Calendar of Events

Celebrate Christmas at Connemara with demonstrations and craft making on three Saturdays in December. The free holiday activities and craft-making are supported by the non-profit Park Store managed by America’s National Parks.

Demonstrations and craft making will be offered in the garage adjacent to the Sandburg Home. Activities are free and visitors can come anytime during the event time to participate. A detailed schedule will be posted soon.

The Sandburg Home will be decorated in the simple style of the Sandburgs with poinsettias and a traditionally decorated Christmas tree throughout December until January 6th, 2024. Reserve a home tour at recreation.gov.

The Sandburg family enjoyed a simple holiday at home at Connemara. They handmade gifts and baked Swedish springerle cookies, gathered holly and greenery from the grounds to decorate mantels and tables, and cut a white pine from the woods as the Christmas tree. Favorite tree ornaments were glass or paper mache birds. The Christmas season was a time when the family was home and Carl Sandburg took a break from traveling. They gathered in the living room to listen to music, sing songs, and read stories.

An alternative to the ‘pop-up’ or a larger fair, COLLECT curates extraordinary warm and festive gifts for the holidays by regional artists and makers. In addition to gifts, COLLECT will feature food and drink from Crocodile Wine, Roll Up Herbal Bar, Botanist & Barrel, and Nibbly Onigiri.

Saturdays through Dec. 16,
8 a.m.–noon through Nov. 18;

10 a.m.–1 p.m. Nov. 24–Dec. 16

Even though it’s getting colder, you can still find fresh, local food at area farmers markets. Nine markets in Buncombe County will offer extended seasons or special holiday dates in November and December. In addition to seasonal produce, meats, cheeses, eggs, and bread, these markets will feature local artists and handmade goods, such as wreaths, pottery, jewelry, and more.

ASAP’s Double SNAP for Fruits and Vegetables and Farm Fresh Produce Prescription. Both programs offer participants free market tokens that can be spent on fresh fruits and vegetables. That includes in-season fall produce such as root veggies (including carrots, beets, radishes, and turnips), tubers (potatoes and sweet potatoes), brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage), winter squash, greens, and fruits like apples and persimmons.

Visit Asheville Outlets for FREE photos with Santa sponsored by the North Carolina Arboretum Winter Lights on Saturdays and Sundays, November 25 & 26, December 2 & 3, December 9 & 10, and daily from Friday, December 15 through Saturday, December 23, 2023. Located in the Food Court. Visitors will receive one FREE 4” by 6” photo and digital download of a single image from TapSnap Phototainment (while supplies last). Dates and time may vary, visit ShopAshevilleOutlets.com for additional information.

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Give the gift of holiday joy in the form of a unique, beautiful, locally made ornament! Handcrafted ornaments made by local artists will be for sale in our lobby on our Christmas tree through the middle of December. Gift the gift of art this year and support local artists in the process!

Featuring handmade gifts, accessories, clothing and art, the Holiday Market is the perfect place to complete your holiday shopping list. There will be more than a dozen vendors inside and outside of Local Cloth! And you can meet an alpaca!  Bring your friends and family!

The Peppermint Bear Scavenger Hunt will take you on a fun-filled bear hunt through downtown Hendersonville looking for Peppermint Bear’s lost bear cubs, who are hiding out in the shops, Get your map at the Visitor Center, then head out to find all of the cubs and get a stamp at each location after you’ve found the bear, return completed entry forms to the Visitor Center to be eligible for great prizes!

$10 | Ages 2-9 with adult, advance registration required

A holiday tradition for local families, Santa hosts a special breakfast with games, crafts, and a visit from the jolly man himself.

Join us for a Holiday Pop Up Shop at Open Studio

Saturday, December 9th – 11-5
Sunday, December 10th – 11-5

115 Elk Mountain Road, North Asheville NC 28804

Shop pottery, art, vintage clothing, home goods, jewelry, teas, tinctures, gifts + more from:
@gennypopshop
@a13rattlesnakesandrainbows
@junopottery
@heilbronherbs
@loomimports
@yewocollective

Live art creation, demos, and more. Peer into the process of artists in their studios, working in ceramic, fiber, paint, and more. Featuring Art Garden studio artists, and occasional special guests.

Studios:

#314: Trish Salmon, hand-built ceramic sculpture

#324: Cynthia Llanes, landscape expressionism

#320 Canopy Suite:

320a: Emily Alley and Leviticus Moore, fiber sculpture and painting.

320b: Skwerl, painting and drawing

320c: UCB+Youth Arts Empowered, Cleaster Cotton and Tarah Singh, mixed media

320d: Jack Henry, painting and wheel-thrown ceramics

320e: Dillon Endico, oil painting, woodwork, murals

320f: Annie Kyla Bennett, Regenerative Nouveau. oil and mixed media

320g: Sierra the Moth Queen, apothecary and plant arts

320h: Alex Stilber, painting and mixed media

Join Guidon Brewing for their 5th Annual Christmas Market. Local
vendors, Santa, live music with Sunlight Drive, cookie contest and Glühwein will help you get into the Christmas spirit!

Outdoor German-style Christkindlmarkt.
Artisans & Crafters. Food. Drink. Music. Santa Claus. Children’s crafts. Make your own s’mores. Outdoor games. Fun For All Ages.
Featuring: Haus Heidelberg Food Truck, Guidon Brewing Co., 30 vendors, & more

SART Presents “Christmas Time’s A Comin’, An Appalachian Christmas Revue”

Join us for a heartwarming Christmas revue like no other! This holiday season, we’re spreading the joy by offering pay-what-you-wish tickets. It’s our way of giving back to the community and ensuring that everyone can experience the magic of the season. Don’t miss out on this special opportunity to create lasting memories with your loved ones. Get your tickets today at sartplays.com and celebrate the spirit of giving this Christmas!

From the bounty shores of England comes the Styckes-Upon-Thump Repertory Theatre Company, a stuffy old traveling troupe embarking on their fifteenth annual farewell tour of Dickens’ tale. The company includes Sir Selsdon Piddick, the consummate actor, in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, with Mrs. Bettina Salisbury, Dame Rowena Middleton-Lewis, Mrs. Cordelia ffoliet-ffolkes ffortescue Woods, Teddy Shub, and Elyot Crummels in multiple supporting roles. On this fateful Christmas Eve night, various forms of mayhem ensue as this professional company scrambles to keep the show going and everything that could go possibly wrong does, with hilarious, ridiculous results!

It’s beginning to look a lot like…you got it! Keep the family tradition going. Same great quality, all new show! Come celebrate the season here on ‘The Rock’ with the always popular A Flat Rock Playhouse Christmas! Join in and sing along to some of your favorite holiday tunes like, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Jingle Bells,” “O Holy Night,” and many more. With an incredible cast

featuring dancers from Pat’s School of Dance and the Flat Rock Playhouse Chorus, there is truly no better way to kick off your holiday season!

Get ready to embrace the spirit of Christmas with Elf: The Musical, a heartwarming and hilarious adaptation of the beloved 2003 holiday film. This enchanting musical follows the journey of Buddy, a human raised by elves at the North Pole who embarks on a journey to New York City to find his real father. Through catchy, uplifting songs and zany comedic antics, Elf: The Musical serves a healthy dose of holiday cheer, laughter, and life lessons about identity, family, and the true meaning of Christmas. It’s a magical, festive spectacle guaranteed to light up the holiday season for all ages!

A talkback with the cast & crew of Elf: The Musical will be held following the performances on December 3rd and 10th.

North Carolina’s oldest professional non-profit ballet company presents the full-length classical holiday tradition, with stars, story, and sugarplums. Clara’s magical journey to the Lands of Snow and Sweets featuring the traditional Tchaikovsky score has become a favorite holiday family tradition.

The Blue Ridge Orchestra welcomes the winter holidays with two performances of BRO Revels! 2023, featuring The Nutcracker Suite and introducing harpist Tori Parrish. Presented at 3:00 pm in Charles M. Beall Auditorium, Haywood Community College, on Saturday, December 9th, and in the Warren Wilson Presbyterian Church on Sunday, December 10th, the program is an eclectic mix of old and new, familiar and surprising.

Music Director Milton Crotts begins the program with Rigby’s Escape, a light and cheery piece for flute, clarinet, and string orchestra composed by featured composer Andre Madatian. The BRO Strings then change gears to accompany The Walker Family Band performing its original music – a unique blend of traditional, old-time, Celtic, and classical – with a familial twist. The genre shifts again as Tori Parrish takes center stage to perform Deborah Henson-Conant’s invigorating Baroque Flamenco for harp and strings, a musical tour de force that defies the stereotype of this most fascinating of instruments.

The full orchestra takes over for the second part of the program, presenting the lyrical second movement of the “Gaelic Symphony” composed in 1894 by Amy Beach, the “dean of women composers”. The concerts conclude with the celebrated music of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite, a perennial favorite of musicians and audiences alike.

With performances in Clyde and Swannanoa, the Blue Ridge Orchestra furthers its mission to share fine music with audiences across Western North Carolina, and is particularly proud to continue its association with Haywood Community College. Like Revels! past, BRO Revels! 2023 will usher in the holiday season with comfort and joy.

BRO Revels! 2023 is generously sponsored by Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty. 

Details: Blue Ridge Orchestra’s Revels! 2023

Saturday, December 9th, 2023, 3:00 pm

Charles Beall Auditorium, Haywood Community College

185 Freedlander Drive, Clyde, NC

Tickets: $25 General Admission, $15 Students, Free under age 5

Sunday, December 10th, 2023, 3:00 pm

Warren Wilson Presbyterian Church

101 Chapel Lane, Swannanoa, NC  

Tickets: $20 General Admission, $15 Friends, $5 Students, Free age 6 and under

Info: https://blueridgeorchestra.org/bro-revels-2023-dec-23

Facebook, Instagram,

or call 828-782-3354.

Honey & the Hive will present their Winter Market, taking place at 23 Merrimon Avenue on Saturday, December 9, 2023, from 3 – 7 p.m., featuring small-scale local crafters, artisans, and artists.

The team at Honey & the Hive is proud to bring the Winter Market back for the fifth year. The 2023 Winter Market will be a one-day event featuring 15+ local vendors and artists with everything you need for gift shopping, including fermented foods, culinary goods, botanical art, foraging gear, herbal crafts, goat milk soaps, self-care products, and honey, of course! The market will be held at our storefront with vendors both indoors and outdoors, rain or shine.

The 5th Annual Market is free to attend. Customers who purchase from our vendors will be automatically entered into a chance to win a gift basket. Attendees are welcome to sample our infused honey and honey varietals from beekeepers around Western North Carolina.

“We live in an amazing place with many talented artisans and we believe strongly in supporting local businesses and producers. This market has grown and changed over the years to accommodate the needs of our community, and we look forward to a wonderful market day for our fifth year.” says staff member Amber Shehan.

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​​Honey & the Hive is a beekeeping supply, honey, and gift shop in Weaverville, North Carolina. We carry beekeeping supplies, offer classes on beekeeping, sell local honey, and make products from the hive, like propolis tincture, infused honey, and beeswax candles. More than just a store, we are a hive of like-minded people who love bees and pollinators and want to educate our community about how to help care for this valuable part of our ecosystem.

Vendors include: Fermenti, Sister of Mother Earth, Wise Earth Way, Larkspur Art, Toe River Threadworks, Of Sage and Stone, LeighAlan Skincare and Candle Co., Honey Badger Bakes, Tiny Sun Creations, GR Woodworking, Bold and Brash Bakery, Felt Good, Habibi Village, SAVOR Shrub Bitters, Deep Time, Appalachian Sacred Smoke

Tours will start at 5:00, 5:45, 6:30, and 7:15 PM each evening. Registration and advance payment is required. Tickets will go on sale November 1.

$20 adults, $15 students, $15 seniors (65+), free for 4 and under. Children are more than welcome, but please know the tour is about an hour of listening to guides talk about farm history before ending with hot chocolate and cookies.

Music upon arrival provided by local school groups. All tours will end with a visit to the Heritage Weavers & Fiber Artists.

The sisters of Johnson Family Farm invite you to their first
annual Village Nights, Saturday, December 2 and Saturday, December 9 from 5pm-9pm.
The holiday festivities will highlight the store located at 1202 Kanuga Road in
Hendersonville.
Fresh Fraser Fir trees, wreaths, garland and a bow and ribbon bar will be featured along
with tasty treats, hot cocoa and reindeer games for the kids.
The destination will also be a fun stop to take in while visiting various decorated homes
and businesses such as Johnson Family Farm in this year’s Henderson County Holiday
Light Trail.
“We’re going to decorate this place up to get everyone in the holiday spirit,” said Heather
Johnson Price, one of the sisters and owners. “We want to put this event on to connect
with the community and have an ole timey Christmas, go back to the basics.”
Get creative at the ribbon bar as you can buy various colored ribbon by the yard and
make your own bow. Local artisan crafts and gift baskets are available for purchase.
Fresh local vegetables are still available.
Normal store hours remain in effect from Tuesday- Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday 9am-
1pm.
For more information visit www.johnsonfamilyfarmnc.com or call 828-484-2522.

Festival of Lights offers two different experiences for attendees: a drive-thru and a walk-thru. The walk-thru dates will take place on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3 from 6-8 p.m. and the drive-thru will be taking place nightly from Dec. 4 – Dec. 23 from 6-9 p.m.

The walk-thru nights (Dec. 2 and 3) will consist of fun holiday crafts, kettlecorn, hot chocolate and the spectacular light show. Admission to the walk-thru nights is only $5 for adults, and children 16 and under get in free, making it an affordable and joyful outing for families to celebrate the holiday season together. Please note that parking for the walk-thru nights will be available at Charles T. Koontz Intermediate School. This is only a short walk from Lake Julian Park. Cars will not be permitted to enter the park unless they have a need for ADA accessible parking. Guests are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and to dress warmly.

The drive-thru nights (Dec. 4 – Dec. 23) allow you to stay in the comfort of your own car while oooh-ing and ah-ing at the beautiful lights around Lake Julian Park. As participants drive throughout the park, they can tune into their favorite seasonal music on the radio. Admission is $10 per car for personal vehicles, $25 for sprinter vans, trailblazers, and conversion vans, and $50 for busses and motorcoaches. Purchased tickets will be valid for one-time use on any night of the festival; tickets are not date specific.

From the bounty shores of England comes the Styckes-Upon-Thump Repertory Theatre Company, a stuffy old traveling troupe embarking on their fifteenth annual farewell tour of Dickens’ tale. The company includes Sir Selsdon Piddick, the consummate actor, in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, with Mrs. Bettina Salisbury, Dame Rowena Middleton-Lewis, Mrs. Cordelia ffoliet-ffolkes ffortescue Woods, Teddy Shub, and Elyot Crummels in multiple supporting roles. On this fateful Christmas Eve night, various forms of mayhem ensue as this professional company scrambles to keep the show going and everything that could go possibly wrong does, with hilarious, ridiculous results!