Calendar of Events

The beginning of the year is a great time for Ashevillians of all ages to explore, connect, and discover. Asheville Parks & Recreation  (APR)’s new winter-spring program guide is filled with registration dates, information, and listings for hundreds of fitness and active living offerings, sports and clubs, arts and culture programs, out-of-school time activities, outdoor recreation, special events, parks and facilities’ hours of operation, and more.

The free guide is available at all APR community centers and online as a PDF or enhanced digital flipbook. Community members may also download the APR app for iPhone or search programs on avlREC.com.

Winter-Spring 2023 Guide Highlights

• Exercise at fitness centers with a free membership (through June 30, 2023).

• Walk, roll, or run your way to 50 miles in February and March during the Fit 50 Challenge for a free T-shirt.

• Celebrate Black Legacy Month with food, art, and festivals throughout the city in February.

• Meet neighbors over cards, board games, bingo, trivia contests, and community meals.

• Get an up-close look at big trucks, small trucks, transit buses, construction rigs, rescue vehicles, and public works equipment during Truck City AVL on April 15.

• Experience the fun, fellowship, fitness, arts, and competition of Asheville-Buncombe Senior Games and Silver Arts Classic for local adults over 50..

• Flex creativity at art, painting, writing, scrapbooking, and crafting classes.

• Connect with neighbors over sports such as basketball, flag football, volleyball, pickleball, tennis, and archery for kids, teens, and adults.

• Enjoy the honor of dirty hands with community garden workdays and Green Thumbs Garden Club at Grove Street Community Center’s greenhouse.

• Witness the power of gravity at the Montford Pinewood Derby in May.

• Refine square, tap, line, and West African dance skills at multiple locations.

• And so much more!

ESOL Tutor Training Dates:

Food Scraps Drop Off

The City of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is offering a FREE Food Scrap Drop-Off program in

two locations for all Buncombe County residents.  This organic matter will be collected and turned into good clean compost, keeping it OUT of our landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Register for Food Scraps Drop Off

Need a handy kitchen countertop food scrap bin?  Let us know on the registration form! We’ll be having bin giveaways at city and county facilities and would love to give you one.

Locations

West Asheville Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the south side of the building

942 Haywood Road, Asheville

Library open hours

Stephens-Lee Recreation Center “Food Scrap Shed” next to the Community Garden on the North side of the parking lot

30 Washington Carver Avenue, Asheville

• • Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
  • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
  • Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.

Murphy Oakley Community Center and Library – “Food Scrap Bin Shelters” on the east side of the parking lot

749 Fairview Road, Asheville

• • Dawn – Dusk

Buncombe County Landfill – Convenience Center85 Panther Branch Road, Alexander

• • • • Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
      • Saturday, 8 a.m. – 12:30 pm

Presenters: Alan Wagner and James Wade, Extension Master Gardener^SM Volunteers

Gardening tools are key to successful pruning. You need the right tool for the right job, and you need to correctly maintain those tools. Are you sure, for example, when to use your anvil pruners or your bypass pruners instead? This workshop will cover the different kinds of pruning tools, their uses, and their care as well as gardening tools like shovels and hoes. Ergonomic pruners and other tools will also be covered.

Bring your pruners, loppers and shovels to learn how to clean and sharpen them.

After a temporary shift in operating hours, Buncombe County Special Collections (BCSC) at Pack Memorial Library will return to regular service hours beginning Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. We look forward to welcoming the public back on a more regular basis.

The new hours will be:

• Sunday & Monday – Closed
• Tuesday – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Wednesday – 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
• Thursday – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Friday – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Saturday – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Follow the Special Collections blog to stay up to date on current events and news from our Special Collections library.

53rd Annual Upstate South Carolina Coin Show

Sponsored by The Greenville & Parker Coin Clubs

February 17 -18 & 19, 2023

This Numismatic Show Event Will be Held at the

Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium
385 North Church Street
Spartanburg, SC 29304

UPSTATESCCOINSHOW.COM

Friday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Sunday 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

*Young Numismatic Program Saturday 11:00 AM*
*Coin Grading Service on site *
*** Public Invited / Free Admission ***

Buncombe County Public Libraries offers 16 story times a week at library locations all across the County. Did you know there are two bilingual story times included in our story time schedule?

Parents can find Hora del Cuento at the Skyland/South Buncombe Library every Friday at 10:30 a.m. and at the Oakley Library every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. We’ll share books, rhymes, and songs in Spanish and English–fun for the whole family. Speakers of all languages and children of all ages are welcome to attend.

Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you at the Library!

Hora del Cuento bilingual en la Biblioteca

Buncombe County Public Libraries ofrecen 16 story times a la semana en las bibliotecas de todo el Condado.  ¿Sepa que hay dos Horas del Cuento bilinguales que están incluidos en nuestro horario de story time?

Puede encontrar Hora del Cuento en la biblioteca de Skyland/South Buncombe cada Viernes a las 10:30am y en la biblioteca de Oakley cada Martes a las 10:30am.   Vamos a compartir libros, ritmos, y canciones en Espanol y Ingles.  ¡Diversión para toda la familia!  Hablantes de todas las lenguas y niños de todas las edades son bienvenidos.

Nos avisan de cualquier pregunta, y nos vemos en la Biblioteca!

Buncombe County Public Libraries offers 16 story times a week at library locations all across the County. Did you know there are two bilingual story times included in our story time schedule?

Parents can find Hora del Cuento at the Skyland/South Buncombe Library every Friday at 10:30 a.m. and at the Oakley Library every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. We’ll share books, rhymes, and songs in Spanish and English–fun for the whole family. Speakers of all languages and children of all ages are welcome to attend.

Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you at the Library!

Hora del Cuento bilingual en la Biblioteca

Buncombe County Public Libraries ofrecen 16 story times a la semana en las bibliotecas de todo el Condado.  ¿Sepa que hay dos Horas del Cuento bilinguales que están incluidos en nuestro horario de story time?

Puede encontrar Hora del Cuento en la biblioteca de Skyland/South Buncombe cada Viernes a las 10:30am y en la biblioteca de Oakley cada Martes a las 10:30am.   Vamos a compartir libros, ritmos, y canciones en Espanol y Ingles.  ¡Diversión para toda la familia!  Hablantes de todas las lenguas y niños de todas las edades son bienvenidos.

Nos avisan de cualquier pregunta, y nos vemos en la Biblioteca!

Explore Biltmore House with an Audio Guide that introduces you to the Vanderbilt family and their magnificent home’s history, architecture, and collections of fine art and furnishings.

PLUS: Immersive, multi-sensory Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius exhibition created and produced by Grande Experiences

PLUS: FREE next-day access to Biltmore’s Gardens and Grounds

This visit includes access to:

• Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius at Amherst at Deerpark®
• 8,000 Acres of Gardens and Grounds for two consecutive days
• Antler Hill Village & Winery
• Complimentary Wine Tastings at the Winery
• Tastings require a Day-of-Visit Reservation, which can be made by:
  • Scanning the QR Code found in your Estate Guide
  • Visiting any Guest Services location
• Complimentary parking

Art Exhibition: Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius

Immerse yourself in the world’s most comprehensive and thrilling Da Vinci experience as his brilliance and extraordinary achievements are brought to vivid life!

The Van Winkle Law Firm Gallery, Level 1 • On View January 25–March 6   The Asheville Art Museum and the Asheville Area Section of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are the Western North Carolina (WNC) regional affiliates of the National Scholastic Art Awards. This ongoing community partnership has supported the creative talents of our region’s youth for more than 43 years. The WNC regional program is open to students in grades 7–12 across 20 WNC counties. The regional program is judged in two groups: Group I, grades 7–8; and Group II, grades 9–12. Out of 534 total entries, 156 artworks have been recognized by the judges and are featured in this new exhibition. The 2023 WNC Regional Judges are: Kelly Hider of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Alexandria Monque of YMI Cultural Center and Noir Collective AVL, and Lei Han of University of North Carolina Asheville. The judges carefully viewed each entry then selected Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention award recipients across all media. Artworks receiving Gold Keys have been submitted to compete in the 100th-Annual National Scholastic Art Awards Program in New York City. Of the Gold Key Award recipients, five students have also been nominated for American Visions—indicating their artwork is one of the Best in Show of the WNC regional awards. One of these American Visions nominees will be chosen to receive an American Visions Medal at the 2023 National Scholastic Art Awards. Since the program’s founding in 1923, the Scholastic Art Awards have fostered the creativity and talent of millions of students, and include a distinguished list of alumni including Andy Warhol—who received recognition from the Awards as a teen. National Gold Key medalists will be announced in March 2023 and honored during a special awards ceremony in June 2023. For more information about the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, visit their website.

Included with admission

Our latest fun-for-all-ages botanical model train displays invite you to experience the Vanderbilt family’s love of travel and culture in an engaging new way.

Located in Antler Hill Village, these displays feature replicas of iconic landmark structures from around the world, some of which the Vanderbilts visited during their travels. Each beautifully executed piece was handcrafted from such natural elements as leaves, bark, and twigs. This one-of-a-kind, must-see experience is included with Biltmore admission.

Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
Friday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Tracey Morgan Gallery is pleased to present landmarks, an exhibition of new work by photographer Colby Caldwell. On view are large-scale, wax coated color photographic prints of elements from the natural world abstracted by digital interventions. Paired with these are small, meditative photographs taken from the forest floor of bright skies framed by treetops. In his most recent work, Caldwell explores the forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains collecting what could be thought of as visual “field recordings.” Using a flatbed scanner as a makeshift camera, Caldwell documents what he encounters on his wanderings: decomposing leaves, moss, lichen, tree bark. The resulting images are punctuated by digital interferences – unnatural hues of pinks, reds, and greens, swaths of pixilation, and large streaks where the scanner attempts and fails to “accurately” record information. Caldwell asks us to examine often overlooked details from the forest floor in a new view, not shying from the digital idiosyncrasies inherent in the process of scanning 3-dimensional objects on a flat surface. Where much of Caldwell’s previous work has included bringing nature into his studio, this series flips the script in a unique examination of technology’s place in the natural world. The work pushes at the parameters of traditional, photo historical nature specimen documentation. Caldwell is less interested in precisely cataloging samples, and more interested in investigating which tools we use to do so. The work additionally looks at how history is held within the landscape, and the ways humans have appropriated the land, contested its ownership, and used it for sustenance. Caldwell’s unconventional, experimental methodology of documentation seems to be pointing to the many ways these histories have been obscured, and the way our connection to nature has changed in the contemporary digital era. Colby Caldwell (American, born 1965), once a student of history, has tested virtually every avenue of the personal uses of photography as an instrument of memory. While his early work replicated the theatrical feeling of 19th Century “drawing with light,” his most recent efforts deconstruct the very elements of digital photography. Caldwell has held teaching positions at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC; St. Mary’s College of Maryland; and currently at Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC. His work is included in the collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC; and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA. Caldwell received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in 1990. Recent solo exhibitions include Selu Songs at the Radford Art Museum in early 2022. He was featured in the book Art of the State, published November 2022, which surveys contemporary art in his home state of North Carolina. He currently lives and works in Asheville, NC.

An enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Luzene Hill advocates for Indigenous sovereignty—linguistically, culturally, and individually. Revelate builds upon Hill’s investigation of pre-contact cultures. This has led Hill to incorporate the idea of Ollin, the Nahuatl word for the natural rhythms of the universe, in Aztec cosmology in her work. Before Europeans arrived in North America, Indigenous societies were predominantly matrilineal. Women were considered sacred, involved in the decision-making process, and thrived within communities holding a worldview based on equilibrium.

Ollin emphasizes that we are in constant state of motion and discovery. Adopted as an educational framework, particularly in social justice and ethnic studies, Ollin guides individuals through a process of reflection, action, reconciliation, and transformation. This exhibition combines Hill’s use of mylar safety blankets alongside recent drawings. Capes constructed of mylar burst with energy and rustle with subtle sound, the shining material a signifier of care, awareness, displacement, and presence. Though Hill works primarily in sculpture, drawing has increasingly become an essential part of her practice as she seeks to communicate themes of feminine and Indigenous power across her entire body of work. The energy within her drawings extends to the bursts of light reflecting from her capes or the accumulation of materials in other installation works.

Luzene Hill was born in Atlanta, GA, in 1946. She received her bachelor of fine art and master of fine art from Western Carolina University. She lives and works on the Qualla Boundary, Cherokee, NC.

Natural Collector is organized by the Asheville Art Museum. IMAGE: Christian Burchard, Untitled (nesting bowls), 1998, madrone burl, various from 6 × 6 × 6 to ⅜ × ⅜ × ⅜ inches. Gift of Fleur S. Bresler, 2021.76.01.

Natural Collector | Gifts of Fleur S. Bresler features around 15 artworks from the collection of Fleur S. Bresler, which include important examples of modern and contemporary American craft including wood and fiber art, as well as glass and ceramics. These works that were generously donated by contemporary craft collector Bresler to the Asheville Art Museum over the years reflect her strong interest in wood-based art and themes of nature. According to Associate Curator Whitney Richardson, “This exhibition highlights artworks that consider the natural element from which they were created or replicate known flora and fauna in unexpected materials. The selection of objects displayed illustrates how Bresler’s eye for collecting craft not only draws attention to nature and artists’ interest in it, but also accentuates her role as a natural collector with an intuitive ability to identify themes and ideas that speak to one another.” This exhibition presents work from the Collection representing the first generation of American wood turners like Rude Osolnik and Ed Moulthrop, as well as those that came after and learned from them, such as Philip Moulthrop, John Jordan, and local Western North Carolina (WNC) artist Stoney Lamar. Other WNC-based artists in Natural Collector include Anne Lemanski, whose paper sculpture of a snake captures the viewer’s imagination, and Michael Sherrill’s multimedia work that tricks the eye with its similarity to true-to-life berries. Also represented are beadwork and sculpture by Joyce J. Scott and Jack and Linda Fifield.

Asheville-born and Raleigh-Durham-based interdisciplinary artist Sherrill Roland’s socially driven practice draws upon his experience with wrongful incarceration for a crime he did not commit and seeks to open conversations about how we care for our communities and one another with compassion and understanding. Through sculpture, installation, and conceptual art, Roland engages visitors in dialogues around community, social contract, identity, biases, and other deeply human experiences. Comprised of artwork created from 2016 to the present, Sherrill Roland: Sugar, Water, Lemon Squeeze reflects on making something from nothing, lemonade from lemons, the best of a situation. A reference to a simple recipe from the artist’s childhood, the title also speaks to Roland’s employment of materials available to him while incarcerated, such as Kool-Aid and mail from family members. In the face of his personal experiences, he invites viewers to confront their own uncomfortable complicity in perpetuating injustice. Roland’s work humanizes these difficult topics and creates a space for communication and envisioning a better future. This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Hilary Schroeder, assistant curator, in collaboration with the Artist. This exhibition is funded, in part, by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Included with admission

Back by popular demand, The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad exhibition offers guests:

• An opportunity to view rarely-seen treasures from the Biltmore collection
• A first-hand look at the Vanderbilts’ lifestyle
• Deeper insights into George, Edith, and Cornelia’s personalities, both at home and on their extensive travels

Access to exhibitions at The Biltmore Legacy is included with Biltmore daytime admission.

In the past 50 years in the United States and beyond, artists have sought to break down social and political hierarchies that include issues of identity, gender, power, race, authority, and authenticity. Unsurprisingly, these decades generated a reconsideration of the idea of pattern and decoration as a third option to figuration and abstraction in art. From 1972 to 1985, artists in the Pattern and Decoration movement worked to expand the visual vocabulary of contemporary art to include ethnically and culturally diverse options that eradicated the barriers between fine art and craft and questioned the dominant minimalist aesthetic. These artists did so by incorporating opulence and bold intricacies garnered from such wide-ranging inspirations as United States quilt-making and Islamic architecture. Too Much Is Just Right: The Legacy of Pattern and Decoration features more than 70 artworks in an array of media from both the original time frame of the Pattern and Decoration movement, as well as contemporary artworks created between 1985 and the present. The artworks in this exhibition demonstrate the vibrant and varied approaches to pattern and decoration in art. Artworks from the 21st century elucidate contemporary perspectives on the employment of pattern to inform visual vocabularies and investigations of diverse themes in the present day. Artworks drawn from the Asheville Art Museum’s Collection join select major loans and feature Pattern and Decoration artists Valerie Jaudon, Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, and Miriam Schapiro, as well as Anni Albers, Elizabeth Alexander, Sanford Biggers, Tawny Chatmon, Margaret Curtis, Mary Engel, Cathy Fussell, Samantha Hennekke, John Himmelfarb, Anne Lemanski, Rashaad Newsome, Peter Olson, Don Reitz, Sarah Sense, Billie Ruth Sudduth, Mickalene Thomas, Shoku Teruyama, Anna Valdez, Kehinde Wiley, and more. This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and guest curated by Marilyn Laufer & Tom Butler.

Join us for a relaxing ride through quiet countryside on your way to small town life in western North Carolina on the Tuckasegee River Excursion. Departing from Bryson City, this 4 hour excursion travels 32 miles round-trip to Dillsboro and back to the Bryson City Depot. Pass by the famous movie set of The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford!

• About This Trip
• Things To Do
• Itinerary
• Classes of Service and Pricing
• Class Comparison
• How to Purchase
• Schedule
• The Tuckasegee (tuck-uh-SEE-jee) River Excursion includes an 1 hour and 20 minute layover in the historic town of Dillsboro, where you’ll find more than 50 shops, restaurants, a brewery, and country inns. There is time to shop, snack, and visit the many unique shops before returning to Bryson City.

STARTING 1PM – 5PM FRIDAY 2/17 and 8AM – 4PM SATURDAY 2/18 Remember Seven-Star, once America’s largest green event producers and sponsors of Asheville Green Drinks? Now, after more than 20 years, things collected, saved and stored must go. Please share with friends. Looking forward to seeing you. Check out our electric bikes! – Many blessings Alan, Georgia, and Joseph MOVING SALE… STARTING 1PM – 5PM FRIDAY 2/17 and 8AM – 4PM SATURDAY 2/18 Bargains, Fantastic Finds and Free Stuff EVERYTHING MUST GO Make an Offer Pricing 202 South French Broad Ave. front and backyard 1930s – 1970s Hand tools and Electric tools 100+ year old 5 ft long saw blade 1930s Life size statue of St.Anthony de Padua from cast metal 1950s –  1980s Record albums (over 100) Art frames Art supplies Jeweler’s flex shaft and tumbler New in box SHC 4-gallon electric mini tank water heater Electric lawn mower New in box 3-light track light Amplifier Marshall model 5205 reverb 12 SHURE Unidyne B Microphone Pair of Swanson recording microphones Yamaha mixing console MG06 8-channel Tapco stereo mixer Professional light set for photography EZ Up Pop-up tents 10ft x 10ft Complete sets of curtains rods Ridged Professional 16-gal. Shop vac New in box 10” chain saw RYOBI New in box Miracle Pro Green Machine Juicer Retro stainless steel table fans New in box Arrow Professional electric staple gun Electric indoor compost machine 1950s-60s kitchen tools New in box reciprocating saw Crates filled with boxes of bolts, screws, nuts, washers, etc House Painting supplies and tools Stainless steel heavy duty 6ft x 48in bakers rack shelving units Stainless steel work tables on wheels Geodes, fossils, petrified wood Sewing machine Marble slabs Garden and landscaping tools 1950s Vintage Olympic typewriter Heavyweight 4ft, 6ft & 8ft folding table Heavy duty folding chairs New in box Solar panels and inverter Exterior doors with glass Vintage Chinese lacquered pedestal stand Collapsible dog crate Ice crampons Military style rucksacks Electrical extension cords Box filled with new electrical hardware Portable massage chair Dolphin 2 with carrying bag Schwin electric bike Digger Dirt Dawg scooter Liberty electric bike Charger electric bike Dragonfly kite with 10ft wingspan Rowena Precision valet steamer 1550w New in box Kobalt Quiet Tech air compressor 125 max PSI And yes, there is so much more…. It must all go, so come for the deal you can’t pass!

Asheville Parks & Recreation (APR) invites local artists of all mediums to submit pieces to display during a pop-up gallery celebrating Black Legacy Month from Feb 17-28 at Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center . Participants should register online at https://bit.ly/APR_Call_for_Artists and drop off submissions between Feb. 13-16. Interested artists may also stop by the center or call (828) 259-5483 to register.

The show, titled “Southside Presents: Black History Through the Eyes of Art,” opens with a reception on Friday, Feb. 17, from 6-8 p.m. and art pieces will remain available for viewing through Tuesday, Feb. 28, during regular center hours. Grant Southside Center is located on 285 Livingston St.

This live streamed virtual event is free but registration is required. Please click here to register. The link required to attend will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.

If you decide to attend and to purchase books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!

The Shamshine Blind

A beguiling blend of noir detective story and science fiction perfect for fans of Michael Chabon and Emily St. John Mandel, this unputdownable debut imagines a world where emotions have been weaponized, and a small-town law enforcement agent uncovers a conspiracy to take down what’s left of American democracy.

In an alternate 2009, the United States has been a second-rate power for a quarter of a century, ever since Argentina’s victory in the Falkland’s War thanks to their development of “psychopigments.” Created as weapons, these colorful chemicals can produce almost any human emotion upon contact, and they have been embraced in the US as both pharmaceutical cure-alls and popular recreational drugs. Black market traders illegally sell everything from Blackberry Purple (which causes terror) to Sunshine Yellow (which delivers happiness).

Psychopigment Enforcement Agent Kay Curtida works a beat in Daly City, just outside the ruins of San Francisco, chasing down smalltime crooks. But when an old friend shows up with a tantalizing lead on a career-making case, Curtida’s humdrum existence suddenly gets a boost. Little does she know that this case will send her down a tangled path of conspiracy and lead to an overdue reckoning with her family and with the truth of her own emotions.

Told in the voice of a funny, brooding, Latinx Sam Spade, The Shamshine Blind is “a rip-roaring beautifully crafted mash-up of cop noir, sci-fi, and alt-history that left me dazzled by its prescience and literary zing” (Leah Hampton, author of F*ckface).

Paz Pardo is an Argentine-American award-winning playwright and novelist. She received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers, her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and is the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship. Raised in America, she currently lives in Argentina. The Shamshine Blind is her first novel. Find out more at PazSays.com.

Leah Hampton writes about Appalachia, corpses, ecoanxiety, and smart women. She currently serves as the Environmental Humanities Fellow in Residence at the University of Idaho. Her debut collection, F*ckface and Other Stories, was released by Henry Holt and was named one of the best books of 2020 by The Paris Review, the New York Public Library, Slate, and others. A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers, she has been awarded multiple prizes and fellowships including UT-Austin’s Keene Prize for Literature and the Phillip Roth residency at the Stadler Center for Poetry. Her work has appeared in Ecotone, Guernica, McSweeneys, Electric Literature, storySouth, LitHub, and many other elsewheres. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Learn more at leahkhampton.com

Brevard College Theatre presents

Cosmic Theories of a Romantic’s Heart

by Emily Kitchens

A play about love and how the Earth came to orbit the Sun.

CAST

Star: Gabe Bernhard

Comet: Sarah Hajkowski

Girl: Mickey Lasco

Moon: Anna Ervin

Sun: Eli Hughes

In this seminar we look into the fundamentals of bad habits and how to overcome them. How are habits formed, and how can they be changed? Many struggle with a variety of habits ranging from anger, lack of forgiveness, lust, addictions to substances, repetitive unhealthy thoughts and a host of other vices. In this seminar we look at scientific, health, and Biblical principles that aid in the victory over habits. Presented by Chad and Fadia Kreuzer. Chad and Fadia share seminars on health, the Bible, and overcoming habits. They have taught in Europe and throughout North America.
REGISTRATION IS NOT REQUIRED.

For 7 years a certain boy wizard went to a certain Wizard School and conquered evil. This, however, is not his story…..

The New York Times proclaims Puffs “A fast-paced romp through the ‘Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic.’ For Potterphiliacs who grew up alongside Potter and are eager to revisit that world, Puffs exudes a jovial, winking fondness for all things Harry!”

This clever and inventive play “never goes more than a minute without a laugh” (Nerdist) giving you a new look at a familiar adventure from the perspective of three potential heroes just trying to make it through a magic school that proves to be very dangerous for children. Alongside them are the Puffs, a group of well-meaning, loyal outsiders with a thing for badgers “who are so lovable and relatable, you’ll leave the theater wishing they were in the stories all along” (Hollywood Life). Their “hilariously heartfelt!” (Metro) and epic journey takes the classic story to new places and reimagines what a boy wizard hero can be.

Puffs is not authorized, sanctioned, licensed or endorsed by J.K Rowling, Warner Bros. or any person or company associated with the Harry Potter books, films or play.

  vs. 

The Greenville Swamp Rabbits are much more than a professional hockey franchise playing in Upstate South Carolina; it is truly Greenville’s hockey team. Formerly known as the Road Warriors, the club rebranded to the Swamp Rabbits on August 26, 2015 in an effort to really ingrain itself in the fabric of the community. The name is inherently Greenville – specific to the city and unique in the sports world.

It’s the electrifying energy and unstoppable passion of Swamp Rabbits fans inside The Well combined with the award-winning game presentation that make attending a Swamp Rabbits game the BEST fan experience in the ECHL! From the moment you step inside the arena, you’ll find FREE concourse activities for the whole family, including sign-making, temporary tattoos, interactive games, music and there’s always a good chance you’ll run into the Swamp Rabbits mascot Stomper! Throughout the season, fans can also expect a lineup of special theme nights and exciting giveaways.

Written by Carlyle Brown

Directed by Stephanie Hickling Beckman

ABE LINCOLN AND UNCLE TOM IN THE WHITE HOUSE portrays a gripping re-imagination of the the events the night before Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Alone in the Executive Office, President Abraham Lincoln is struggling with signing the Emancipation Proclamation when he is mysteriously visited by Uncle Tom, the fictional character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly. These two iconic characters from life and literature—one real, the other fiction—attempt to understand each other across a chasm of race in the midst of the Civil War. Throughout one late night and into the dawning day, they find themselves crossing over into each other’s world in a tale of suffering, self-discovery, and redemption.

“I hadn’t read the book [Uncle Tom’s Cabin], and I had fallen victim to the mentality that says when you hear the name Uncle Tom you get the picture of the worst individual you could imagine, In reading the book, I found a character of honor and dignity and I thought, maybe this character deserves to be looked at again.” – James A Williams

By Duncan MacMillian with Jonny Donahoe

Directed by Charlie Flynn-McIver and Starring Scott Treadway

One of the funniest plays you’ll ever see about depression—and possibly one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see, full stop…There is something tough being confronted here—the guilt of not being able to make those we love happy—and it is explored with unflinching honesty.” —The Guardian (UK)

Content Warning: Although the play balances the struggles of life while celebrating all that is wonderful in living each day, Every Brilliant Thing contains descriptions of depression, self-harm, and suicide. It is recommended for audience members 14 and older.  If you or somebody you know is struggling, please call 988, The Suicide & Crisis Hotline.