While the UN reported that over 1 million species around the globe are at risk of extinction, the Trump administration responded by proposing rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act. Again and again, they have shown that they value profit over planet. But hope is not lost. Here is something you can do today. When you get any item in the Save the Bees collection, you are supporting LCV’s work to stop the climate crisis and protect endangered species. 

What is Shop & Dine HC?

Shop & Dine HC is a collaborative movement designed to remind the public of the benefits and importance of spending their dollars with our local businesses. Local businesses lay the framework for a strong community and we want Henderson County to shop local, spend local, save local.

Why does shopping locally matter?

When you shop locally:

• $0.02 of every $1 stays in the community through the Sales Tax. These dollars support county and municipal budgets for schools, law enforcement, infrastructure, and more.
• you help create and retain jobs for existing businesses as they succeed and grow, and create a successful business community that attracts other businesses and entrepreneurs.
• those same businesses you are supporting will give back to our community through donations to non-profits, civic clubs, youth programs, and more.

Simply put – our local businesses make our community better.

Want to get involved?

Be part of the conversation!

Join the Shop & Dine Facebook Group

Shop to Win!

When shopping in Henderson County:

• take a selfie, post it to Facebook or Instagram
• use the #ShopandDineHC
• tag the Chamber @hendersoncochamber and business visited
• be entered to win bi-monthly contests.

Contests begin July 1, 2020.

You don’t need to give up your fitness or workout routine just because COVID-19 has you spending more time at home. If you’ve got a library card and access to WiFi, it’s easy to stay active with digital resources. (If you need a new library card or renewal, call Ask a Librarian at (828) 250-4700 or follow these steps.)

North Carolina Digital Library

Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy. The Legacy of Congressman Lewis and Voting Rights

http://participate.lwv.org/c/10065/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=13972&utm_source=ActionAlert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=080620

On the 55th Anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we take this opportunity to think of the work of giants and those before us who have created the foundation on which we stand. As we commemorate this historic day for voting rights, we look back at the legacy of Congressman John Lewis, and his tireless fight and advocacy for voting rights and justice for Black people across the country. 

Congressman Lewis presided over the historic House vote in December 2019 for the Voting Rights Advancement Act. To fully honor his legacy would mean to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act in the Senate and restore protections for voters in a critical election year.

 The protections outlined in the Voting Rights Advancement Act will: 

• Re-establish preclearance coverage for states and localities with a history and pattern of discrimination in voting
• Provide preclearance nationwide for states and localities with substantial minority populations to enact voting changes that have historically contributed to voter suppression, such as changes in methods of election and cuts in polling locations
• Create greater transparency and public notice for last-minute voting information changes, such as polling location changes and ballot information

Thanks to a generous donation from our friends at fellow local business, Image 420 Screenprinting, we are proud to introduce a special, super limited edition t-shirt and sticker merch bundle ready for purchase today! These awesome shirts, which come in unisex sizes S through XXL, plus the matching sticker, are available for a $50 bundle price which will include one of each. The full price of your purchase will benefit our campaign to keep the Orange Peel alive and well until it is safe for us to all be together enjoying shows again in person. There are only 100 of these bundles available, and the designer, Brent Baldwin, did an amazing job with the art, so you are going to want to show off your proud support of keeping the music alive when you wear your shirt or display your new sticker. Every penny will bring us closer to hosting your favorite artist on our stage in the coming months when we can gather safely, and we will be SO thankful to all those who choose to demonstrate their support this way. We can’t wait to see you around town in your gear that helped save the music. Thank you all for your love and support.  Don’t forget, another amazing way to help us that costs nothing is to contact our elected representatives and let them know that you want congress to act and sign aid legislation now, including support for the SOS Act.  This bipartisan act will help independent music businesses recover from our devastating losses of nearly 100% of revenue this year. Click here to send a letter to your rep.  Even if you don’t have financial means to support us right now, sending a letter is a MAJOR contribution that we appreciate just as much. We wouldn’t have become the club we are without all of you, and with your help, we will be around for decades to come.

Call United Way’s 2-1-1 if you have questions about general community support services (24 hours a day/7 days a week) and please encourage others to call as well.

Despite the cancellation of the Flat Rock Playhouse’s 2020 season due to COVID-19, folks are being encouraged to take time to enjoy the lush gardens on the grounds of the historic campus.

With a QR code reader on any smartphone, garden visitors can tap into information about the individual plants wherever they’re standing. The codes direct the phone to webpages on a Muddy Sneakers site that the garden volunteers control.

The Master Gardners have been hard at work adding some tech to our gardens! QR codes can now be found on the 62 garden beds that make up the Playhouse gardens. Visitors can use their smartphones to learn more about the plants they are seeing. Congratulations and thank you to Tamsin Allpress and all of our gardening volunteers who work to keep our gardens beautiful! Photo by volunteer Mary Smit

“As we continue to press into Hope, we continue to hear from supporters, and the message is loud and clear – they also feel the Hope connected to our mission, and want to keep supporting us.” Discovering new ways to sustain The Village Potters Clay Center during this season is the primary job now for the resident potters at TVPCC. As Sarah continues to apply for loans and grants, other potters are choosing hope each day by taking the torch from her to carry on the mission with a second “chapter” of Vessels of Hope.

The Village Potters are Sarah Wells Rolland, George Rolland, Judi Harwood, Lori Theriault, Julia Mann, Christine Henry, and Tori Motyl. They comprise an intentional Collective of potters who share a commitment to nurture creative exploration through education, experience, and community. The Village Potters includes a fine craft gallery, a Teaching Center offering ongoing classes in wheel and hand building for adults, an Advanced Ceramic Studies Program, and online demonstration and workshops. The Village Potters Clay Center is an educational member of The Craft Guild of the Southern Highlands, and is an official distributor for Laguna Clays.

Voices in the Laurel is currently registering young musicians in grades 1 – 12 into one of the
three ensembles, with rehearsals starting on Monday, August 31.

Caldwell Arts Council announces its “Western NC Regional Online Poetry Competition,” featuring Final Judge Kari Gunter-Seymour, Poet Laureate of the state of Ohio and $1200 in total cash awards! Click here for a printable pdf of these guidelines.

Eligibility and Guidelines:

• Residents of the following 31 counties in western North Carolina are eligible to enter:  Alexander,
  Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cherokee, Clay, Davie, Forsyth, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Iredell, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Stokes, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, and Yancey.
• The deadline for entry is midnight, September 15, 2020.
• Entrants must be at least 18 years of age at time of submission.
• Each entrant may submit up to two original poems.
• Cost to enter is $10 for up to two poems.
• All entries AND entry fees must be submitted electronically. See below for submission and payment details. No U.S.P.S. mailed entries, checks or cash will be accepted.
• Poems must not have been written before January 1, 2019.
• Previously published poems are not eligible for submission.
• Poems can be of any subject matter or style; however the Caldwell Arts Council reserves the right to decline the written or audible posting/performance of any entered poem to its website, or other Arts Council platform due to its unsuitability for wide audiences as determined solely by the Caldwell Arts Council.
• Poems must be submitted electronically as a WORD document using .doc or .docx as your file
  extension.
• Poems cannot exceed 100 lines.
• All poems must be single spaced, in Times New Roman font, and be 12pt. type.
• Winning entrants must agree to allow their poems to be posted on the Caldwell Arts Council’s website and/or to be used in subsequent marketing/promotional materials by the Caldwell Arts Council.
• Entrants reserve/keep all other publication rights.
• Caldwell Arts Council staff, board members and their immediate family members are ineligible to
  enter.

Winter Lights at The N.C. Arboretum

November 20, 2020 – January 10, 2021

5:30 – 10:30 p.m. Nightly

Experience Asheville’s BRIGHTEST holiday tradition at Winter Lights at The North Carolina Arboretum. This year, guests are invited to take a dreamy ride through the Arboretum’s enchanted forest and attend Winter Lights safely within their own vehicles. In light of COVID-19, the Arboretum has converted its popular event into a drive-thru show, allowing guests to navigate through a one-mile stretch of the Arboretum’s campus and see unique exhibits covered in thousands of holiday lights. As the Arboretum’s largest fundraising event of the year, proceeds generated from Winter Lights will directly support the Arboretum’s mission-driven programming.

***Tickets go on sale September 1***

MANNA’s mission is to involve, educate, and unite people in the work of ending hunger, and an important part of this mission is advocating for those living in and experiencing the effects of poverty. As a non-partisan organization, dedicated to sharing information about the issues affecting the people we serve together, MANNA does not endorse political parties or candidates. We simply ask people to work with our elected officials to make legislation that works for us all, and makes our region, our state, and our country stronger from the ground up. If you are interested in receiving advocacy-related emails from MANNA FoodBank, please follow link. By clicking here, you are signing up to receive information from MANNA about ways you can use your voice, and actions you can take, to help work towards our vision of a hunger-free Western North Carolina.

“David Wilcox is a father, a husband, a citizen and a songwriter. First inspired to play guitar after hearing a fellow college student playing in a stairwell. Wilcox is now 18 records into a career marked by personal revelation and wildly loyal fans. His lyrical insight is matched by a smooth baritone voice, virtuosic guitar chops, and creative open tunings, giving him a range and tenderness rare in folk music.”

Listen to his song New Blue Horizon on our playlist.

• Annie’s Garden by Joe Ebel

• Daydream by Sapphirecut

• Stages, Intro by Hannah Hatch

• Blindman to the Breeze by Midair Dervish

 Check out our playlist on Spotify

and tell us which local artist or band you dig the most!

The “SAY THEIR NAMES” display at The Oak Street Gallery lists the names of more than 60 Black Americans killed by police officers and the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

Music.

It brings us all together. 

Today, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the bipartisan Save Our Stages Act. We need you to contact your elected representatives through SaveOurStages.com asking them to support this bill.

The Save Our Stages Act provides Small Business Administration grants for independent venues, promoters, and festivals affected by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. These grants offer at least six months of financial support to keep us afloat, pay employees, and preserve a critical economic sector and our ecosystem for communities across America.

Through SaveOurStages.com, more than 1 million emails have been sent letting all 538 members of Congress know that constituents want to keep independent venues, promoters, and festivals alive.

Please help us and continue to push. 

Call, Email, Write, Shout!  

Help us to get the Save Our Stages and RESTART Acts passed.

PLEASE CLICK BELOW NOW 

to contact your legislators and help #SaveOurStages

www.SaveOurStages.com

This link will automatically populate with your Senators and Congressional Representative based on your zipcode.

Thank you so very much for your continued support!

FIND INFO AT:  https://www.lwv.org/blog/100-days-and-100-ways-get-ready-election-day?utm_source=MonthlyHighlights&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=July2020

Learn to make dilly beans, salsa, fruit butter, and more!

Calling all families! If you visit the Museum with children and/or participate in the Museum’s family programs (or might in the future!), we want to hear from you. As we transition family programs to virtual or small-group in-person formats, we need your feedback to create a model that will work for you this fall. We’re giving away a FREE guest pass to one of the first 50 people to fill out the survey.

In person event cancelled. NOW ONLINE!!

REVIEW AND BID ON AUCTION ITEMS!

All proceeds of ticket sales and auction item purchases stay in Henderson County to benefit our mentor programs. Help us continue to Defend the Potential of children in our community!

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Henderson County is about to launch its
second annual silent auction featuring an array of trips, experiences, art, personal services and
much more.
Bidding at:    www.biddingowl.com/BigBrothersBigSistersWNC

“Have fun shopping from the comfort of your own home while supporting a good cause at the
same time,” said Joey Popp, North Carolina’s Big Brother of the Year. “The money raised
enables us to ‘ignite potential’ in the young people we serve in Henderson County with our
unique one-to-one mentoring programs.”
Donations are also accepted through the auction website or by visiting www.bbbswnc.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bbbshendo

A rare double blister pearl wrapped in a 14 karat gold wire gallery on a strand of Czechoslovakian glass beads, this dazzling treasure is sure to make waves for the wearer
at any special occasion.

This is your chance to become the owner of a beautiful necklace with a handcrafted pendant valued at over $3,000. Created by Jeweler Charlie Wharton of Starfire Designs, this piece was generously donated by both Biltmore Lamp and Shade Gallery and the designer.

Tickets are $50 each, and only 100 tickets will be sold. If a minimum of 75 tickets is not sold, all ticket holders will receive a full refund and the raffle will not occur.

https://one.bidpal.net/preludetogether2020/browse/fixedPrice(details:item/5)?utm_source=Brevard%2BMusic%2BCenter&utm_campaign=7c2d140ff3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_1_31_2018_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b154873bc5-7c2d140ff3-131688489