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.
Volunteers are an essential part of the Blue Ridge Humane Society family.
Our Volunteer Program offers a wide variety of opportunities to use unique talents and skills to enhance the quality of life for animals in Henderson County.
We love to see families and friends volunteering together! We welcome volunteers ages 7 and up for some of our volunteer roles. Volunteers ages 16 and under must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian who has also completed the appropriate volunteer training.
Still wondering whether you should give volunteering a try? Contact [email protected] for more information.
Please note, we do not fulfill pre-trial intervention community service hours.
How to Volunteer at the Blue Ridge Humane Society

Our volunteers:
- Improve the quality of living for animals in Henderson County.
- Make a difference in their community through our community programs like our Spay/Neuter Incentive Program and Meals on Wheels Pet Pals.
- Provide support for all departments and serve on our board and committees.
- Help raise crucial funds in our Thrift Store.
It’s easy to get started!
- Fill out the Volunteer Application.
- Attend a Virtual Volunteer Information Session to learn more about Blue Ridge Humane Society and current volunteer opportunities.
- Pick a Volunteer Assignment! Decide what volunteer position works best for you! Some assignments can get started right away and some require prior orientation and training such as animal handling training that you can get started on.
- Start Volunteering! Get started in your position. Our volunteers make a huge impact in Henderson County to ensure both pets and their people are happy, healthy, and thriving. We wouldn’t be able to accomplish all we do without them.

Welcome to your new home, Samson and Bonita! The two red foxes will be joining the other residents of the WNC Nature Center and are coming to us from Izzie’s Pond Sanctuary in Liberty, S.C.
Samson and Bonita have something more in common than their new home. They are both less than a year old and were both injured as a result of being caught in leg-hold traps and each has three legs, which means they would not be able to survive in the wild but can live safely in a zoo environment.
“The Nature Center has long provided excellent care for animals that, for one reason or another, could not live in the wild,” said WNC Nature Center Director Chris Gentile. “We are so excited to be able to welcome red foxes back to our Center.”
Come say “Hi!” to Samson and Bonita at the WNC Nature center beginning Feb. 11, when they’ll enter their new habitat for the first time.
You are invited to the YMI’s Black History Brunch!
On Feb. 13th, from 10 am – 2 pm, the YMI Cultural Center will host the YMI Black History Brunch. Speeches, poems, songs, and performances will be given. A selection of catered meals by our Cooking with Comedy alumnus, Clarence Robinson, will also be provided for the people attending. This event Is to open Black history month up and get to know some local black performers in Asheville. Join us in getting a crash course lesson in Black history and support your local talent. We’ll see you there!
*Pre-order your meals ahead of the event to reserve your spot*

Have you ever wondered why your dog pulls on leash, jumps up to greet people and won’t do as you ask? Have you ever said “she has a mind of her own?” The Canine Manners Course may just be the class you need!
This course will teach you how to effectively communicate with your dog. You will learn the skills necessary to teach your dog basic manners using reward-based training methods. We will build reliable behaviors such as sit, down, stay, wait, come, leave it, tug and much more! The class is limited to 8 dogs, age 16 weeks or over when the course begins (if your dog is under 16 weeks of age, please sign up for the Puppy Kindergarten class).
* All dogs must be current on the following vaccines distemper, parvo, bordetella and rabies to participate in this course.
The cost of this course includes six classes, held one hour per week for six weeks beginning on January 9. Class dates: 1/9/2021, 1/16/2021, 1/23/2021, 1/30/2021, 2/6/2021, and 2/13/2021 from 10:15 AM until 11:15 AM unless otherwise arranged by the trainer.
**Important – If your dog is reactive on leash to other dogs, please contact Pia at www.piasilvani.com before signing up.
Refund Policy:
Refunds up to 7 days before event – Eventbrite’s fee is nonrefundable.
About the trainer:
Pia Silvani is an internationally-recognized dog trainer and lecturer with over 30 years’ experience. As VP of Training and Behavior at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, NJ, she developed numerous courses focused on positive, reward-based techniques. In 2013, Pia began working for the ASPCA, eventually becoming the Director, Behavioral Rehabilitation where she led programs to educate shelter professionals in effective behavior rehabilitation techniques, as well as specialized socialization, enrichment, and shelter protocols. This cutting edge program is featured in the award-winning Netflix documentary, “Second Chance Dogs”.
After 6 years at the ASPCA, Pia has decided to re-establish her consulting business here in the Asheville area by offering private behavioral consultations in client’s homes as well as teaching classes in partnership with Asheville Humane Society.
Pia has been chosen as one of Bark’s 100 picks of the best and brightest people that changed the world of dogs. Her goal has always been to combine her love of dogs with her respect and affection for people. She enriches the lives of both through humane relationship work and training.
2021 WNC Regional Scholastic Art Awards

The Museum, with the assistance of its volunteer docents and support from the Asheville Area Section of the American Institute of Architects, is proud to sponsor the WNC Regional Scholastic Art Awards. Students in grades 7–12 from all across our region are invited to submit work for this special juried competition. The Museum works with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers to facilitate regional judging of student artwork and recognition of our community’s burgeoning artistic talent.
In early spring each year, award winners are featured in an exhibition, and are honored at a ceremony. Regional Gold Key recipients’ work is sent to the National Scholastic Art competition hosted by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.
Across the Atlantic

Across the Atlantic
American Impressionism Through the French Lens
This extraordinary exhibition, drawn from the collection of the Reading Public Museum, explores the path to Impressionism through the 19th century in France. The show examines the sometimes complex relationship between French Impressionism of the 1870s and 1880s and the American interpretation of the style in the decades that followed. More than 65 paintings and works on paper help tell the story of the “new style” of painting which developed at the end of the 19th century—one that emphasized light and atmospheric conditions, rapid or loose brushstrokes, and a focus on brightly colored scenes from everyday life, including both urban and rural settings when artists preferred to paint outdoors and capture changing effects of light during different times of day and seasons of the year.
Across the Atlantic: American Impressionism through the French Lens is organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.
Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges and The Maurer Family Foundation.

The Asheville Art Museum announces Meeting the Moon, an exhibition featuring prints, photographs, ceramics, sculptures, and more from the Museum’s Collection. This exhibition will be on view in the Asheville Art Museum’s McClinton Gallery February 3 through July 26, 2021.
2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Apollo space program at NASA, but its inception was hardly the beginning of humankind’s fascination with Earth’s only moon. Before space travel existed, the moon—its shape, its mystery, and the face we see in it—inspired countless artists. Once astronauts landed on the moon and we saw our world from a new perspective, a surge of creativity flooded the American art scene, in paintings, prints, sculpture, music, crafts, film, and poetry.
This exhibition, whose title is taken from a 1913 Robert Frost poem, examines artwork in the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection of artists who were inspired by the unknown, then increasingly familiar moon. Meeting the Moon includes works by nationally renowned artists Newcomb Pottery, James Rosenquist, Maltby Sykes, Paul Soldner, John Lewis, Richard Ritter (Bakersville, NC), and Mark Peiser (Penland, NC). Western North Carolina artists include Jane Peiser (Penland, NC), Jak Brewer (Zionville, NC), Dirck Cruser (Asheville, NC), George Peterson (Lake Toxaway, NC), John B. Neff (NC), and Maud Gatewood (Yanceyville, NC).
“Meeting the Moon offers the opportunity to combine science and popular culture with works of art in the Museum’s Collection,” says Whitney Richardson, associate curator. “I think all visitors will find something that draws them into this exhibition, whether it’s the artwork, poetry, music, or science of space travel. It’s such an affirmation of humanity to find these mysteries, like the moon, which enchant us all.”
This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Whitney Richardson, associate curator. Visit ashevilleart.org for more information about this and other exhibitions.
The Need Continues, Sign Up Today! In response to continued demand, Asheville Outlets will host two blood drives in the month of February:
• Saturday, February 13 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Asheville Outlets will partner with the American Red Cross for a donation drive in Suite 348 located across from RH Outlet. Donors are asked to register in advance by visiting https://www.RedCrossBlood.org/give.html/find-drive and entering the sponsor code AshevilleOutlets. All blood donations are tested for COVID-19 Antibody.
• Saturday, February 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Blood Connection Blood Mobile will be in the Asheville Outlets’ parking lot behind the food court. Check-in will be located next to the bus. Donors are asked to register in advance by visiting https://TheBloodConnection.org/wnc-blood-drives and entering the sponsor code AshevilleOutlets. All blood donations are tested for COVID-19 Antibody.
Blood donation organizers will practice social distancing procedures and advanced safety protocols. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that the coronavirus (COVID-19) does not pose any known risk to blood donors during the donation process or from attending blood drives, and that it is safe to donate blood. For more information, visit ShopAshevilleOutlets.com.

This exhibition features archival objects from the Theodore Dreier Sr. Document Collection presented alongside artworks from the Museum’s Black Mountain College Collection to explore the connections between artworks and ephemera. This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by lydia see, fall 2020 curatorial fellow, with support from a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant through the Council on Library and Information Resources.
|
|
The Asheville Art Museum presents Fantastical Forms: Ceramics as Sculpture on view at the Museum November 4, 2020 through April 5, 2021. The 25 works in this exhibition—curated by associate curator Whitney Richardson—highlight the Museum’s Collection of sculptural ceramics from the last two decades of the 20th century to the present. Each work illustrates the artist’s ability to push beyond the utilitarian and transition ceramics into the world of sculpture.
North and South Carolina artists featured include Elma McBride Johnson, Neil Noland, Norm Schulman, Virginia Scotchie, Cynthia Bringle, Jane Palmer, Michael Sherrill, and Akira Satake. Works by American artists Don Reitz, Robert Chapman Turner, Karen Karnes, Toshiko Takaezu, Bill Griffith, and Xavier Toubes are also featured in the exhibition.
Thank you Suzanne Camarata of The Gallery at Flat Rock whose Porch Portraits sessions raised $2835 for the Playhouse! Suzanne began this series when the pandemic made traditional photo sessions a challenge and inspired photographers used social distancing to create a new way to capture memories. “Porch Portraits by Suzanne brings the fun of a casual, light-hearted photoshoot right to your home – literally to your front porch or in your front yard. ” Suzanne is continuing her sessions this year, so make sure to visit the link below to get (or gift) a session today.
The Gallery at Flat Rock Offers Virtual and In-Person Exhibit
On January 21, The Gallery at Flat Rock opened their latest exhibit, Transcendence: An Artistic Celebration of the U.N. International Year of Peace and Trust. The in-person and virtual exhibit features, “over two dozen Gallery at Flat Rocks artists, who will each provide one artwork for the show that they believe evokes themes of peace and mutual trust among members of humanity.”
Winter Hours:
Wed – Sat 11am – 4pm
Sun 11am – 3pm
Open by appointment
or by chance

Join us for a relaxing ride through quiet countryside on your way to small town life in western North Carolina on the Tuckasegee River Excursion. Departing from Bryson City, this 4 hour excursion travels 32 miles round-trip to Dillsboro and back to the Bryson City Depot. Pass by the famous movie set of The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford!
The Tuckasegee (tuck-uh-SEE-jee) River Excursion includes an 1½ hour layover in the historic town of Dillsboro, where you’ll find more than 50 shops, restaurants, bed and breakfasts and country inns. There is time to shop, snack, and visit the many unique shops before returning to Bryson City.

The Paladins host Southern Conference foe, Western Carolina, on Saturday, February 13, at 12:00 p.m. at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

We invite women from all over to participate in this celebration and engage a variety of wise women to explore women’s wellness through a holistic lens.
When women take our health into our own hands, we have ourselves to rely on and can better persist in trying times. Join us for this engaging Women’s Wellness Series where we’ll learn how to discover our own voices, nourish ourselves, and partner with herbal medicine to heal ourselves and those around us. Give yourself the gift of knowledge and self-care this winter! Each four-hour session will include 45 minutes of yoga and will feature beloved past conference presenters.
We welcome all levels of herbalist. We encourage you to explore all workshops as this series takes a holistic approach to women’s health. However, classes can be taken individually.
Feb 13: Ruth Barrett – Women’s Rites, Women’s Mysteries: Intuitive Ritual Creation
Feb 27: Linda Conroy – Stirring the Cauldron; Herbal Nourishment for Vitality
March 13: Cornelia Cho – Becoming Your Own Best Ally: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Life
March 27: Dominique Christina – Women’s Writing Workshop: Calling Forth Your Inner Council of Wise, Brave, Crazy, Rebellious, Loving, Luminous Self
April 10: Mary Lou Singleton – Embodied Wisdom: A Wise Woman Approach to Health in a Phytophobic, Medicalized World
April 24: Mimi Hernandez – Emerging from the Cave: Stoking the Rising Fire
April 25: Women’s Wellness Series Wrap-up Celebration (Everyone welcome!)
All classes include an invitation to the Women’s Talking Stick Series Wrap-up on April 25; attendance is optional. Recordings are included in the price and will be sent following the conclusion of the series. The first 45 minutes of each class will include a yoga warm-up with Mary Bue, Twin Cities yoga instructor: “Slow Flow Yoga for Every Body.”
As a result of the generosity of our sponsors and individuals who donate to the scholarship fund, we are able to offer a limited number of partial scholarships to the 2021 Midwest Women’s Herbal In Our Own Hands Women’s Wellness series virtual event. Apply here: https://www.midwestwomensherbal.com/in-our-own-hands-scholarship-applic
Register here: https://www.midwestwomensherbal.com/in-our-hands-wellness-series
Does your dog have selective hearing? Do you have to repeat yourself when your dog is near distractions? Well then, Beyond Basic Manners is the class for you! We will expand upon basic training to help you get reliability anywhere, anytime and at any distance. This includes teaching your dog to stop forward movement when running towards a distraction, sitting at a distance, and much more!
The Prerequisites for Beyond Basic Manners are:
1. Graduated from the AHS Canine Manners Course OR Successful completion of equivalent training including sit, down, stay, wait and come
2. Dogs MUST be able to work effectively in close proximity to other dogs and handlers without interfering with other participants
If you have any questions about your dog’s eligibility for the course, please contact Pia Silvani at [email protected]
* All dogs must be current on the following vaccines distemper, parvo, bordetella and rabies to participate in this course.
The cost of this course includes six one-hour classes held on 1/9, 1/16, 1/23, 1/30, 2/5, 2/13, from 1-2pm unless otherwise arranged by the instructor.
Refund Policy:
Refunds up to 7 days before event – Eventbrite’s fee is nonrefundable.
About the trainer:
Pia Silvani is an internationally-recognized dog trainer and lecturer with over 30 years’ experience. As VP of Training and Behavior at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, NJ, she developed numerous courses focused on positive, reward-based techniques. In 2013, Pia began working for the ASPCA, eventually becoming the Director, Behavioral Rehabilitation where she led programs to educate shelter professionals in effective behavior rehabilitation techniques, as well as specialized socialization, enrichment, and shelter protocols. This cutting edge program is featured in the award-winning Netflix documentary, “Second Chance Dogs”.
After 6 years at the ASPCA, Pia has decided to re-establish her consulting business here in the Asheville area by offering private behavioral consultations in client’s homes as well as teaching classes in partnership with Asheville Humane Society.
Pia has been chosen as one of Bark’s 100 picks of the best and brightest people that changed the world of dogs. Her goal has always been to combine her love of dogs with her respect and affection for people. She enriches the lives of both through humane relationship work and training.


Join us for three hours “off the eaten path” as we find and gather over a dozen wild edibles. We’ll whip up a little tasting right on the trail. Take home the rest of your finds and/or get ready for some find dining when one of our award-winning restaurant partners prepares your “catch of the day,” with lunch, brunch or dinner, for free. Wild mushroom pizza, daylily tamales, sassafras root beer, wisteria ice cream… it all depends on what we find!
Pricing
- Adult (Ages 12+): $75
- Child (Ages 5-11): $35
- Child (Ages 4 & Under): Free


Join us and OneBlood on February 13th for a Blood Drive from 2-7pm! All donors will receive lounger pants and a $10 e-gift card along with a wellness checkup, and antibody test from One Blood! Sign up at https://donor.oneblood.org/…/sch…/drive_schedule/1052529



Hailing from Old Hickory, Tennessee, rising stand-up star Nate Bargatze’s comedy is both clean and relatable. He has been featured as one of Esquire’s “Best New Comedians” by Jim Gaffigan, Rolling Stone’s “Comedians to Watch” by Marc Maron, Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch” for 2015, and as #1 on Vulture‘s “50 Comedians You Should Know” in 2015.
Following the showbiz footsteps of his dad, a former clown turned world-class magician, Bargatze’s debut TV special, Full Time Magic, and debut album, Yelled at By a Clown, came out in 2015. The album reached #1 on the iTunes Comedy Charts and remained on Billboard’s Top Ten Comedy Charts for weeks. His first half-hour Netflix special, The Standups, premiered in 2017, and his first solo one-hour Netflix special, The Tennessee Kid, came out this year. He currently has a deal with 20th Century Fox to develop his own TV show.
Bargatze has made multiple appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, and @midnight. Off-screen, he performed as part of Fallon’s Clean Cut Comedy Tour and Chris Rock’s Total Blackout Tour, along with live shows for the troops in Iraq and Kuwait. He regularly appears at Bonnaroo, SXSW, Oddball Comedy Festival, Sasquatch, Clusterfest, and the Just For Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival.

Rebecca and the Reckoning is a honky tonk and americana band based out of Asheville, NC. On this special valentines day weekend, they will be joined by the euphonious sounds of Franklin Keel on vocals and electric cello. You will know Rebecca and Franklin as the guitar and cello singing duo, Samson and Delilah. From honky tonk to blues to classic folk, this collaboration is sure to bring love and soul to your holiday weekend.
Come enjoy an evening of live music, food and drinks at the Isis Music Hall. Reservations are highly recommended.

Winner of the 1995 Tony Award for Best Play
Written by Terrence McNally
Directed by Stephanie Hickling Beckman
Winner of the 1995 Tony Award for Best Play, Love! Valour! Compassion! explores the lives, loves, and fears of eight gay men in the 1990s. Over the course of three holiday weekends, the men’s conversations touch on themes of infidelity, flirting, AIDS, skinny-dipping, and questions about life and death. By turns soul-searching and hilarious, the play sings with truth.
Writes McNally, “I think I wanted to write about what it’s like to be a gay man at this particular moment in our history. I think I wanted to tell my friends how much they’ve meant to me. I think I wanted to tell everyone else who we are when they aren’t around.”
“[…]his most ambitiously unambiguous gay play, and it speaks difficult truths with acid grace and all those generous words exclaimed in his title.” —New York Newsday
Love! Valour! Compassion! was the first show ever produced by Different Strokes! We re-visit it now in celebration of our 10-year anniversary!
Join us online this “Galentine’s Day” for a celebration of love by local acoustic duo Liz and Elizabeth. They’ll perform a myriad of love-song in their signature style, interspersed with letters read by local actors. Starring Jeb Buffinton, David Hopes, Kay Wise, Adam Olson, Denise Lockett and Gabbi Nicholson.
NOTE: The link to this show will be emailed to you on the day of the performance |

Darko Butorac, Conductor
Wagner: Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
James Thompson, violin
This is a concert that combines three jewels from German romanticism. We open with the majestic Prelude to Wagner’s opera, The Meistersinger from Nurnberg. James Thompson, a bright star who debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra is joining us for Bruch’s lyrical Violin Concerto. The concert concludes with Brahms’ eternal Symphony No.1, a musical journey from the heart of darkness into light and joy.

|
March 13-21, 2021 – Online
Kick-off Live Event
March 13, 2021
Track Workshops
March 14-19, 2021
View 3 pre-recorded hour long workshops in each of 11 Themed Tracks:
Live Panel Discussion SessionsMarch 20-21, 2021Join a live Panel Discussion with each speaker from the Track workshops. Interact directly with panelists during the live Q & A portion!
|

There is new inventory for the seedling sale. Apples, pears, and additional stock in blackberries and rhubarb have been added to the seedling sale. If you have already placed an order, no worries! Submit another order, and we will make sure your new order gets packaged with your previous order.
The Buncombe County Soil & Water annual seedling sale runs now through Sunday, Feb. 28. To order, use the link here. Please note, some seedlings might sell out before Feb. 28. Seedling pickup will be March 4-5, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
If you have additional questions, call (828) 250-4785.
Some of this year’s seedlings for sale:
- Blackberries
- Red Mulberry
- Redbud
- Persimmon
- Kousa Dogwood
- White Oak
- Much more






