Peace Gardens

is creating a destination where community is cultivated using gardens & art!

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Please note: Nature Connects^®: Art with LEGO^® Bricks has been postponed until July; however, the exhibit will have an extended schedule and will be open until November 1. We look forward to seeing you!

The Arboretum is excited to welcome back the widely popular traveling exhibit, Nature Connects^®: Art with LEGO^® Bricks by Sean Kenney. Featuring 14 larger-than-life-size sculptures place created with nearly 500,000 LEGO Bricks, this family-friendly exhibit draws inspiration from the living world and combines art, play and science to create an inspiring intersection of education, entertainment and the environment. New sculptures include a 5-foot tall colorful peacock, giant dragonfly, bonsai tree and more!

See where the cougars and otters sleep overnight, meet black bears that are not commonly on display, learn the ins and outs of what it takes to care for the animals year-round, observe a training session and find out why the animals call Grandfather Mountain home.

Offered on weekends, April – October.

Each day, you can pre-purchase tickets during for a specific time slot, allowing us to maintain safety and limit the number of people at the maze at once.

Time slots to choose from:

• 9-11am
• 11:30am-1:30pm
• 2-4pm
• 4:30-6:30pm

• General Safety Guidelines

  • Masks must be worn at all times, except for children under the age of four years old.
  • Maintain social distancing with those outside your family.
  • There will be a maximum number of attendees at the event at a time. Attendees will register and pre-purchase tickets. You will be able to select the 2-hour block of time you want to attend with your family. Time slots will automatically close once the max limit is reached.
  • Please promptly leave the corn maze when your 2 hour time slot is up, so we can do a cleaning before the next group arrives.
  • Minimize time indoors. You may use the indoor restrooms, and check-in indoors. We will give you a map for the maze and offer pumpkins, t-shirts, and other fun merchandise. But we won’t let you linger! Time to get outside, stay safe, and have fun!
  • Hand sanitizer will be available throughout the event.
    

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We raise all of our turkeys from baby chicks to adulthood directly on Hickory Nut Gap Farmland in Fairview, NC. They spend their entire lives rotationally grazing on pasture, free from antibiotics and added hormones. We offer a limited supply each year and a deposit must be paid in advance to secure your bird.

Price: $6 / lb
Range: 14 – 25 lbs
Please choose an approximate weight and we will tag a turkey with your name and send an invoice for the remaining balance.

Pick ups will start November 19th and run through November 25th.

Welcome to Sky Top Orchard!

We are asking guests to visit on weekdays whenever possible. We offer the same items you love on those days as we do on weekends plus it helps keep crowds down on weekends. Thank you!

The mountains of western North Carolina are full of pick your own u-pick orchards. We offer more. In addition to a long list of apple varieties, visit Sky Top Orchard and you’ll enjoy panoramic mountain views, orchard ponds with ducks and geese, a barnyard area with sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, peacocks and more, a bamboo forest to explore, lots of picnic areas and, of course, a mountaintop of fragrant apple and fruit trees. View our downloadable map to see all that we have to offer and visit our picking schedule to find out what’s available now.

When you purchase a bushel of apples, a wagon load of pumpkins or a cooler full of apple cider you’ll take home more than the makings for delicious fall recipes, you’ll take home a mountain of memories too. And don’t forget our famous apple cider doughnuts. They’re an autumn tradition. We bet you can’t eat just one.

Ready to join us on top of our mountain? Plan Your Visit Today!

To keep guests and our staff safe, we require face masks (covering both nose and mouth) by employees and guests in any area where social distancing is difficult so plan to wear them in the fruit stand, in line for doughnuts, in any areas that are not out in the orchard where you are picking. You must also maintain a distance of 6 feet in all lines and areas where you encounter others.

Ready for a change of scene, but not ready to travel in the age of COVID-19? The library has just what you need. Check out Passport Around the World. Call BCPL’s Ask a Librarian line (828) 250-4700, email [email protected], or call or email your local library, and tell us where you would like to virtually visit. Your librarian will select 5-10 items about your destination of choice, anything from documentaries, folktales, and cookbooks to travel guides, poetry, and children’s books. We will notify you when your items are ready. Pick up your Passport bundle at the curbside pickup location of your choice. Bon Voyage!

2020 A YEAR OF COVID, TURMOIL, UNCERTAINTIES, HEROES & HOPE

The year 2020 for better or worse will go down in American history as a pivotal moment. It has been often said that history is written for and by the victors.

But nowadays in a world overwhelmed with 2-second tweets, forgettable social media, conspiracy theories and online rages; modern history seems to be written by the distracted, the delusional and the destructive.

Mountain Made, a local arts & crafts boutique in Grove Arcade, is taking a different approach. We are creating a public history journal of poetry, personal musing, thoughtful insights and yes, rants on “The Year 2020”. They could be funny or serious.

We have setup two interactive art stations inside the gallery:

* The first one is where you can quickly put down your thoughts on some blank paper (the original “i-pad”) and leave it with us.

* The other is a shared, public painting series where you can lay brush to canvas if you are more a visual person.

Bluegrass Brunch
hosted by Aaron Woody Wood & The Sufi Brothers

Pickin’ on the Porch w/ Chicken Coop Willaye 1030AM
Bald Mountain Boys 11AM – 12:30PM
Sufi Brothers 12:45PM – 3PM

Be sure to check out our Bloody Mary Bar, the BEST selection of pickled products and other additions in Asheville. The MOJO Kitchen will be serving a special Brunch menu until 3PM as well.

Food & music start at 10:30am
ADULT beverages at Noon.

“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.

Once your appetite for knowledge is satisfied, enjoy sample tastings of flavors like Apple Pie, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach, and Strawberry moonshine. If the samples are not enough, there will be plenty of Moonshine infused cocktails like Copper Cola or Moonshiner’s Mimosa available for purchase.

GSMR is excited to feature multiple craft NC based distilleries to serve our guests only the best! Each jar is handcrafted and authentically infused with real fruit, the way moonshine was meant to be made.

Passengers will also enjoy a full service All-Adult First Class ride with an attendant serving GSMR’s freshly cooked pulled pork barbeque rubbed with Cajun spices then slow-roasted to perfection served with southern sweet cornbread muffin with honey butter, coleslaw, and cinnamon apples then finish with a delicious piece of Sea Salt Caramel Cheesecake. Riders will also receive their very own Carolina Shine mason drinking jar, refillable with soda beverages and tea throughout the day, and a souvenir GSMR tote bag (1 per couple/party).

On exhibit Saturdays and Sundays from 12 – 4 p.m. (weather permitting), 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 Garden Promenade.

We’re kicking off #fall with our very own, three day #Oktoberfest extravaganza! Join us October 2nd-4th for German inspired brews, eats and tunes.

On Friday we’ll be releasing two new beers:
Harvest Festbier – 5.7% ABV, 20 IBUs. Specially brewed for the Harvest season. This beer is a tribute to the Munich way of celebrating Oktoberfest. It features a deep gold color, creamy mouthfeel and hints of toasty bread in the flavor.

Dunkelweizen – 5.5%ABV, 18 IBUs. This beer is a cross between a German-style Dunkel & Hefeweizen. Distinguished by its sweet maltiness and chocolate-like character, it can also have banana and clove esters from Weizen ale yeast.

After months of serving in plastic, we will be selling limited edition half liter stein glasses, etched with the Blue Ghost Logo for you to enjoy these new releases in. You can get the stein by itself for $9.50 or with your first pour of one of our new releases for just $12.50!

Food:
Friday – Haus Heidelberg will be on-site from 1-8PM serving up traditional German favorites from their food truck!

Saturday & Sunday: The Hungry Ghost will tap into German flavors & be serving pork schnitzel sandwiches on pretzel rolls, Festbier braised bratwursts, pretzels with beer cheese, and more!

Of course, we’ll be playing Oktoberfest inspired tunes all weekend and we strongly encourage y’all to dress in your finest German attire!

*We will be following state ordered social distancing guidelines throughout this event and as always, we will be taking extra measures to ensure a safe and sanitary environment for all who attend.

The eighth annual CiderFest NC fundraiser will be held in a brand-new format this fall that offers loyal guests the chance to celebrate, sample and savor cider safely and responsibly.

While the large annual festival will not be offered this fall in light of current health concerns, the event will continue this year through CiderFest Tours: small-group curated tours of three Asheville cideries that are being offered in partnership with local business Leap Frog Tours.

The tours will allow participants to visit three of Asheville’s cideries — Noble Cider, Urban Orchard Cider Company – West and TreeRock Social Cider House & Mead Bar — for intimate, small-group tasting sessions to sample unique takes on the craft beverage on each of the locations. Proceeds will be shared between Leap Frog Tours, the three participating cideries and Green Built Alliance.

To offer the largest number of people the opportunity to participate, the four-hour tours will be offered from 3 to 7 p.m. on every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in October.

Tours can be reserved for groups of 2 to 14 individuals, and bookings open up today. To prioritize safety in light of COVID-19, all tours will be private without combining reservations from separate parties. (Visit our website or Leap Frog’s booking page for a full list of COVID-19 precautions being taken for the tours.)

The cost is $85 per person. The price includes a tasting at each cidery, a souvenir CiderFest tasting glass, and transportation by Leap Frog Tours from Aloft Hotel in downtown Asheville.

Since the event has sold out in recent years, people are encouraged to book their tours early. For more information and to book a tour, visit www.ciderfestnc.com.

Jack of the Wood : Sunday-Irish Session 

Sundays

1 till who knows when?

Traditional Irish music is kept alive at Jack of the Wood with our unplugged Sunday session.

Jack of the Wood

95 Patton ave

Asheville, NC 28801

(828) 252.5445

http://www.jackofthewood.com/

Make your own Agave Didgeridoo and learn to play it!

A Two-Day Immersion into playing & creating, learning & sharing, exploring & experiencing the incredible resonance of humankind’s first musical instrument…The Didgeridoo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okQLJYZgkIk&t=16s
Check out the video all about this immersion!

This experience offers a depth of connection with this communal exploration of ancestral vibration. Together, with reverence to the original tribe, we forge our instruments through the flame.

Play with & listen to a variety of enchanting sounds, overtones, grumbles, vocals, toots and more. Anybody can learn circular breathing. This breath-work is deeply profound and transformational.

We will talk about the native peoples, their ceremonies, their stories. Send them reverence and gratitude. Enjoy camping in a gorgeous serene land with mountain vistas, open air vintage barn, and a swimming pond in the oldest mountains in the world.
We will have ~~ Evenings of Spontaneous Music Creativity
~Sharing Circles ~Potluck dinners & Dinner served Saturday Evening
~ Symphony of Serenity: Sound Healing Meditation featuring the Didgeridoo!

The entire weekend, and taking your didgeridoo home is $360, and there are only 12 spaces total.
-To secure your spot, a $180 deposit is required.
Paypal your deposit to “friends or family” to [email protected]
“I still look back to that weekend as one of the best of my life.”-Cody-
Visit SoulMedicineVibrations.com for more information, photos and video.

Come hangout, enjoy the sunshine, air and each other’s knowledge and company. From there, we can walk or meet at a local restaurant. Open to ideas.

Join us for a celebration of Lager Beers at Crispy Camp. Six days of lager tap features from the likes of Burial, Casita, Creature Comforts, Fonta Flora, Highland Park, Interboro, Other Half, Oxbow, Resident Culture, Threes & Zillicoah along with crispy food pairings from the Chefs at Forestry Camp. Reservations are available at www.forestrycamp.com

Mel Ryane, in a return engagement to Flatiron Writers Room, will teach this workshop for writers wishing to read their work aloud in digital format.

The workshop will begin on Day One with a 3-hour course on technique. Writers will learn to scan text, examine rhythm and pace, choose those juicy words, prep their bodies and voices, play to the video camera, properly use lighting and, above all, lift their work into a compelling reading. This workshop has proven invaluable as an editing tool. Prep, practice, present.

On Day Two, Mel will coach writers one-on-one in 20-minute sessions on their readings—you will learn valuable information from the guidance she gives you and your classmates. Day Three, as needed depending on class size, will continue as Day Two.

Tuxedo Junction is an iconic example of a cover music group. It has been playing the hits of countless other musical acts from the 1930s to present-day over the past three decades. The Asheville-based Tuxedo Junction was founded as a nightclub house band by drummer/vocalist/band leader, Joey Moore, with the band’s first performing date on January 1, 1988. Joey and the original lineup performed for the club owner for two years and finally branched out to become a more versatile group than what the country/rock n’ roll     club dictated.  Passing decades, and hundreds of events later, Tuxedo Junction continues to delight audiences with songs and musical styles that represent some of the best music from the past 80+ years!

http://tuxedojunctionband.com/index.htm

Flat Rock folksinger, Tom Fisch, after years of traveling and performing has honed his shows into a relaxed exchange between artist and performer. Interspersed with stories and anecdotes, his concerts flow smoothly from a beloved traditional song to one of Tom’s fine originals or a favorite cover from one of the many artists who have inspired his music through the years. Tom says, “It makes me feel so good to see people leave my show with a smile on their face and a song on their lips. I know I’ve done my job.”
Toms’ style encompasses, “… great acoustic music…a cross between Tony Rice, James Taylor and Guy Clark. A style deeply rooted in the influences of artists such as Doc Watson, John Prine, Pete Seeger and John Denver.”

Each summer, Blue Ridge Community College offers summer concerts beside the College lake as a gift to the community. These free Sunday evening concerts are scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. and feature a wide range of musical and vocal groups. The public is invited to bring lawn chairs and picnics to enjoy the music by the lake.

In the event of inclement weather, the concert will take place in the Patton Building.