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.

Friday, February 28, 2020
LEAF 50th Festival Line Up and Tickets
Feb 28 all-day
Lake Eden Arts Festival
Patron Production Preference Survey Flat Rock Playhouse
Feb 28 all-day
Flat Rock Playhouse

Hello Flat Rock Playhouse Patrons, Donors, Friends, and all-around ‘Peeps!’

Please take a few minutes to take the survey and help us as we begin planning for the 2021 season and beyond.  We’ve listed a pretty large range of shows because we want to know what you’re interested in seeing on the stage.  Please choose your TOP 10 favorites in each category; Musicals and Plays. You will also have the opportunity to write in a title or author that may not otherwise be listed.  Please only choose ten of each so we can narrow down your preferences.

As an added note, we endeavor to give you exactly what your heart most desires.  That said, there are many factors that go into selecting shows.  Are the rights available? Can we afford to produce it properly? Does it align with our Union obligations?  These questions and many more are all part of the process and influence what productions we select.  It’s important to everyone at Flat Rock Playhouse that we deliver as much of what the audience desires as we can whenever we can.

Thank you for taking a few minutes to share your preferences with us.  We are hugely grateful for the insight!

Sincerely,

The Artistic Team

Flat Rock Playhouse

Raffle: Trip to London or Cash Asheville Community Theatre
Feb 28 – Feb 27 all-day
Asheville Community Theatre

 

Tickets on sale through June 28, 2020

We know how completely odd it seems to be raffling off a trip to London right now. We’re barely leaving our homes for any reason, so jetting off around the world seems flat out bonkers! We’re hopeful that international travel and fun vacations will happen again in the future – and that’s why we extended and amended the raffle prize! If you win, you can choose the trip to London (and you have 18 months to book your travel) OR you can choose to take the cash value of the trip instead ($10,000).

Our raffles have been important fundraisers for ACT over the years, and this one is no different. ACT has lost 85% of our income as an organization, so this raffle is one of the few ways we can continue to bring a little money in the door.

Buying a raffle ticket is a great way to support ACT right now – and it just might be you who gets some really great news from us!

 

Natural Impressions: Prints from the Asheville Printmakers CANCELLED
Feb 28 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
The North Carolina Arboretum

On display daily January 18 – April 19, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the upstairs gallery of the Education Center, the Asheville Printmakers’ newest exhibit, Natural Impressions, will feature a variety of two- and three-dimensional print pieces utilizing numerous printmaking processes. Works will inspire visitors to think about the beauty and fragility of plants and the natural world through various perspectives and printmaking techniques. All pieces are available for purchase and a portion of the sales will benefit The North Carolina Arboretum Society.

Founded in 2013, the Asheville Printmakers is an energetic group of artists dedicated to expressing ideas and imagery through the medium of print. The group encompasses a wide range of processes and content, including traditional methods, such as lithography, woodcut and screen printing, and contemporary photographic printing processes, such as carbon printing, platinum-palladium and photopolymer etching. 

Parking Fees

  • Members: Free
  • Personal Vehicles: $14
  • Motorhomes / Vehicles (21’ or larger): $50
  • Buses: $100

There are no other admission charges required for visitors to access the Arboretum’s grounds and facilities during the day beyond the standard parking fees listed above.

Wee Trade Consignment Sale
Feb 28 @ 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Davis Event Center WNC Ag Center

Date: Feb 28 – Mar 01, 2020

From strollers and nursery furniture to clothing and toys, we’ve got everything you need for your infant, toddler or children! It’s also a great way for grandparents, pre-schools, day cares, etc. to shop for their children’s needs.
Into the Blue: Artist Invitational 2020 at Blue Spiral
Feb 28 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Blue Spiral

Blue Spiral 1’s most diverse annual exhibition presents artists who have never previously shown in the gallery. This year’s show features nine artists working in a range of media, including painting, ceramics, textiles, mixed media, photography, and wood.

Artists: Anna Buckner, Mark Flowers, David Knox, Hiromi Moneyhun, Kris Rehring, Ben Strear, Gregor Turk

Into the Blue_ Artist Invitational 2020

North Carolina in the Great War Exhibit
Feb 28 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Smith-McDowell House

The exhibit is on loan from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and has been supplemented with artifacts from the Smith-McDowell House collection. Entrance to the exhibit is included with Smith-McDowell House admission – and is always free for members – and runs through May 16, 2020.

The exhibit seeks to put the local men and women who served in context with the larger events happening in North Carolina, the United States, and the world. In the exhibit, visitors will find displays and interactive elements telling the stories of just a few of our hometown heroes.

Shapeshifters: Center for Craft
Feb 28 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Center for Craft

Shapeshifters, the newest exhibition in the John Cram Partner Gallery. Shapeshifters brings together the works of two acclaimed regional artists, Cherokee-based Joshua Adams and Atlanta-based Jiha Moon, who use masks and other objects to explore culture, material, and representation, particularly in the contemporary American South.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force: review two city sidewalk project plans
Feb 28 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Asheville’s City Hall

The February Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force meeting that was snowed out last week will not be rescheduled. Please plan to attend the next meeting on March 19.

Instead, I am inviting you to review two city sidewalk project plans this Friday, February 28th, between 11am and 1pm on the mezzanine of Asheville’s City Hall, 70 Court Plaza.

We have 60% plans, so plans that are on their way but not yet fully firmed up, for sidewalk on New Haw Creek Rd and on New Leicester Hwy.  The individual project managers will be there to take your comments and answer your questions.  We will be in the Water Admin conference room on the north side of the building, one floor up from the main entrance.

I often bring plans to the meeting, but there is never enough time to take a good look, so I’m trying this.  Feedback on usefulness, as well as the time, day, location, and such is welcome.  If you can’t be there at this time but still want to take a look, contact me and we can work something out.

You enter City Hall through a security entrance, so I suggest only carrying what you need to have with you that day.

Healthy Beginnings WNC Farmers Market
Feb 28 @ 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm
WNC Farmers Market

Healthy Beginnings – February 28 at noon to 2:30. AdventHealth and WNC Farmers Market are teaming up to promote healthy habits. Blood pressure and body mass index screenings will be available and AdventHealth dieticians will prepare samples of healthy recipes using WNC Farmers Market ingredients.

WNC Model Train Show
Feb 28 @ 12:00 pm – 7:00 pm
WNC Agricultural Center Expo Building

8 working layouts with over 200 vendor tables, including vendors from 7 states with anything related to railroading!

First Pitch Invitational Day 1 Baseball
Feb 28 @ 1:00 pm
Fluor Field

Image

Introduction to Medicare
Feb 28 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
OLLI/Reuter Center, UNCA

This class will explain how Medicare works, the enrollment process, how to avoid penalties, and ways to save money. People who are new to Medicare, caregivers, and others who help senior citizens with their Medicare insurance should consider attending this informative class. The information presented is unbiased and accurate. No products are sold, recommended , or endorsed.

UNC Asheville’s 2020 Pi(e) Run
Feb 28 @ 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
UNCA starting on the Main Quad

Pi symbol, event basic information with running track in the background

Registration is open for UNC Asheville’s 2020 Pi(e) Run, an annual fun run that celebrates all things Pi(e). This year’s event will be held on Pi Day, Saturday, March 14, at Pi time, 3:14 p.m. Runners will run 3.14 miles around UNC Asheville’s campus and celebrate with pie at the finish line. The event is open to the public with an early-bird rate of $15 before Feb. 15. Runners who sign up before March 1 will receive a t-shirt and swag bag, and registration continues through March 14 at a cost of $20, with on-site registration and check-in starting at 2 p.m. the day of the race. Visit unca.edu/pi-run to sign up.

The 2020 Pi Day Run will start from UNC Asheville’s Quad and circle University Heights three times, via campus sidewalks, concluding with pie at the finish line. The fun run includes a pie baking contest, judged by Math Leaders from the Marvelous Math Club, with prizes awarded, and this year will feature a raffle. Registration includes a raffle entry for each runner. Registration also is available for the pie contest, without the run, by filling out the interest form at unca.edu/pi-run.

Proceeds from the annual Pi(e) Run will benefit the Asheville Initiative for Math at UNC Asheville and its Marvelous Math Club at Pisgah View Community Center. Marvelous Math Club is a partnership between UNC Asheville, Asheville Housing Authority, and Asheville City Schools. The Club uses math as a catalyst to build leadership skills, create community and provide a space for individualized academic support and social-emotional growth.

 

Children’s Book Sale Benefit
Feb 28 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Grace Lutheran Church

Books for kids 0-18! Priced to sell! Most for $1 or less!
Proceeds provide books for young children through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

South Carolina High School League Basketball Championship
Feb 28 @ 4:00 pm
Bon Secours Wellness Arena

The South Carolina High School League Upper State Basketball Championships.

Le Vine Nior/Le Beir Noir (Tasting in the DARK!)
Feb 28 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Conundrum

WHAT IT IS… An experience unlike anything you have ever dreamed imaginable. Your host will engage your mind with charm and wit, and immerse your heightened senses of taste, smell, hearing and touch, while you sip five types of wine in complete darkness. Wine pours are paired with tasteful snacks, one liners, and hilarious hijinks. OR our beer tasting experience will take you on a journey of humor, tasting of five local beers, fun beer-friendly pairing, sight deprivation and enhancement of all remaining senses. The lights will be off, and this is not considered a meal. Designed for adults only, 21 and up. 50-60 minutes.

Celebrating Black History/Afterschool Project
Feb 28 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Dr. Wesley Grant, Sr. Southside Center

Don’t miss our afterschool youth presentations about local African American leaders, their history, and their heritage.  This evening is the finale of a month-long project to research these important residents from the Southside community and other local neighborhoods.

Cheers to Volunteers 2020 by Junior League of Asheville
Feb 28 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Asheville Masonic Temple
Cheers to Volunteers Reception and Silent Auction
Feb 28 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Asheville Masonic Temple

Prior to the Volunteer Expo on February 28th, 2020, community members are invited to celebrate all of the volunteers that are making the Volunteer Expo possible and meet leaders of local nonprofit organizations.

Our Cheers to Volunteers Reception and Silent Auction will be held from 6:00-9:00pm at the Asheville Masonic Temple (1st Floor) on February 28th, 2020.

At Cheers to Volunteers and the Expo, you can learn about our League’s 90 years of impact and our continued work to develop women as leaders through service and build a better community.

Larson, author of The Splendid and The Vile
Feb 28 @ 6:30 pm
UNC Asheville Highsmith Student Union - Blue Ridge

Malaprop’s is pleased to partner with The Great Smokies Writing Program and Departments of History and English at UNC Asheville to bring #1 New York Times bestselling author Erik Larson back to Asheville!

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake and The Devil in the White City delivers a startlingly fresh portrait of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz.

In THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people the art of being fearless. It is a story of political brinksmanship but also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchills prime-ministerial country house, Chequers, and his wartime residence, Ditchley, where Churchill and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest. Drawing on a wealth of untapped sources, including recently declassified files, intelligence reports, and personal diaries only now available, Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their daughters, Sarah, Diana, and the youngest, Mary, who chafes against her parents wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; her illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the cadre of close advisors who comprised Churchills Secret Circle, including his dangerously observant private secretary, John Colville; newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook; and the Rasputin-like Federick Lindemann.

THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership when in the face of unrelenting horror Churchills eloquence, strategic brilliance, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.

ABOUT ERIK LARSON
Erik Larson is the author of seven books, five of which became New York Times bestsellers. His latest Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, hit #1 on the list soon after launch. His saga of the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893, The Devil in the White City, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and won an Edgar Award for fact-crime writing; it lingered on various Times bestseller lists for the better part of a decade. Hulu plans to adapt the book for a limited TV series, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese as executive producers. Eriks In the Garden of Beasts, about how America’s first ambassador to Nazi Germany and his daughter experienced the rising terror of Hitler’s rule, has been optioned by Tom Hanks for development as a feature film. Learn more at https://eriklarsonbooks.com/

Carolina Revue from Second Stage @ SMA Feat. Remedy 58, Vagabond Crowe, Strange Bird, And More
Feb 28 @ 7:00 pm
Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium

The Carolina Revue at Second Stage @ SMA will showcase talents of two bands from North Carolina, and 2 bands from South Carolina.

Le Vine Nior/Le Beir Noir (Tasting in the DARK!)
Feb 28 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Conundrum

WHAT IT IS… An experience unlike anything you have ever dreamed imaginable. Your host will engage your mind with charm and wit, and immerse your heightened senses of taste, smell, hearing and touch, while you sip five types of wine in complete darkness. Wine pours are paired with tasteful snacks, one liners, and hilarious hijinks. OR our beer tasting experience will take you on a journey of humor, tasting of five local beers, fun beer-friendly pairing, sight deprivation and enhancement of all remaining senses. The lights will be off, and this is not considered a meal. Designed for adults only, 21 and up. 50-60 minutes.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
Feb 28 @ 7:30 pm
Hendersonville Community Theatre

One of the funniest musicals ever written. Sondheim’s joyous musical romp through Rome has desperate lovers, scheming neighbors and secrets behind every toga. This unforgettable, hysterical musical allows a terrify ensemble of comedic actors to shine!

 

Classic Hedda Gabler
Feb 28 @ 7:30 pm
UNC Asheville’s Belk Theatre

 

Arden Stockdell-Giesler poses in period constume with pistol

TheatreUNCA will present Hedda Gabler, the 1890 drama by Henrik Ibsen, one of the founders of modernism in theater, with a new translation that director Aaron Snook calls “streamlined and accessible.” Curtain at  will rise at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 27-29, and there will be a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, March 1.

“What Ibsen did so brilliantly was create very complex human beings on the stage that could be seemingly contradictory,” says Snook. “And we’re creating some moments of transition between the acts that will be different from some other Hedda Gablers. We’re not changing the script, but using the spaces in the play itself to tell a little bit more of her story.”

Fantasticks!
Feb 28 @ 7:30 pm
Asheville Community Theatre

The Fantasticks is the longest-running musical in the world and with good reason: it’s a timeless fable of love that manages to be nostalgic and universal at the same time! This musical is punctuated by a series of catchy, memorable songs, many of which have become classics. “Try To Remember” a time when this romantic charmer wasn’t enchanting audiences around the world!

The Fantasticks is directed by Mark Jones with music direction by Rob Blackwell and choreography by Jessica Garland Lowe.

The Fantasticks
Feb 28 @ 7:30 pm
Asheville Community Theatre

 

The Fantasticks is a funny and romantic musical about a boy, a girl, and their two fathers who try to keep them apart. The narrator, El Gallo, asks the audience to use their imagination and follow him into a world of moonlight and magic. The lovers fall in love, grow apart and finally find their way back to each other after realizing the truth in El Gallo’s words that, “without a hurt, the heart is hollow.” The story is punctuated by a series of catchy, memorable songs, many of which have become classics.

The Fantasticks is directed by Mark Jones with music direction by Rob Blackwell and choreography by Jessica Garland Lowe. Coincidentally, Mark appeared onstage in ACT’s 1998 production of The Fantasticks!

“It’s been about 20 years since I played Matt on the ACT stage. I was a young, inexperienced actor, and person, at that time,” Mark said. “But now I am able to revisit the show with much more experience and maturity. I know much more about love, loss and heartbreak than I did at the age of 24.”

Modelface Comedy Presents The Totally Exhausted Women of Atlanta (Friday)
Feb 28 @ 8:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LaZoom Room

Lace Larrabee is back with another group of hilarious atlanta ladies for another weekend stand up comedy!!!
Featuring Shelby Tesio, Karen Felix, Heather Tolley-Bauer, and Karen Waygood

Sponsored by BRÖÖ Haircare

ages+
Tickets $12, VIP $18
FRIDAY 2/28
GA: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lazoom-comedy-totally-exhausted-women-friday-tickets-87848750979
VIP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vip-lazoom-comedy-totally-exhausted-women-friday-vip-tickets-87849198317

SATURDAY 2/29
GA: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lazoom-comedy-totally-exhausted-women-saturday-tickets-87849711853
VIP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lazoom-comedy-totally-exhausted-women-saturday-vip-tickets-87849878351

VIP tickets come with a bag of BRÖÖ Craft Beer Hair products worth $15!!!

of Montreal
Feb 28 @ 9:00 pm
The Orange Peel

Kevin and Christina make out in a car at the airport, flipping off the police officer that tells them to keep moving. Kevin and Christina discuss taking ecstasy as couple’s therapy. Kevin and Christina break down and then reconnect. The new love we heard about on the last of Montreal record, White is Relic/Irrealis Mood, is settling. If that was the falling-in-love record, then this is the staying-in-love record. That was the easy part; this is the interesting part, the challenging part, the next chapter of Kevin Barnes’ autobiographical album streak, UR FUN.

The public diary that started with of Montreal’s classic album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? has continued into a growing string of increasingly personal works. On UR FUN, Barnes is more candid than ever, presenting ten concise electro-pop songs that expose the depths of his current life, his private thoughts-both optimistic and brooding-and his passionate relationship with songwriter Christina Schnieder of Locate S,1. This ramped-up vulnerability has inspired Barnes to strip his stage persona of costumes and drag, just appearing as himself on recent tours for the first time in many years.

Saturday, February 29, 2020
Adult Kickball Returns Wednesdays
Feb 29 all-day
Charles D. Owen Park

Adult kickball players from spring
                                                          2019

Draft your co-workers, BFFs, and neighborhood pals in your quest for kickball stardom! Registration for Buncombe County Recreation Services’ (BCRS) popular Adult Kickball League has opened. All games will be played on Wednesday evenings  from April 8-May 20 at Charles D. Owen Park (875 Warren Wilson Road in Swannanoa). Staggered matches will start at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., and 8 p.m.

REGISTER HERE

“We host low-cost adult sport and recreation leagues throughout the year including dodgeball and volleyball, but kickball is our most popular. It always sells out since it’s easy to learn for any skill level,” said Mac Stanley, BCRS Program Coordinator. “The league offers a low-stress, fun atmosphere in which to stay active and connect with others. The move to Charles D. Owen Park allows us to play multiple games at the same time which means we can start later in the evening for those folks busy with work, school, or parenting. Plus the mountain views can’t be beat!”

Registration is open through March 20 and cost $35 per player. Players can sign up as an individual, small group, or full team. Individuals and small groups will be placed together to form full teams.

Teams are co-ed and consist of 9-16 players, with at least three players of the opposite sex. (If a team is majority female, there must be at least three male players. If a team is majority male, there must be at least three female players.) Registration fees include a team shirt and help offset the cost of referees and field maintenance.

 

Follow Buncombe County Recreation on Facebook and Instagram.