Calendar of Events
Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
Join Dogwood Alliance on Saturday, September 8th for our annual Woods & Wilds Storytelling event at the Grey Eagle in Asheville from 7-11pm! The evening will feature regional storytellers, live music from Earthcry! Join us as we celebrate 22 years of standing with the people and forests of the South!
Grandfather Mountain’s inaugural Junior Ranger Day will celebrate the park’s Junior Ranger program and its esteemed participants. Geared for ages 5-12, the Junior Ranger program offers young explorers a unique, hands-on experience at Grandfather Mountain, including a scavenger hunt, trail exploration, plant and animal identification and more!
On Junior Ranger Day, simply check in at the Nature Museum to receive a Junior Ranger booklet, participate in the programs (held every half-hour at the Let-It-Rain Picnic Shelter), complete the booklet’s assignments and earn your badge! Upon completion, Junior Ranger badges and certificates will be available at the Nature Museum, along with a coupon for free ice cream from Mildred’s Grill.
A FREE, self guided, rain or shine event featuring 13 West Asheville gardens. Printed guides with map and garden descriptions may be picked up at Asheville Primary School, 441 Haywood Rd.,28806 from 11am until 3:30pm on Sept. 8, 2018. Our kick off celebration at 10:30am features the stilt walking troupe, Faerie Kin.
Asheville Outlets (www.shopashevilleoutlets.com) will team up with the Blue Ridge EV Club, Land of Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy to celebrate the 5th annual Drive Electric Car Show on September 9, 2018 from 12 noon to 4 p.m.
The show will include local EV (electric vehicle) drivers displaying the latest in electric vehicle technology, showcasing the Tesla model 3, the Chevy Bolt, the 2018 Nissan Leaf, the Chrysler Pacifica Plug in Electric Hybrid (PHEV) and the Mini Cooper Countryman PHEV, among others and some surprise electric vehicles as well. Owners will be available to answer questions about the EV lifestyle from charging, costs, performance and more. The event is free and open to the public. Event rain date is September 16, 2018.
Pianist Brian Turner performing original compositions from his albums “Ascension” and “The Overview Effect”. CD’s and sheet music available at concert. Donations at the door.
Matt and Kim
plus Michael Christmas
Show: 8pm
Doors: 7pm
$25 – $28
Ages 18+
Language not suitable for all ages.
Tickets & Info: www.theorangepeel.net/event/matt-and-kim/
For many bands, making music is all about the routine of recording an annual album, or being able to tour in progressively bigger venues. Not Matt and Kim. “Our goal is to make music we want to hear,” says Matt Johnson, who co-founded the band with Kim Schifino. “When it comes time to make a new album, I’m just so excited, since I know we have all these ideas and I just want to get them out there.” As for the band’s extra-emphatic live shows, which these days happen in large venues, he explains, “We’ve always just really enjoyed playing music, and things have kept growing.”
Matt and Kim’s enthusiasm comes across loud and clear on the band’s new album, Lightning, its most diverse and developed to date. From the relentless drive of “Now” to the dance-fueled beat of “Let’s Go” to the more contemplative “Ten Dollars I Found,” Lightning is the strongest distillation yet of Matt and Kim’s unique sound: a spunky hybrid of indelible songs, an emphatic beat and almost tangible energy, mixed with the duo’s influence of listening nonstop to Top 40 Hip-Hop and pop-punk.
To make the album, Matt and Kim spent six months working in their home studio in Brooklyn, producing the record themselves. Lightning is a touch more minimal than their earlier work – with layers taken away, instead of added, enabling its intense performances and memorable tunes to really come to the forefront. “What’s made the songs on this album really strong is we’ve been able to pull a lot off – to not have so much going on – and still have a strong song,” Kim explains.
“It’s easier to make a song with a lot going on,” Matt adds. “It feels very safe. It’s like putting on a lot of clothes: you feel all covered up so no one can judge just one aspect of it, but when you try to break it down to be as simple as can be, you’re really baring it all. When you can see clearly what’s going on, those are the times that the songs are easiest to connect to.”
Connecting with their audience is certainly a key focus for Matt and Kim. The indie dance duo’s live shows – which are legendary for constant, in-your-face exuberance – feel more like vibrant, sweaty loft parties than traditional concerts, for both audiences and the band. “I think we’ve managed to continue to make them feel intimate,” says Matt. “When we first started playing venues instead of playing on the floor at parties, we tried hard to keep the vibe of ‘we’re all doing this together and having a wild time’ going. The show is not just the two of us: it’s the 3002 of us, or however big the venue is.” Or, as in the words of Rolling Stone: “Matt and Kim’s reputation as a live act precedes them – and justifiably so. Simply put, they are a two-person dynamo, frantic, tightly wound, and full of good cheer. Their performances are as physical as they are musical. . . . For sheer adrenaline-per-second, no other band comes close.”
The band started in 2004, essentially by accident when Matt and Kim were art students at the prestigious Pratt Institute, where they studied film and illustration, respectively. When Kim wanted to learn to play drums and Matt (who’d been in bands before) was getting his head around a new keyboard, the band was born. Since then, they have earned a Gold Record for the upbeat, stick-in-your-head track “Daylight,” played festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo, along with international festivals like V (U.K), Pukkelpop (Belgium), Fuji (Japan), Big Day Out (Australia), Primavera (Spain), Oya (Norway), SWU (Brazil), as well as hundreds of shows. They have won 3 MTV awards: a Breakthrough Video Music Award and mtvU Best Video Woodie Award for “Lessons Learned”, as well as a 2011 award for Best Live Band. Lightning is the band’s fourth album, following Sidewalks, Grand, and their self-titled debut.
Matt and Kim have always been inspired by Brooklyn’s general urban din as well as the area’s artists, yet Matt points out, “I don’t think a place can define a person. We simply write songs about us and our life so that’s why where we live comes up.”
Indeed, there’s something universal about a song with a beat that grabs you, with a great melody, played by a band that simply loves to play music. And that, in Williamsburg and way beyond, is the key to the universal appeal of Matt and Kim.
www.mattandkimmusic.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyVzPx4ecHA
https://www.facebook.com/events/250605672364492/

Big Daddy Weave is heading back out the road beginning this September for the Jesus I Believe Tour with special guest, Brandon Heath. Presented by World Vision, the tour kicks off in Waukesha, WI and is slated to play 29 dates before wrapping on October 28th. It comes on the release of Big Daddy Weave’s newest radio single “Jesus I Believe” and follows their successful Spring 2018 Jesus I Believe Tour, which hit 30+ cities across 18 states. The tour will feature beloved Christian music artist Brandon Heath, a five-time GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter. Heath is debuting his sixth studio album titled Faith Hope Love Repeat, featuring the hit single “Whole Heart.”
Cost covers 11×14 canvas, step-by-step instructions and all supplies!
https://www.facebook.com/events/322109515014065/
The King is Returning
https://www.facebook.com/events/260360611276551/
Revelry: Unique Downtown Events is proud to present Grammy-nominated artist Shawn Mullins with Special Guests Jane Kramer and Jeff Thompson in the historic theatre at The Asheville Masonic Temple.
Come celebrate Shawn Mullin’s “Souls Core” 20th Album Anniversary (release: July 17, 1998). He always performs songs from Soul’s Core in his live sets including “Lullaby” (Rockabye), “Gulf of Mexico,” “Twin Rocks Oregon,” “Shimmer” and “Anchored in You”. The song arrangements have evolved through the years as he continues to perform them live and grow as an artist.
Date: Friday, September 14, 2018
Doors: 6:30pm
Show: 7pm-10pm
Advance Tickets:
VIP/Floor- $30 plus tax/Eventbrite processing fee
Balcony- $20 plus tax/Eventbrite processing fee
Door Tickets:
VIP/Floor (based on availability): $35 plus tax
Balcony: $25 plus tax
Shawn Mullins Bio:
After a series of indie record releases, Shawn Mullins’ critical breakthrough came when 1998 Soul’s Core
album shot him to fame on the strength of its Grammy-nominated No. 1 hit, “Lullaby” followed by
AAA/Americana No. 1 “Beautiful Wreck” from 2006’s 9th Ward Pickin Parlor. His song, “Shimmer” was used in
promotion of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and was included on the Dawson’s Creek soundtrack. He
co-wrote “All in My Head” which was featured in episode one of the hit TV sitcom “Scrubs.” Mullins also co-
wrote the Zac Brown Band’s No. 1 country tune “Toes.” In early 2002, he formed super group The Thorns with
Matthew Sweet and Peter Droge. Mullins’ most recent album My Stupid Heart, was released in 2015, the
theme of which, Mullins says, can be summed up most succinctly by the song title, “It All Comes Down To
Love,” the guiding force behind just about every song on the album.
Mullins is currently embarking on a recording project in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the release of
his album Soul’s Core, which came out July 17, 1998!
For the 20th anniversary, Shawn will revisit the music on Soul’s Core and record two new versions of the
album. He is calling this Soul’s Core Revival. This is not a remix or a remaster of the original, but rather brand
new recordings with new arrangements of the songs – one album will be new stripped down solo
performances, some on guitar, some on piano and maybe one a cappella and the second will be a new studio
recording with his full band, Soul Carnival.
Mullins has partnered with PledgeMusic to reach out to fans to join him in the process of making these records.
Supporters of the project can take part by pre-ordering a download of the records, signed CDs, high-quality
vinyl, a live guitar or vocal lesson online with Shawn, Soul’s Core Revival swag – t-shirts, caps, mugs and
sweatshirts, a visit to the studio while he records the albums, a personalized Platinum record plaque of Soul’s
Core, handwritten lyrics to “Lullaby” – these and many more options to participate in the making of these
records are available on the Shawn Mullins PledgeMusic page at www.pledgemusic.com/projects/shawn-
mullins.
Photography Credit: David McClister Photography
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (828) 250-4260
Event Location: Lake Julian Park – 406 Overlook Extension Arden, NC
Join Jesse Pope, executive director of the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, for this six-hour course on raptor migration. In 2015, more than 11,000 raptors were observed in September as they soared over Grandfather Mountain on their annual migration south. Learn why they do this – and become an official “watcher” yourself.
This Adult Field Course is limited to 12 participants and costs $40 for general admission, $20 for Bridge Club members. To register, or for more information, email [email protected], or call (828) 733-2013.
Grandfather Mountain’s Adult Field Courses invite participants to examine specific aspects of the park ecosystem through just the right combination of fun field excursions and classroom presentations. Our course leaders are experts in their fields and include professors, naturalists and scientists, as well as acclaimed photographers, writers, historians and artists. Most courses run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and lunch will be eaten in the field. Please bring your own lunch. Rates do not include taxes.
Opening Sept. 15, 2018 – Nov. 4, 2018
Come to the prettiest, most authentic pumpkin patch in the Smoky Mountains. An affordable excursion for the whole family, complete with your very own pumpkin picked right out of the field. Meet amazing hayride drivers (who are the actual farmers) and experience the beautiful scenery of the place we call home.
$8 per person, includes any size pumpkin.
Children under 3 are free to ride the hayride, and paying parents are welcome to give them their pumpkin.
Additional pumpkins from the pumpkin patch are $4.
https://www.facebook.com/events/490214898055778/
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (828) 250-4260
Event Location: BC Sports Park – 58 Apac Cir, Asheville, NC
This year, Eliada will maintain some beloved attractions including the tractor ride, which now drives all the way around the Corn Maze, jumping pillow, corn kernel sand box, spider web climber, tube slides, and corn cannons.
Tuesday – Thursday: 9am-3pm
Friday: 9am-8pm
Saturday: 10am- 8pm
Sunday: 10am-6pm
The Junior League of Asheville is pleased to announce our Inaugural Touch-A-Truck Family Festival, Sunday, September 16, 2018 at Asheville Outlets. Touch-A-Truck is a community wide event where both kids and kids at heart have the opportunity to see, touch, climb and learn about vehicles of all types, including public service, emergency, utility, construction, garbage, transportation, delivery and even a helicopter – all in one place! Children will be able to touch, climb aboard, sound the horn and meet the people who operate these vehicles. Drivers and operators will be onsite to talk about the vehicle and its operation. Children of all ages are bound to be enthralled with all there is to explore.
Additional activities on site will be a fall market with local vendors featuring arts, crafts and not-for profit organizations; activity tents; food and beverage stations; and several other special attractions help to add to the event’s appeal. Parental supervision is required and cameras are highly recommended to capture the day’s adventures and take home wonderful memories to share.
The Junior League of Asheville’s Touch-A-Truck Family Festival offers local organizations a unique opportunity to showcase their brand and interact with parents, children, League members and the community in general. There are several ways for your organization to participate: event sponsorship, truck/vehicle exhibition, vendor booths, food trucks, or in-kind support.
This year, Eliada will maintain some beloved attractions including the tractor ride, which now drives all the way around the Corn Maze, jumping pillow, corn kernel sand box, spider web climber, tube slides, and corn cannons.
Tuesday – Thursday: 9am-3pm
Friday: 9am-8pm
Saturday: 10am- 8pm
Sunday: 10am-6pm
This year, Eliada will maintain some beloved attractions including the tractor ride, which now drives all the way around the Corn Maze, jumping pillow, corn kernel sand box, spider web climber, tube slides, and corn cannons.
Tuesday – Thursday: 9am-3pm
Friday: 9am-8pm
Saturday: 10am- 8pm
Sunday: 10am-6pm
This year, Eliada will maintain some beloved attractions including the tractor ride, which now drives all the way around the Corn Maze, jumping pillow, corn kernel sand box, spider web climber, tube slides, and corn cannons.
Tuesday – Thursday: 9am-3pm
Friday: 9am-8pm
Saturday: 10am- 8pm
Sunday: 10am-6pm
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (828) 774-3000
Link: http://www.leicestercommunitycenter.com
Welcome Table Free Meal every Wednesday 11:30am-1:30pm
This year, Eliada will maintain some beloved attractions including the tractor ride, which now drives all the way around the Corn Maze, jumping pillow, corn kernel sand box, spider web climber, tube slides, and corn cannons.
Tuesday – Thursday: 9am-3pm
Friday: 9am-8pm
Saturday: 10am- 8pm
Sunday: 10am-6pm
How would you handle a bear in your own front yard? Join us at our fall Wildlife Workshop & Walkabout to learn best practices for coexisting with bears and other carnivores.
At the workshop, you’ll find out about carnivore behaviors, why we’re seeing more of them in human communities, and practical tips for safely living with them.
Then, you’ll get to see the animals for yourself on our Saturday, September 22nd walkabout at the Western North Carolina Nature Center! We will introduce you to bears and other carnivores, face-to-face, to learn more about the animals, their habitats and the essential roles they play in our ecological network.
Workshop: Thursday, September 20th, 2018, 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Defenders of Wildlife
1 Rankin Ave., 2nd Floor, Asheville, NC 28801
-AND-
Walkabout: Saturday, September 22nd, 2018, 9:00am-12:00pm
Western North Carolina Nature Center
75 Gashes Creek Rd., Asheville, NC 28805
The workshop is free, but space is limited, so please sign up soon to reserve your spot. The walkabout at the Nature Center is free for the first 20 people without a Nature Center membership who sign up for both events.
For questions and to sign up, please email Tracy at [email protected]
This year, Eliada will maintain some beloved attractions including the tractor ride, which now drives all the way around the Corn Maze, jumping pillow, corn kernel sand box, spider web climber, tube slides, and corn cannons.
Tuesday – Thursday: 9am-3pm
Friday: 9am-8pm
Saturday: 10am- 8pm
Sunday: 10am-6pm
Open 7:30 – 11:30 p.m. Advance tickets are rquired. It’s safe, scary fun for the whole family! Kids will enjoy the Halloween shows and trick-or-treating. And take a chilling journey into the night on the Ghost Train – if you dare!
The North Buncombe Elementary PTO is hosting its 21st annual Fall Festival on September 21, 2018.
Our Fall Festival will be a fun night filled with family friendly games, concessions, entertainment, and inflatables. It is open to the entire community and is our school’s largest fundraiser.
We will have over 10 inflatables, including some just for little ones. Activities include sand art, crazy hair, ring toss, duck pond, dunk tank, troll toss, radar pitch, jousting, face paint, and a slime station to name a few!
Concessions include hot dogs, Chick fil la, chips, popcorn, drinks, funnel cakes, cotton candy, Kona Ice and more!
New this year – we will have local vendors from the community. Get your Christmas shopping done early!
All monies raised are utilized for school improvements, teacher allotments, school club sponsorship, and educational field trips.
Your support will fund many programs provided throughout the year for the benefit of North Buncombe Elementary School children and families.
https://www.facebook.com/events/232927690736248/
The 30th anniversary season of Downtown After 5, presented by Prestige Subaru, kicks off Friday, May 18 from 5-9pm. Downtown After 5 takes place the 3rd Friday of the month May – September and is held on North Lexington Avenue. Events are free and open to the public.
This year, Eliada will maintain some beloved attractions including the tractor ride, which now drives all the way around the Corn Maze, jumping pillow, corn kernel sand box, spider web climber, tube slides, and corn cannons.
Tuesday – Thursday: 9am-3pm
Friday: 9am-8pm
Saturday: 10am- 8pm
Sunday: 10am-6pm
Open 7:30 – 11:30 p.m. Advance tickets are rquired. It’s safe, scary fun for the whole family! Kids will enjoy the Halloween shows and trick-or-treating. And take a chilling journey into the night on the Ghost Train – if you dare!
