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.
This walk is a great way to explore some of our more moderate hiking options while learning about our colorful spring flowers. You’ll be surprised to find such a variety of plants within such a small area of the Park. Along the way, we’ll also touch on other local flora and fauna. This hike is considered moderate. You will descend the Four Seasons Trail from the top lot, but you won’t have to hike back up. Transportation will be provided.
We love our visitors’ furry friends, but we do understand that some hike participants may consider animals a distraction on the trail. Pets are not allowed on Naturalist Niche hikes because of this.
Advance registration is required. Cost includes Park admission for the day.
Buncombe County Master Gardener volunteers maintain a compost demonstration garden to
teach visitors composting techniques, provide printed material and answer questions. Several
compost systems are displayed including a worm composting bin. Master Gardeners educate
the public as to good gardening practices using research-based information provided by the
North Carolina State University Extension Service.
Asheville is a known power center for the Craft Brewery Revival, which is why we are excited to partner with Hi-Wire Brewing to bring you an unique 8k chip timed race through the Heart of Asheville.
- 8k Race starts at South Slope Tasting Room and finishes at the Big Top Brewery in Asheville, NC
- Music and Beer Festival 10:00AM-2:00PM
- Free Pilsner Glass and custom metal coaster to all finishers.
- Lawn game zone with Cornhole, Life Size Beer Pong and Kan Jam
- Beer specials all afternoon.
- Food Truck festival at the finish line!
LINING: SHEATHING
Exhibition: January 16 – May 4
Reception: Thursday, April 19 from 5-7pm
Lining: Sheathing is a large-scale installation about the tactile and protective qualities of textiles by collaborators Denise Bookwalter and Lee Running. The artists have been working together for five years, creating installations and artist books that include printed fabric, handmade paper, woodblock prints, custom garments and embroidery. This installation has been developed in residencies at Penland School of Crafts, Penland NC, Constellation Studios, Lincoln NE, and Small Craft Advisory Press, Tallahassee FL. The focal point of the installation is a room-size tent suspended beneath a skylight. The tent is made from large printed and dyed textile panels which create a space that viewers can enter. Viewers are invited to try on one of the handmade garments and view the series of eight queen bed sized woodblock prints on handmade paper. For the exhibition at the WCU Fine Art Museum, Bookwalter and Running will also create a three-story site-specific window installation for the atrium of the Bardo Arts Center.
MUSEUM HOURS: Tues-Fri 10am-4pm/ Th 10am-7pm
Closed weekends & University holidays
828.227.ARTS
Image Caption: Detail: Denise Bookwalter, Lee Emma Running, “LINING:SHEATHING”, 2011
To mark the 10th Anniversary of the Windgate Fellowship, the Center for Craft awarded a total of ten, $10,000 Project Grants. This exhibition showcases how the next generation of craft artists used their funds to explore scale, installation, and community practice.
Artists: Andrea Donnelly (Richmond, VA), Josh Copus (Marshall, NC), Dustin Farnsworth (Montreal, QC), Brian Fleetwood (La Mesilla, NM), Ani Geragosian (Salem, MA), Adam Ledford (Philadelphia, PA), Rebecca Manson (Bedford Hills, NY), Rachel Mauser (Louisville, KY), Aaron McIntosh (Richmond, VA), and Mark Reigelman II (Brooklyn, NY).
School of Art & Design Alumni Invitational Exhibition
Exhibition: February 13 – May 4, 2018
Reception: February 15, 2018
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the College of Fine & Performing Arts, the WCU Fine Art Museum invites 12 accomplished alumni of the School of Art & Design back to campus for this exhibition. Exhibiting artists include Amy M. Anderson, Connie Bostic, Mary Charles Griffin, Luzene Hill, Sally Jacobs, Cole Johnson, Dakota Ling, Jeff Marley, Olivia Mears, Tom Pazderka, Byron Tenesaca, and Preston Tolbert.
Image Caption: Tom Pazderka, Angels of the New Light, 2017, ash, charcoal, and oil on burned panel, 43 x 43 in
Willie Cole: Soles and Boards
Exhibition: January 16 – May 4, 2018
Since 1989, Willie Cole has employed the image of the clothes iron in his work. Cole morphs this utilitarian object to represent and reference a range of associations from African masks to scarification to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. This exhibition presents prints from Cole’s time working at Highpoint Editions in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 2011-2012.
Image Caption: Image Courtesy of Highpoint Editions and Willie Cole
Phone: (828) 250-4700
Email: [email protected]
Event Type: Story Time for Kids
Age Group: Preschool – (ages 3-5)
Library: Pack Memorial
Location: 67 Haywood St. – Asheville
Preschool story times are geared towards 3-5 year-olds and include singing, stretchers, and creative activities.
Phone: (828) 250-4738
Email: [email protected]
Event Type: Story Time for Kids
Age Group: Baby – (ages 4 mos.-18 mos.)
Library: East Asheville
Location: 902 Tunnel Rd. – Asheville
Mother Goose Time is a lively language enrichment story time serving our youngest folks–the 4 month-old to 18 month-old set.
Phone: (828) 250-6486
Email: [email protected]
Event Type: Family Fun
Age Group: School Age – (grades K-5)
Library: Swannanoa
Location: 101 W. Charleston Ave. – Swannanoa
J. R. loves bunnies and wants YOU to come and read stories about rabbits to him. If you are a beginning reader who loves doggies…please hop to it! You can help J.R.’s tail wag again.
On April 7 through 23, Grovewood Gallery will host Spring Awakening, a pediatric patients’ exhibition to benefit Arts For Life, an Asheville-based nonprofit that provides pediatric patients and their families with arts education and engagement opportunities. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, April 7 from 2-5pm and feature live music by the Haw Creek Sweet Hots, ice cream by The Hop, and craft activities for kids. Admission is free.
All artwork will be available for sale, and 100% of proceeds will benefit Arts For Life. Grovewood Gallery will also donate 10% of all regular gallery sales from the exhibition’s opening day.
Every day across North Carolina, Arts For Life’s team of staff members, volunteers, interns, and teaching fellows brighten the lives and healthcare experiences of children and families facing serious illnesses and disabilities. By bringing visual art, music, and creative writing education into hospitals and clinics, they help these children and teens remember that they’re not just patients: they’re artists, musicians, and poets, with a world of possibility at their fingertips.
Each Tuesday and Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., April through October, trained volunteer guides lead small groups of participants along woodland trails and through a variety of forest types. Depending on the season, topics of discussion include wildflowers, plant and tree identification, natural history, and the cultural and land use history of The North Carolina Arboretum. Guides may include areas such as the Natural Garden Trail and Bent Creek.
Programs are held rain or shine and participants should dress appropriately for the weather. Individuals should also wear sturdy shoes and bring water. Walks last 1.5- 2.5 hours, depending upon the interest of the group, and are approximately one to two miles in length. Due to length and content, this program is not recommended for children under 8 years of age.
Walks begin in the Baker Exhibit Center Lobby and space is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Groups of five or more are required to pre-register by calling 828-665-2492. Walks are FREE, however, donations to The North Carolina Arboretum Society are appreciated. Regular parking fees apply. Arboretum Society Members always park free.
Due to size limitations of the tours, groups of 10 or more are required to book a private guided trail tour.
Come cheer on the Lions!
On exhibit Saturdays and Sundays from 12 – 4 p.m., Rocky Cove Railroad is a G-Scale (garden scale) model train that demonstrates the coming of trains to western North Carolina at the turn of the 20th century. The exhibit is located below the Grand Promenade. Please note, Rocky Cove Railroad will not operate in rainy or wet conditions.
Phone: (828) 250-4700
Email: [email protected]
Event Type: Family Fun,Film Screening
Age Group: School Age – (grades K-5),Adult
Library: Pack Memorial
Location: 67 Haywood St. – Asheville
Join us to celebrate young filmmakers in our community, screening this year’s submissions in the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival. Free Popcorn and Drinks will be provided. All ages are welcome. To learn more about the 90 Second Newbery Project, click here: 90secondnewbery.com
Come cheer on the Tigers!
Sue Ferguson, Ruby Begonia, c.1976, tapestry on mixed fiber, 60 x 57.5 inches. Museum Purchase with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.The Asheville Art Museum is excited to present Crafting Abstraction, a new exhibition opening Saturday, March 10 at the Asheville Art Museum On the Slope (175 Biltmore Avenue). The exhibition brings together a selection from the Museum’s Permanent Collection that highlights the importance of craft to the development of modernist abstraction in the United States. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, modernist artists have used abstract forms—geometric and organic—to express immaterial phenomena such as spirituality, gracefulness, vitality, speed, sensuality and emotion. In many of these artworks, the physical attributes of the materials and the processes of hand-making are integral to the ideas and experiences conveyed.
This exhibition was curated by Holly Gore, PhD candidate in art history at the University of California, Santa Barbara + the Museum’s Windgate Curatorial Intern 2018. This internship was supported by a Windgate Museum Internship Award administered by the Center for Craft.
As a complement to Crafting Abstraction, Turning Traditions is an installation of selected works by Ed, Philip and Matt Moulthrop. This family of Southern woodturners has created unique vessels for three generations.
Visitors to Grovewood Village will have the opportunity to learn the story of Biltmore Industries on a guided history tour, offered Wednesday – Saturday at 1pm during April – November. The tour includes a visit to Biltmore Industries’ production facility (aka Dye House), where guests can peek into the past and view the original looms, carding machines, spinning mule and dye vats used to make the famed Biltmore Handwoven Homespun.
The tours last approximately 45 minutes and operate on a first-come, first-served basis, open to 25 people. There is no charge to take the tour, but donations are appreciated. Tours begin at the Homespun Museum in Grovewood Village, where a docent will give a detailed overview of Biltmore Industries’ historic importance before leading guests into the 100-year-old Dye House (usually closed to the public).
Private group tours are also offered for a fee and should be scheduled at least one week in advance.
Come cheer on the Lions!
Come cheer on the Lions!
I’m excited to share news about middle grade author Kate Beasley’s tour for the upcoming paperback publication of her wildly popular novel, GERTIE’S LEAP TO GREATNESS. Kate is available for interview, and I’d be happy to send you a copy to take a look at! Here’s some brief info:
Saturday, April 14th at 2:00 PM
55 Haywood St, Asheville, NC 28801
Gertie Reece Foy is 100% Not-From-Concentrate awesome. She has a daddy who works on an oil rig, a great-aunt who always finds the lowest prices at the Piggly Wiggly, and two loyal best friends. So when her absent mother decides to move away from their small town, Gertie sets out on her greatest mission yet: becoming the best fifth grader in the universe to show her mother exactly what she’ll be leaving behind.
This book was initially won in a major six-house auction, and was published to high acclaim (“Meet the next Ramona Quimby” -Entertainment Weekly) and instant popularity. Macmillan is touring Kate to support the paperback release, as well as start buzz for her sophomore novel, LIONS & LIARS, which publishes in June.
Come cheer on the Lions!
Come cheer on the Bulldogs!
For tickets & information, visit the Orchestra’s website, www.blueridgeorchestr
Come cheer on the Lions!
Phone: (828) 250-4738
Email: [email protected]
Event Type: Family Fun,Performance
Age Group: Family – (children of all ages)
Library: East Asheville
Location: 902 Tunnel Rd. – Asheville
Join us at the East Asheville Library for a fabulous presentation of Aesop’s Fables by Red Herring Puppets! This is a free, family friendly event. Space is limited. Please stop by the East Asheville Library or call 250-4738 to reserve your free ticket.