Calendar of Events

Have you ever wished upon a star? Now is your chance! Enjoy camping under the stars or relax in the comfort of our cabins and observing the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower at our historic, mountaintop, Internationally certified Dark Sky Park.

Grab a picnic blanket or bring your own lawn chair and sit back and relax while enjoying the show that space provides as meteors rain down throughout the night from Halley’s Comet!  This meteor shower is expected to produce 10 to 30 meteors per hour.  PARI astronomers will also be on hand with telescopes for you to experience the night sky.

PARI is offering two overnight options for your enjoyment.  *** All overnight packages include dinner, a tour,  observing the meteors, night sky observing with telescopes, accommodations and breakfast.

REGISTER HERE –  CABIN PACKAGE

REGISTER HERE – CAMPING PACKAGE

Have you ever wished upon a star? Now is your chance! Join PARI from 9:30-11:30pm on May 5, 2023 for an evening viewing the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower and the night sky at our historic, mountaintop, Internationally certified Dark Sky Park.

Grab a picnic blanket or bring your own lawn chair and sit back and relax while enjoying the show that space provides as meteors rain down throughout the night from Halley’s Comet!  This meteor shower is expected to produce 10 to 30 meteors per hour.  PARI astronomers will also be on hand with telescopes for you to experience the night sky.

Growing Up Wild Workshop flyer Cradle

Calling all preschool teachers and homeschool parents!

Free educational training
For early childhood education- Ages 3-7
Free activity guide develops positive impressions about nature

Come for a swim lesson and stay for family swim time and snacks in our warm indoor pool and Multipurpose room. Space for this event is limited and priority is given to families who qualify for swim lesson scholarships. Apply for swim scholarships here.

• Dig in the dirt and bring up some deep knowledge on soil health with UNCA’s Asst. Professor Jake Hagedorn
• Start off with
• Learn about our Holistic Land Management from Farm Director Virginia, and how our regenerative practices depend on a deep connection with soil and understanding of it’s indicators.
• Spotted on the farm by our farm crew, staff & neighbors: moles, voles, groundhogs, worms, toads, grouse, killdeer and all manner of creepy crawlies!
• Attendees will break for an included biscuit brunch* from butcher Brian’s kitchen, as birding is hungry work. When attending classes, you will receive a 5% discount in the Farm Store & Butchery!

Is your interest in soil health and farming deeper than dirt? Join us for a practical and in-depth course on regenerative practices and impact in a continuation of our Savory Hub courses, Introduction to Holistic Land Management with Virginia Hamilton.

Cost: $25/person, 2 pack for $40, biscuit brunch is included.

*If you have dietary restrictions, please reach out to [email protected] and we can accommodate.

• This will be a physical activity outside on farm grounds, and DIRT is involved! Wear appropriate footwear and outerwear.
• This class is not recommended for kids in middle school or younger for content comprehension.
• Our Farm Store will be open 10am-5pm. When attending classes, you will receive a 5% discount in the Farm Store & Butchery!

Featured Speakers & Guides:

Jake Hagedorn

• Dig in the dirt and bring up some deep knowledge on soil health with UNCA’s Asst. Professor Jake Hagedorn
• Learn about our Holistic Land Management from Farm Director Virginia, and how our regenerative practices depend on a deep connection with soil and understanding of its indicators.
• Spotted on the farm by our farm crew, staff & neighbors: moles, voles, groundhogs, worms, toads, grouse, killdeer and all manner of creepy crawlies!
• Attendees will break for an included biscuit brunch* from butcher Brian’s kitchen, as birding is hungry work. When attending classes, you will receive a 5% discount in the Farm Store & Butchery!

Is your interest in soil health and farming deeper than dirt? Join us for a practical and in-depth course on regenerative practices and impact in a continuation of our Savory Hub courses, Introduction to Holistic Land Management with Virginia Hamilton.

Notes for attendees: 

• This will be a physical activity outside on farm grounds, and DIRT is involved! Wear appropriate footwear and outerwear.
• Bringing a pair of gardening gloves or work gloves is recommended.
• This class is not recommended for kids in middle school or younger for content comprehension.
• Our Farm Store will be open 10am-5pm. When attending classes, you will receive a 5% discount in the Farm Store & Butchery!

Featured Speakers & Guides:

Jake Hagedorn

We are seeking volunteers to assist us in our small after school program for children in West Asheville in low-income housing.  We provide a safe and nourishing environment, healthy snacks, and creative activities.  Our program currently meets during the school year on most Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:00-5:00pm. You may volunteer for one or two days a week. 

Volunteer Responsibilities:

• Assist with serving snacks
• Interact with children during activity time
• Supervise games and outdoor free time
• For people with background in education, there is also an opportunity to assist with curriculum development and program planning and administration

Requirements:

• Background check
• Orientation booklets will be provided
• Masks are required if unvaccinated

Join the Asheville Museum of History Tuesday, May 9 at 6pm via Zoom for the first program in our foodways month. This event airs live and will be recorded.

In this talk Erica Abrams Locklear will discuss her new book, Appalachia on the Table: Representing Mountain Food and People, published this April by University of Georgia Press. At its core, the project asks: How do long-held preconceptions about Appalachian foodways color our perception of the region and its people? Foods that were once considered “coarse” are now trendy, while a fairly rigid idea of what “counts” as mountain food remains stagnant.

Abrams Locklear will discuss how socially agreed upon understandings of food can and do define its consumers in the national imagination. Her book analyzes travel writing and fiction from the turn of the twentieth century, tactics Progressive Era reformers used when describing mountain fare, fictional critiques of government programs meant to educate farmers, literary depictions of the culinary shame that can accompany mountain eating habits, and the ways in which authors celebrate mountain fare.

About the Speaker:

Erica Abrams Locklear is a professor of English and the Thomas Howerton Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the University of North Carolina Asheville. She is the author of Negotiating a Perilous Empowerment: Appalachian Women’s Literacies and is a seventh-generation Western North Carolinian.

Pictured above: Young Black women at a cooking class at the Allen Industrial Home in Asheville. The Allen Industrial Home was opened by Miss Alsie B. Dole in 1887 to teach Negro youths and adults to read and write. The Home was operated by the Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church until it closed in 1952.

Join presenters Zoe Rhine and Eboné Graham to learn about the occupations most commonly held by Black women in our community at the turn of the century. We’ll explore questions like: Did women have any autonomy? Were there any entrepreneurs or women who owned their own homes or businesses? How did the types of occupations for women and men compare? The answers to these questions might surprise you!

Zoe Rhine is also the author of a series of articles on this subject for the Special Collections blog, Heard Tell.

This program is free and everyone is invited. If you have any question, please contact Special Collections. This lecture is part of a series of talks centered on racial and social justice sponsored by the Friends of Buncombe County Special Collections.

Would you like to have sharp and cleverly designed marketing pieces for your business? Good news, you don’t need experience in graphic design or even an investment in expensive software to do so. This session will show you how to use Canva, a free, web-based resource that will allow you to go from being a beginner to a master at graphics overnight! Learn how to create and publish professional and creative marketing designs that include brochures, flyers, social media graphics, logos, labels and more that would normally cost you a fortune. Turn your imagination into finished designs in minutes!

Speaker(s): TenBiz

Co-Sponsor(s): Henderson County Chamber of Commerce, Brevard/Transylvania Chamber of Commerce

Webinar info will be emailed after registration.

Enrollment is now open for two adult improvisation acting classes offered by Hendersonville Theatre (HT). Classes will be taught by professional improvisation actor and comedian Emily Swindal. Both classes are open to anyone over the age of 18, regardless of experience level.

Improv Level One: Communicate. Collaborate. Play. meets on Wednesdays from April 5 to May 24. Tuition is $180. In the class, students will work at getting comfortable on stage while having fun doing it. Students will learn to have compassion for themselves and their classmates as performers as they learn the fundamentals of improvisation and develop support and spontaneity. Together, they will learn the importance of “yes-and-ing,” heightening the absurdity and raising the stakes. They will also cover the differences between short form and long form improv. This is a short form class similar to Whose Line Is It Anyway?

We will explore the popular platforms of Amazon and Etsy and how you can sell products on both. Which one is right for you? Come to this seminar and learn how you can start an online ecommerce business quickly and work your way to becoming an online entrepreneur.

Speaker(s): Matt Rudisill, owner and lead trainer of The Leadership Academy, assists small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs by teaching them how to be the best in their field. Over the past 25 years, Matt has worked with thousands of businesses and has helped launch over 100 companies, while also consulting with several Fortune 500 and 100 companies. He conducts training sessions on social media marketing, customer service, strategic leadership, business planning, and other related business topics.

Co-Sponsor(s): Henderson County Chamber of Commerce and Brevard/Transylvania Chamber of Commerce

Webinar info will be emailed after registration.