“Best News Ever”

Save 25% off tickets to MercyMe with special guest Micah Tyler

at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena on November 18!

Valid: Thursday, September 2 at 12:01am through
Tuesday, September 7 at 11:59pm

Use Code: LABOR

*Valid online only and on select seats.

EFFECTIVE AUGUST 10, 2021: All events at the HCCA will now require at least on the following items for entry:

• Proof of COVID-19 vaccine – OR – a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the event.
• MASKS ARE REQUIRED unless actively eating or drinking.

For guests unable to meet the requirements for entry, refunds will be available until Wednesday, August 25th at 5:00pm ET.

As our local leaders are assessing the damage to Buncombe County in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Fred, Buncombe County Emergency Services is standing up a call center to connect residents to resources and information. To assist with disaster recovery, Buncombe County has activated a dedicated line for those impacted.

An Emergency Services Call Center is now available at (828) 844-5455.

The number will be answered Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., with an afterhours voicemail option. Our team will collect information and connect residents to resources if possible, including State Emergency Management or FEMA should they make a declaration for Buncombe County.

In addition, affected residents have the following supports:

• For stream damage, contact Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District at 828-250-4785.
• For crop loss please, contact the Farm Service Agency at (828) 649-9099, ext. 2.
• For building/structural damage in Buncombe County, please call the Buncombe County Permits & Inspections Department at (828) 250-5360. Structural damage should also be reported to an individual’s insurance company as soon as possible.
• For a flood assessment to a building or structure, contact the Buncombe County Floodplain Administrator at (828) 250-4830 or email contact information to [email protected].
• For City of Asheville sidewalk repairs or maintained streets, call (828) 259-5852. Residents can upload service requests to the Asheville App, a free app compatible with Android and Apple devices. Or click the “report issues” icon on the City of Asheville website.
• For damage to state maintained roads, call  (828) 298-0390 or call 511.
• Call 211.
• Find a Community Market.
• For building/structural damage in the Asheville City limits, please call the City of Asheville Building Safety Division at (828) 259-5967 or email contact information to [email protected]. Structural damage should also be reported to an individual’s insurance company as soon as possible.
• For a flood assessment to a building or structure within the Asheville City limits, contact the City of Asheville Floodplain Administration, Nancy Watford at (828) 450-8317 or email contact information to [email protected].

Flooding and Public Health

When addressing the impacts of flooding, residents and businesses should be aware of the dangerous health impacts of flooding. Proper assessment of wells and septic systems as well as cleaning and moisture removal remain key to eliminating threats to the public’s health. Please reference What to Do After the Flood by the EPA to learn more about considerations for well and pump safety after a flood event.

Power outages can also create food safety issues for homes and businesses. When the refrigerator goes out and you are concerned about food safety, please reference the Environmental Health Preparedness Manual to learn more about food safety before, during, and after a weather event.

Many thanks go out to our emergency services personnel and first responders, who worked all night to keep our community and neighbors safe during this dangerous storm.

Visit The Learning Garden! The gardens are in full summer mode with ripening tomatoes, blooming roses, giant sunflowers, and many other perennials and plants of interest.

The Learning Garden is a dedicated, on-site teaching garden at the Buncombe Extension Center located at 49 Mt. Carmel Road, Asheville. It is managed and cared for by the Extension Master Gardener^SM volunteers (EMGVs) of Buncombe County.

Everyone is welcome to visit the gardens Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9 to 12 when temperatures are cool and Master Gardeners are working in the gardens. Or come visit on your own Monday through Friday, 8 to 5.

The Learning Garden (TLG) surrounds the Extension building, includes 8 distinct gardens, and a composting demonstration site. Each garden offers plants that grow well in our region. You will gather new ideas and learn successful horticultural practices that lead to beautiful, healthy gardens.

Look for plant labels in the garden. Find more information and brochures at the kiosk near the building and in the garden mailboxes.

GARDENERS ARE IN THE GARDEN.

The North Carolina Arboretum is going wild for art and nature in 2021 with Wild Art! On view April 1 through September 26, this outdoor sculpture exhibition features works by 17 local and national artists drawing inspiration from the natural environment. Situated throughout the Arboretum’s spacious, open-air gardens, the show offers guests a doorway into the wild world from the comfort and safety of cultivated landscapes transformed by art.

The 18 sculptures on display represent a variety of approaches to the theme of “wild art,” from the literal to the abstract, and are crafted from a diverse array of materials that will delight and inspire. Let your imagination take you on a wild journey into the world of plants and animals near and far with Wild Art at The North Carolina Arboretum.

The exhibit is available to all guests during normal Arboretum hours, and there is no admission cost to view the sculptures beyond our usual parking fee of $16 per personal vehicle.

With the convenience of being open year-round, 7 days a week, the WNC Farmers Market offers a selection of farm-fresh produce at the lowest prices in Western N.C. Our popular retail buildings, providing a selection of non-perishables, fruits, vegetables, crafts and more, are open daily.

A Life in the Wild  features more than 30 large-format images from award-winning nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen, who has devoted decades of his life to documenting wild places across the globe and the remarkable creatures that inhabit them. For this traveling retrospective exhibition of his works, Mangelsen has hand-selected several legacy photographs from his portfolio of more than 40 years, during which time he has captured thousands of breathtaking images of wildlife under natural — and sometimes harsh — conditions. With subjects ranging from black bears in the Great Smoky Mountains to plains zebras in the savannas of East Africa, this collection of photographs serves to remind us all to slow down and take a moment to connect with nature near and far. Named the 2011 Conservation Photographer of the Year by Nature’s Best Photography, among other accolades, Mangelsen has his work featured in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C..

A Life in the Wild is on display daily, May 15 – September 5, 2021, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. inside the Baker Exhibit Center. Face coverings are required for visitors ages 5 years and older.

Exhibit support for A Life in the Wild is provided in part by The North Carolina Arboretum Society, Asheville Citizen-Times, Biltmore Farms Hotels, Gasperson Moving & Storage, RomanticAsheville.com Travel Guide and Smoky Mountain Living Magazine. 

THOMAS D. MANGELSEN – A LIFE IN THE WILD, produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C., David J. Wagner, Ph.D., Curator/Tour Director.

Located in the heart of downtown Asheville, North Carolina, and open to the public this Fall. Host your company dinner or private party at Citizen Vinyl today.

Included with admission

Our fun-for-all-ages botanical model train displays invite you to experience our grounds in an engaging new way. Located in the Conservatory in the Walled Garden, the displays feature replicas of structures connected with Biltmore and its founder George Vanderbilt. Each beautifully executed piece was handcrafted from such natural elements as leaves, bark, and twigs.

In compliance with state and local mandates related to COVID-19, all guests must enter the Conservatory via the ADA entrance in the back and follow a one-way route.

Included with admission

A unique-to-Biltmore, large-scale outdoor sculpture will be crafted and installed in Antler Hill Village this spring by Patrick Dougherty. Over the last three decades, this internationally-acclaimed artist has combined his carpentry skills and love of nature to build over 300 of these wondrous works, captivating the hearts and imaginations of viewers worldwide.

Image: Close Ties (2006) Scottish Basketmakers Circle, Dingwall, Scotland. Photo: Fin Macrae
NOTE: This is an example of Patrick Dougherty’s work; the artist will create Biltmore’s unique structure in Antler Hill Village this spring.

Summer at Biltmore offers an abundance of opportunities to explore our 8,000-acre Blue Ridge Mountain backyard and create the kind of memories that last a lifetime. Wander through historic gardens, along winding trails, and within the spacious halls of America’s Largest Home^®. Enjoy extraordinary experiences and peace of mind in one spectacular setting: only at Biltmore.

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 daughter, granddaughter, and sister of carpenters, artist and material culture scholar BA Harrington carries craft lineage into contemporary practice. Part of a growing, intersectional cohort of women-identifying woodworkers, Harrington learned her trade, like many before her, by reproducing furniture forms of the past. Her solo exhibition, Suite Américaine, holds a reverence for the history of American furnituremaking, but is inflected with a contemporary feminist imagination.

This body of work references late-seventeenth through early-nineteenth century dower chests, writing desks, and sewing tables, which were designed specifically for women but made by men. However, where these objects once stored and concealed the labor and craft skill of women, Harrington opens them. The six objects expose, activate, and celebrate their rich interiors, with linens and quilts spilling out of their wooden casings.

The use of French in the exhibition’s title, Suite Américaine, is a nod to the eighteenth century term for a furniture set and also allows the artist to feminize the word “American.” Similarly, the work on display acts as a feminist intervention on historic furniture. Harrington not only remakes the original forms with her own hands, asserting her technical skill, but also highlights the revolutionary potential of furniture to self-actualize the creative endeavors of women.

BA Harrington is the recipient of the Center for Craft’s inaugural Craft Research Fund Artist Fellowship. Each year this substantial mid-career grant is awarded to two artists who are revising, reclaiming, and advancing the history of craft through their work.

Brunch B’Yahad is now available through Zoom meeting here.   

Join new and old friends for light brunch, socialization and lively discussion.  Featured guest speakers, and relevant cultural and timely topics will fill our minds.

“Shine and Dine” on the railway! We cordially invite you to hop on board The Carolina Shine, GSMR’s All-Adult First Class Moonshine Car! We will be proudly serving hand crafted, triple-distilled, craft moonshine. Some of the smoothest tasting moonshine in the Carolinas!

Offered on the Nantahala Gorge excursion, this shine and dine experience begins in a renovated First Class train fleet car, The Carolina Shine. The interior features copper lined walls filled with the history of moonshining in North Carolina. Learn about the proud tradition that the Appalachians established when bootlegging was an acceptable way of life and local home brews were the best in town. Read about Swain County’s very own Major Redmond, the most famous mountain moonshine outlaw of the 19th century.

The exhibit was developed as part of the celebration of the 450th anniversary of the Juan Pardo expeditions. Several years ago, archaeologists identified a site near Morganton as the location of Joara, one of the largest Native American towns in what is today Western North Carolina.

Joara was occupied from approximately 1400-1600 A.D. Two Spanish expeditions led respectively by Hernando de Soto and Juan Pardo visited the town in the 1500s. The Pardo expedition was part of a larger effort to establish a string of forts from the coast of present-day South Carolina all the way to Mexico. In 2013, archaeologists confirmed that Joara was also the site of Fort San Juan, established by Pardo in 1567, nearly 20 years before the English settlement at Roanoke on the coast of North Carolina and 40 years before the settlement at Jamestown.

Through various artifacts uncovered by the archaeology, the exhibit showcases the Spanish occupation of Fort San Juan and the lives of the native people who lived in the Joara area.

The exhibit is on loan from the Exploring Joara Foundation Inc. Exploring Joara engages the public in archaeology in the Carolinas, and emphasizes the discovery of the Native American town of Joara and Fort San Juan. The exhibit will be on display at the Western North Carolina Historical Association’s gallery inside the Smith-McDowell House through December 15.

The gallery is open for visitation Thursday, Friday, and Saturday between 10:30am and 4:00pm. Reservations are recommended.