Calendar of Events

Hendersonville is the official home of the North Carolina Apple Festival, a four-day celebration to recognize the importance of the apple industry to Henderson County and North Carolina.  The Apple Festival is always held during the Labor Day weekend (Friday through Monday). Festival-goers can choose from a variety of events that feature a street fair on Historic Main Street and surrounding event venues.

Some of the other festivities happening during the Apple Festival include apple breakfasts, Gem & Mineral Spectacular, children’s activities, the Western North Carolina Air Museum Open House and

Please leave your pets comfortably at home.

North Carolina is the 7th largest apple-producing state in the nation and Henderson County is the largest apple-producing county in North Carolina, producing 85 percent of all the apples grown in the state. The County grows more than 40 varieties of apples including; Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty, Honey Crisp, Granny Smith, Stayman, Fuji and Galas.

Asheville’s Goombay Festival has celebrated African & Caribbean heritage here in Western North Carolina. This year, celebrating 40th Goombay Anniversary!

The festival celebrates the richness and diversity found in the food, music, and art across the African Diaspora.

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Mountain Makers Craft Market is a monthly indie art fair designed to cultivate community in Western NC. Located in Downtown Waynesville, we bring together 20+ artisans selling handmade and vintage goods that’ll make you smile! Join us on the first Sunday of each month from 12p-4p at 308 N. Haywood Street, and visit MountainMakersMarket.com

Hendersonville is the official home of the North Carolina Apple Festival, a four-day celebration to recognize the importance of the apple industry to Henderson County and North Carolina.  The Apple Festival is always held during the Labor Day weekend (Friday through Monday). Festival-goers can choose from a variety of events that feature a street fair on Historic Main Street and surrounding event venues.

Some of the other festivities happening during the Apple Festival include apple breakfasts, Gem & Mineral Spectacular, children’s activities, the Western North Carolina Air Museum Open House and

Please leave your pets comfortably at home.

North Carolina is the 7th largest apple-producing state in the nation and Henderson County is the largest apple-producing county in North Carolina, producing 85 percent of all the apples grown in the state. The County grows more than 40 varieties of apples including; Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty, Honey Crisp, Granny Smith, Stayman, Fuji and Galas.

The Town of Canton Mayor and Board of Aldermen/women are excited to announce that the 114th Canton Labor Day Festival will take place September 5th and 6th!  This event will be bigger and better than ever and we hope that you make your plans to join us!

The forests of Appalachia can host an incredible diversity of delicious foods, making our region
ideal for the practice of forest farming–a sustainable production system which helps keep a
forest healthy by introducing more biodiversity. This practice introduces cultivated crops into
forest settings by integrating trees and shrubs, offering up inventive ingredients to the food
system while also offering environmental, economic and social benefits. Almost any plant or
fungus that needs shade can be grown in a forest farming system. Join Chow Chow for

mouth-watering tastes of the forests as you learn from Craig Mauney, local forest farmer and paw paw
ambassador, and Bill Whipple, of the Acornucopia Project and Asheville Nuttery.

Dive in with us for a tasting feast exploring sustainable seafood and fish from the mountains
to the sea. Learn about the best choices you can make to ensure you are eating seafood and
fish that are well managed and caught or farmed responsibly. Conversation will address the
challenges and opportunities in the fish and seafood industry, and how we all, from the water
to the plate, can work together for a more sustainable future.

Root to bloom eating encourages us to enjoy our food to its full potential by using forgotten or
often discarded parts of fruits, flowers and vegetables. This practice can increase the amount
of edible food for consumption, using the same amount of resources, while also reducing food
waste. Join Chow Chow for a flavorful vegetarian whole plant dinner, taking guests on a multisensorial dining journey starting from the seed in the ground all the way to the flower and
its essence. This experience will leave you more mindful about food waste and aware of the
benefits derived from eating plants in their entirety. Learn about natural plant-based dyes with
a demonstration from Echoview Fiber Mill, including indigo and black walnuts, and dyes that
can be made from vegetable scraps including onion skins and avocado pits.

The 14th annual Art in Autumn Outdoor Arts and Crafts Festival is a much loved event held on Main Street in downtown Weaverville, North Carolina, located in Buncombe County 7 miles from downtown Asheville. The festival features over 100 juried artists and craftspeople, and live music.

Opened in 1948 by Fred “Rabbit” Simpson, Rabbit’s Motel was a crown jewel of Black-owned
Tourist Courts for African-American travelers in the segregation-era South, and provided
lodging and soul-food dining for many Black travelers. Rabbit’s Motel sat in the heart of
Southside, a flourishing African-American community that was one of many early-Asheville
vibrant Black communities in Asheville. SoundSpace@Rabbit’s, opened in 2020, will create a
creative arts hub in Asheville including music rehearsal studio space, soul food kitchen and
artist studios, and will promote historic pride while embracing a model of diversity in the most
authentic way possible, through music, art, community, and food. Join us for a lively event
featuring music, drinks and bites inspired by the original Rabbit’s Motel and Cafe

Experience The Time of Your Life at the 12th annual Dirty Dancing Festival in Lake Lure, NC!

Whether you have been coming for years, or always wanted to see what the hype is all about, we have a chance for you to WIN a weekend getaway to the namesake film’s backdrop where It’s all Crazy for Swayze.

Join us for singalongs, watermelon carrying, Lift Scenes, lots and lots of dancing, and much more on September 24-25, 2021. Proceeds benefit the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and festival organizers, The Chamber of Hickory Nut Gorge.

Show-stopping Dance Performances Live Music  by The Soul Psychedelique Orchestra The return of Hot Lake Lure Nights dance lessons hosted by Coach Natalie Foreverland A Message from PanCAN Nighttime Lakeside Screening of Dirty Dancing

Experience The Time of Your Life at the 12th annual Dirty Dancing Festival in Lake Lure, NC!

Whether you have been coming for years, or always wanted to see what the hype is all about, we have a chance for you to WIN a weekend getaway to the namesake film’s backdrop where It’s all Crazy for Swayze.

Join us for singalongs, watermelon carrying, Lift Scenes, lots and lots of dancing, and much more on September 24-25, 2021. Proceeds benefit the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and festival organizers, The Chamber of Hickory Nut Gorge.

Professional Dance Lessons to the Original Movie Soundtrack Film-Inspired Dance Performances by the Asheville Ballet Top-notch  Live Music by  DJ Michael Sprouse,  Envision, and ACE Party Band. Watermelon Races for PanCAN Selfie  Portraits with scenes from Dirty Dancing filmed here in Lake Lure A Car Show featuring the 1957 Chevy Bel Air “Swayze” look-alike car A variety of Movie-inspired Games The Lake Lift Competition And much more!

Enjoy one of the top 20 events in the Southeast with live entertainment, 130+ food and craft vendors, tons of family-friendly activities, interactive kids area, along with performances and demonstrations celebrating the Southern Appalachian mountain culture. Mountain Heritage Day is diligently working to create a safe environment for everyone, whereby booths and seating are spaced for physical distancing.

The past, present, and future of African-Americans in Asheville is a story of resilience. Join
DeWayne Barton and Hood Huggers International for a Garden Gathering in the Peace Gardens
& Market in West Asheville. Hood Huggers builds greater communication, connection and
wealth in systematically marginalized neighborhoods in the Affrilachian region through
the arts, environment, and social enterprise. The Peace Gardens & Market–a labor of love in
the heart of the Burton Street Community–is a sanctuary for positive action, designed to
create neighborhood food security, community cohesion, and a vibrant, sustainable local
economy. The Gardens are also a vibrant sculpture park, featuring installations created by
DeWayne Barton and other artists, telling a compelling story of social and environmental
justice and black history. The Gardens will be activated with food, drink, art, music, poetry and
performance

Food is universal and central to all our lives. Chow Chow brings together diverse community
leaders who will be paired with chefs to tell their stories through food. Each lived experience
will inspire a multi-course, paired beverage tasting dinner, interpreting the personal stories
through food. The Chefs & Narrators will share with us their stories, and the process for
transforming a life story into a meal