Mountain Xpress 06.26.24

FEATURES PAGE 16

NOT ALL RAINBOWS

Glenda Weinert brings variety of

County

Asheville’s Pride celebration draws thousands of visitors each year. But elsewhere in Western North Carolina, Pride events are more nascent. Small town organizers discuss the inspiration and challenges behind launching these events.

COVER

Emily Brewer, left, and Todd Carter are featured on this week’s cover.

Photo courtesy of Carter

COVER DESIGN

Scott Southwick

Soil

Buncombe

Kenneth

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A disturbing turn of events for UNCA

[ Regarding “UNCA Chancellor Proposes Four Academic Programs for Elimination, One for Reduction,” June 13, Asheville Watchdog via Xpress website:]

UNC Asheville has been a beacon of educational integrity and ingenuity for decades, so this latest turn of events is disturbing. One suggestion would be for our legislature to stop handing out vouchers for private school attendance and focus on adequately funding public schools and universities.

— Evelyn Coltman

Waynesville

Mourning loss of UNCA drama program

[Regarding “UNCA Chancellor Proposes Four Academic Programs for Elimination, One for Reduction,” June 13, Asheville Watchdog via Xpress website:]

I write to mourn the proposed loss of UNC Asheville’s venerable drama program, not to praise it. Chancellor Kimberly van Noort declares it a financial loser, and Chancellor van Noort’s only desire is to serve — and uplift students. So therefore, let theater answer for the crime of not serving or uplifting our students without needless ceremony.

Learned members of the UNC Board of Governors are already familiar with the long list of soft skills that drama classes impart, the very least of these being communication, teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability, leadership, time management, concentration and creative thinking. But Chancellor van Noort says theater is a financial loser. And Chancellor van Noort only wants to serve — and uplift students.

Being representatives of one of the most revered institutions in this

great state, members of the Board of Governors are undoubtedly aware that another treasured institution, the State Theatre of North Carolina, is located only 25 miles south of the university, producing an economic benefit of roughly $14 million annually for WNC. But Chancellor van Noort says theater is a financial loser. And Chancellor van Noort only wants to serve — and uplift students.

Being proud citizens of North Carolina, members of the Board of Governors all easily hold a fondness in their hearts for the cultural and artistic touchstone of our state that is the city of Asheville and its surroundings, boasting over 20 theater companies that benefit from this program, attracting tourist dollars from across the globe. But Chancellor van Noort says theater is a financial loser. And Chancellor van Noort only wants to serve — and uplift students.

Finally, as good stewards of our state educational system, the Board of Governors understands that a wise man-

ager helps an important but struggling program by adding resources rather than taking them away. But Chancellor van Noort says theater is a financial loser. And Chancellor van Noort only wants to serve — and uplift students. I am not writing to question Chancellor van Noort’s proposal to kill the drama program at UNCA, but rather to question if we should have ever had one. If theater is such a financial loser, then why has it ever existed? Why has the human race ever longed for the connection, the expression, the creative urge that theater satisfies in our souls? Why ever hold a mirror up to show the best and worst parts of our humanity? Why can’t we build a better community with unexamined lives? Surely if we don’t need theater now, then we never did. And while I may mourn its loss today, I am certain the money saved will be enough to fill the hole it leaves in WNC.

— Travis V. Lowe

Playwright Asheville

Cartoon hits pyramidion on the head

Kudos to Brent Brown’s clever cartoon depicting the Vance Monument as an acronym: V. A. N. C. E. (Visit Asheville North Carolina, Everyone!) [“Old Is New Again,” June 12, Xpress]. I only wish he had presented it to City Council before they made their hasty decision to destroy a work of art. Although the cartoon was in jest, it is a good example of an easier and much less costly solution to the taxpayers. The best of all being simply removing the plaque and plugging the anchor holes. Probably a half-day job that revenue from the local scrapyard would have covered.

Also, now that the court battles are over, where are the cut stones? I would like to have the pyramidion as a paperweight.

—

Johnny Robinson Asheville

Banish gridlock gremlins with electric vehicle hub

From the gridlock in our neighborhoods to the bumper-to-bumper crawl of commuter traffic, it’s clear that we need a solution — and fast — to save both our environment and our sanity.

While the City Council has made commendable efforts to address housing needs, its plans to mitigate the traffic that new housing produces remain languishing within the pages of the city’s comprehensive plan. But hark! Verily I say, there’s hope on the horizon! Remember the $45 million plan proposed in 2019 for a mixed-use commercial-residential space on the 15.88-acre Sears site of the Asheville Mall (1 S. Tunnel Road)? There sits patiently our golden opportunity to tackle our traffic woes head-on and set a precedent for the entire city.

CARTOON BY RANDY MOLTON

Imagine this: Parking your car in a spacious, hassle-free parking lot of pervious concrete (with well-landscaped islands of trees and foliage), boarding a cozy electric shuttle and in minutes, you’re whisked away to any and all points throughout Asheville, east and west. No traffic, no stress — just smooth sailing on a clean, green, electric machine. Sounds like a dream, right? But it’s a dream we can turn into reality.

Here’s why this proposal is a game-changer: Electric shuttles will slash the number of cars on the road, giving you back your time and sanity. The time you now spend pushing a brake pedal is replaced by time spent with your family or recreational pursuits.

Go green and breathe easy: Electric shuttles produce zero emissions, meaning cleaner air and a healthier environment. Asheville’s beautiful skies will stay blue rather than the butternut-gray of car fumes.

Easy access, no stress: Whether you’re heading downtown, to a hospital or any point throughout Asheville, shuttles get you there swiftly and comfortably. With enough shuttles dedicated to specific routes, offering both express and local options to suit your needs.

Revitalize abandoned space: Transform that sea of asphalt and concrete into a bustling hub of activ-

ity. It’s time to put that acreage to good use for the health and welfare of all.

Boost our economy: Job creation, local business stimulation and new investment opportunities — this project is a win-win-win for Asheville.

This vision will not work unless the city adopts a plan to strictly limit vehicular traffic within the city proper and seriously improve the walkability and wheelchair accessibility of the city streets. Habits die hard, and oftentimes it requires tough love in order to make an enlightened, progressive plan take root.

We stand at a crossroads, Asheville. Will we continue to let traffic woes turn our daily commutes into soul-grinding endurance tests, or will we embrace a bold new vision for our city’s future? It’s time we seize the initiative to transform our city’s transportation conundrum while enhancing the health of both the environment and of our citizenry.

beautiful city deserves nothing less. We citizens deserve nothing less.

— Jane Spence-Edwards Asheville

Editor’s note: A longer version of this letter will appear at mountainx. com.

Protecting our farming values

One reason I love Western North Carolina is the abundance of high-quality and compassionate farming. Our local farmers take pride in their sustainable and humane practices, and I can taste the difference!

power to set welfare standards for products sold within our borders.

California’s Proposition 12, passed by voters in 2018, stopped the sale of products from animals raised in extreme confinement. This new Farm Bill would cancel Prop. 12 and similar laws in other states.

The Farm Bill is very powerful and should help create a fair and kind food system. It shouldn’t take away states’ rights. Readers, please reach out to U.S. Rep. Edwards and urge him to vote against any Farm Bill that prevents states from enacting laws that reflect their values.

— Renee Dunaway Asheville X

Word of the week

AROUND THE REGION

And why stop at East Asheville? If this hub proves successful, we can roll out similar initiatives in West Asheville and beyond. Our city can become a shining example for congested cities everywhere.

So, what do you say, Asheville? Let’s come together as a community and support our city leaders in making this vision a reality. Our

To protect this, I ask our representative, Chuck Edwards, to vote against any Farm Bill that stops states and voters from making laws to regulate agricultural products. Last month, the House Agriculture Committee approved a version of the Farm Bill that would remove states’

SOGIE

An acronym for sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN

Popping up

BY TAL GALTON

During their evanescent fruiting period, native forest fungi demand our attention. Peak season is July to September, and after only a few days, most mushrooms either dry out, turn to mush in the rain or get picked apart by critters. No Western North Carolina hiker can walk in the woods in the wake of an August downpour without noticing dozens of mushrooms that transform the forest into a sculpture garden overflowing with colorful, exotic forms. White puffballs, red and orange chanterelles, pink and purple coral mushrooms, bulbous boletes, bright yellow and ghostly white amanitas are just a few examples of the many specimens adorning the forest floor.

But these “fruiting bodies” are really just the reproductive tip of the living organism, temporarily protruding from the ground. A common analogy is that if a fungus were an apple tree, only the flowers and fruit would be visible to us, with the rest of the tree’s structure hiding underground. The trouble with this metaphor is that fungi are not plants and indeed are nothing like them: On the tree of life, fungi are actually more closely related to animals.

CATCHING CARBON

Plants are our planet’s great autotrophs: living things capable of harvesting energy directly from the sun. The rest of us are heterotrophs. Whether it’s a person eating a hamburger, a Hickory Nut Gap cow grazing on grass, or the threadlike hyphae of a chanterelle sipping sap from an oak root, we’re consumers, mooching carbon originally sequestered by plants.

But for all the botanical diversity these mountains are renowned for, there are roughly twice as many known species of local fungi as there are plants. In the Smokies alone, over 3,500 species of fungi have been observed. Participants in my mushroom walks are astonished by the array we can gather in an hour or two. A half-day foray with experts from the Asheville Mushroom Club may turn up well over 100 species. And in just four days of roaming the woods around Hendersonville last August, the more than 400 professional and amateur mycologists attending Appalachia NAMA identified over 500 unique species. Organized by the North American Mycological Association, the annual gathering rotates around the continent and, despite unseasonably dry conditions, the 2023 event broke the organization’s species count record,

The astonishing world of forest fungi

SPREADING IT AROUND

A mushroom is simply a fungus’s spore-dispersal mechanism, one of hundreds of creative strategies fungi have developed for scattering their millions of spores. Puffballs spout spores through an orifice. Bird’s-nest fungi release them when raindrops splash into their cups.

Many mushrooms rely on gills. Like wrinkles in our brains or villi in our intestines, gills exponentially increase the surface area where spores can form, while simultaneously providing optimal conditions for ejecting them into the air. Fungi have evolved gills several different times across separate lineages in a classic example of convergent evolution: different branches of the tree of life converging upon the same elegant architectural solution to a problem.

due in part to both strong attendance and Western North Carolina’s status as a hot spot for fungal diversity.

HIDE AND SEEK

Like almost all of our native plants, local fungi are perennial forest dwellers, but for most of the year, their entire biological structure is hidden from view. Woody trees and shrubs are visible year-round; many herbaceous plants are aboveground for six to eight months; true spring ephemerals display for maybe six weeks. Many fungi, though, show themselves for only a few days.

Fungi span a remarkably diverse and adaptable kingdom. Some are decomposers: They feed on dead organic matter and are exceptionally good at breaking down lignin and cellulose. These play an essential role in the ecosystem, turning hard-to-digest plant fibers into palatable nutrients for the forest’s food web.

But some of the most charismatic local fungi (including most chanterelles, boletes and amanitas), pursue a different strategy, connecting with living plant roots, trading carbohydrates for minerals — and perhaps even facilitating interspecies communication. The science behind those networks, colloquially known as the wood wide web, is in its infancy and still hotly debated: As with many forest species (and the incredibly complex systems they compose), there is far more that we don’t know about mushrooms than there is that we know (or think we do).

For most of the year, forest fungi discreetly go about their business. By late summer, the trees and their green, leafy co-workers have spent months gathering sunlight and pumping carbon-based energy into the forest system. And when the energy level reaches its peak, the forest floor erupts with mushrooms. This is the reproductive stage. Fungi have unique and very, very complicated sex lives. But at the most basic level, fungi propagate via spores — minuscule nuggets of genetic material — both sexually and asexually.

“Fungi have unique and very, very complicated sex lives.”

Some mushroom geeks with a dark sense of humor like to say that every mushroom is edible … once. I like to say every mushroom is edible … by something. Many shrooms enlist insects and other animals (humans included) to help spread spores. Stinkhorns smell like carrion and thus attract flies and beetles. Some mushrooms that are toxic to humans are relished by the likes of snails and slugs.

If you closely examine almost any wild mushroom, you will likely find it covered with fruit flies, little fungus gnats or tiny springtails. Some mushrooms, or their mycelia, glow in the dark, displaying “fox fire” (perhaps derived from the Frenglish phrase “faux fire”). This bioluminescence presumably evolved to attract nocturnal insects, but it works with humans too. On a night walk, few things garner as many “Aahs!” as a bright cluster of luminescent Panellus.

A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

Many eager mushroom hunters are initially seduced via their taste buds. But besides enticing flavor compounds, otherworldly forms and myriad colors — not to mention those few species that produce chemicals capable of altering human minds — these evolutionary masterworks capture our attention from as many different angles as there are ways to fling spores into the air. Opening your eyes to the astonishing world of forest mushrooms will introduce you to a subtle but powerful thrill. Like hunting, bird-watching or wildflower pilgrimages, a mushroom foray is a deluxe forest bath. You get the meditative experience of walking in the woods combined with the intense and ancient practice of carefully searching for and identifying diverse natural wonders.

Yancey County resident Tal Galton is a naturalist who loves introducing people to wild places. He runs Snakeroot Ecotours. X

TAL GALTON

SITTING PRETTY: A pink coral mushroom (Ramaria subbotrytis) pokes through the leaf litter. Aptly named, various species of coral mushrooms are very common on the forest floor in shades of white, gray, orange, purple and pink. Photo by Tal Galton

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People person

Glenda Weinert brings variety of experience to county school board

BY GREG PARLIER

gparlier@mountainx.com

From child care centers to colleges, Glenda Weinert’s education experience has influenced students young and old. But it’s her business expertise and political leadership as former chair of the Buncombe County Republican Party that make her a unique addition to the Buncombe County Board of Education.

Long before her business and political exploits, Weinert started working for her mother’s child care facilities as a teenager, where a lifelong passion for children’s well-being was sparked.

“Honestly, the children are the best. I love children. And they respond well to me,” Weinert says. “It’s all of our responsibility to make sure that we’re doing the best and the most that we can for our kids. And we should all have an interest in it, to be quite honest. Because that’s the future, but it’s also the present.”

That’s why when Buncombe County Board of Education member Amanda Simpkins announced her resignation May 15, Weinert submitted an application for the position the very next day. After an initial meeting scheduled to appoint Simpkins’ replacement ended in a stalemate, the board picked Weinert from a pool of 27 applicants June 6 to fill the at-large seat at least until November, when voters will weigh in.

Weinert says she plans to run in the general election to keep her seat. If elected, she would be one of two registered Republicans elected to the local board, the other being Amy Churchill Board member Kim Plemmons says she’s known Weinert for several years through their work with the Buncombe County Schools Foundation and Children’s Well-Being League and nominated Weinert for the position because of her passion for young students.

When it comes to Weinert’s minority political affiliation compared with the rest of the existing board, Plemmons asserts that politics rarely, if ever, comes up on the board, and it has no place when discussing school issues.

“Anything related to public education should not be partisan. It should be about having people who genuinely care about public education, and put children first,” she says. Weinert, says both Plemmons and Churchill, fits the bill.

GIVING BACK

Weinert wasn’t always sure she would pursue an education-related field. As she would later instill in her business students as an adjunct professor at various colleges, Weinert ran with what life presented to her.

“When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Well, in my case, life gave me the opportunity to take over a child care business. So I took a child care business and grew it. And that became my expertise,” she says.

After receiving a master’s degree in business administration and organizational management from Georgia’s Kennesaw State University, Weinert moved back home to Asheville so her mom could retire after 25 years as owner and operator of Little Beaver Child Care centers. After taking over, she grew the business to six locations around Buncombe County to serve more than 550 children.

During her 16 years at the helm, Weinert says, she loved the relationships she built with children.

“There’s nothing better than to watch a kid grasp a concept or help them understand something and be able to work with them as they progress,” she says.

In her role as teacher, she realized that children teach adults how to live, if adults slow down enough to hear them.

“When you think you know something, or you think you understand somebody, you typically find out that if you listen a little bit more, there’s a whole lot more to learn. I think children have taught me to stop talking so much and listen a whole lot more. Because assuming and taking things for granted will prevent you from really understanding who they are and who they want to be,” she says.

At Little Beaver, Weinert worked with Buncombe County Schools frequently, providing after-school and summer care for the district’s students.

Weinert earned a doctorate in business administration from the University of Phoenix in 2014 and then taught business and management classes at A-B Tech, UNC Asheville and Lee University, a Christian university in eastern Tennessee where she earned her undergraduate degree.

Teaching adults allowed her to share her experience running businesses such as the child care facility

FOR THE KIDS: New Buncombe County Board of Education member Glenda Weinert says kids taught her to be a better listener during her career running child care centers.

Photo courtesy of Weinert

while widening her own understanding of the world through students that largely knew what they wanted.

“I’m very much a people person. And so in teaching with adults, whether at the undergraduate level or graduate level, they’re there for a specific reason, because they want to grow and become something that they’ve determined is important in their life,” she says.

More recently, she purchased six Firehouse Subs locations in Western North Carolina over seven years with her husband, Clint.

“We bought them because of the way they give back to the community and the fact that they support first responders and firemen,” she says. Her stores have given at least six grants of between $25,000 and $40,000 to first responders, including the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office and French Broad Fire Department, among others, she says.

“You’ve got to be good to the place you live. To me, it’s about helping support all those people that are out there helping us. I think first responders are those kinds of people. Teachers are those kinds of people and [so are] school boards.”

ATYPICAL REPUBLICAN

In the midst of her work in business and education, Weinert, who has been a registered Republican her whole life, stuck her toe into politics.

In 2012, she ran for chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, losing in the Republican primary. In 2018, she ran and lost the District 2 seat to Democrat Amanda Edwards. In 2020, she took a stab at the District 1 seat on the board, losing to another Democrat, Terri Wells.

In 2021, Weinert became chair of the Buncombe County Republican Party for a two-year term. Chair Doug Brown defeated her at the 2023 GOP conven-

tion, and she says she is no longer an active member of the party.

Weinert describes herself as “fiscally conservative, but community-minded” and has mixed feelings about her time leading the local Republican Party.

“I really wanted to open the dialogue so that we could communicate with each other better. I think both [Republicans and Democrats] bring value to the conversation, but I’m not sure we spend enough time listening so that we can come up with good ideas and good processes together. And my intent was to try to facilitate that. I’m not sure I accomplished it. But that was my intent,” she says.

Now one of only two Republicans on the county school board, Weinert hopes she can open the dialogue further between the Democratic-majority school board and Republicans who frequently attend school board meetings. Some in Weinert’s party often speak passionately about controversial subjects such as the removal of certain books from school libraries, LGBTQ+ issues and parental rights in their children’s education. Weinert would rather focus on communication and collaboration across party lines.

“The local GOP party here is certainly not in opposition to the school board,” Weinert maintains. “What I hope is that I will have opportunities to open dialogue [between the school board and Buncombe GOP] so that there are no assumptions and misgivings without them having all the information. I hope to be able to bridge the gap and facilitate conversation.”

In the face of some state-level Republicans such as gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson advocating for the elimination of the N.C. Board of Education, Weinert remains a staunch supporter of public schools.

“Education is critical to any community. And I think access to the strongest and best public education that we can provide and build is critical to not just Buncombe County but any community’s future,” she says.

In her time on the board, Weinert hopes to improve and increase parent involvement in the school system as one of her top priorities.

“I’m not saying they don’t exist now, but I think that there are ways that we can look at strengthening that partnership.”

Beyond that, Weinert hopes voters will get to know her as a person and supporter of schools and not judge her for her political affiliations when they vote in November.

“I’m proud to be a Republican, because I’m a fiscal conservative, but I am not your typical Republican. And I want people to get to know me, from my heart of who I am, not the label or the stigma that gets put on me because of my beliefs.” X

Limits of the law

BY GREG PARLIER

Reparations Commission wrestles with legal questions gparlier@mountainx.com

Facing a June deadline, the Community Reparations Commission met three times this month to complete voting on 39 recommendations to the City of Asheville and Buncombe County for how the local governments can repair harm caused by generations of systemic racism.

While all 39 of the commission’s recommendations passed, not all were unanimous. Disagreements arose over language modifications to satisfy legal concerns.

“Some folks voted against some recommendations specifically because we can’t single out Black residents because of the 14th Amendment [to the U.S. Constitution],” said facilitator Vernisha Crawford at the commission’s June 10 virtual meeting.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, grants citizenship to all persons born in the United States. It also ensures no citizens explicitly receive privileges and everyone has guaranteed equal protection of the law. The City of Asheville has its own anti-discrimination ordinance that similarly prohibits “discrimination against any person on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, familial status or national origin.”

After meeting with City Attorney Brad Branham and County Attorney Michael Frue, Crawford suggested language amendments.

Instead of creating an economic development center “for Black Asheville,” for example, the commission could create one “designed to benefit Black Asheville,” while understanding that it may also benefit other people, Crawford said.

Additionally, instead of providing scholarships specifically for Black students, the commission could recommend that scholarships be provided to “people who are descendants from legacy neighborhoods, affected by urban renewal redlining and are of low income,” she said.

Several commissioners were frustrated with the apparent contradiction between the commission’s establishing resolution and advice from Branham and Frue.

Dewana Little, who was elected chair to replace Dwight Mullen at the commission’s June 1 retreat, said the city and county charged commissioners with repairing harm specifically for Black people.

“What makes it different now that we’re using the same language that city and county used?” she asked the attorneys June 10. “Technically, it was illegal to charge us to do what we did. Now at the end, recommendations are being scrutinized. We should be able to figure it out because we were charged with a task. It didn’t say ‘all people’ in the charge that was given. [It was] specific to Black people, and now the recommendations can’t be specific to Black people.”

LEGALLY DEFENSIBLE?

Commission member MZ Yehudah cut right to the point. “Are

reparations for Black Asheville legally defensible?”

Frue said the legality will be determined by implementation as well as the language, and because the recommendations are not yet in the implementation phase, he doesn’t know if they will ultimately pass legal muster. The effects of the implementation of recommendations will determine if they are discriminatory or not, he said.

“This has always been the complexity in the difficult task that each of you have been tasked to do. You were tasked with recommendations for reparations. At the local level, no one has done this before. A handful of local governments have tried this.

FRUSTRATED CHAIR: The new chair of the Community Reparations Commission, Dewana Little, center, said the commission’s establishing resolution contradicts advice the commissioners are now getting from attorneys about the legality of their work. Also pictured are facilitator Vernisha Crawford, left, and new Vice Chair Bobbette Mays, right. Photo by Caleb Johnson

Several are now in lawsuits over this. If there was a road map to achieve this, we would have given it to you,” Branham said.

Branham stressed that the legal team wanted to provide resources and advice without directing the commission on how to make recommendations.

“Naming those individuals who are deserving of the reparative process is never something we want to stand in the way of. But we do want to make sure you know where those obstacles lie,” he said. “Are you willing to be a little less specific to gain some legal defensibility?”

Frue suggested that commissioners could recommend programs be put in place at community centers in legacy Black neighborhoods as a way to hit their target demographic while specifying geography rather than race as a way to thread the legal needle.

But as commission member Tiffany DeBellott pointed out, many of those neighborhoods have experienced gentrification, and are not majority-Black anymore, opening up their programs to anyone.

“I can’t easily think of a way of fashioning a program under current law just for Black people,” Frue said. He added that recommendations in the current phase should be considered an aspiration, and as the city and county worked through how to implement them, their legality could be ensured.

“At the end of the day, we’re not allowed to implement a discriminatory program,” Branham added.

Ultimately, commissioners voted to approve language suggested by the legal team.

WATERED DOWN

After voting was complete at the commission’s in-person meeting June 17, commission member Dewayne McAfee, who has frequently abstained

from voting for or against recommendations, sounded off on the changes in language.

“The United States Supreme Court used language that specifically targeted Blacks, and for anyone to tell us now as we try to understand and unwrap slavery and Jim Crow that there are words that we can’t use because we may offend another ethnic group … the 14th Amendment should not reshackle us as we go through this process.

“I don’t think we need to be polite to people because they certainly were not polite when these events were going on, and if America cannot address the harm that they’ve done, if we can’t have an open and honest discussion about it here, where do we ever get a chance to address it?” he continued.

McAfee said he believes the commission watered down its recommen-

Recommendations recap

Across five meetings in May and June, members of the Community Reparations Commission passed 39 recommendations in five focus areas — criminal justice, economic development, education, health and wellness, and housing. Of those, 22 were passed June 1, and nine on June 17. Here are a few highlights from the latest recommendations approved.

Economic development

• Establish a private, independent fund for reparations to ensure

adequate funding for recommendations. The fund can accept money from private entities that local governments cannot.

• Increase funding and capacity-building for Black-owned businesses, which can include grants of up to $100,000 and multiyear funding.

• A series of ongoing accountability measures, including tracking the availability of funding from various sources that can support economic development in the Black community.

dations when it deleted specific references to Black people as beneficiaries of its programs, and worries that other disenfranchised groups such as white women can now benefit from work that was supposed to address atrocities done to the descendants of enslaved people.

“If your ancestors weren’t swinging from a rope, I don’t want you to do anything in this process,” he said.

As the commission enters its next phase, he said he hopes it will “acquire a backbone.”

EXTENSION REQUEST

The commission agreed to submit a formal extension request to City Council so it can continue to receive staff support from city departments such as legal and communications.

• Provide a settlement of $148,000 to affected families and businesses for property value lost during urban renewal.

Health and wellness

• Establish a fund to provide no-cost insurance or health care subsidies.

• Provide financial support to current and emerging organizations that promote preventive care and a clinic for elderly Black residents.

• Fund multigenerational programming to improve the social health of Black residents by providing culturally safe spaces to gather.

One of the main reasons the commission needs an extension, said commission member Osundu McPeters, is to move the work from theoretical to implementation.

According to a draft extension request passed by commissioners June 10, the commission has to complete a final report of recommendations before a potential joint meeting of Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, which has yet to be scheduled. Until a possible extension is granted, commission meetings will continue biweekly with limited city and county staff support. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 15.

Representatives of the commission will present a formal extension request at the Tuesday, July 23, City Council meeting. X

• Prioritize environmental justice, ensuring that water and air quality in Black communities is not contaminated and work to avoid locating environmentally hazardous facilities and enterprises in predominantly low-income neighborhoods.

• Develop a multigenerational chronic disease prevention and management initiative that would fund existing human service organizations and emerging ones, particularly benefiting those organizations run by leaders who are Black, Indigenous and people of color.  X

LAW OF THE LAND: Brad Branham, attorney for the City of Asheville, discussed the legal limitations of some of the Community Reparations Commission’s recommendations at its regular meeting June 17. Photo by Caleb Johnson

County passes 2024-25 budget, property tax increase

Property taxes are going up for residents of Buncombe County. The county Board of Commissioners voted 6-0 on June 18 to approve a $440 million general fund budget for fiscal year 2024-25. Commissioner Amanda Edwards was not present.

The less than 1% increase in spending required commissioners to raise the tax rate by 1.96 cents per $100 of assessed value. The new rate — 51.76 cents per $100 of value — would mean the owner of a home valued at $400,000 will pay $2,070 in taxes to the county, $78 more than last year. (Owners of property located in municipalities or various other special districts such as fire districts or Asheville City Schools will pay more.)

Chair Brownie Newman said the decision to raise taxes is not easy, and this was the toughest budget season he’s been through in his 12 years on the commission.

“We’ve been coming through an era where cost of living has really gone up throughout our economy. The cost of housing is going up, the cost of everyday goods is going up and the cost of labor is going up. We’re mostly an organization made up of people. Our biggest investments are in our people who work for Buncombe County,” Newman said.

The budget includes a 4.89% costof-living increase for employees. Last year, employees received a 7.28% costof-living bump.

“When you go through two years of the largest cost-of-living increases that we’ve seen in many decades, that becomes a really big obligation,” Newman said. “And when that happens, and your revenues suddenly are really flat, the combination of those two things creates a real challenge.”

Budget Director John Hudson said the same goods and services cost 20% more than they did in 2014, on average. As a result, local governments across the state are facing similar challenges as Buncombe.

EDUCATION FUNDING

As in previous years, the county’s largest expense is education.

UNSUSTAINABLE: Buncombe County Budget Director John Hudson said the current level of local spending on education is unsustainable without another revenue source. He said it would require a 2.77-cent property tax hike just to maintain this level of spending next year, even without a significant increase for local school districts. Photo by Caleb Johnson

Buncombe County Schools, Asheville City Schools and A-B Tech will split $126 million, 29% of the overall county budget. Of the approved tax increase, 0.75 cents of it directly covers education spending increases.

For Buncombe County Schools (BCS), which will receive $98.9 million, and Asheville City Schools (ACS), which is getting $18.3 million, the modest increases over last year are far below the two districts’ requests.

BCS received $3.4 million of its $13.5 million request, while ACS got $600,000 instead of the $3.8 million bump it requested in part to help offset losses related to expiring COVIDera federal funding.

The Buncombe County Association of Educators (BCAE) recently held a rally, and supporters sent letters to commissioners, including 77 hand-

“Local news is so important for the community. I want to make sure it keeps happening for me, my neighbors, my students and all.” – Sandra Pyeatt

written postcards, asking for an increased allocation from the county.

“Our students cannot afford the repercussions of an underfunded education system. They deserve better, and we have a collective responsibility to ensure they receive the best possible start in life,” said the letter sent to commissioners by BCAE.

Only one advocate turned out to speak up for schools June 18, after no one came to the public hearing June 4.

According to Hudson, the county adopted a practice of annually increasing education spending at the county’s unrestricted growth rate — 3.52% this year — based on rising sales and property values. However, in response to school district requests, it has chipped in extra above and beyond that rate for schools every year since 2021, he said. Other than the 1-cent tax increase implemented last year to supplement education funding, there is no revenue to support $14.8 million in extra annual allocations for schools.

“Continuing to fund at this level is unsustainable. In fact, dedicated revenue to offset this increase would take a 2.77-cent tax rate increase,” he added.

Commissioner Al Whitesides said that while much of the blame for the state of education funding in Buncombe County lies with the N.C. General Assembly in Raleigh, the local school districts should do a better job of looking ahead to draft their budgets for the upcoming year.

“What we’re doing now is not working. We’re giving all that we can give when you look at our budget. We need to look at the future and how we do this because it’s important,” he said.

Commissioner Martin Moore suggested the districts and county look into a multiyear funding strategy.

LIMITING THE TAX INCREASE

Staff did make a few adjustments to County Manager Avril Pinder’s recommended budget since the June 4 public hearing in an effort to minimize the county’s tax increase.

Revenue projections increased by about $1.3 million, mainly due to a $1 million increase in expected investment earnings after the Federal Reserve announced that interest rates will stay the same for the remainder of the year, Hudson said.

The largest spending cut came from a $2 million cut to the Affordable Housing Services Program’s (AHSP) annual $2.3 million allocation.

LONE SOLDIER: Soren Pedersen was the only resident to speak in front of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners at June meetings advocating for the county to spend more on education. Instead, 77 supporters wrote postcards to commissioners asking them to increase funding for schools. Photo by Caleb Johnson

The cut to affordable housing spending will not affect any programs in the pipeline in the upcoming fiscal year, according to Community Development Division manager Matt Cable. The program still has $370,000 left from last year’s budget and is allocating the first batch of funds from the $30 million general obligation bond funds approved by voters in 2022.

Despite the cut, Newman said he was proud of the county’s accomplishments on what he called its largest economic challenge.

“The whole time I’ve been here, this is one of these issues where it just seems like it just gets worse and worse every year,” Newman acknowledged. “I think we are now recognizing that we have strategies that can really work.”

Newman said he thinks the county will be able to triple the amount of new affordable homes that are built in the county each year in the next several years with the help of bond funds and money already earmarked from last year’s affordable housing budget.

“I’m excited that the county is part of these strategies that are really changing the outlook for people,” he added.

— Greg Parlier  X

Landowners along Ecusta Trail win $5M claim against federal government

After several years of litigation, a recent court ruling has required the federal government to pay over $5 million to 164 landowners along the proposed 19.4-mile Ecusta Trail. Compensation to individual property owners ranges from $223 to $191,061.

The multiuse greenway, scheduled to be completed in 2028, will run along an unused railway corridor connecting Hendersonville and Brevard. The plaintiffs, residents of both Henderson and Transylvania counties, asserted sections of the recreational biking and hiking trail crossed onto their properties.

According to a press release from the law firm Lewis Rice, the federal Surface Transportation Board issued a notice of interim trail use on June 28, 2021, allowing for the conversion of the railroad corridor formerly owned by Blue Ridge Southern Railroad into the Ecusta Trail.

“This federal law gives railroads the ability to … preempt the owner’s state law property rights, and allow the railroad to sell this easement … for a different use, for trail purposes,” says Lindsay Brinton, an attorney for the suit from Lewis Rice’s Federal Takings & Rails to Trails Practice Group in St. Louis, Mo., according to the release.

“The real issue in this case came down to damages,” Brinton continues. “The government tried to argue that they were not required to compensate these owners for any damages. We were … able to get these owners compensated when otherwise the federal government did not want to pay these owners anything.”

On May 31, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., awarded compensation to the landowners, which includes interest from when their property was taken to the date of payment.

Despite the win, Brinton says, dissatisfaction over the process remains.

“For these [landowners], it’s definitely disappointing and frustrating for them because not only do they not want a public trail in their backyard, but any privacy or solace they had with foliage being there has now been removed.”

“We are happy to see that the system worked as the federal law was structured to do,” says Mark Tooley, president of Friends of the Ecusta Trail, a nonprofit formed to advance the development of the greenway. Tooley says the settlement will not impact the construction schedule for the trail.

NO DELAYS: A $5 million settlement for landowners along the 19-mile Ecusta Trail will not impact the construction schedule for the greenway between Hendersonville and Brevard. Photo by Real Digital Productions, courtesy of Conserving Carolina

“Several landowners involved in the settlement have indicated that they will donate the compensation they received to support construction of the trail,” Tooley says.

Save the date

• Author and wine expert Chuck Blethen’s “How I Tamed the Wild Muscadines of Madison County, NC” covers the discovery, propagation, and commercialization of Madison County’s wild muscadines. The book details how to grow North Carolina’s cold-hardy native grapes. It’s $23.99 plus shipping from Amazon. More information at avl.mx/dsv.

• Asheville Humane Society will have over 20 pigs available for adoption at its Pigapalooza event. The gathering runs Friday, June 28, and Saturday, June 29, noon - 6 p.m. at the Buncombe County Farm in Swannanoa. All adoption fees will be waived in the hopes of finding forever homes for these animals. Many of the pigs have been surrendered after their owners could no longer care for them. Most are potbelly mixes and can grow to weigh as much as 250 pounds. All male pigs have been neutered. These pigs are not

intended for human consumption. More information at avl.mx/dsl.

• The Leicester Library Giving Garden will host its next garden work day on Saturday, June 29, 9 a.m.-noon. All food grown in the community space is provided to residents for free. The event is open to all regardless of experience. More information at avl.mx/dsb.

• Bee City USA Asheville’s booth at the North Asheville Tailgate Market on Saturday, June 29, will show how pollinators make our food possible. A scavenger hunt will challenge kids to see how many pollinator-dependent foods they can spot at the market. More information at avl.mx/dta.

• Asheville Botanical Garden will host All About Butterflies and Moths on Monday, July 8, from 6-7:30 p.m. The class, led by Sharon Mammoser, explores the major butterfly and moth groups, including their relationships with plants and their roles in pollination. Mammoser is an educator who shares her knowledge through the blog NatureForMySoul. com. More information at avl.mx/cqx.

• Kids ages 3 and over can meet a variety of live wild animal guests with host Carlton Burke, a WNC naturalist, environmental educator and

wildlife rehabilitator. The event is Friday, July 19, with shows at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at West Asheville Library. More information at avl.mx/4xl.

• Pangaea Plants in Lake Lure, the largest certified biodynamic and medicinal herb farm in the Southeast, is accepting applications for a comprehensive herb farmer training course taught by industry experts. Students learn medicinal herb farming and production-size herb growing and processing and receive food safety training certifications. The six-week fall course runs from Monday, Sept. 9 - Tuesday, Oct. 15. More information at avl.mx/dt7.

• The town of Woodfin announced a contract has been signed for the construction of Taylor’s Wave project. Part of the Woodfin Greenway Blueway’s system of parks, greenways and waterways, the wave is for whitewater kayakers and canoeists. Taylor’s Wave will be created when the French Broad River’s current interacts with a fixed-location, in-stream, granite ledge. The town’s Riverside Park also will be doubled in size as part of the project. The wave is expected to be completed by fall. More information at avl.mx/dt9.

— Patrick Moran X

Soil bacteria and nutrients ensure successful bean plants

BY CHLOE LIEBERMAN

Happy summer, mountain gardeners! It’s finally gotten hot for real, encouraging midday breaks by the banks of shady creeks and streams. Hopefully, y’all are caring for your bodies, along with your plants, as the season ripens. Send in any gardening questions that have sprouted up to gardening@mountainx. com, and I’ll be happy to share my thoughts next month.

HEADING OFF PROBLEMS WITH BEAN PLANTS

My green beans are looking a bit yellow and not growing well. I thought beans generally grew well, even in poor soil. What’s going on? It’s true that beans (along with other plants in the Fabaceae family, like peas, clover, alfalfa and vetch) have a fabulous ability to thrive, even in soils that are poor in nitrogen. These “nitrogen fixers” have a symbiotic (cooperative) relationship with soil-borne bacteria ( Rhizobium leguminosarum ) that turn atmospheric nitrogen — dinitrogen, which plants can’t use — into plant-available nitrogen, or nitrate.

How it works is that the plants grow nodules on their roots that house the bacteria and feed them with sugars made through photosynthesis. In return, the bacteria “fix” nitrogen into a form the plants can use.

SOIL SUPERHEROES: Beans, peas and other plants in the same family grow nodules on their roots that allow them to partner with soil-borne bacteria to turn atmospheric nitrogen into plant-available nitrogen, or nitrate.

Stock

It’s a beautiful example of how the living world generally thrives through complex cooperation rather than crude competition as many of us have been taught to believe. There are some nonleguminous plants that also fix nitrogen through relationships with different microbial helpers, but in the garden, legumes are the group we can depend on for this collaboration.

The magic of this symbiosis is only possible, however, when the specific kind of bacterium that can perform it is present in the soil. If you’re starting a garden in a new area or are growing in containers with a soilless medium, you may not

Summer Hours: Mon-Sat 9am - 3pm Sun 11am - 3pm

already have thriving populations of Rhizobium leguminosarum ready to greet your bean seeds.

But don’t worry! It’s simple to add in these good guys that support bean growth by coating your seeds in an inexpensive and readily available

Photo by Adobe

legume inoculant powder (Exceed is one popular brand). In fact, some folks suggest inoculating bean and pea seeds every time you plant, even if you know that your soil is hosting these bacteria already. To do this, soak or moisten seeds with water just before planting, sprinkle on some of the inoculant, stir the seeds around so they’re evenly coated, then plant them.

The lack of this bacterial buddy seems to me the most likely culprit for poor bean growth, though there could be other reasons. Nitrogen isn’t the only nutrient beans and all veggies need to thrive. Other macronutrients that they need a lot of are phosphorus and potassium. And along with these, there are at least 10 micronutrient minerals that are like vitamins for plants.

A soil test is the best way to find out if your soil is deficient in something. However, simply using an all-purpose fertilizer that also contains micronutrient minerals could help.

If voles or other critters are nibbling the roots of your beans, those plants will obviously not be loving life, so dig around to make sure that’s not the problem. Finally, fungal and viral diseases can inhibit growth. See last month’s garden feature at avl.mx/du8 for more on preventing and diagnosing these.

MAKING THE MOST OF MANURE

I have access to some fresh horse manure from a neighbor. Is it OK to put it straight into my garden?

Horse poop is considered a “hot” manure and will burn plants if it’s applied fresh. To use any manure safely, it’s ideal that you either age or compost it first. This is absolutely essential with hot manures, like horse, and optional with rabbit, goat and llama manures. Often, manure sourced from a farm has already been aged, so make sure to ask the farmer how old the manure is and if it has been actively composted.

One way to age manure is to dig it into garden beds in the fall, then wait to plant anything there until spring. Another option is to build a compost pile with the manure and other inputs, such as straw, then turn the pile a few times — periodically spreading it out and then heaping it up again will add air and stimulate biological activity to speed up the process of breaking down the manure.

The final alternative is to just let the manure sit in a heap for four to six months. This option will result in high nitrogen loss due to runoff from rain, so if you choose this low-labor

approach, it’s helpful to cover the manure pile with a tarp to reduce the loss of nitrogen.

Another issue with horse manure can be weed seeds. Horses don’t have four-chambered stomachs like ruminant animals such as cows and goats, so weed seeds are more likely to pass through their bodies unfazed. It can be quite disappointing to import beautiful fertility in the form of manure, only to discover that you’ve also introduced hundreds or thousands of seeds from potentially noxious weeds that weren’t previously present in your garden.

Very active, hot composting can destroy some weed seeds, but it usually won’t render them all incapable of sprouting. One extra step that can be worth the effort is to spread out some manure in a pot or flat and water it for a few days or a week, which basically allows you to take an inventory of the weed seed bank it contains.

If, after a week or so, not too many plants sprout up, your manure is fairly clean. On the other hand, if the whole thing is covered in plants like spiny amaranth (my nemesis weed!), it may not be worth the additional nutrients the manure would add to your soil.

Finally, with horse manure especially, you may inadvertently import herbicide residue with it. Much of the hay and forage that horses eat are sprayed with toxic chemicals that kill broad-leaf plants — everything that isn’t grass. If you can find manure from organically raised animals, that’s ideal. If not, it’s still worth inquiring what kinds of herbicides were used on both pasture and hay that the animals have eaten.

One class of herbicides in particular — those containing active ingredients in the pyridine family, especially aminocyclopyrachlor, aminopyralid, clopyralid, and picloram — can be very persistent in manure, even through the composting process. Unfortunately, they are the ones most commonly used on horse hay.

If these chemicals are introduced to your garden in manure, it can result in extremely stunted growth of your vegetables or even a barren garden, and this can persist for years. At the time of this writing, the following products contain these toxic compounds: Curtail, Forefront, Grazon Next, Grazon P&D, Milestone, Redeem R&P and Surmount.

If your horse poop checks out in all these areas, then by all means receive the gift with gratitude and mix it into your soil! X

Not all rainbows

BY JESSICA WAKEMAN

jwakeman@mountainx.com

Asheville’s reputation for being LGBTQ-friendly is part of what drew Tera McIntosh and her wife to Western North Carolina. Yet when the couple moved from Pittsburgh in 2019, they settled in Clyde because Haywood County had more space for a much better price. The couple assumed they could find their LGBTQ community in Asheville, just a 20-minute drive away.

However, social isolation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic made that difficult to do in person. And McIntosh says other experiences in their new hometown felt isolating in a more piercing way.

In July 2023, Smoky Mountain News reported multiple complaints about a transgender woman using facilities at Waynesville Recreation Center, a town facility. One man posted on Facebook about the individual using a changing room, while a woman filed a police report, Smoky Mountain reported. ( WLOS later reported a subsequent investigation by Waynesville Police Department found “no unlawful conduct.”) McIntosh says she thinks the individuals who took these actions wanted to out the transgender person.

She also recalls an acquaintance asking a Waynesville-focused Facebook group last summer if anyone knew about Pride events in Haywood County. “She went and took a nap and woke up and there was, like, 150 hate comments on her post,” she says.

To counter these incidents, McIntosh worked to bring together the LGBTQ folks and their allies, which she knew existed in her community. Last year she organized a Pups and Pride event — a daylong celebration of the LGBTQ community featuring adoptable animals, a s’mores bar and rainbow doughnuts at the nonprofit animal rescue, Misfit Mountain, that she and her wife operate in Clyde.

She organized a second Pups and Pride event on June 15, which included free Pride flags and a “Most Pride Doggy Costume Contest.” This year, IDEA — Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Alliance — of Haywood, an organization McIntosh formed, is hosting what she believes is Waynesville’s first Pride celebration beginning Friday, June 28. Thirty Haywood County residents have helped plan Haywood Pride on Main,

Small town activists share stories behind local Pride festivals

LEADING THE WAY: Todd Carter says he knows the challenges LGBTQ community members face in small towns. Raised in Hendersonville, he remained in the closet throughout his youth in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, he is a member of the Boone City Council and has helped establish the town’s Pride festival. Photo courtesy of Carter

and McIntosh says a man who grew up in Haywood County contributed to support the celebration. “He never thought that he would ever see a Pride festival happen in Haywood County, so he donated,” she says.

The most well-established Pride festivity in Western North Carolina is Blue Ridge Pride in Asheville, which broke attendance records for downtown’s main plaza in 2023. Blue Ridge Pride Executive Director Amy Upham tells Xpress the City of Asheville informed her group recently that 14,000 people attended Pride 2023 — “the single highest attendance of any Pack Square event last year,” Upham says.

But elsewhere in WNC, these celebrations are more nascent. Advocates say Pride events in smaller towns foster community, support homegrown talent and highlight local services, such as gender-affirming health care. “It’s important to [remember] even in the day and age of the internet, we are not by ourselves, even in our small town spaces,” says gender studies historian Amanda Wray, who is compiling an oral history of the LGBTQ community in WNC.

‘LIVES ARE ON THE LINE’

Boone City Council member Todd Carter knows being LGBTQ in a small town in WNC can be hard. He stayed in the closet as a youth in Hendersonville during the 1980s and 1990s because coming out did not feel possible. Hendersonville didn’t have Pride celebrations. His high school did not have a gay-straight alliance. If it had, Carter says, “It probably would have meant that I wouldn’t have tried to kill myself when I was in college.”

Carter eventually came out; he traveled the world and returned to North Carolina in 2011. The following year, state residents approved Amendment One, which added an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman. He recalls “sitting at my parents’ house, watching election returns like we always did. I’m crying. My mom starts to cry. My dad started to cry. Just so upset. And then I realized somewhere out there, there’s a 13-year-old kid thinking about killing himself because of this vote.”

Within two years, the U.S. District Court in Asheville ruled Amendment One was unconstitutional.

Spurred by a need to support such kids, Carter helped form the High Country LGBTQ Youth Alliance in Boone, focused on marginalized youths. Over the past few years, he has been the force behind Boone Pride, which was celebrated on June 23. Carter is motivated by supporting small-town LGBTQ youths. “Kids’ lives are on the line,” he explains. “They’re being attacked by adults and policies and laws. It’s horrific.” He cites how last year the N.C. General Assembly banned gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths. “It’s particularly troubling that it’s targeting the most vulnerable kids, the trans kids, and taking the parents’ rights away — taking away the health care that they deem important to their child,” Carter says.

The General Assembly also banned transgender women and girls from competing in middle school, high school and college sports teams that align with their gender identity, Carter adds.

He notes that not all LGBTQ youths are out to their families, friends or school. Some might fear for their own safety. “If they don’t feel safe in being visible, we have to be visible for them,” he says.

Carter says it was a privilege to see his hometown of Hendersonville hold its first Pride celebration in 2019 — the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, considered by many to be a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ equality. “When I saw Hendersonville Pride, it made me so proud,” says Carter. “It gives me chills to see [how far we have come]. And that’s why we’re not backing down. … In the face of hate, you have to be more visible. You can’t fight hate with silence. You have to show up and you have to fight it with visibility.”

‘MAKE IT AN OFFICIAL THING’

Carter is doing just that in Boone, the home of Appalachian State University. “People say Boone is such a cool, hip progressive place, and it is,” Carter tells Xpress. “But our policies did not mirror that. … You can’t say you’re a really cool, inclusive place if you don’t recognize Pride Month.”

Carter says he’s heard that members of the LGBTQ community in Boone held small Pride celebrations off and on over the years, which dissolved when the organizers moved away. After moving to Boone in 2011, he has dedicated himself to reviving Pride as an annual celebration. He wanted to “make it an official thing for the town, so … it’s just expected.”

Upon his election to City Council in 2021, Carter focused on getting a nondiscrimination ordinance passed. (Boone previously had a nondiscrimination proclamation, which was not legislatively binding, he says). It passed in January and prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, among other things. In 2022, Carter organized a march and a rally, which 400 people attended. Last year, the City of Boone formed a Human Relations Commission and a Pride organizing committee. In addition to 600 people marching down King Street, Boone Pride held its first festival. It featured drag performers, musicians and vendors, and brought an additional 400 guests. “It was glorious,” Carter says.

‘PROVIDE AS MANY OPPORTUNITIES’

To March, after changing its rules for parades that affected several events, Sylva Town Council voted not to grant a permit to close Main Street for a Pride parade in September.

Former Town Council member Natalie Newman was the lone vote in support of the permit. According to Smoky Mountain News, she said during the April 11 meeting, “I want

to make it very clear that I am deeply hurt and disappointed following our last meeting and the recent decision and vote to deny Sylva Pride’s application for a two-block street closure. It is not the denial that has been so troubling to me, more so it is how flippantly and hastily this board made that decision with little to no consideration about what was before us.”

Burgin Mackey, a board member of Sylva Pride, underscores that the absence of a Pride parade won’t detract from its event. She says the Sept. 13-15 celebration will include a drag show, karaoke, a drag brunch, a

voter registration drive, a storefront decoration contest and music acts.

“We are going very heavy on drag this year because our community’s just receiving so much negativity lately,” Mackey says. “We just wanted to provide as many opportunities for drag artists to be heard, be seen, be visible, in as many different avenues as possible.” She notes Sylva Pride will have drag shows for ages 21 and older, ages 16 and older and all-ages shows “that are appropriate for anybody.”

Mackey says a Pride celebration will welcome people who may not

have felt seen before. “Our community comes from every single creek and holler,” she says. “If I can grow up on a 50-acre farm with Southern Baptist parents and come out swinging as a big beautiful drag queen, then our community really does come from every single corner of the world.”

And no matter which creek or holler someone hails from, McIntosh from Haywood Pride on Main wants LGBTQ people to know they belong throughout WNC: “You shouldn’t have to go to Asheville to feel safe.” X

ALL IN LINE: Last year, 600 people paraded down West King Street during Boone Pride’s first-ever festival. “It was glorious,” says Boone City Council member Todd Carter. Photo courtesy of Carter

JUNE 26 - JULY 4, 2024

For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4. For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, opt. 1.

 Online-only events

 Feature, page 29

 More info, page 32-33

WELLNESS

Tai Chi for Balance

A gentle Tai Chi exercise class to help improve balance, mobility, and quality of life. All ages are welcome.

WE (6/26, 7/3), 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Gentle Yoga for Seniors

A yoga class geared to seniors offering gentle stretching and strengthening through accessible yoga poses and modifications.

WE (6/26, 7/3), 2:30pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Tai Chi Fan

This class helps build balance and whole body awareness. All ages and ability levels welcome. Fans will be provided.

WE (6/26, 7/3), 1pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Nia Dance Fitness

A sensory-based movement practice that draws from martial arts, dance arts and healing arts.

TH (6/27, 7/4), 9:30am, TU (7/2), 10:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Tai Chi for Beginners

A class for anyone interested in Tai Chi and building balance, whole body awareness and other health benefits.

TH (6/27), 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Weekly Zumba Classes

Free in-person Zumba classes. No registration required.

TH (6/27, 7/4), TU (7/2), 6:30pm, St. James Episcopal Church, 424 W State St, Black Mountain

Qigong for Health

A part of traditional Chinese medicine that involves using exercises to optimize energy within the body, mind and spirit.

FR (6/28), TU (7/2), 9am, SA (6/29), 11am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Rooftop Yoga: Creative Flow Series

West Asheville Yoga brings a unique creative flow experience that combines the beauty of

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

art with the power of mindful movement.

SA (6/29), 9:30am, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Adult Water Aerobics

Gentle water aerobics to improve cardio fitness, build strength, boost mood, and ease joint pain. Free for ages 60 and up.

SA (6/29), 10am, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Yoga in the Park Yoga class alongside the French Broad River, based on Hatha & Vinyasa traditions and led by certified yoga instructors. All experience levels welcome.

SA (6/29), SU (6/30), 11am, 220 Amboy Rd

Barn Yoga w/Mary Beth

A gentle and vinyasa flow for all levels. Variations encouraged, feel free to bring blocks, blankets or straps.

SU (6/30), 9am, Hickory Nut Gap Farm, 57 Sugar Hollow Rd, Fairview Salt Therapy: Family Sessions

Salt Therapy sessions for all ages that can help mental clarity, immune boosting, respiratory relief and even skin conditions.

SU (6/30), 10am, Asheville Salt Cave, 16 N Liberty St

Sunday Morning Meditation Group Gathering for a combination of silent sitting and walking meditation, facilitated by Worth Bodie.

SU (6/30), 10am, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Qigong Class w/Allen

Gentle movements that will improve your balance and increase your flow of life force energy. All levels and ages welcome.

TU (7/2), 10am, Asia House, 119 Coxe Ave

SUPPORT GROUPS

Asheville Women’s Breathwork Circle

A transformative and empowering women’s circle where the power of our breath meets the

BARNYARD PET ADOPTION: Asheville Humane Society hosts its recurring barnyard pig adoption, Pigapalooza, Friday, June 28, and Saturday, June 29, at Buncombe County Farm. The events start at noon, and AHS will waive all pig adoption fees in hopes of finding loving and appropriate forever homes for more than 20 pigs. Photo courtesy of Asheville Humane Society

strength and healing of sisterhood.

TH (6/27), 6pm, SU (6/30), 1pm, WellSpring Wellness Center, 960 Tunnel Rd

Magnetic Minds: Depression & Bipolar Support Group

A free weekly peer-led meeting for those living with depression, bipolar, and related mental health challenges. For more information contact (828) 367-7660.

SA (6/29), 2pm, 1316 Ste C Parkwood Rd

Wild Souls Authentic Movement

A supportiveand welcoming environment for an expressive movement class designed to help you get unstuck, enjoy cardio movement, boost immune health, dissolve anxiety and celebrate community.

SU (6/30), 9:30am, Dunn’s Rock Community Center, 461 Connestee Rd, Brevard

Veterans Creative Retreat

A safe space for veterans to explore various artistic mediums, socialize with peers, and find calm and comfort in creating.

TU (7/2), 5:30pm, Dr. Wesley Grant, Sr. Southside Center, 285 Livingston St

Asheville Kirtan

These ancient mantras, chanted in Sanskrit, help to connect us to our hearts- invoking feelings of well-being, meditation, and joy.

TU (7/2), 7pm, Weaving Rainbows, 62 Wall St

DANCE

Tango Tuesdays

Tango lessons and social with instructors Mary Morgan and Mike Eblen. No partner required, and no experience needed for the beginners class.

TU (7/2), 6pm, Urban Orchard Cider Co. S Slope, 24 Buxton Ave

ART

Stellar Picks: A Community Choice Exhibition

This exhibition is for everyone who has a favorite piece of art in the WCU Fine Art Museum collection or would like to discover one. Gallery open Tuesday through Friday, 10am. Exhibition through June 28. WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee

Aaron Fields: Hidden Colors

This art exhibition presents a story about the perfect summer day in the mountains through the use of mostly acrylic paint, paint markers and spray paint. Gallery open daily, 11am. Exhibition through Sept. 1. Marquee Asheville, 36 Foundy St

Patricia Hargove: The Shape of Water Hargove’s exhibition depicts the powers of water that energize, refresh and heal the

and a willingness to push boundaries of American glass art can be seen in this selection of works. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through September 16. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Honoring Nature: Early Southern Appalachian Landscape Painting

This exhibition explores the sublime natural landscapes of the Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina and Tennessee. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through Oct. 21. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Robert Chapman Turner: Artist, Teacher, Explorer

The exhibition will include work by some of Turner’s students and colleagues as well as work by contemporary ceramic artists whose work fits within the context of the show. Gallery open Tuesday through Saturday, 11am. Exhibition through Sept. 7. Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St

soul and body. Gallery open daily, 11am. Exhibition through June 30.

Asheville Gallery of Art, 82 Patton Ave

Daily Craft Demonstrations

Two artists of different media will explain and demonstrate their craft with informative materials displayed at their booths. Open daily, 10am. Demonstrations run through Dec. 31.

Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Pkwy

Art Break: Honoring Nature

Ehren Gerhard, the Museum’s curatorial project manage leads a gallery talk about the artwork in the exhibition Honoring Nature: Early Southern Appalachian Landscape Painting.

FR (6/28), noon, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Counter/Balance: Gifts of John & Robyn Horn

A presentation of important examples of contemporary American craft, including woodworking, metalsmithing, fiber and pottery by renowned American artists. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through July. 29, 2024.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Shifting Perceptions: Photographs from the Collection

A selection of photographs presented in a trio of sections, each featuring seemingly

Concert Series on the Creek: Darren Nicholson Band Free concert series for the community with the Darren Nicholson Band providing bluegrass, country and Americana originals this week. These events are free with donations encouraged. Everyone is welcome. There will be food trucks available on most nights.

FR (6/28), 7pm, Bridge Park Gazebo, 76 Railroad Ave, Sylva Pianist Brian Turner A renowned composer playing from Bach to Beyonce, Sinatra to Swift, he takes your requests and can play almost anything. FR (6/28), 7pm, The Omni Grove Park Inn, 290 Macon Ave

Songwriters in the Round w/Kevin Smith, Jesse Langlais & Eric Bolander

A unique sound writers circle featuring special guest songwriters.

opposing forces: Natural/Unnatural, Together/Apart, and Inside/ Out. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through September 23.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Summer 1-On-1

Pottery Lessons

Private lessons offering individuals 30 minute classes. Walk-ins will be welcome, schedule permitting.

SA (6/29), SU (6/30), 11am, Odyssey Clayworks, 236 Clingman Ave

The New Salon: A Contemporary View

A modern take on the prestigious tradition of the Parisian Salon with the diversity and innovation of today’s art world. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through Aug. 19.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square Resonance

An art exhibition that harmoniously weaves together the distinctive styles of two artists, Lauren Betty & Rand Kramer. Each navigate the delicate balance between spontaneity and control in their unique mediums. Gallery open Tuesday through Saturday, 11am. Exhibition through June 30. Citron Gallery, 60 Biltmore Ave

Western North Carolina Glass: Selections from the Collection A variety of techniques

Sov·er·eign·ty: Expressions in Sovereignty of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

This exhibition educates visitors about the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ autonomy, its relationship with the federal government, and how the tribe has defined its own relationship with its land, people, and culture. Gallery open daily, 9am. Exhibition through Feb. 28, 2025.

Museum of the Cherokee People, 589 Tsali Blvd., Cherokee

COMMUNITY MUSIC

Bill Kopp, author and music journalist will discuss the music of the Kinks in this interactive evening led by experts and designed to enrich the listening experience.

Gordon Beeferman & Stephanie Griffin

An eclectic program of contemporary solo and duo music that often blurs the boundaries between composed and improvised.

TH (6/27), 7pm, Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St Park Rhythms Concert Series

This series features many talented artists from across the east coast with Drumming Bird providing the tunes this week.

TH (6/27), 7pm, Black Mountain Veterans Park, 10 Veterans Park Dr Black Mountain

FR (6/28), 8pm, Eda's Hide-a-Way, 1098 New Stock Rd, Weaverville Pickin' In The Park Enjoy performances by local singer-songwriters in an intimate and relaxed setting. Experience the rich musical heritage of Asheville as talented musicians share their stories and songs.

MO (7/1), 6pm, Pritchard Park, 4 College St

2024 Swannanoa Gathering Summer Concerts: Fiddle/Mando & Banjo Concert I

This concert series features some of the world's finest fiddle, mandolin and banjo covering a variety of ethnic traditions. The first show showcases fiddler Libby Weitnauer, banjo players Matt Brown and Laura Boosinger and more.

See p33 MO (7/1), 7:30pm, Kittredge Theatre, 701 Warren Wilson Rd, Swannanoa

2024 Swannanoa Gathering Summer Concerts: Fiddle/Mando & Banjo Concert II

The second show features mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshall, Caterina Lictenberg, Emory  Lester and more.

TU (7/2), 7:30pm, Kittredge Theatre, 701 Warren Wilson Rd, Swannanoa

Music to Your Ears Discussion Series: The Kinks

Bill Kopp, author and music journalist will discuss the music of the Kinks in this interactive evening led by experts and designed to enrich the listening experience. WE (7/3), 7pm, Asheville Guitar Club, 122 Riverside Dr

2024 Swannanoa Gathering Summer Concerts: Fiddle/Mando & Banjo Concert III The third show will

highlight great players of jazz featuring violinists

Sara Casswell, Evan Price and more.

WE (7/3), 7:30pm, Kittredge Theatre, 701 Warren Wilson Rd, Swannanoa

Wings & Strings: Hope Griffin

This music series at at the Sweeten Creek location will feature local bluegrass-style bands every week.

TH (7/4), 6:30pm, Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack S, 3749 Sweeten Creek Rd, Arden

COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS

Innerdance: Altered States of Consciousness w/Soundscapes & Energy Work

A healing journey into altered states of consciousness as we flow through brain wave states with soundscapes & energy work.

WE (6/26), 6pm, The Horse Shoe Farm, 155 Horse Shoe Farm Rd, Hendersonville Group Past Life Regression w/Leanne

Christine

Leanne Christine guides you through a beautiful past life regression.

Learn to let go and

experience a new perspective on your current life’s meaning.

TH (6/27), 6:30pm, The Well, 3 Louisiana Ave

Adult Field Day

This program is for any adults interested in learning the basics of soccer, disc golf or lacrosse. There will be various beginner-friendly sports workshops for participants to try out.

TH (6/27), 6pm, Buncombe County Sports Park, 58 Apac Circle

Brain Syndrome: Brain Function for a Healthier You

In this workshop Dr. Cory Noll will discuss the effects of stress on the brain and outline ways of enhancing brain function through an integrative approach.

TH (6/27), 6pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

LITERARY

Poetry Night Poetry night, every last Wednesday of every month.

WE (6/26), 8pm, Static Age Loft, 116 N Lexington Ave

Black Experience Book Club: Jackal

The Black Experience Book Club reads books

by Black authors and the many facets of the Black experience. Book lovers discuss this month’s pick, Jackal by Erin E. Adam.

TH (6/27), 6:30pm, Noir Collective, 39 S Market St

Reading & Conversation w/Rick Van Noy, John Lane & Mildred Barya

Authors Rick Van Noy and John Ln will present a reading and conversation of their latest works. Mildred Barya will moderate the event.

TH (6/27), 6:30pm, The North Carolina Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way

Regional Author Book Club Series: A Short Time to Stay Here

Enjoy a thought-provoking discussion of A Short Time to Stay Here, followed by an enlightening presentation by the author, Terry Roberts.

FR (6/28), 10am, Black Mountain Public Library, 105 N Dougherty St, Black Mountain

Swannanoa Valley Book Club Series

Explore novels, poetry, and historic nonfiction focused on Appalachian experiences and Swannanoa Valley history

through discussions and visits from regional authors. FR (6/28), 10am, Black Mountain Library, Black Mountain

Shape of the Crowd Book Release & Show

Be the first one to get Geddi Monroe's new book chronicling the Asheville DIY scene. Socialist Anxiety, Bad Ties and Tula Vera will be providing live music.

SA (6/29), 9pm, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd

Poetry Critique Night

Everyone is welcome to share a few poems or just sit back and listen. Signups to share will open 15 minutes prior to the start.

TU (7/2), 6pm, Black Mountain Library, Black Mountain

THEATER & FILM

The Shawshank Redemption Embark on an unforgettable journey of resilience, friendship, and the triumph of the human spirit. See p29

WE (6/26), TH (6/27),

FR (6/28), SA (6/29), 7:30pm, SU (6/30), 2pm, Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown, 125 S Main St, Hendersonville

Free Screening: Common Ground Documentary Common Ground is the sequel to the documentary Kiss the Ground, which reached over 1 billion people globally and inspired the US Department of Agriculture to put $20 billion toward soil health.

TH (6/27), 7pm, The Railyard Black Mountain, 141 Richardson Ave, Black Mountain

Stories for Seasons & Reasons

Local storytellers Deb Martin, Darren Smitherman, Wallace Bohanan, Cindy Berryman-Fink and Chuck Fink will share personal stories that cover the gamut from hilarious to touching.

TH (6/27), 7pm, Weaverville Community Center, 60 Lakeshore Dr, Weaverville

Alfred Hitchcock’s: The 39 Steps

This fast-paced play is a unique adaptation of the 1935 classic Hitchcock thriller film, infused with a healthy dose of Monty Python-style humor.

FR (6/28), SA (6/29), SU (6/30), 7:30pm, Asheville Community Theatre, 35 E Walnut St

The Gods of Comedy

This Ivy League will never be the same as a pair of deities encounter

the carnal complexity of college coeds, campus capers, and conspicuous consumption.

FR (6/28), SA (6/29), SU (6/30), 7:30pm, Hart Theatre, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville

Julia VanderVeen: My Grandmother's Eyepatch

The physical comedy of My Grandmother’s Eyepatch will explore the wild stages of grief and attempt to honor Julia’s beloved grandmother who died two decades ago.

FR (6/28), 7:30pm, NC Stage Co., 15 Stage Ln One Act Festival Auditions

Welcoming actors, dancers, and singers of all experience levels for this audition.

SA (6/29), 10am, Hendersonville Theatre, 229 S Washington St, Hendersonville

Even Me: The Children's Story

A heartwarming tale of sisterhood, resilience, and faith. See how three sisters care for their mom facing challenges together.

SA (6/29), 3:30pm, Dr Wesley Grant, Sr. Southside Center, 285 Livingston St

MEETINGS & PROGRAMS

Every Black Voice: AVL's Racial Justice Coalition Lunch & Learn

This event will be discussing reparations and the history of black Asheville. Housing, health and wellness along with community building and education will also be hot topics of conversation.

WE (6/26), 12:30pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Mushroom Magic w/ Buncombe County Soil & Water Educators

A discussion about the incredible fungi kingdom, including research on how mushrooms facilitate tree communication across the “wood wide web,” fungal research, and technology applications.

WE (6/26), 4pm, Black Mountain Library, Black Mountain

Access to Capital

Learn why businesses borrow money, what lenders are looking for when reviewing your application, and the importance of having cash flow projections. Register at avl.mx/pry7.

TH (6/27), noon, Online

Chen Style Tai Chi

The original style of Tai Chi known for its continual spiraling movements and great health benefits.

TH (6/27, 7/4), MO (7/1), 1pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Dharma Talk w/John Orr

John will give Dharma talk and lead discussion on various topics related to meditation and Buddhist teachings.

TH (6/27), 6:30pm, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain What is Reclamation Park Project

A presentation that explains how this project came to be, what we plan to do, and how you can get involved.

FR (6/28), 4pm, Saluda Moon Glass Studio, 24 W Main St, Saluda Astronomy Club of Asheville: Public Star Gaze

A public star gaze at Grassland Mountain Observatory in Madison County. This event is free and open to everyone, and registration is not necessary to attend. A temporary gate code, required for entry, will be posted on their website by

5:00 pm on the day of the star gaze. Sunset occurs at 8:49 pm.

Location directions at avl.mx/prxa

FR (6/28), 5pm, Grassland Mountain Observatory, 2890 Grassland Pkwy, Marshall

Summer Skate Jam

Show your skating skills and jam to the music.

Rent skates for $3 or bring your own.

FR (6/28), 6pm, Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Rd

Abundance Taize

This abundance prayerful experience will include music and readings, serenity, mindfulness and candle lighting.

FR (6/28), 7pm, Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science Mind Way

Coloring w/Cats

Set time for yourself and cuddle with the panthers, meet other cat-lovers, and color a beautiful picture of a cat from our adult coloring books.

SU (6/30), 2pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Summertime Water

Play for Active Adults

Cool off with water games designed for

adults 50 or better.

SU (6/30), 2pm, Grove St Community Center, 36 Grove St

Dharma & Discuss w/ David McKay

David will lead a conversation with the group on the Dharma, with many opportunities to ask questions, share insights, or listen and learn.

MO (7/1), 7pm, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Emerging Small Business Networking

ESBN's networking opportunity will feature a hot topic and a monthly guest speaker. Empowerment coach, Lesley King will be this month's speaker.

TU (7/2), 11:30am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Kung Fu: Baguazhang

It is the martial arts style that Airbending from the show Avatar: The Last Airbender was based on.

TU (7/2), 1pm amd 5:30pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Hoop & Flow Arts Jam

Whether you're a seasoned hooper or a beginner, this vibrant event invites everyone to dance, spin, and groove to the music in a welcoming and

energetic atmosphere.

TU (7/2), 5:30pm, Pritchard Park, 4 College St

Senior Splash

Grab your bathing suit, water bottle, sunscreen, and a towel for a day of swimming. This event is free and open to anyone ages 50+.

WE (7/3), 1pm, Asheville Recreation Park, 65 Gashes Creek Rd

GAMES & CLUBS

DnD Night

A monthly DND night with fun, food and drinks.

WE (6/26), 6:30pm, The Funkatorium, 147 Coxe Ave

Another Adult Spelling Bee

Test your wits and spark a bit of nostalgia for a chance to win a cash price. Competitors should sign up at avl.mx/dtw.

WE (6/26), 7pm, Leveller Brewing Co., 25 N Main St, Weaverville Music Bingo Thursdays

Test your music knowledge and your luck with Music Bingo by DJ Spence.

TH (6/27), 6:30pm, Lookout Brewing Co., 103 S Ridgeway Ave, Black Mountain

Downtown Asheville Treasure Hunt

Use your treasure map to follow clues, solve puzzles, and crack codes on this unique walking scavenger hunt through Downtown Asheville.

SA (6/29), 5pm, Dssolvr, 63 N Lexington Ave

Weekly Sunday Scrabble

Weekly scrabble play where you’ll be paired with players of your skill level. All scrabble gear provided.

SU (6/30), 1:30pm, Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Tarot Club

Each month, we’ll study a new method, approach, or way to work with the cards while engaging in personal journeywork. This meetup is part learning and part self-exploration.

TU (7/2), 7pm, The Well, 3 Louisiana

KID-FRIENDLY PROGRAMS

Asheville Museum’s Summer of Science

This family-friendly event promises to engage and entertain all ages with hands-on experiments and

demonstrations. WE (6/26, 7/3), 5pm, Pritchard Park, 4 College St

Kids & Teens Kung Fu Learn fighting skills as well as conflict resolution and mindfulness. First class is free to see if it’s a good fit for you.

TH (6/27, 7/4), MO (7/1), TU (7/2), 4pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Kids Night Out

Leave the kids behind to enjoy goofy games, crafts, and science projects. Advance registration is required.

FR (6/28), 6pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Teen Nerf Night

A fun night where teens battle it out with friends through exciting Nerf battles. Open to ages 13 to 16 and all you need is a Nerf blaster of choice.

FR (6/28), 6pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

Teen Takeover: DJ Spin & Swim

Pool parties for local teens that feature food, music, and fun surprises. Free for ages 12 to 18.

FR (6/28), 6pm, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St

Coloring w/Cats: Kiddie Edition

An artistic session with coloring books and markers for children ages 13 and under to relax by coloring as they pet cats to reduce stress and anxiety.

SA (6/29), 1:30pm, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd

Toddler Play Time

A fun active time to let your little ones run and play in the gym with different activities each week. Ages 2 to 6 must be accompanied by parent/guardian.

SU (6/30), 1:30pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

Imagination

Monday

Children can enjoy giant building blocks, tunnels, and fun games on this special day of open play geared for ages 1-5 years-old. No advance registration required, adults must accompany children the entire time.

MO (7/1), 10am, Hummingbird Park, 97 Starnes Ave

Summer Splash Dive into a world of waterthemed activities and beat the heat with an array of aquatic adventures.

TU (7/2), 11am, Jake Rusher Park, 160 Sycamore Dr, Arden

LOCAL MARKETS

Weaverville Tailgate Market

A selection of fresh, locally grown produce, grass fed beef, pork, chicken, rabbit, eggs, cheese, sweet and savory baked goods, artisan bread, body care, eclectic handmade goodies, garden and landscaping plants. Open year round.

WE (6/27, 7/3), 3pm, 60 Lake Shore Dr Weaverville Pride Month Plant Market

A plant market with 30% of all plant sales being donated to Southern Equity Studios to further their work in supporting LGBTQIA+ artists in the south.

WE (6/26), TH (6/27), FR (6/28), SA (6/29), SU (6/30), 11am, Art Garden AVL, 191 Lyman St 316

Etowah Lions Farmers Market

An array of farm-fresh local produce that features lettuce, collards, kale, mushrooms as well as local artisans, herbal products, plant starts, prepackaged meals and more. Every Wednesday through October.

WE (6/26. 7/3), 3pm, Etowah Lions Club, 447 Etowah School Rd, Hendersonville

RAD Farmers Market

Providing year-round access to fresh local foods from over 30 local vendors offering fresh produce, baked goods, pastured meats, cheeses, raw honey, and more. Located right on the Greenway, the market is safely accessible by bike, foot, or rollerblade.

WE (6/26, 7/3), 3pm, Smoky Park Supper Club, 350 Riverside Dr Surplus Plant Show

M. R. Gardens showcases their wide selection of native perennial flowers as well as a few plants that complement them such as groundcovers. TH (6/27), FR (6/28), SA (6/29), 1pm, M. R. Gardens, 441 Onteora Blvd

Enka-Candler Farmer's Market

A grand selection of local foods and crafts, everything from produce to pickles, baked goods to body care, and even educational resources. Every Thursday through October 31. TH (6/27, 7/4), 3:30pm, A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Rd, Candler East Asheville Tailgate Market

Featuring locally grown vegetables, fruits, wild

foraged mushrooms, ready made food, handmade body care, bread, pastries, meat, eggs, and more to the East Asheville community since 2007. Every Friday through Nov. 22.

FR (6/28), 3pm, 954 Tunnel Rd

Pack Square Artisan Market

Featuring local handcrafted goods in the heart of downtown Asheville. Browse unique products and meet the folks that produce them. Every Friday through Oct. 25.

FR (6/28), 3pm, 1 South Pack Square Park

Henderson County Tailgate Market

Featuring Henderson County's finest produce, hand crafts, plant starts, vegetables, Sourwood honey, baked goods, fresh eggs, mushrooms, sausage and more. Every Saturday through Oct.

SA (6/29), 8am, 100 N King St, Hendersonville North Asheville Tailgate Market

The oldest Saturday morning market in WNC, since 1980. Over 60 rotating vendors providing a full range of local, sustainably produced produce, meats, eggs, cheeses, breads, plants and unique crafts.

SA (6/29), 8am, 3300 University Heights

Asheville City Market

Featuring local food products, including fresh produce, meat, cheese, bread, pastries, and other artisan products. Every Saturday through December 21.

SA (6/29), 9am, 52 N Market St

Black Mountain Saturday Tailgate Market

Featuring organic and sustainably grown produce, plants, cut flowers, herbs, locally raised meats, seafood, breads, pastries, cheeses, eggs and locally handcrafted items.

SA (6/29), 9am, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Mars Hill Farmers & Artisans Market

A producer-only tailgate market located on the campus of Mars Hill University on College Street. Offering fresh local produce, herbs, cheeses, meats, eggs, baked goods, honey, body care and more. Every Saturday through Oct. 26.

SA (6/29), 10am, College Street, College St, Mars Hill

Asheville Vintage Market

WNC's largest vintage clothing market with multiple vendors to browse.

SA (6/29), 11am, Rabbit Rabbit, 75 Coxe Ave

WNC Farmers Market

High quality fruits and vegetables, mountain crafts, jams, jellies,

preserves, sourwood honey, and other farm fresh items. Open daily 8am, year-round.

570 Brevard Rd

Under the Stars: Night Market

Featuring and inviting artist's, mover's, maker's, and shaker's. This event welcomes everyone to shop, gather, drink and browse.

SU (6/30), 6pm, The Getaway River Bar, 790 Riverside Dr

West Asheville Tailgate Market

Featuring an array of goods including fruits, vegetables, baked goods, bread, eggs, cheese, milk, poultry, and fish to locally made specialty items such as natural beauty products, herbal medicine and locally made art and crafts. Every Tuesday through November 26.

TU (7/2), 3:30pm, 718 Haywood Rd

FESTIVALS & SPECIAL EVENTS

Pigapalooza

This recurring Asheville Humane Society event waives all pig adoption fees in the hopes of finding them all loving and appropriate forever homes.

FR (6/28), noon, Buncombe County Farm, 61 Clover Ln, Swannanoa

Night Flight 2024

Asheville’s favorite summer 4.5-mile race returns with a post-party and awards ceremony. Dressing up is always encouraged, this year’s theme is FLIGHT. All of the proceeds will benefit the development of greenways in Asheville and Buncombe County.

SA (6/29), 5pm, Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Hwy, Ste 200

Asheville Vaudeville

This special event features WNC’s best comedy, juggling, magic, burlesque, acrobatics, aerial arts, short plays, puppetry, sideshow, music, and more.

SA (6/29), 8pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave

Ganymede's Big Gay Bash

An evening of dancing, queer drink specials, Drag and few other surprises.

SA (6/29), 9pm, The Getaway River Bar, 790 Riverside Dr

Pool Chata

An exciting day filled with Latin music and social dancing by the pool for Bachata dancers. DJ Daggett will be providing the tunes for this event.

SU (6/30), 10am, Skylaranna Hotel & Resort, 2075 N Rugby Rd, Hendersonville

Pride Sunday Funday

An unforgettable Sunday Funday that celebrates love, diversity, and community in all its beautiful forms. The special event will feature drag shows, drinks, LGBTQIA+ vendors, and special life performances.

SU (6/30), 3pm, Bottle Riot, 37 Paynes Way

The Feast of St John Family-friendly celebration featuring food, fellowship and live music with the return of North Carolina’s Chatham Rabbits. All are welcome to join the festivities.

SU (6/30), 5pm, Hubba Hubba Smokehouse, 2724 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock

Soul of the South Music Festival

A three-day music festival with popular headliners and special daily guests.

TH (7/4), 2pm, Silverados, 2898 US-70, Black Mountain

BENEFITS & VOLUNTEERING

Karaoke Fundraiser w/ Banjo Mitch

Celebrate and raise funds during this last karaoke night before Mitch has open heart surgery. A percentage of sales for the entire day will be donated directly to Mitch for his recovery time.

TH (6/27), 6pm, Mad Co. Brew House, 45 N Main St, Marshall 16th Annual Give To The Music Benefit Concert

Listen to Rock Academy bands with performers ranging from elementary school through high school as they perform decades of hits from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

SA (6/29), 7pm, The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave

Midnight Mass: 69 Edition

A naughty drag and burlesque showcase with music from the 60's to the 90s. This show will also be a fundraiser for for the 12 Baskets Cafe.

SA (6/29), 10pm, 27 Club, 180 Patton Ave Band Together

A community fundraiser event for local cancer patients in need with music from The Feels, Aunt Vicki, Safety Coffin, and Hex Wizard. SU (6/30), 3pm, The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave

Murder Mystery Dinner Fundraiser

An '80s immersive murder mystery extravaganza. Featuring a 2-hour bash filled with intrigue, dinner, and nostalgia. Proceeds will benefit a local non-profit organization, Arms Around ASD.

SU (6/30), 6pm, The Hideaway, 49 Broadway St

H ✰H ✰

Independence Day Firework Celebration

Annual firework display with food trucks, yard games and family-friendly festivities. Alcohol and tobacco products are prohibited on the grounds at Lake Julian Park. Bring blanketsor lawn chair to relax around the lake.

SA (6/29), 10:30am, Lake Julian Park, 37 Lake Julian Rd, Arden 59th Annual Marshall

Rodeo & Fireworks

Annual rodeo show and kids dance contest for family night.

WE (7/3), 5:30pm, Madison County Fairgrounds, 330 Carolina Ln, Marshall

Asheville Indepedence Day 5k & Wicked Beer Mile

A special race on Independence Day to kick-off the holiday for friends and family. A portion of each race entry will be donated to support Food Connection.

TH (7/4), 8am, Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Rd

4th of July Steal the Pint

Celebrate Independence Day at Bold Rock with a very special Steal the Pint. Glasses will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

TH (7/4), 11:30am, Bold Rock Hard Cider, 39 N Lexington Ave Fourth of July Celebration

A memorable Fourth of July celebration that highlights friends, family and freedom. This event will feature live music, food truck delights, specialty drinks, and family-friendly fun such as corn-hole, board games, photo opportunities and more.

TH (7/4), 11:30am, Burntshirt Vineyards, 2695 Sugarloaf Rd, Hendersonville

Independence Day

Block Party

This special Independence Day event will feature special music performances, food trucks, local brews and fireworks in the South Slope neighborhood. Additionally, there will local vendors, offering unique goods and crafts and more.

TH (7/4), noon, S Slope, Federal Alley

July 4th at The Funk

An all day family-friendly block style party in South Slop with live music by Em &The Innocent

Fourth of July Events H ✰H ✰

SOUTH SLOPE INDEPENDENCE DAY PARTY: On Thursday, July 4, Asheville Downtown Association and the City of Asheville host the Ingles Independence Day Block Party on Asheville’s South Slope, starting at noon. This free event will feature live music, food and beverage sales, craft vendors, fireworks and even a special performance by Ultimate Air Dogs. Photo courtesy of Asheville Downtown Association

Mischiefs and The Dirty French Broads.

TH (7/4), 1pm, Funkatorium, 147 Coxe Ave

Phuncle Sam 4th of July Show

Come celebrate 4th of July with the music of America’s favorite band, played by Asheville’s favorite Grateful Dead tribute band.

TH (7/4), 2pm, The Meadow at Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Hwy, Ste 200 Fourth of July Shindig Celebrate Independence Day with food, live music by Suns of Stars and Sons of Ralph, inflatable wet slide for kids and bounce houses too. This is a free family-friendly event and you can even watch the fireworks from this location.

TH (7/4), 4pm, Twin Willows, 525 Cascade St, Mars Hill

July 4th Celebration

2024 Family-friendly 4th of July festivities with free hamburgers and hotdogs for the community. Bring a covered dish or

potluck style dish.

TH (7/4), 4pm, Sandy Mush Community Center, 19 School Rd, Leicester

Mars Hill July 4th

Celebration Festival Fireworks celebration featuring food trucks, games and inflatables and music sponsored by the town of Mars Hill.

TH (7/4), 4pm, Mars Hill University Stadium, 100 Athletic St, Mars Hill

The Odd’s 4th of July

Cookout & Concert

A special cook out with grilled up goodies featuring live music from Spill Mill, Colossal Human Failure and Porcelain Parrot to celebrate July 4th.

TH (7/4), 5pm, The Odd, 1045 Haywood Rd 4th of July

Annual 4th of July celebration with fireworks, special food menus and specialty drinks, live music from Kayla McKinney, lawn games, and more.

TH (7/4), 5:30pm, The Horse Shoe Farm, 155 Horse Shoe Farm Rd, Hendersonville

59th Annual Marshall

Rodeo & Fireworks Annual rodeo show with fireworks to celebrate Independence Day.

TH (7/4), 5:30pm, Madison County Fairgrounds, 330 Carolina Ln, Marshall Fireworks Viewing Party After Music Bingo

Enjoy a pint while watching the fireworks, following music bingo night.

Mac’s burgers will be open for your snacking needs, so bring a chair or blanket for the festivities.

TH (7/4), 6pm, Lookout Brewing Co., 103 S Ridgeway Ave, Black Mountain

July 4th Celebration w/Flashback Band Rock out this Fourth of July with the Flashback Band and special festivities provided from Mills River Brewing.

TH (7/4), 6pm, Mills River Brewing Co., 336 Banner Farm Rd, Mills River

4th of July Celebration

This special community celebration will feature a parade, patriotic programs, field games, food special music performances. TH (7/4), 10am, Beech Community Center, 15 Sugar Cove Rd, Weaverville 4th of July Fireworks

Beginning at dusk, enjoy a free display of dazzling fireworks and will be visible from many areas in the downtown Black Mountain area.

TH (7/4), 9pm, 205 NC-9, Black Mountain Shindig on Main: 4th of July Celebration

An unforgettable Independence Day celebration featuring a flag raising ceremony, food trucks, live music, fireworks and a special reading of the Declaration of Independence. See p32

TH (7/4), 4pm, Downtown Brevard, E Main St, Brevard

by Jessica Wakeman | jwakeman@mountainx.com

Buncombe County debuts new mobile health RV

The Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services Department of Public Health held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Carrier Park on June 13 for the recreation vehicle that will serve as its new mobile health unit.

Public Health’s focus is reaching low-income, historically underserved or rural communities, Public Health nurse supervisor Sue Hanlon told the assembled crowd.

The department previously operated a mobile health unit out of a van, which was three times smaller than the new RV. The 25-foot RV includes two examination rooms, a bathroom and a table for phlebotomy (drawing blood). It is also air-conditioned.

Services on the mobile health unit include rapid testing for HIV and hepatitis C; gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis testing; vaccinations; distribution of COVID-19 tests; tests for fentanyl and xylazine (also known as “tranq,” a sedative used as an additive in drugs); Narcan, the overdose reversal drug; antibiotic treatment for syphilis; and family planning services.

Isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic incentivized Public Health to increase community outreach, particularly COVID-19 vaccinations, Public Health Director Dr. Ellis Matheson told Xpress. BCDHHS purchased the new unit with federal and state funding received during the pandemic. The RV’s team of five is funded through 2025, she says.

The mobile health unit will operate daily on weekdays and attend night and weekend events, Matheson says. A schedule can be found at avl.mx/dbo.

Mission removed from ‘immediate jeopardy’

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) informed Mission Health CEO Chad Patrick in a letter dated June 11 that it has removed the “immediate jeopardy” designation from Mission Hospital and Asheville Surgery Center.

A letter from Melissa Foreman, acute and continuing care branch manager of the Atlanta survey and enforcement division at CMMS, says based on the findings of the N.C. State Survey Agency’s visit on May 23, the hospital has been deemed in compliance with the Medicare Conditions of Participation. Foreman’s letter can be read at avl.mx/dtn.

OUTREACH: Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Carrier Park June 13 for the recreation vehicle that will serve as its new mobile health unit.

The status change enables Mission Hospital and Asheville Surgery Center to continue to provide services under the Medicare program.

Following a December review of the hospital, Asheville Watchdog reported in February that CMMS had informed Mission Hospital it was in “immediate jeopardy.” In response to that designation, it was required to submit a plan of correction with specific measures to address deficiencies.

Mission Health, including Mission Hospital, was purchased by Nashvillebased HCA Healthcare for $1.5 billion in 2019.

YWCA Asheville pool closure

YWCA Asheville announced this month it is temporarily closing its pool beginning Friday, June 28, to address maintenance needs, including repairs to the pool ceiling. Other programming will continue while the pool is closed, including access to gym facilities and group classes. YWCA Asheville seeks fundraising support for the pool repairs. For more information, visit avl.mx/dto or contact advancement@ ywcaofasheville.org.

Summer meals for kids available

A nutritious lunch and an afternoon snack are available for all children ages 18 and younger this summer through Buncombe County Schools Nutrition. Six schools and two libraries will provide food to children on-site. Hours for lunch and snacks will vary by location. To find the closest meal site, text FOOD or COMIDA to 304304 or visit avl.mx/dtm. No registration, application or ID is required. Participants are encouraged to check their local school district’s website to verify locations and hours.

Mental health for food and beverage workers

Several groups are collaborating on building a peer network within the food and beverage industry for mental health resources. Partners include: nonprofit All Souls Counseling; mental wellness service MindWell Consulting; associate professor of health and wellness at UNC Asheville Laura Jones; and the Linked4Life Foundation. Linked4Life

was founded by Bear’s Smokehouse co-owner Cheryl Antoncic. Participating food and beverage establishments can have an employee receive mental health first aid training to become a volunteer peer advocate for employees. This peer advocate can direct colleagues to mental health resources. Apply to become a peer advocate at avl.mx/dtx.

For more information, visit avl.mx/dty.

Senior primary care opens

CenterWell Senior Primary Care opened its first location in April at 105 River Hills Road, Suite A. CenterWell features chairs that convert into examination tables, wheelchair-enabled weight scales and other apparatuses to address the needs of older patients. Medical staff members are trained with a focus on senior health, according to a press release.

CenterWell is a subsidiary of health insurance provider Humana. CenterWell locations accept original Medicare as well as Medicare Advantage.

CenterWell Patton Avenue, a second location in Asheville, will open in the

Photo by Caleb Johnson

fall at an address to be determined, says Humana spokesperson Lisa Ferguson

Safelight welcomes service dog

Service dog Foley joined Hendersonville-based Safelight, a nonprofit that provides support for survivors of sexual violence, in May. He works full time at Safelight under the care of his lead handler, Associate Director Susan Huter, and Program Director Dana Despradel, says Executive Director Lauren Wilkie Canine Companions, a national organization that trains service dogs, trained Foley for two years as a facility dog before he joined Safelight. The 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever works with a handler to participate in structured therapies and social interactions at health care and social service locations. Foley knows over 40 commands, including turning on lights and opening and closing doors. He can also cuddle with people to help reduce anxiety and regulate breathing.

Sunrise drop-in center opens

Sunrise Community for Recovery and Wellness, a nonprofit community recovery organization, opened its new drop-in center at 209 Tunnel Road in June. The center is open MondayFriday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., and will host recovery support groups, movie screenings and wellness events.

For more information, visit avl.mx/d56.

Grant awarded for mosquito study

Western Carolina University environmental health sciences professor Brian Byrd and chemistry and physics

professor Scott Huffman received a grant from NCInnovation to study mosquitoes that carry viruses.

Byrd and Huffman are researching the use of spectroscopy (which measures the absorption of light in different matter) to analyze vibrational signals in Aedes mosquitoes. The team is developing tools to assess whether these mosquitoes are carrying either the Zika virus or dengue, which are spread by mosquito bites. Aedes mosquitoes are found in the southeastern and western U.S., according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NCInnovation grants seek to encourage research at North Carolina’s public universities. For more information, visit avl.mx/dtp.

Community kudos

• The UNC Asheville — UNC Gillings Master of Public Health program

Join Dirt Murphy from Rainbow Path Wellness on Thursday, July 4.

She will teach how to build and maintain a home vermicomposting system. Worm biology will be emphasized.

awarded its first jointly conferred MPH degree in May to six students. The program has worked in partnership with Mountain Area Health Education Center, a health care training facility, since 2019.

• Pediatric nurse practitioner Kristen Roach joined AdventHealth Hendersonville Medical Group Pediatrics in Hendersonville.

Mark your calendars

• Nonprofit Our VOICE will hold a volunteer training session

Saturday, June 29, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m., for people who want to provide emotional support on the 24/7 crisis line or offer hospital accompaniment to survivors of assault. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old, have reliable transportation and a reliable cellphone and complete a 20-hour advocate training before taking shifts. For more information, visit avl.mx/dtl.

• WellSpring Wellness Center, 960 Tunnel Road, will hold a breathwork circle for women ages 18 and older Sunday, June 30, 1-3 p.m. Tickets are $30 and are available at avl.mx/dtg.

• Umoja Health, Wellness and Justice Collective will offer free acupuncture for Black people, Indigenous people and people of color Wednesdays, July 10 and 31, noon-4 p.m., at 411 N. Louisiana Ave., Suite E. Participants will receive a free, 30-minute acupuncture treatment on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants should bring a light blanket.

• The Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services will hold a free, drop-in opioid reversal training Friday, Aug. 2, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at 40 Coxe Ave. Participants will learn about the signs of an opioid overdose and how to administer the opioid reversal drug naloxone. At the end of the training, participants will receive a free Narcan kit while supplies last. Contact Mitchell Albers at mitchell. albers@buncombecounty.org for more information. X

ROOMIER: The new Buncombe County Public Health RV includes two examination rooms, a bathroom and a table for phlebotomy (drawing blood). It is also air-conditioned. Photo by Caleb Johnson

ARTS & CULTURE

WITH ERIC BROWN

BY ERIC BROWN

ericjbrown3000@gmail.com

June is busting out all over, to paraphrase Rodgers and Hammerstein poorly. The fireflies are back, school is out, and tourism is really ramping up in town. It’s a time when everything feels alive and vital, a time for fun and new experiences. Or at least that’s the case for most people.

Personally, I hate the summer. I can’t deal with heat. When I’m not writing and performing hilarious jokes like these, my main job is in meat. I’ve been working in a 40-degree room every day for 17 years. I have no tolerance for heat anymore. Plus all the road work and

Magical Offerings

added tourist traffic usually doubles my commute. I spend hours in gridlock, fantasizing about building a giant truck with a battering ram and flamethrowers so I can ride the Fury Road eternal and push through the parked legions on Interstate 26.

Unfortunately, I am no Mad Max, and certainly no Furiosa, so the dream remains unfulfilled. Instead, I’m cranky, obnoxious and irritable from the middle of May until October. Ask my girlfriend, she’ll tell you.

In the spirit of cranky summer energy, I’ve assembled three of my favorite comedians — Megan Piscitelle, Matt Wilson (with whom I recently saw Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) and Peter Lundblad — to address some summer concerns I have for Asheville. I’m like a more handsome, younger Andy Rooney, although the fact I remember Andy Rooney makes me feel like I’m not so young. No time to dwell on that though. On to the questions!

Eric: It is a historic time for Asheville. There seems to be actual progress on the I-26 Connector. Reportedly, construction could begin this year, putting certain local landmarks, such as Salvage Station, in the crosshairs. Much like Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy album, or Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the threat of Future 26 has been looming over us for 40 years. It seems the future is now, but will the new I-26 Connector spell disaster for our culture like The Phantom Menace, or just be a mild, benign annoyance like Chinese Democracy? Only time will tell. In light of the impossible suddenly seeming possible, what other impossible changes would you like to see in Asheville?

Megan: I will say that, with its ever-shifting, shoulderless, concrete-barrier-lined lanes, driving on I-26 never fails to make me feel alive. Alive in the sense that I am suddenly hyperaware of my mortality as I hurtle down the road alongside semitrucks — but alive nonetheless.

Still, there’s got to be a better way for us to get an adrenaline fix than

It’s time for Asheville to create its own Charlotte the stingray drama

CREATING LEGENDS: Sure, Charlotte the stringray of Hendersonville fame may not be pregnant after all, but that isn’t stopping these local comedians from dreaming up other unusual animal scenarios to rival Charlotte’s popularity. Pictured, clockwise from top left, Eric Brown, Matt Wilson, Megan Piscitelle and Peter Lundblad. Photos of Brown and Lundblad by Cindy Kunst; photos of Wilson and Piscitelle courtesy of the comedians

our morning commute. My suggestion is that, instead of continuing to build highway infrastructure, we take all that money and space and build the most impressive, futuristic train system in the country. Let’s bring back those old bootlegger tunnels, pull some eminent domain on the Biltmore Estate and get a whole Maglev train system going throughout Western North Carolina. Imagine speeding through the mountains on a sexy, sleek, pollution-free train. That’s the kind of rush I’m looking for.

Here’s the thing — I hesitate to say this or other changes I want to see in

Asheville, such as affordable housing and access to health care, are impossible. They’re not. I guess if I’m trying to think of an “impossible” change, I want to see teleportation as a transportation option. Beam me up, Scotty!

Matt: I have honestly just resigned myself to I-26 construction being part of my life until I am dead. Bury me by the off-ramp. Put flowers on my grave, which is located beneath the sign at Exit 40, Airport Road.

But here’s the impossible change I selfishly wish to see: In-N-Out Burger in WNC. All my friends out west are crowing about how they’re getting Bojangles

in 2025. I’m happy for them to experience the wonder of a Cajun filet biscuit, but it’s also not fair. Why should we not get anything in return? I’m tired of all the excuses about how In-N-Out can only be west of the Mississippi because of distribution centers and whatever else. I want equitable trade!

Peter: Nothing is impossible in Asheville! It’s a post-Appalachian paradise that bridges rustic natural beauty with cutting-edge artistic grandeur. It’s a modern gem, with edges, sure, but beautiful if you stare deep into its core. Asheville is where dreams are born, suckling at the teat of innovation, encouragement and industry. Asheville is the crossroads of a thousand paths, laced with innocence and calm. What I’m saying, friends, is that Matt answered this correctly with “In-and-Out Burger,” and I have no better suggestion to give.

Eric: With the impossible now on the table in town, I have a complaint. I feel like a conversation I frequently have with my friends is how there isn’t really a traditional Italian sandwich shop in town that I love. To give you some insight into how much of a cool, fun friend I am, I have had this conversation countless times, only to remember halfway through it that Silverball Subs exists and that I love it. The problem is I’m almost never in that part of town, and I never seem to be there when they’re open. So I guess I’m asking for three impossible things. One, I’d like my memory to be better so I can break the curse of having this conversation over and over. Two, I would like Silverball Subs to be closer to my house so I can go there all the time. Three, I would also like Italian subs to be good for my cholesterol, so my doctor won’t be mad at me and they won’t up the dosage on my cholesterol medicine. Wait, I just remembered I work down the street from Montford Deli and I love their sandwiches too. Shoot, well now I’m not sure what to ask for now. … Oh, right — affordable

housing for the people who live here, access to health care for those who need it and help for the unhoused population here instead of treating them like criminals. If we can just skip my sandwich concerns and jump on that, that would be great!

Eric: City Council approved the formation of a business improvement district (BID) in downtown Asheville at its June 11 meeting. There was quite a number of people protesting the decision, including one person dressed as a poop emoji. According to recent Xpress coverage, the estimated annual BID budget could reach $1.25 million and will fund landscaping initiatives, litter removal and a staff of downtown safety ambassadors. As comedians, I propose we engage in one of humanity’s most time-honored traditions, giving out unsolicited ideas and opinions to people who probably don’t want them. So comedians, if you had a say, how would you propose the city use future BID funding?

Megan: Let’s call this like it is: The BID’s “safety and cleaning initiatives” are code for keeping people in positions of privilege comfortable by further penalizing, criminalizing and pushing our growing underserved population into the margins. As you note, part of this proposal includes hiring “ambassadors” in polo shirts to interface with people downtown and enforce vagrancy issues. Instead of creating a secondary pseudo-police force that perpetuates harm, let’s use this proposal to shine a light on those things that we try hard to keep out of sight and out of mind for our dear tourists. I propose partnering with our many escape room venues to create a

CONTINUES ON PAGE 26

series of hard-mode scenarios for visitors and locals alike to try out. Escape Room: Poverty! Intergenerational trauma! Systems of oppression! Addiction! Homelessness! Proceeds from these sales can then go to local nonprofits like BeLoved Asheville, The Steady Collective, Our VOICE, Haywood Street Congregation, 12 Baskets Café and more.

Matt: To be totally real for a moment, my sense of what’s going on with the BID is that people, including me, are looking for a more inclusive approach. Asheville’s businesspeople surely want a cleaner, safer downtown, and that’s a worthwhile goal. But with that has to come assurances that efforts are being made to actually care for the unhoused population here instead of criminalizing them. And housing — downtown and everywhere else — needs to be more affordable, not less.

Anyway, I need to answer your question, and also there needs to be a joke in here somewhere. So obviously, we’ve got to monetize the drum circle somehow. Put a small sign up at Pritchard Park that says “Listen to the drum circle: $50, Walk through the drum circle: $100,” and then bill anyone who does those things. When they complain, send a picture of the sign.

Peter: I don’t think that much needs to be done, other than just keeping the Christmas decorations up year-round. As other holidays roll in, leave those decorations up too. Think about it: This time next year we’ll have Christmas trees full of Thanksgiving giblets, shamrocks with red, white and blue streamers, “Rock the Vote” signs covered in Halloween spider webs, and a New Year’s Eve/ Fourth of July fireworks show going off every three days.

Eric: I think we need more accountability and oversight of people in charge of things that impact our daily life. So I have two ideas for this. I propose body cams on the ambassador polo shirts. With these cameras, we will be able to hold them accountable, and we can make the cameras a livestream and sell advertising. It funds itself and it keeps people honest. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t that a very Orwellian, shortsighted solution? Probably. But in fairness, that’s how I felt about the BID. I’m just trying to match their energy. My second proposal: Instead of polo shirts, everyone gets a suit of armor and a horse. That’s it. Let’s see how committed we are to this medieval idea when we’re marching

around downtown in a full suit of plate armor in the summer. Besides, if I heard there was a tourist town full of people in suits of armor roaming around I would definitely go. Think about the tourism revenue!

Earlier this year, Hendersonville made national news when Charlotte the stingray seemingly became pregnant on her own at the Aquarium & Shark Lab. Now it turns out that wasn’t the case, and in fact, Charlotte has a rare reproductive disease. I love animals, and I hope Charlotte is OK, but I’m also enraged that Hendersonville almost had a magical miracle animal before we did in Asheville. I’m not saying there is a bitter rivalry between us and Hendersonville, but I would like to start one. So that’s where we come in. Comedians, put on your best Harry Potter hat and tell me about a fantastic beast you’d like to see in Asheville. (NOTE: I don’t know if they wear hats in Harry Potter or not. I never read those books, and at this point, I’m not gonna. Don’t write in and correct me.)

Megan: Charlotte the stingray was so close to being a queer icon, and I hope she recovers to realize that dream sometime soon. That being said, Asheville can’t be lagging behind. Which is why I would like to introduce a magical fairy god-possum to the Asheville pantheon. Who is she? A gorgeous possum with fairy wings and a gutter-punk denim jacket who shows up just when we need her, granting bodily autonomy and reproductive rights to all. She’s a rebel, she’s an anarchist, she’s the queen we all need right now. Her powers would leave queer adults and youth lifesaving gender-affirming medications under their pillows. She would make it possible for people

to get their reproductive needs met with a twinkle of her fairy god-possum’s eye. And with a waggle of her tail, gatekeeping medical practitioners would forget their prejudices and support their patients’ wants and needs. Also, her queer platonic partner is a dragon who flies around and eats the rich.

Matt: I think the answer is more than clear: Ted E. Tourist (of Asheville Tourist baseball fame) must become a real bear. I don’t care if it’s the result of some magic that makes the costume come to life or if they just bring a real black bear to McCormick Field and put a baseball cap on him. But I’m ready for Ted E. to truly represent Ursus americanus. Please note, I do not want this same magical transformation to happen to Mr. Moon. I don’t know what he’s hiding behind those sunglasses, and frankly, I don’t want to know.

Peter: I’m putting together a team. A heist team. We may or may not be about to pull off the kidnapping of a certain aquatic life form named after a former Queen of England. So far, I have demolitions, distraction and a getaway food truck driver on board. I just need a modern-day Greta Garbo and a Mr. Hands to round out the team. Asheville will not stand by and be pushed around by the lies of our weird Uncle Hendo. So if anybody wants a li’l extra excitement, I pay in cynicism and eye rolls in true Asheville fashion.

Eric: So the obvious answer is Bigfoot. But I think he’s too big — and I’m not just talking about his feet.

(Hold here for applause.)

I’m just saying at this point Bigfoot has gone national. We’ll never book him. Even with the WNC Bigfoot Festival happening since 2018, Bigfoot has never shown up — not even once. He’s out of our price range. So, when you can’t afford Bigfoot, you get the next biggest name on the list. Obviously, I’m talking about the Wampus Cat of Marion. For the uninitiated, the Wampus Cat has been described as a kind of amphibious panther who leaps into the water and swims like a colossal mink. Now who doesn’t love that?

Of course, there was reportedly a Wampus Cat in Marion in the 1930s who slaughtered a bunch of dogs and livestock. So obviously we’ve got a bit of an image problem. But it also hasn’t slaughtered dogs in a while. So, I think this could work. I mean, the internet loves cats. With a quick PR campaign and some apologies to the families of the dogs, we’re in business! I guess what I’m saying is Wampus Cat 2024. X

Journey to the unknown

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN

With his new book, The Myth of Perfect Pitch, Kenneth Eggert isn’t trying to disprove that some people have the ability to identify any musical note by name after hearing it.

“I can vouch for the fact that it does exist,” says the Alexander-based composer, performer and educator. “I’ve had it my whole life, and it’s something that about one in 10,000 people are born with.”

Instead, the intentionally misleading title seeks to encourage readers toward a fuller understanding of music, starting with a different interpretation of the word “myth.” In the book’s introduction, Eggert notes that, to him, “a myth is meta-truth, a story that is not true in the same sense as a historical record but nonetheless contains ‘truth’ on a grander scale, relative to concepts such as consciousness and culture.”

“It’s more a matter of exploring the myth of music itself — the myths behind the practice,” he says of that core concept. “So I wanted to have a chance to explore that idea from multiple angles.”

GETTING PERSONAL

Before delving into the deeper meanings of music and its potential as a unifying power, Eggert opens each chapter with a personal anecdote from his life and career that’s relevant to the topic at hand.

“I wanted to write something that was not just an academic work, but something that could be accessible outside of the realm of academia,” he says. “But there’s quite a bit in the

Kenneth Eggert embraces music’s mysteries in new book

book that is pretty involved on the subject of music, so if you know absolutely nothing about music, there will probably be parts of it that are a little harder to penetrate.”

Eggert started out working primarily as a rock ’n’ roll, musical theater and jazz musician, and eventually trained to become a classical composer. But his artistic interests have taken him in what he calls “some unusual directions,” including forays into world music, African drumming and Native American traditional music. Along the way, he studied the philosophical side of music acoustics, including “just intonation,” an alternate approach to tuning instruments based more on acoustics and mathematics than standard forms of tuning.

ing the points of connection — the commonalities that occur between them. And if you go far back enough in the Western tradition, there is a lot of wonderful metaphysical ideas and philosophy to explore there.”

MYSTERY WRITER

Ultimately, what keeps Eggert going and excited about life in general is a sense of mystery and that there’s always more to discover. Central to that optimism is music’s mysterious nature, its effect upon people and its importance in our lives.

“And so with all of those different pursuits, it led me eventually to have a unique set of experiences with music that was the basis for the book,” he says.

One of the main reasons that Eggert wrote The Myth of Perfect Pitch was to document thoughts and ideas that he’s typically unable to express in the context of a music theory course, which is primarily focused on practical skills. He teaches four levels of undergraduate music theory at Brevard College, and opportunities to significantly explore the topics he’s passionate about rarely arise.

“During an undergraduate program, there isn’t as much time really devoted to the philosophical, so I wanted to have somewhere where I could put that information and that would be available then to my students if they were interested,” Eggert says.

He notes that an emphasis on the meaning of music has been pushed out of music education, a shift that he attributes to the general movement in Western culture toward a more materialistic or scientific worldview.

“Music theory is primarily a study of how music works and, of course, how music works is also subjective, dependent on the culture that you come from,” he says. “Our ideas of how music works in the West are going to be very different from Hindu culture or Arabic culture or Indigenous culture when it comes to music.”

He continues, “But the territory that I really enjoy exploring is find-

“It’s certainly part of every religious tradition, pretty much that has ever existed, and it serves a purpose that is beyond just mere entertainment,” he says. “I think when we focus too much on music purely as entertainment or as art for art’s sake and begin to lose a sense of art as a means of connecting to the mystery — connecting to divinity, to the underlying nature of things — we lose something really crucial to the experience of being human.”

Though Eggert has been engaged with these topics for decades, putting them together in book form provided multiple epiphanies. One particular notion that the process unlocked for him concerned connections between the Christian concept of the logos (i.e., the Word of God) and life’s relationships and harmonies.

Throughout The Myth of Perfect Pitch, Eggert speaks to the concept of “right relationship” or harmony on all levels: with the self; with family and friends; between yourself and community; and yourself and society; and ultimately, relationship between yourself and whatever you conceive of as the divine.

“To me, the importance of understanding this greater meaning behind music is about finding, or exploring really, what that means to be in right relationship in all areas of your life,” Eggert says. “And ultimately, I think one of the universal principles of religion is to discover that sense of being in right relationship on all those levels. Music, to me, exists as a grand metaphor for that striving — that purpose to find that exact relationship.”

The best part about that quest for harmony? You don’t have to be one of the few people with perfect pitch to pursue it.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/dq4. X

NATURAL PROGRESSION: Alexander-based composer, performer and educator Kenneth Eggert’s first book uses personal anecdotes as springboards into complex musical concepts. Photo courtesy of the author

‘The

Shawshank Redemption’ Flat

BY KAI ELIJAH HAMILTON

kaielijahhamilton@gmail.com

We often live life searching for atonement in one way or another. Largely because of this quest, the tale of wrongfully imprisoned Andy Dufresne — as seen in Frank Darabont’s 1994 feature film, The Shawshank Redemption, and Stephen King’s 1982 source novella, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” — has become a celebrated piece of Americana. With the adapted theatrical version by Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns onstage through June 30, Flat Rock Playhouse hits the creative mark with a timely production that speaks to modern political injustices and evolving perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community.

The fictitious Shawshank State Prison in New England is the setting of the story told by alpha male Red (played commendably by Joe Pallister). Pessimistically awaiting parole in the late 1940s, Red is the cautious yet reliable source of almost anything that comes within the prison walls, but each item of request also comes at a cost. The smart and withdrawn Andy (Lawrence Street) is the new inmate at “The Shank.” He’s deemed an easy target by a nasty group of gang-rape villains led by Bogs (Paul Vonasek). Once Andy curiously requests a difficult-to-secure rock hammer from Red, their unlikely friendship grows.

As the years drag on, the day comes when good-natured simpleton Tommy (John Selby) enters the slammer, looking to turn his criminal life around. Against all odds, Tommy just so happens to have important information that might acquit the innocent Andy of the murder of his wife. However, the diabolical Warden Stammas (Scott Treadway) will do just about anything to keep the prison held within his evil vise grip.

Despite many theatergoers’ familiarity with the Oscar-nominated film (and possibly King’s novella), the story proves surprisingly enrapturing onstage. Director Lisa K. Bryant clearly has a strong connection to this material — and it is perhaps her best show thus far. Bryant doesn’t lean into overt sentimentality, which largely strengthens the production. We are constantly reminded that we’re with these men and all hope is barred.

However, there are also times when a particularly emotional or tense scene appears to call for lingering longer

Rock Playhouse brings the powerful story to the stage

in the moment, yet is cut short. This approach rather daringly eliminates the tear-jerking aspect for a more uplifting journey, but Bryant compensates with engaging background action, offbeat blocking and thoughtful casting.

The Shawshank Redemption’s exclusively male ensemble is nothing short of terrific, particularly our hero and his antagonist. Street gives Andy a somber strength and willpower that the underdog in all of us can root for. We truly feel agony when he finally breaks down, which motivates us to recognize times when we have all been let down or almost given up on something. Through this powerful performance, our hearts are reminded to transcend any such dark feelings.

With a lesser actor, the part of Andy’s counter Bogs could have been a cardboard cutout of a villain, yet Vonasek makes this menace feel very real and very uncomfortable. That discomfort not only stems from the action we see onstage but what Vonasek makes us question inside of us. If we were stuck behind prison walls, what would we do? Who would we become?

Vonasek takes us across the shameful threshold of what it’s like to feel

completely unforgivable and no longer care about any consequences. Furthermore, his provocative portrayal perfectly highlights injustices and misunderstandings regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Seeing the play in today’s climate makes such topics hit differently than they did back when the movie was made and the novella was written. There is a strange undercurrent of either fear, shame or negativity within many of the characters — emotions that are very telling of not only a different time but of how, inside the walls of a prison, time truly stands still.

One of, if not the greatest, assets to this production is Dennis C. Maulden’s dreamscape scenic design. His creation is a cross between a shadowy film noir and an expressionist world, reminiscent of the silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The set perfectly allows for the usage of Patrick W. Lord’s and Clara Ashe-Moore’s projected blackand-white imagery and videography. What could have been an ill-fated move of cheesiness or technological intrusion manages to incorporate a creepy, funereal vibe.

As the play reaches the iconic yet triumphant middle-finger moment given

to the prison, theatergoers familiar with the story may feel a bit robbed by certain climactic choices. Nevertheless, this production of The Shawshank Redemption proves thoroughly stirring, and the tension it inspires at times feels like a darkened theme park ride. Given the violence, adult language, brief nudity and depictions of rape, this is definitely a show for mature audiences. Seeing Flat Rock Playhouse embrace its edge and finally advance into uncharted territory is worth the visit alone and cements this marvelous production as one of this year’s best local plays. X

WHAT

The Shawshank Redemption

WHERE Flat Rock Playhouse, 2661 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, flatrockplayhouse.org

WHEN Through Sunday, June 30. Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 2 p.m. $45-$65.

GET BUSY LIVING: Andy (Lawrence Street), left, plays chess with his adversary Bogs (Paul Vonasek) in Flat Rock Playhouse’s production of The Shawshank Redemption. Photo by Jeb Purcell

What’s new in food BattleCat brings more coffee options to East Asheville

Tell someone you live in Beverly Hills, and it’s unlikely they will make an automatic connection to Western North Carolina. But indeed, there is a Beverly Hills in Asheville, an older, quiet residential neighborhood with about 15 tree-canopied streets tucked into the hillside adjacent to the Asheville Municipal Golf Course.

On June 7, the West Asheville-based BattleCat Coffee opened a Beverly Hills location at 855 Tunnel Road. In the grand tradition of locally grown coffee shops, bars and restaurants, co-owner Devin Walsh says the building was formerly home to either a motorcycle repair shop or hardware store. Or both. The East Asheville outpost is a partnership between Amber Arthur, owner of the original BattleCat Coffee in West Asheville as well as Tiger Bay Café and PennyCup Coffee, and Walsh, owner of Daymoon Coffeebar & Books on Old Charlotte Highway in Fairview.

It’s not the first business relationship between the two. Walsh, a Texas native whose first job at 16 was in an Austin coffeeshop, bought Arthur’s Mountain Mojo from her in 2017 and turned it into Daymoon. When he decided to do a second coffeeshop, the Oakley resident cast a critical eye on his own part of town.

“I’ve lived there since I moved to Asheville in 2011,” he says. “It’s a great area with a lot of people but not much to do, so really a prime market for small business.”

Arthur thought so too; so much so that later this year she will open a Texas-style two-steppin’ honkytonk named Sissy’s (after the Debra Winger character in the movie Urban Cowboy) next door to the new BattleCat. She and Walsh intend to eventually add a Tex-Mex food truck to service both businesses for breakfast, lunch, dinner and post-mechanical-bull-riding recovery.

The drinks menu at BattleCat Beverly Hills is similar to the one at BattleCat West, and Walsh makes the scratch-baked breakfast breads, muffins, cookies and other goodies for both BattleCat shops and Daymoon. The Beverly Hills shop held a successful flea market pop-up soon after it opened and will continue to support budding local businesses, including plans to host a mobile Spanish-language bookstore.

Walsh says the business also helps teachers at nearby Haw Creek Elementary School offset the costs they incur for equipping their classrooms with funds raised through a 7% surcharge added to credit card payments. “It’s not right that teachers pay an

COPY CAT: BattleCat Coffee’s recently opened Tunnel Road location offers the same drinks and baked goods as the West Asheville flagship shop, says co-owner Devin Walsh, right. Also pictured is East Asheville store manager Hayley Lusk. Photo by Shiloh Slattery

average of $200 per school year from their own pocket, so we want to help defray that,” he says.

BattleCat Beverly Hills is at 855 Tunnel Road. Hours are 7 a.m.-6 p.m. MondayFriday and 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For events and specials, follow the shop on Instagram at avl.mx/dth.

Mikasa Criolla debuts packaged empanadas

Since opening Mikasa Criolla Empanadas in the S&W Market food

hall in December 2022, chef Santiago Vargas — co-owner with Ana Austin — has been spreading the love for the classic Peruvian street food one asado-, chorizo-, pork tamal-, chicken chili- and mushroom-stuffed hand pie at a time. With the April launch of the restaurant’s packaged, frozen empanadas, shoppers can now prepare vegan, gluten-free and vegetarian varieties at home.

The frozen products are available at the Mikasa Criolla counter in the S&W, as well as at local retail outlets, including Mother Ocean Seafood Market, European Market, New York Butcher

Shoppe, Delish in Arden, Grateful Roots in Leicester, Sara Jo’s Station in Hot Springs and more. Customers can also pick up bottles of Vargas’ green sauce and rocoto hot sauce at those locations.

The business is in the process of becoming certified to include animal proteins in the frozen empanadas, but for now the line includes four types that feature plant-based proteins or vegetables in gluten-free, vegan or regular dough. Austin recommends cooking them in an air fryer. “It’s the best and easiest way,” she says. “They cook in less than 15 minutes and come out crispy.”

The partners have just signed a deal with Fletcher-based Blue Mountain Distributors for wider marketing of the products in North Carolina and beyond, and deeper distribution in conventional groceries like Ingles.

Mikasa Criolla Empanadas is in the S&W Market at 56 Patton Ave. For a full listing of retail outlets, visit avl.mx/dtk.

Mount Mitchell Café now open

Downtown Asheville is rife with rooftop bars filled with patrons soaking in the Land of the Sky, but there’s only one place to get a meal at 6,200 feet, and that’s at the recently opened Mount Mitchell Café & Eatery at Mount Mitchell State Park. The peak of Mount Mitchell — at 6,684 feet — is the highest point east of the Mississippi and was North Carolina’s first state park, founded in 1915.

The original restaurant operated since 1953 as the Mount Mitchell State Park Restaurant. It closed for the season in November 2019 but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, did not reopen in spring 2020. Last fall, the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation awarded hospitality industry veterans Melissa and Leigh Howell, owners of Pig and Grits in Burnsville, a four-year contract to run the restaurant. The pair was involved in the final stages of the $2.7 million renovation.

The ridgetop building of native stone received a complete makeover, which included a full kitchen overhaul, new flooring in the dining room and lounge area, and new windows throughout showcasing views of the highest peaks in the eastern U.S. In a release from Explore Burnsville, Melissa Howell says, “We designed the menu to be fresh and approachable, with no unpronounceable items.”

That means sandwiches — including the 6684’ Burger, recognizing the mountain’s elevation — paninis, soups, salads, plates and a Little Hikers children’s menu. In addition to the 6684’ Burger, several items reference mountain history, including Camp Alice Chili, named for a cook at the former logging camp at the bottom of the hill below the restaurant, and the Elisha Pimento Melt, a nod to the mountain’s namesake, Elisha Mitchell.

Mount Mitchell Café & Eatery is at Mount Mitchell State Park, 2388 N.C. Highway 128, Burnsville. Hours are 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily May-September, 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. in October and closed November-April. For more information, visit avl.mx/dti.

Wine dinner at RendezVous

RendezVous will host its first wine dinner of the summer on Thursday, June 27. Four courses and an amusebouche by chef Benjamin Anderson will be paired with Oregon wines chosen by sommelier Richard McKinney and served on the East Asheville restaurant’s porch. Among the dishes on the menu are vichyssoise with Marcona almonds, fresh corn and pea shoots, and roasted lamb chops with cornmeal cakes and braised local cabbage.

The dinner begins promptly at 6 p.m. The cost is $100 per person.

RendezVous is at 184 New Haw Creek Road. For reservations, visit avl.mx/dte.

Botanist & Barrel’s new summertime wines

Botanist & Barrel has introduced two new vintages of wines for the summer of 2024. DéFi Sangiovese Pet Nat Rose was created by B&B sommelier and co-owner Amie Fields, giving her love of Sangiovese rosé a sparkling twist with fresh strawberries, watermelon, wild roses and a touch of citrus zest.

Perfect for chardonnay lovers, Vidal Blanc is rested in neutral French oak wine barrels to create texture, body and creaminess to balance the natural high acidity of the grapes. The grapes were handpicked from S&W Vineyard in Virginia and fermented with native yeast.

Both wines are $32 and available to buy online at avl.mx/dtb, as well as at the Botanist & Barrel wine bar and bottle shop at 32 Broadway.

Devil’s Foot releases summer sodas

Asheville-based Devil’s Foot Beverage Co. rolled out some new

flavors this month to celebrate summer. The classic tastes of the season — lemonade and limeade — come together for the Sparkling Lemon Lime soda, made with fresh citrus and lightly sweetened with organic cane sugar. Just in time for Coke floats is Devil’s Foot Cola, which adds organic cane and brown sugar to a signature herb and spice blend.

There’s no tequila but plenty of that margarita mood in Devil’s Foot’s just-released Zero Proof Margarita. The eighth in the company’s Zero Proof Cocktail series, it includes fresh organic lime juice, organic orange, South Carolina honey, organic cane sugar and sea salt.

The sodas are available at Devil’s Foot’s The Mule taproom at 131 Sweeten Creek Road. They can also be found online at avl.mx/dtc and are coming soon to Earth Fare and Fresh Market stores.

Happy hour appetizers and brunch at RosaBees

Despite multiple attempts by lobbyists and the hospitality indus-

try, North Carolina remains one of eight states in the country that do not permit businesses to host traditional happy hours — usually a couple of hours in late afternoon or early evening when some alcoholic beverages are discounted. Any drink specials must be available all day.

Melissa Gray, renowned pastry chef and owner of RosaBees restaurant — where savory Hawaiian meets sweet Asheville in the River Arts District — has introduced happy hour half-price appetizers Tuesday-Thursday, 5-6 p.m., with drink specials available all day on those days. Quaff $4 Maui Brewing beers on Tuesdays, $2 select house cocktails on Wednesdays and halfprice sake on Thursdays.

Chef Cookie Hadley also now serves brunch Wednesday-Sunday, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dishes include banana nut French toast, brekkie okonomiyaki (a savory Japanese pancake) and the Waikiki breakfast with teriyaki-glazed, house-made Spam or organic tofu.

RosaBees is at 27 Foundy St. For more information, visit avl.mx/ds1.

— Kay West  X

Around Town

Asheville painter Onicas Gaddis will exhibit a new collection, The Spiritual Expressionism Paintings of Onicas, at Sunnyside Trading Co. on Sunday, June 30, 2-5 p.m.

Gaddis was recently featured, along with two other artists, in a PBS special titled “Origin: Creators of the Carolinas.” In the special, Gaddis discussed his discovery of painting while growing up in a series of Alabama group homes. Onicas notes that painting sustained him through years of hardship, eventually leading him to his mentor, Sarah Carlisle Towery, a Black Mountain College alumna. The time Gaddis spent with Towery at the Alabama Art Colony informed the “spiritual expressionism” Gaddis says characterizes his work.

Connection to ancestry is another recurring component of his work, and Gaddis mentions the influence of a DNA test a friend gifted him in 2017. “A good portion of my DNA comes from Benin, Africa. When I saw the Benin art from the 1400s, it gave me a connection. I saw their sculptures and thought that it looked like me, ” says Gaddis. “After spending my entire childhood in foster care and not having a connection to family lineage, that opened something up in me. I’m also Irish!”

Gaddis’ work is featured as part of the permanent collection at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts.

Sunnyside Trading Co. is at 27 Foundy St. No. 80. For more information, visit avl.mx/dtr

Heart of Brevard plans multiple events

Heart of Brevard will host Shindig on Main, a celebration of

MOVIE REVIEWS

THE BIKERIDERS: The latest gem from writer/director Jeff Nichols (Mud) dramatizes the early days of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club. Grade: A-minus — Edwin Arnaudin

Local painter featured on PBS exhibits new collection

EXPRESSIONIST EXHIBIT: Local painter Onicas Gaddis will present a new collection of works in his “spiritual expressionist style.” Photo courtesy of Gaddis

Independence Day, on Thursday, July 4, 4-9:30 p.m.

The celebration will take place on East Main Street, kicking off with a flag-raising ceremony at 4 p.m., followed by local elected officials reading the Declaration of Independence. There will be two musical performances on the courthouse lawn, the Cody Hale Trio at 5 p.m. and Steve Simon and the Kings of Jazz at 7:15 p.m. Main Street will be closed to automobile traffic for street dancing. Several food trucks will be available on-site, including Milk and Honey, Brevard Pizza Works, Kernel Mike’s Famous Kettle Corn, Cosmic Cotton Candy and Jenny’s Minis Donut Bus. The Brevard social district will also be available for those looking for adult beverages at the event.

Fireworks will begin at 9:30 p.m., launched from Brevard College. The fireworks will be visible from Main Street and Jailhouse Hill, and Brevard College has welcomed the community to view the fireworks from campus.

Heart of Brevard will also host an Old Time Street Dance on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 6-9 p.m., in downtown Brevard, with Whitewater Bluegrass Co. performing live music. The Old Time Street Dance is a Brevard tradition that began in the 1940s and ran through the 1960s. After that, the dances happened irregularly until 1998, when Bill Tinsley and Rob Ewen brought the tradition back.

“Brevard’s Old Time Street Dance has become a cherished tradition in the hearts of the people of the community,” says Nicole Bentley, executive director of Heart of Brevard. “We’re proud to provide opportunities that bring people together, celebrate our rich heritage and enhance the vibrancy of downtown Brevard.” This year’s street dance takes place in conjunction with National Night Out, a policeled community-building campaign.

Shindig on Main will take place at 7 E. Main St., Brevard. For more information, visit avl.mx/dts.

Voting rights exhibit at Mountain Gateway Museum

The Mountain Gateway Museum has unveiled A Place at the Polls, an exhibit covering the history of voting rights in North Carolina.

The exhibit explores the wars, protests and social changes that led the federal government to create constitutional amendments protecting voting rights. It also looks at the impact of the 15th Amendment, which granted African American men the right to vote, as well as the women’s suffrage movement in North Carolina.

“I believe learning about voting rights, regardless of where you are from, is important,” says Brittany Joachim, historic interpreter for the museum. “Seeing how the law impacted those in the past, who didn’t have a say in who makes those laws,

helps remind us why it is so important for all of us to vote today. Showing the national and state impact, and what that looked like on a regional level, helps to dispel the myth that Western North Carolina was not isolated from these issues, nor did it have a passive role.”

The exhibit will have campaign buttons and old voting machines on display, with many artifacts coming from the Asheville Museum of History, the Swannanoa Valley Museum and the Western Regional Archives.

The Mountain Gateway Museum is part of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which manages over 100 locations across the state, including a diverse array of museums, zoos, libraries and parks as well as 27 historical sites. At the end of June, the museum will feature a traveling exhibit about architect Douglas Ellington and his impact on Asheville.

The Mountain Gateway Museum is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 2-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free, and the exhibit will be on display until February.

The Mountain Gateway Museum is at 24 Waters St., Old Fort. For more information, visit avl.mx/dtt.

SART establishes new endowment

The Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, a theater company in Mars Hill that specializes in second-run productions, has announced the formation of the SART Endowment.

The endowment continues the theater’s nearly 50-year commitment to supporting the arts. As a nonprofit, the theater relies on support from local small businesses, community organizations and the general public to meet its yearly fundraising goals. The SART Endowment will ease financial pressure on the theater and possibly reduce the number of individual donations the theater will have to solicit each season.

The SART endowment is longterm-focused, accumulating over time to fund projects in the years ahead. “The eventual goal of this new endowment is to provide funding for one main-stage production every year,” says Jack Womack, director of public relations. “A main-stage production can easily cost thousands of dollars, and Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre is also one of just a few theaters in WNC committed to paying its actors and staff a fair wage, making our expenses higher.”

The Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre will perform

Charlotte’s Web: Theater for Young Audiences from Friday, July 5-Sunday, July 14 at 2 p.m. The play adaptation was written by Joseph Robinette

The Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre is at 44 College St., Mars Hill. For more information, visit avl.mx/cxs.

Q&A focuses on immersive installation

Tryon Arts & Crafts School will host a Q&A with Janet Orselli to discuss her installation Precious Things on Wednesday, June 26, 2 p.m.

The installation, sponsored by New View Realty, is an immersive experience that Orselli hopes will alter the participant’s frame of reference, evoking illusions of intimate rooms and voyeurism. “For me, an installation is all about creating an environment where the audience is entered into a physical space of memory, of reference,” says Orselli. “A lot of the materials I use are natural, some are man-made, and I use them in a way to highlight the fact that we’ve lost our connection to the natural word and even man-made items which were precious and passed down.”

The arrangement is site specific, using found-object assemblages and movable walls. Orselli constructed the project during a one-month residency at the craft school. “We worked nonstop for 17 days,” Orselli says of the experience. “I got to do something a lot more extensive than what I would normally do.”

In addition to receiving multiple grants from the N.C. Arts Council, Orselli has also received a PollockKrasner Foundation fellowship and has taught drawing classes at several South Carolina colleges. The installation will remain on display until Friday, July 19.

Tryon Arts & Crafts School is at 373 Harmon Field Road, Tryon. For more information, visit avl.mx/dtu.

Swannanoa Gathering names new director

Jim Magill, the founding director of the Swannanoa Gathering, will step down after 33 years of service. Kevin Kehrberg, a musician and professor at Warren Wilson College, has accepted a two-year appointment as the new interim director.

The Swannanoa Gathering was founded in 1991 by then-President Doug Orr, offering an educational program of folk music workshops on the Warren Wilson campus. The weeklong programs are taught by

expert folk artists and include fiddle week, mandolin and banjo week, traditional song week, Celtic week, oldtime week, contemporary folk week and guitar week.

“Anyone who has attended a workshop or a concert will agree that the Swannanoa Gathering provides consistent excellence in music,” says Damián Fernández, current president of Warren Wilson College, in a press release. “We are thankful to Jim for his immeasurable impact on American musical tradition, and we look forward to the ways Kevin will build on Jim’s legacy to advance the Swannanoa Gathering in its mission to preserve, promote and pass on the traditions of folk music.”

Magill will continue to serve as Swannanoa Gathering director emeritus to aid in transitional fundraising efforts. Full leadership changes will go into effect following the summer season. Kehrberg’s vision for the future of the Swannanoa Gathering includes closer collaboration with the music department at Warren Wilson College.

Warren Wilson College is at 701 Warren Wilson Road, Swannanoa. For more information, visit avl.mx/dtv.

— Oby Arnold  X

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26

12 BONES BREWERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

ASHEVILLE PIZZA & BREWING CO.

Trivia Trivia!, 6:30pm

BARLEY'S TAPROOM & PIZZERIA

Trivia Night w/ PartyGrampa, 7pm

EULOGY

Donnie Doolittle w/ Cold Choir & Dreamkill (dark-wave, electronic), 9pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

Saylor Brothers & Friends (jamgrass), 6pm

HI-WIRE BREWING BIG TOP

Trivia, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Well-crafted Music Series: Life Like Water & Matt Smith, 6pm

IMPERIÁL

DJ Otto Maddox (soul, funk), 9pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Old Time Jam, 5pm

LAZOOM ROOM BAR & GORILLA

• Everybody But You Bro: Comedy Open Mic, 6pm

• THEM: A Queer & Femme Comedy Showcase, 8:30pm

OKLAWAHA

BREWING CO.

Bluegrass Jam w/Derek McCoy & Friends, 6pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Amabel Lee Band (country, folk), 10pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING WEST

Latin Night Wednesday w/DJ Mtn Vibez, 8pm

SHAKEY'S Sexy Service Industry Night, 10pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Trivia Wednesdays, 7pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Poetry Open Mic, 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Red Fred, Charli Jasper, DJ Tommy M & Natural Blk Invention (noisepop, dub-techno), 9pm

THE DRAFTSMAN

BAR + LOUNGE

Trivia Nights, 7pm

THE GREY EAGLE Colicchie (rap, hip-hop), 7pm

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR

Knotty G's (Americana, soul), 7pm

THE ODD

Boyscoutmarie, Peach Rings, Powder Horns & Feeling Format (prog-pop, indie-punk, lo-fi), 7pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

Jenny Lewis w/Dean Johnson (indie-rock, country), 8pm

THE OUTPOST Bluegrass Jam w/Sam Wharton, 6pm

THE RAILYARD BLACK MOUNTAIN Dan's Jam (bluegrass), 7pm

URBAN ORCHARD

CIDER CO. SOUTH SLOPE Trivia, 6:30pm

VOWL SpinKick (punk, rock, hardcore), 7pm

THURSDAY, JUNE 27

27 CLUB

NiGHTofAL, Bruschetta Delorean, Disco Goddess & Abito Nero (psych, synth-wave, electronic), 9pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR

BAR

Mike & Pat's Band (rock, Americana, folk-country), 8pm

CLUBLAND

LOCALLY GROWN DIRT: On Saturday, June 29, Asheville-based trio East Coast Dirt plays at The One Stop, below Asheville Music Hall, starting at 10 p.m. The trio will offer up its unique psych-rock sound. Photo courtesy of East Coast Dirt

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

Cordovas & Kendall Street Company (rock'n'roll, jazz, psych), 8pm

BOWL IN THE WALL Trivia Night, 6:30pm

CITIZEN VINYL

Mabilene & Sara Jean Kelley (folk, country), 8pm

CROW & QUILL

Otis Trick & The Books (rock'n'roll), 8pm

EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY Karaoke, 8pm

EULOGY

Grails w/Nathan Bowles Trio (psych, experimental, hip-hop), 8pm

FLEETWOOD'S Space Grandma, Snake Prophecy & Acid Joe (punk, experimental), 9pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

Jerry's Dead (Grateful Dead & JGB Tribute), 6pm

GINGER'S REVENGE Funky Fresh Comedy, 7:30pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich, 7pm

LA TAPA LOUNGE

Iggy Radio (Southern-rock), 7pm

MILLS RIVER

BREWING CO.

Kayla McKinney (country, rock), 6pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Sketoe's Ghost (soul, funk, rock), 7pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Anon Trio w/Felix Pastorius (jazz, electronic), 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

The Knotty G's Duo (Americana), 8pm

OUTSIDER BREWING

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Shovels & Rope (indierock, folk), 6:30pm

SHAKEY'S Karaoke w/DJ Franco, 9pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Karaoke Night, 8pm

SLY GROG LOUNGE

Multi Wizard F*ckery Show, 8pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Stand Up Comedy for Your Health, 8pm

STATIC AGE LOFT

Karaoke Night, 10pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Erik Koskinen Band (rock'n'roll, gospel, blues), 8pm

WICKED WEED

BREWING

Beer & Loathing (rock), 6pm

FRIDAY, JUNE 28

27 CLUB

Systematic Devastation, Elderbug, Sick Beyond & The Welcoming (metal, rock), 8pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR

BAR

Mr Jimmy's Friday Night Blues, 8pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Brother & Sister (Allman Brothers tribute), 9pm

BERADU

The Candleers (country), 6pm

CATAWBA BREWING CO. SOUTH SLOPE

ASHEVILLE

• Comedy at Catawba: Juan Nicolón, 7pm

• Freaky Friday StandUp Comedy, 9pm

CORK & KEG

The Uptown Hillbillies (country), 8pm

CROW & QUILL

Nick Garrison Jazz, 8pm

EULOGY

• Twen w/Heffner & Siblings (rock), 8pm

• Dance Floor Rapture w/DJ Lil Meow Meow, 11pm

FLEETWOOD'S

CTNW, TinyTVS & Psycho Psycho (rock'n'roll, garage-punk), 8pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

DOWNTOWN

TAPROOM

Rhythm Tryst (soul, rock, surf), 6pm

IMPERIÁL

DJ Lake Solace (R&B, hip-hop), 9pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Stranger Company (rock'n'roll, funk), 9pm

LA TAPA LOUNGE

Open Mic w/Hamza, 8pm

MAD CO. BREW

HOUSE

Mitch McConnell & the Senators (folk, bluegrass, indie), 6pm

NOBLE CIDER & MEAD TAPROOM AND PRODUCTION

FACILITY

Crisp Comedy w/ Hunter Roberts, 7pm

OKLAWAHA

BREWING CO.

Jesse Velvet (funk, rock, soul), 8pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Klark Sound & Improvement Movement (jazz, psych-folk), 10pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

Emily Musolino (blues, soul, rock), 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Andrew Scotchie w/ Whitney Monge (rock'n'roll, Americana, blues), 7pm

RABBIT RABBIT

Silent Disco: Cancer Party, 9pm

SALVAGE STATION

Michael Franti & Spearhead (indie, rock, pop), 6pm

SHAKEY'S Oceanic Band (indiepop), 9pm

SHILOH & GAINES Free Flow Band (funk), 9pm

SILVERADOS Trey Lewis (country), 7pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Neptune Dunes (rock, psychedelic), 9pm

STATIC AGE LOFT City Bois (dance party), 10pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Bottled Violence, Garden Angel, Cystic Nourishment & Nobody's Fool (emo, power-violence, speed-gore), 9pm

THE GETAWAY RIVER BAR

Drrtywulves + Axel Thesleff (bass, edm), 5pm

THE GREY EAGLE Asheville After Dark: Perversions, 9pm

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR

Sal Landers’ Party Rx (rock'n'roll), 7pm

THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Juno Dunes (shoe-gaze, Southern-rock), 7pm

CLUBLAND

THE ODD

Suede Presents: 12th House, 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

Trail By Fire (Journey tribute), 8pm

THE RAILYARD BLACK MOUNTAIN

Muddy Guthrie & Friends (rock, Americana), 7pm

THE RIVER ARTS

DISTRICT BREWING CO.

Glamma Ray (acoustic), 7pm

URBAN ORCHARD

CIDER CO. SOUTH SLOPE

EDM Night w/Dimitri Henry, DJ Daggett & Rab!d Ron!e, 9pm

WXYZ BAR AT ALOFT Chess Club (pop, rock), 7pm

WICKED WEED WEST

Paul Edelman (rock, folk), 5pm

SATURDAY, JUNE 29

ASHEVILLE CLUB

Mr Jimmy (blues), 6pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Marvel Years & Vincent Antone (future-funk, hip-hop, trap), 9pm

BATTERY PARK

BOOK EXCHANGE

Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 6pm

CORK & KEG

Fond d'Culotte (Cajun), 5pm

CROW & QUILL

Kid Dutch (jazz), 8pm

DSSOLVR

Last Call: Late Nite Comedy, 10:30pm

EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY

Brody Hunt & the Handfuls (country, honky-tonk), 8pm

EULOGY

• Astoria w/ Superflower & Lava Gulls (experimental, electronic-pop), 8pm

• Iglesia del Perreo w/ DJ Grimmjoi, 11pm

IMPERIÁL

DJ Nex Millen (hip-hop, R&B), 9pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

• Bluegrass Brunch w/Crystal Fountains, 12pm

• Nobody’s Darling String Band, 4pm

• Ben Balmer (Americana, folk, blues), 9pm

LA TAPA LOUNGE Karaoke, 9pm

LAZOOM ROOM

Karaoke w/KJ Beanspice, 8:30pm

LITTLE JUMBO

Livin Jumbo: A Sims Dance Party, 10pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Pleasure Chest (blues, soul, rock'n'roll), 8pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

East Coast Dirt (psychrock), 10pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

Acklen Walker (hip hop, pop, indie-rock), 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Hustle Souls w/Krave Amiko (retro-soul, blues, Americana), 9pm

SALVAGE STATION

Michael Franti & Spearhead (indie, rock, pop), 6pm

SHAKEY'S Friday Late Nights w/

DJ Ek Balam, 12am

SHILOH & GAINES

Chess Club (pop, rock), 9pm

SIERRA NEVADA

BREWING CO.

Drew Froust & The Wheelhouse (soul, blues), 2pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Fern (rock, funk), 9pm

STATIC AGE LOFT

Cyberdungeon (techno, edm), 10pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Adam Holzman (synth, electronic), 7pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Patio: Blue Cactus (folk, alt-country, psych-rock), 5:30pm

THE ODD Party Foul Drag, 8pm

THE OUTPOST Flashback Fringe (psych-rock), 7pm

THE RAILYARD

BLACK MOUNTAIN Cuberow (Americana, funk, indie-folk), 7pm

THE RIVER ARTS

DISTRICT BREWING CO.

TJ Stacy & Team Awesome (soul, funk, rock), 5pm

URBAN ORCHARD

CIDER CO. SOUTH

SLOPE

Pride Drag Show, 7:30pm

VOWL

Dungeons & Drag, 9pm

WXYZ BAR AT ALOFT

DJ Abu Disarray, 7pm

SUNDAY, JUNE 30

ARCHETYPE

BREWING

Sunday Funday w/DJs, 1pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR

BAR

Mark's House Jam & Sunday Potluck, 3pm

CATAWBA BREWING CO. SOUTH SLOPE

ASHEVILLE

Comedy at Catawba: Tom Luciano, 6:30pm

EULOGY

EyeHateGod w/No/ Mas & Harsh Realm (metal), 8pm

FLEETWOOD'S Yer Flowers, Claire Whall & Feeling Format (indie-rock, country), 9pm

FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY

Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 3pm

GINGER'S REVENGE CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM

Jazz Sunday's, 2pm

IMPERIÁL

DJ Mad Mike (hip-hop, indie, funk), 9pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

• Bluegrass Brunch w/ The Bluegrass Brunch Boys, 12pm

• Traditional Irish Jam, 3:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

The Lads (rock, blues), 3pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

The Knotty G's String Band (Americana), 9pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING WEST

Beacon of Light (jazz, soul), 8pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Pisgah Sunday Jam, 6pm

S&W MARKET

Mr Jimmy (blues), 1pm

SIERRA NEVADA

BREWING CO.

Dulci Ellenberger (pop), 2pm

SLY GROG LOUNGE

Open Mic w/Mike AndersEn, 6:30pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Cosmic Appalachian Soul Sundays, 7pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Adam Lion & Damron & ffALO (experimental, electronic, indie), 9pm

THE DRAFTSMAN BAR + LOUNGE

Karaoke Nights, 7pm

THE GREY EAGLE

• Patio: Whitehall (indie-rock), 5:30pm

• Kristy Lee (folk), 8pm

THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Fire Flower (jazz), 2pm THE OUTPOST

The Grateful Family (Grateful Dead tribute), 4pm

THE RIVER ARTS DISTRICT BREWING CO.

Jason Curtis (soul, folk, country), 2pm

PLĒB URBAN WINERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 4pm

MONDAY, JULY 1

27 CLUB Monday Karaoke, 9pm

5 WALNUT WINE BAR

CaroMia, Rahm, Iannuci & Jaze Uries (dreampop, soul, R&B), 8pm

FLEETWOOD'S Best Ever Karaoke w/ KJ Chels, 9pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

Let Me Guess Trivia, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Quizzo! Pub Trivia w/ Jason Mencer, 7:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Takes All Kinds Open Mic Nights, 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING Open Mic Night, 7:30pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Mashup Mondays w/ JLloyd, 8pm

SHAKEY'S Open Mic Night w/ Nick, 6pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Rui Gabriel, Sinai Vessel & Julie Odell (indie-rock, folk, postpunk), 9pm

THE BIER GARDEN

Stand Up Comedy of Zo Myers, 8pm

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR

Mr Jimmy & Friends (blues), 7pm

THE RIVER ARTS DISTRICT BREWING CO. Trivia w/Billy, 7pm

TUESDAY, JULY 2

ARCHETYPE BREWING

Trivia Tuesday, 6:30pm FUNKATORIUM Trivia w/Billy, 7pm

LOOKOUT BREWING CO.

Team Trivia Tuesday's, 6:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Team Trivia, 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

The Grateful Family Band Tuesdays (Grateful Dead tribute), 6pm

SHAKEY'S Booty Tuesday w/DJ Lil Meow Meow, 9pm

SHILOH & GAINES Open Mic, 7pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Tuesday Night Open Jam, 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE Of Montreal (indie, pop), 8pm

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3

BARLEY'S TAPROOM & PIZZERIA Trivia Night w/ PartyGrampa, 7pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN PRESBYTERIAN

Aaron Price & Friends, 7pm

DSSOLVR Blowin' Smoke Comedy Showcase, 9pm

FLEETWOOD'S PSK Karaoke, 9pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

Saylor Brothers & Friends (jamgrass), 6pm

HI-WIRE BREWING

BIG TOP Trivia, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Well-Crafted Music w/ Matt Smith, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Old Time Jam, 5pm

OKLAWAHA

BREWING CO.

Bluegrass Jam w/Derek McCoy & Friends, 6pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Lady & The Lovers (funk, R&B, rock), 10pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING WEST

Latin Night Wednesday w/DJ Mtn Vibez, 8pm PULP

Fifty-Year Flood w/ Solvivor (rock), 8pm

SALVAGE STATION

Killer Queen (Queen tribute), 8pm

SHAKEY'S Sexy Service Industry Night, 10pm

SHILOH & GAINES Trivia Wednesdays, 7pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Poetry Open Mic, 8pm

THE RAILYARD

BLACK MOUNTAIN

Dan's Jam (bluegrass), 7pm

VOWL

SpinKick (punk, rock, hardcore), 7pm

THURSDAY, JULY 4

ARCHETYPE

BREWING

Free Drag Queen Karaoke, 7pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

DJ Williams Band & JBOT (hip-hop, funk rock), 9pm

BURNTSHIRT

VINEYARDS

The Candleers (country), 2pm

CROW & QUILL

Black Sea Beat Society (Balkan, Turkish, folk), 8pm

EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY Karaoke, 8pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

Jerry's Dead (Grateful Dead & JGB Tribute), 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich, 7pm

LA TAPA LOUNGE

Iggy Radio (southern-rock), 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

Two Fontaines (altrock, blues), 8pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING WEST

Fee Fi Phaux Fish (multi-genre), 7pm

SHAKEY'S Karaoke w/DJ Franco, 9pm

SHILOH & GAINES Karaoke Night, 8pm

STATIC AGE LOFT Karaoke Night, 10pm

WICKED WEED

BREWING

Cactus Kate (country), 5pm

INDOOR AND OUTDOOR SPACE

food. music. beer. community. and maybe a train or two.

Wed, June 26, 7pm

Dan 's Jam – Open Bluegrass Jam

Every Wednesday! Come jam with us – all levels are welcome.

Thurs, June 27 2 free shows, 7pm

On the outdoor stage (weather permitting):

81 Drifters - Get your feet a-tappin’ to a high-energy mix of Western swing, jamgrass, blues, & Appalachian folk

In our Events Space:

Free screening of “Common Ground,” a documentary film about farmers on the front lines of the food movement and their potentially Earth-saving agricultural practices.

Fri, June 28, 7pm Muddy Guthrie Sat, June 29, 7pm

Americana, classic rock & blues from Asheville-based duo Jeb Rogers & Mike Huber

Cuberow

Soulful Indie featuring Melissa Autumn Raines & Billy Presnell

Details, food menus and more at railyardblkmtn.com

live music + 15 screens of sports + full bar + tasty eats + ice cream sammies + fun for the family open til 11 pm | kitchen closes 10 pm on fri and sat 141 RICHARDSON

-

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): This may sound weird, but I think now is a perfect time to acquire a fresh problem. Not just any old boring problem, of course. Rather, I’m hoping you will carefully ponder what kind of dilemma would be most educational for you — which riddle might challenge you to grow in ways you need to. Here’s another reason you should be proactive about hunting down a juicy challenge: Doing so will ensure that you won’t attract mediocre, meaningless problems.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Now is an excellent time to start learning a new language or to increase your proficiency in your native tongue. Or both. It’s also a favorable phase to enrich your communication skills and acquire resources that will help you do that. Would you like to enhance your ability to cultivate friendships and influence people? Are you interested in becoming more persuasive, articulate, and expressive? If so, Taurus, attend to these self-improvement tasks with graceful intensity. Life will conspire benevolently on your behalf if you do. (P.S.: I’m not implying you’re weak in any of these departments; just that now is a favorable time to boost your capacities.)

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Barbara Sher and Barbara Smith wrote the book I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It. I invite you to think and feel deeply about this theme during the coming months. In my experience with Geminis, you are often so versatile and multi-faceted that it can be challenging to focus on just one or two of your various callings. And that may confuse your ability to know what you want more than anything else. But here’s the good news. You may soon enjoy a grace period when you feel really good about devoting yourself to one goal more than any other.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You are entering a phase when you will be wise to question fixed patterns and shed age-old habits. The more excited you get about re-evaluating everything you know and believe, the more likely it is that exciting new possibilities will open up for you. If you are staunchly committed to resolving longstanding confusions and instigating fresh approaches, you will launch an epic chapter of your life story. Wow! That sounds dramatic. But it’s quite factual. Here’s the kicker: You’re now in prime position to get vivid glimpses of specific successes you can accomplish between now and your birthday in 2025.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): How many different ways can you think of to ripen your spiritual wisdom? I suggest you choose two and pursue them with gleeful vigor in the coming weeks. You are primed to come into contact with streams of divine revelations that can change your life for the better. All the conditions are favorable for you to encounter teachings that will ennoble your soul and hone your highest ideals. Don’t underestimate your power to get the precise enlightenment you need.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Border collies are dogs with a herding instinct. Their urges to usher, steer and manage are strong. They will not only round up sheep and cattle, but also pigs, chickens, and ostriches — and even try to herd cats. In my estimation, Virgo, border collies are your spirit creatures these days. You have a special inclination and talent to be a good shepherd. So use your aptitude with flair. Provide extra navigational help for people and animals who would benefit from your nurturing guidance. And remember to do the same for your own wayward impulses!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): We have arrived at the midpoint of 2024. It’s check-in time. Do you recall the promises you made to yourself last January? Are you about halfway into the frontier you vowed to explore? What inspirational measures could you instigate to renew your energy and motivation for the two most

important goals in your life? What would you identify as the main obstacle to your blissful success, and how could you diminish it? If you’d like to refresh your memory of the long-term predictions I made for your destiny in 2024, go here: tinyurl.com/Libra2024. For 2023’s big-picture prophecies, go here: tinyurl.com/2023Libra.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio-born Gary Hug was educated as a machinist and food scientist, but for many years he has worked primarily as an amateur astronomer. Using a seven-foot telescope he built in the backyard of his home, he has discovered a comet and 300 asteroids, including two that may come hazardously close to Earth. Extolling the joys of being an amateur, he says he enjoys “a sense of freedom that you don’t have when you’re a professional.” In the coming weeks, Scorpio, I encourage you to explore and experiment with the joys of tasks done out of joy rather than duty. Identify the work and play that feel liberating and indulge in them lavishly.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Your power spots will be places that no one has visited or looked into for a while. Sexy secrets and missing information will be revealed to you as you nose around in situations where you supposedly should not investigate. The light at the end of the tunnel is likely to appear well before you imagined it would. Your lucky number is 8, your lucky color is black and your lucky emotion is the surprise of discovery. My advice: Call on your memory to serve you in amazing ways; use it as a superpower.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Happy Unbirthday, Capricorn! It’s time to celebrate the season halfway between your last birthday and your next. I hope you will give yourself a fun gift every day for at least the next seven days. Fourteen days would be even better. See if you can coax friends and allies to also shower you with amusing blessings. Tell them your astrologer said that would be a very good idea. Now here’s an unbirthday favor from me: I promise that between now and January 2025, you will create healing changes in your relationship with your job and with work in general.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): While sleeping, my Aquarian friend Janelle dreamed that she and her family lived in a cabin in the woods. When dusk was falling, a strange animal put its face against the main window. Was it a bear? A mountain lion? Her family freaked out and hid in a back bedroom. But Janelle stayed to investigate. Looking closely, she saw the creature was a deer. She opened up the window and spoke to it, saying, “What can I do for you?” The deer, who was a talking deer, said, “I want to give you and your family a gift. See this necklace I’m wearing? It has a magic ruby that will heal a health problem for everyone who touches it.” Janelle managed to remove the necklace, whereupon the deer wandered away and she woke up from the dream. During subsequent weeks, welcome changes occurred in her waking life. She and three of her family members lost physical ailments that had been bothering them. I think this dream is a true fairy tale for you in the coming weeks, Aquarius.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A psychologist friend tells me that if we have an intense craving for sugar, it may be a sign that deeper emotional needs are going unmet. I see merit in her theory. But here’s a caveat. What if we are currently not in position to get our deeper emotional needs met? What if there is at least temporarily some barrier to achieving that lovely goal? Would it be wrong to seek a partial quenching of our soul cravings by communing with fudge brownies, peach pie and crème brûlée? I don’t think it would be wrong. On the contrary. It might be an effective way to tide ourselves over until more profound gratification is available. But now here’s the good news, Pisces: I suspect more profound gratification will be available sooner than you imagine.

MARKETPLACE

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REAL ESTATE HOMES FOR SALE

LIVE LIGHTER ON THE EARTH AT WESTWOOD, A UNIQUE CO-HOUSING COMMUNITY! 3 bedroom/2 bath home. The end-unit features solar-assisted radiant floor heating, spacious deck, open floor plan and more. Enjoy all the benefits of a co-housing lifestyle of a co-housing community. 43 Vermont Ct UNIT A4, Asheville, NC 28806. Visit westwoodcohousing.com or VermontCourtA4.com for details. $449,000. Contact Terry Horner at 828-712-6340 or Jim Reid at 828-606-0590 for information. Offered by Preferred Properties of Asheville. 828-712-6340

RENTALS

COMMERCIAL/ BUSINESS RENTALS FURNISHED OFFICE FOR THERAPIST OR WELLNESS

COUNSELOR Furnished office for therapist or wellness counselor in Biltmore Village area, Tuesday through Friday, $500 monthly. 828-408-0432 sandy@mountainmental health.sprucecare.com

EMPLOYMENT

GENERAL

CHURCH MUSICIAN St. Luke's Episcopal Church seeks applicants for Parish Musician to begin September 1. Organists and pianists are encouraged to apply. Review the full job description at https://www. stlukesavl.org/staff

PROFESSIONAL/

MANAGEMENT

MOUNTAIN HOUSING

OPPORTUNITIES SEEKS COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT OFFICER

MHO seeks a dynamic external relations professional. The Communications and Engagement Officer will develop and deliver innovative strategies to build awareness, grow connections, showcase impact, and inspire support. careers-page.com/mho/job/ L7796Y5X

HOME IMPROVEMENT

HANDY MAN

PRESSURE WASHER Need something washed? Email Jim for a site visit and quote. Jim cleans houses, decks, and driveways. Insured. jdpowerwasher1@gmail. com 8283352598

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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1 Language from which we get “shampoo”

6 Story that starts with the end?

10 “Let There Be Rock” band, 1977

14 A Philly cheesesteak comes “wit” or “witout” it

15 Umpteen’s antithesis

16 Nile queen, familiarly

17 Coeur d’___, city on Idaho’s panhandle

18 Carbonated fountain drinks that contain neither …

20 Derby entrant

21 Kind of “quotes”

22 Up to this point

23 Unusual meat courses that are neither …

26 Bub

27 Two past “cue”

28 Response to “Who’s ready?”

29 Where total revenue is listed on a financial report

31 Some smallish batteries

32 Word in an advertiser’s starburst

33 Celebratory occasions for founders to ring the N.Y.S.E. bell, for short

34 What 18-, 23-, 49- and 56-Across could be called

39 Cube creator ___ Rubik

40 StubHub purchases, informally

41 Brian who composed the original startup sound for Windows 95

42 Clunkers

44 TV actor who was once a bodyguard (charging $10k/day)

45 Me, in Marseilles

48 Navajo neighbor

49 Woodwind instrument that is neither …

52 Longtime bridge columnist Charles

54 France’s ___-en-Provence

55 Roof parts

56 Breakfast cereal that contains neither …

58 Feudal lord

59 Dublin’s land, to Dubliners

60 Fairy tale monster

61 Currently happening

62 Lengthy construction project, per a saying?

63 Intersect

64 Reformer Horace and writer Thomas DOWN

1 Like fervent fans at the Kentucky Derby, punnily enough

2 Typical holiday visitors

3 Wife’s sister’s daughters, e.g.

4 This guy gets it!

5 Like the property cited in Newton’s first law

6 Difficult kind of push-up 7 Humphrey of old Hollywood, to fans 8 They don’t appreciate well

Are cheaper

Like our standard number system