form and idea.
About the Curators
BMC/MX’s Project Director Eric Baden is a photographer and from 1994 to 2022 was professor of photography at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina. He is the founding director of photo+, a multidisciplinary arts event held in Asheville, North Carolina.
Artist and educator David Miranda is curator at the Museo Experimental El Eco (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM), and teaches at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado “La Esmeralda” in Mexico City.
Diana Stoll is an editor, writer and curator who works with institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum. She has served as an editor at Aperture and Artforum magazines, and contributes writings to prominent arts publications.
Kids Storytime at Barnes and Noble
The Art of Food features works from important postwar artists, like Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, John Baldessari, Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and Jasper Johns, alongside the work of contemporary artists, like Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Enrique Chagoya, Rachel Whiteread, and Jenny Holzer, among others.
The Art of Food features more than 100 works in mediums that include drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, and ceramics by 37 artists.
Each artist has a unique means of depicting food in their work that, when seen alongside others, creates a nuanced representation of the complex place food holds in everyday life. Cross-historical resonances between artists in the exhibition spark novel meditations on food and its discontents, while speaking to a broad range of audiences.


