Mountain Xpress 07.12.23

NOT SO PEACHY

Peaches are one of the South’s most iconic fruits. But due to a warmer winter, followed by a series of April freezes, locally grown peaches are harder to come by. For area farmers, makers and bakers, this year’s low supply is creating a number of issues for their bottom lines.

COVER PHOTO Courtesy of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project

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Hopes for Asheville’s reparations

My hope is that the people who lived in Asheville in the ’60s and ’70s (Black) will actually see or benefit somehow from funds awarded to the reparation cause.

Many times, funds get “ate up” in administrative costs or constant bickering about ways to spend funds (when people cannot agree on ways to use funds).

I understand this is a slow and meticulous process, but some who lived through that time in Asheville would love to say, “Reparations took place in Asheville.”

I have a somewhat different perspective. I would have funds be spent on building something up rather than tearing down the Vance Monument. I did not agree with withholding funding from the police.

If we (Blacks) had listened more to the Rev. Wesley Grant instead of completely dismissing him, we might have more Black neighborhoods and Black businesses today.

— Anthony Williams Durham

Please don’t leave your dog in a parked vehicle

I’m writing in response to the extremely alarming frequency with which I’m encountering dogs that have been left in parked vehicles in Asheville. Apparently there isn’t common awareness of just how dangerous this is for your animal’s safety, potentially leading to heat stroke, brain damage and even death in a matter of minutes.

It seems there’s a misconception that if the outside air feels comfortable to humans, and if the windows of the vehicle are left partially open, it’s fine to leave a dog in a car for a short time, but this is far from the truth and doesn’t take into consideration some crucial factors: One is that dogs aren’t able to regulate their body temperature in the ways humans can, so our own gauge of how pleasant

the weather is should not be used to determine the risk to a dog.

Another critical factor is that the inner temperature of a parked vehicle increases very rapidly when parked, and studies show that opening windows does not have a significant enough effect on the vehicle’s inner temperature to make this safe. If the outside temperature is just 60 degrees or above, it is already too hot to leave a dog in a parked car for any amount of time, which means that on any spring or summer day in North Carolina, it is too hot to leave a dog in a parked car.

If you’re running errands, please leave your dog at home. If you’re taking your dog in the car to go for a hike, plan accordingly to not have to make stops; your pet’s health and life depend on it.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Ask your vet or visit the page on The Humane Society’s website dedicated to this issue: [avl.mx/ctv].

— Vida King Asheville

Heat pump water heater plot twist

I recently installed my first heat pump water heater after reading about them online on sites like CleanTechnica. It was a mostly painless experience, except for the part where I had it inspected by the city of Asheville. Then it got a little confusing.

I was getting conflicting information about whether or not the heater needed to be elevated on a stand in

my garage. The city inspectors were saying, “Yes, definitely put it up on a stand.” I had a feeling that I should have just listened to them, but after speaking with a representative from Rheem, who assured me I didn’t need to and that the unit had a controller at the top that was already about 5 feet off of the ground, I decided to install it directly on the ground. Unfortunately, the Rheem person I spoke with had not read the instruction manual carefully enough, and there was a sentence buried in the middle that basically said: Put it on a stand. So I had to pay my plumber to come back, unhook everything, drain the heater and put it on a stand.

The heater works great, and I’m glad that I switched. I’m excited to see our energy bills coming down. When the inspector came back with the green tag, he told me not to worry — this was the third one this week that had to be elevated after it had been installed.

So for any other readers thinking about installing a new hybrid heat pump water heater, they are great — just make sure to put it on a stand if it’s in your garage.

— Rob Simon Asheville

Make efforts to learn and engage with our world

Walking my dog on the Asheville streets with my new hearing aid, I experienced the beauty of new sounds, including a chorus of birds. Of course, there’s the other side: I can’t avoid the jarring noises like the city bus and trucks as they roar past my house.

I wonder. Life simply goes on, things happen, the good and the bad, whether we are conscious of it or not. We may not be aware that the goodness and beauty of life is present as we struggle to survive and thrive in our world of uncertainty. Or are unconsciously not aware of the terrible pain and suffering of the world.

As a nation, we need some form of hearing, seeing and thinking aids that help us recognize there are powerful forces bringing forth progress. The dreams of a more just and peaceful future are great motivators. Without hope, it’s easy to become cynical, bitter and tired by the second half of life — the point where hopefully our experiences develop and mature with more freedom and responsibility.

I applaud Mountain Xpress’ dedication to local issues. But recognize that local issues are influenced by the national and global world, especially when talking about education, homelessness and justice or peace.

CARTOON BY RANDY MOLTON

This necessitates that we inform ourselves of the deeper meanings of our political, economic and war-making American way of life.

For example, did you notice that during the threatened “shutdown,” there was no mention of cutting military spending? In fact, military spending continues to increase, despite efforts from our local Reject Raytheon group’s attempts to inform us of some hard-to-face truths. Supporting the military-industrial complex’s arms race is a reckless way to create jobs.

Another informative letter pointed out the crisis of the mentally ill in the Burton Street neighborhood [“Asheville Needs Organized Solutions for Homeless Situation,” March 29, Xpress], and an Asheville Watchdog article [ “The Justice System’s Revolving Door”] quoted Michael Casterline suggesting, “Trying to fix the mental health problems of the world … with the criminal justice system is like fixing a car with a sewing machine.” And Ken Jones writing about “Cop City” suggested that “policing has been used to criminalize the homeless” [“We Don’t Need ‘Cop City,” April 26, Xpress].

I don’t have to tell you something is wrong in America. Deep down, you know. Many blame the government or Republicans, Democrats, always pointing fingers, scapegoating others.

We grow up in a country run by politicians and the wealthy who manufacture weapons of destruction that will kill babies and the innocent with the lie it makes the world safe for children to grow up in.

My hope is in the younger generations. Yes, many are not able to actively participate or study history, science or the great thinkers of the past, but each of us can do are small part: Be kind and respect differences, while informing ourselves of the meaning of life.

Let’s pay more attention to what I’ve called “Life-Long-Learning.” Read, study and act in some way, through your church or one of the many active local groups to change our society. It’s a lifelong job that benefits yourself as you expand your spiritual awareness of what it is to be human. What you do today will determine the future you and our children will live in. It’s like having a “hearing aid”: You’ll get to recognize an ever-increasing appreciation of the good, the beautiful and the true. This letter is my clumsy way of participating. It’s taken me a lifetime, and I’m still learning.

Email esacco189@gmail.com for resources.

— Ed Sacco Asheville

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

CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN

Money matters

Better pay can help solve local child care crisis

BY MELISSA MAHONEY AND MOLLIE GORDON

It will come as no surprise to families here that the child care system is in crisis. On average, there are more than five North Carolina families competing for every available licensed child care slot, according to the nonprofit N.C. Early Education Coalition. And during a March panel discussion, CEO Marcia Whitney of the Asheville-based Verner Center for Early Learning said her organization has a waiting list of over 600 families.

It’s no secret that child care has long been too expensive and hard to find, and without policy intervention, this situation will only continue to worsen. To give Asheville families the support they need, the state legislature must prioritize tackling the multifaceted weaknesses in the child care labor market.

This is a problem many cities face, and the impacts aren’t limited to

families: Lack of child care costs the U.S. an estimated $57 billion a year in lost wages, revenues and missed opportunities for training and promotions, a 2019 study found. And meanwhile, the industry is still struggling to recover from pandemic-related challenges.

Here in Asheville, however, the child care crisis is particularly sobering, and the large exodus of workers underscores this. Between 2019 and 2022, the number of child care workers in the area declined from 1,045 to 869. That’s a 16.8% decrease — twice the national average. Our research found that many of these “missing” child care workers have simply switched occupations, finding new jobs with better pay.

HARSH ECONOMICS

Low wages and poor benefits make it difficult for child care workers —

who are disproportionately women and women of color — to sustain their livelihood. Despite the crucial role they play in preparing tomorrow’s citizens, the average wage for child care professionals in the U.S. is only $13.42 an hour, well below Buncombe County’s living wage of $20.10 and the national average for private-sector service workers, which is $33.36.

What’s more, low-income families, especially those who are Black or Hispanic, are particularly hard-hit by both the lack of availability and the rising cost of child care. For these families, the impact can be staggering, taking up to 35% of their income. And though subsidies are available in Asheville, there are simply too few slots where qualifying parents can actually use them.

This scarcity of options, in turn, often results in the mother or some female relative — such as a grandmother or older sister — taking on the responsibility. That makes it harder for people who want to work or go to school to do so and ultimately exacerbates broader economic inequality. Even when mothers do continue to work, they often seek part-time positions or those with flexible work hours that can more readily accommodate their child care responsibilities. But such jobs typically offer lower pay and fewer benefits, thereby contributing to the gender wage gap.

Mollie Gordon, who co-authored this commentary, recently had the opportunity to work closely with state Rep. Caleb Rudow and professor Melissa Mahoney conducting research on child care in Asheville. She’s also experienced this continuing crisis firsthand. Gordon’s son starts kindergarten this fall, and

despite an extensive search for suitable child care, the best she could find was a half-day slot at a local school. And while she counts herself fortunate to have the support of her grandmother, who’s offered to care for the child during the rest of the day so Mollie can go to school and work part time, many families don’t have that option.

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

The good news is that thanks to several bills now being considered in Raleigh, state lawmakers have a crucial opportunity to address both low pay for workers and insufficient availability of child care. With pandemic-era federal funding for child care providers ending soon, timely intervention is needed to stave off a worsening crisis. The current proposals include a three-year pilot program aimed at developing a public-private, cost-sharing partnership; initiatives to reduce the cost of child care for working families; and action to raise the pay of child care workers, which is essential for attracting and retaining these key employees.

Together, these measures would go a long way toward giving families much-needed support. Accordingly, state lawmakers must prioritize this pressing issue during the current legislative session. It is painfully clear that the stakes for both Asheville families and our local economy are too high to permit any further delay.

Melissa Mahoney is an associate professor of economics at UNC Asheville. Mollie Gordon, a recent graduate of the school, is a former intern for state Rep. Caleb Rudow. X

MELISSA MAHONEY MOLLIE GORDON

“In March, the Asheville-based Verner Center for Early Learning had a waiting list of over 600 families.”

Looking over their shoulders

LGBTQ community ramps up vigilance

BY JESSICA WAKEMAN

jwakeman@mountainx.com

Drag queens have long known to protect each other.

Dahmit Janet of the Beer City Sisters explains, “One of our big rules is that, particularly if we’re ‘in face’” — meaning in drag — “that you just don’t go anywhere alone.”

No exceptions. “Even if it’s, like, ‘My car’s parked right there!’” She says. “‘No, I’m gonna come with you, just because.’”

Beer City Sisters’ shows in Asheville don’t draw many protesters, Janet says. But occasionally when the Sisters walk around town “in face,” people will yell at them from cars. (“We just kinda wave and keep walking,” she says with a laugh.)

But a visit to Johnson City, Tenn., on June 24 for its Rainbow Festival was different. “When we got there there were several [protesters] as we made our way in,” Janet explains. Protesters were “for the most part not being combative, but letting us know how they felt about us.” On that occasion, she felt grateful the group traveled together.

“There is this heightened sense among the entire LGBTQ community here of fear,” says Amy Upham, executive director of Blue Ridge Pride, which is planning its Pride festivities in September. The event could draw 20,000 attendees based on its permitting application. This year, Blue Ridge Pride anticipates tripling the amount it spends on security.

Even in Asheville, touted as “gay-friendly” by everyone from real estate agents to the local tourism board, fear is growing over the escalating hostility toward the LGBTQ community.

A Campaign for Southern Equality report published in May found that of 165 LGBTQ people in Western North Carolina surveyed, one-quarter reported experiencing physical violence related to their identity, while 80% reported emotional or verbal violence related to their identity.

LOCAL LANDSCAPE

Buncombe County is the only one of 18 counties in WNC, and Asheville the only city, with local protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, the Campaign for Southern Equality report says. However, North Carolina does not require mandatory reporting of hate

crime statistics and has not eliminated bias rage (or “panic defense”) for criminal acts, according to a state scorecard by Human Rights Campaign, a nationwide LGBTQ advocacy organization.

Among the venues and events in Buncombe County that focus on LGBTQ patrons or performers — such as fundraisers and parties, bars and clubs, children’s drag-queen story hours, comedy shows and drag shows — safety and security are ever-present concerns.

“We want to talk about Asheville as a liberal place,” says Youth OUTright Executive Director Adrian Parra, who uses they/them pronouns. (Youth OUTright is a nonprofit supporting LGBTQ youths in Western North Carolina, which hosts numerous social events, including an annual Queer Prom for people ages 14-20.)

“But I think that there are limits to that,” they say.

Janet confesses to taking Asheville and its queer-friendly reputation “a little bit for granted,” which “now in this current climate, we’re pulling that back in.”

The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t track the reason for hate-fueled incidents, says spokesperson Christina Esmay. She says that if an incident is identified as having hate bias as a motivation, it is sent to N.C. State Bureau of Investigation or the FBI.

Asheville’s law enforcement does track the reason for hate bias incidents. There have been 13 incidents that resulted in charges for hate bias against sexual orientation to the Asheville Police Department from 2018 to June 2023, says spokesperson Samantha Booth

According to APD data shared with Xpress, eight of the anti-gay bias incidents were directed toward men, while

five incidents involved lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Three incidents were reported in 2021, five in 2022 and four so far this year. (Booth notes that gender identity is not a category being tracked for bias charges, although the gender identity of the victim is tracked in such circumstances.)

However, statistics may be underreported because not every incident is reported to the police and not every incident results in a charge. Some LGBTQ people acknowledge less willingness to report crime due to a concern police won’t help them or fear police will cause further harm. (North Carolina law does not prohibit profiling based on actual or perceived LGBTQ status by law enforcement, the Human Rights Campaign state scorecard reports.)

“The Asheville Police Department is committed to unbiased, equitable and respectful treatment of all persons in

RAINBOW BRIGHT: Blue Ridge Pride executive director Amy Upham, left, and her wife, Amanda Smith, regularly celebrate Pride in Asheville. Photo courtesy of Upham

enforcing the law and providing police services,” says Deputy Chief Mike Lamb in a statement. “Maintenance of public trust and confidence in law enforcement is critical to effective policing and is achieved largely through the respectful, fair and equitable treatment of the public. This is a basic requirement of law enforcement and the right of all persons in our society.”

Booth notes that APD previously had staff members serving as LGBTQ community liasions, but those roles are currently unfilled.

TRIPLING PRIDE SECURITY

In the wake of a Supreme Court ruling allowing businesses to refuse LBGTQ customers and an overall hostility from certain segments of the population, planning for this year’s Pride festival is a little more complex.

Blue Ridge Pride is forming a subcommittee specifically to address security for the festival, Upham says. She plans to invite first-responder agencies to attend those planning meetings.

Upham joined Blue Ridge Pride in May and says her understanding is it spent about $1,000 on security last year. “We’re going to at least triple our security costs this year,” Upham continues. Pride always had security at the festival, but this year she anticipates additional personnel due to municipal requirements for security at public events and fears among festival planners.

“I’m in contact with a couple of other major cities who have gotten security right over the past several years,” Upham says. She has attended weekly calls about Pride festival security by CenterLink, a nationwide nonprofit supporting LGBTQ community centers. She’s also consulted guidance from the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection from Georgetown Law published in May about how armed extremists might attempt to interfere with Pride, what types of activities by armed extremists are considered unlawful and how Pride organizers can protect community members.

The institute suggests hiring additional private security to supplement law enforcement, which Upham says Blue Ridge Pride is considering.

Security provided by off-duty members of APD and BCSO is costly. According to the city of Asheville’s Outdoor Special Event Guide, a uniformed police officer with a vehicle has a standard rate of $86.25 per hour, with a four-hour minimum, and a uniformed supervisor with a vehicle has standard rate of $97.75 per hour. The Office of Special Events does not offer a nonprofit rate for off-duty security.

Off-duty members of BCEMS can be hired for events to provide medical coverage, and the nonprofit

Buncombe County Rescue Squad can be hired for medical standby.

KEEPING A POSITIVE VIBE

Pride organizers seek to balance the need for security with a wish to provide comfort for attendees in other ways.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from the LGBTQ community, especially the trans community, that cops feel unsafe,” says Upham. She says the organization takes these opinions seriously.

“But we also know we need, frankly, armed security there because of the potential for the act of an armed assailant in a crowd of 15,000, 20,000,” she says, “The conversation is around how do we have that [police] presence without making it feel like a prisonlike system where people are boxed in by cops.”

Melissa Hahn, who books comedy shows through Modelface Comedy, also questions the optics of visible police presence at Blue Ridge Pride, suggesting it “raises anxiety levels so much.” She suggests plainclothes officers might be more suitable.

Another consideration for the LGBTQ community is handling protesters. When Janet from Beer City Sisters recently visited Johnson City, she noticed something unusual on a protester, who told her she was going to hell: He was wearing a body camera.

“Why was he wearing it? He was looking for a moment he could share on social media, of course,” Janet says. “I find that [protesters] a lot of time, that’s what they’re looking for. The important thing is don’t give them anything that they can use.”

While giving a protester a viral moment isn’t worthy of Janet’s attention, she says keeping the public aware of the dangers LGBTQ people face is important.

“While of course there’s trepidation about attracting too much attention, I think we need to speak up and speak out,” she says.

ZERO TOLERANCE, OR NOT

Bars and venues in Asheville already have various elements of security, usually in the form of a bouncer checking identification at the door. In previous Xpress reporting, Amy Marshall, co-owner of The Odd, and Morgan Hickory, co-owner of Shakey’s, say their employees are scrutinizing customers at the entry more thoroughly, and staff has discussed protocols for dangerous situations. Both bars host drag performances, LGBTQ-friendly dance parties and in the case of Shakey’s, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” watch parties.

Hahn says the feeling of safety for LGBTQ people — whether onstage

as performers or as audience members and customers — is variable. “A lot of places like to think that they are [queer-friendly].” says Hahn. “Some places are actually more so than others.”

True safety can’t be measured by the presence of a gay pride flag in the window of a brewery. She recalls a venue that posted signs claiming zero tolerance for bigotry. “When we would go to the owners and be like, ‘Hey, we’re having issues’ … the owners would always just be like, ‘Well, they’re spending money here.’”

Management inaction shows that enforcing policies against bigotry “doesn’t matter, and that [it] is performative,” Hahn says. “Then the customers start to realize that it’s performative. And you lose your queer customers, because they don’t feel safe.”

Hahn says queer events feel safer in West Asheville versus downtown. “I’m less likely to have a drunk bachelor party come be disruptive in the middle of the show in West Asheville, whereas in a brewery if I started setting up the queer comedy party, they can be jerks about it sometimes.” She says when more conservative tourists come to her events, they can seem ruffled.

Different Wrld in West Asheville is her preferred location for queer-friendly events. “If someone’s being a problem, it’s not just on me to kick them out,” she explains. “The entire staff has my back.” But if circumstances require Hahn to step up at any venue, she will. “I don’t have an issue with confrontation,” she says.

Nevertheless, the responsibilities that come with working to keep a community feel safe weigh on her. Anxiety from hateful incidents against LGBTQ people, like the Club Q nightclub shooting in Colorado last year, is jarring.

“Anytime there’s a story in the news about a shooting in a theater or any event like that, I have nightmares for weeks about that happening at one of my shows,” says Hahn. “It’s very stressful.” X

Sky-high growth

BY GREG PARLIER

The number of passengers served by Asheville Regional Airport is taking off faster than the commercial jets in which they ride. However, more travelers are creating parking headaches at the state’s third-busiest airport. At the same time, the airport earned the unfortunate distinction as having the third-worst rating for summer travel, according to Forbes Advisor.

“There is a national awareness of this market among the airline industry, which is terrific,” Tina Kinsey, the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority’s director of marketing, public relations and air service development, told members of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority at an April 26 meeting. “The airlines that are here are pleased with their utilization and profitability in our market. And that’s what it’s about for them. The planes are very full.”

In 2022, 922,000 passengers took off from Asheville’s airport, which sits on the Buncombe-Henderson county line. That’s 29% more than in 2021, and 15% more than the previous record year, 2019. As of April, the number of passengers — or enplanements as the airline industry calls the number of passengers that depart from an airport — is up another 25% in 2023 over last year’s record numbers.

The growth has outpaced all projections, already almost doubling numbers outlined in the airport’s 20-year master plan, drafted in 2013, for 2025 enplanements. In a 2018 study conducted by consultants CHA Design/ Construction Solutions, the airport was projected to handle about 569,000 enplanements in 2023, just 62% of last year’s customer load.

Asheville Regional Airport expanding as demand soars

“There is literally no way to predict this kind of growth — [Asheville Regional] was the fastest growing airport in the country [in 2019],” Kinsey says.

In 2022, the airport surpassed Piedmont Triad International Airport near Greensboro as the state’s third-busiest, and there’s no sign of the trend slowing. The two busiest are Charlotte Douglas International Airport and RaleighDurham International Airport.

“We have some significant momentum occurring in our market. Asheville and WNC is a place that people want to visit, and it’s also a place filled with people who love to travel by air. The airlines see this,

and they continue to be profitable in our market, so they continue to grow,” Kinsey says.

With the addition of service to Phoenix in May, passengers now can fly to 26 destinations, 11 more than five years ago.

ON-TIME TURBULENCE

Atop the unprecedented growth, Asheville suffers flight delays beyond its control.

The height of airport congestion typically occurs in what are traditionally its two busiest months, July and October. In 2022, the airport saw an average of more than 6,200 passengers daily in both July and October.

That may help explain a recent Forbes Advisor report that ranked Asheville Regional as the third-worst airport for summer travel, based on 10 metrics affecting the punctuality of flights and airfare prices in June, July and August.

Asheville has the fourth-highest percentage of weather delays, sixth-highest percentage of delays caused by late-arriving aircraft and eighth-lowest percentage of on-time flights among the nation’s 100 busiest airports, according to the report.

In response to questions about delays, Alexandra Ingle, the airport’s brand and experience designer, says airport management can’t control the weather, delays originat-

ing elsewhere or Federal Aviation Administration-related holdups.

“The runway is not congested. Delayed arrivals are caused by other issues, mainly out of the control of the airport,” she says.

In fact, the Forbes report says Asheville’s ranking as the 15th-highest percentage of national aviation system delays is caused in part by heavy traffic volume as well as airport operations and air traffic control.

One issue that does sometimes slow arrivals is Asheville’s status as a one-runway airport. That means if a plane has a mechanical issue on the runway, the FAA holds arriving flights in the air until the runway is clear and safe for arrivals. But it’s a rare occurrence, Ingle says.

Kinsey says geographic realities mean Asheville will always be a one-runway airport, but it’s big enough to handle projected traffic for decades to come, partially because larger commercial jets typically used by the country’s largest airlines are now serving Asheville, meaning it takes fewer planes to serve the same number of passengers.

That trend of using larger jets is occurring industrywide as an ongoing pilot shortage parallels increasing passenger rates, says Tim Anderson, chair of the aviation management and career pilot technology program at A-B Tech.

The pilot shortage has been an issue since 2013 because of more cer-

FULL LOTS: Western North Carolina residents looking for parking at the airport are often directed farther from the terminal to lots serviced by a shuttle during busy summer months. Photo by Frances O’Connor

tification requirements and an aging pilot population, he says.

The 2013 rule required commercial pilots to have 1,500 hours of total flight time, up from 250 hours. A-B Tech is the only school in the Carolinas that offers Airline Transport Pilot certification with only 1,250 hours, thanks to a federal exception, Anderson says.

Additionally, Congress is considering lifting the mandatory pilot retirement age from 65 to 67, which may alleviate the shortage in the short term, he says.

PARKING PAINS

To help handle some of the traffic, the airport began construction on a new air traffic control tower in January, relocated to the west side of the runway for greater visibility and efficiency. It will break ground on a terminal expansion in August, adding five gates for a grand total of 12 when completed in late 2026.

All that construction can make flying out of AVL seem more chaotic than in years past, something airport leadership acknowledges.

“We know that we are experiencing growing pains. The fast-paced and significant growth year after year is very real, and we know that our passengers feel it. We hope that the excellent connectivity we all have now at Asheville is a big win for everyone. But we also have empathy regarding challenges that impact passengers — especially parking,” says Lew Bleiweis, president and CEO of the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority.

Parking is the complaint most heard by airport officials, and some ask why the airport doesn’t build a second parking garage to accommodate the influx of passengers, Bleiweis says.

A second garage is in the longer-term master plan, according to Kinsey, but for now, the airport is spreading out rather than up for additional spaces.

“We had already planned for an increase this summer by adding two additional overflow lots earlier this year, and we stood up a third temporary overflow lot very quickly in early June to help alleviate the continued surge in demand,” Kinsey says.

An additional 600-space shuttle lot under construction near the WNC Agricultural Center will open this fall, she says. That lot will bring the total available public spaces up to 3,200 in the garage, daily, shuttle and overflow lots.

For comparison, roughly 3,000 people on average flew from Asheville per day in July 2022, the busiest month to date.

During particularly high-usage times, the airport’s cellphone lot — where drivers typically wait for a passenger whose arrival has been delayed — opens for overflow parking, one of several temporary solutions that Kinsey acknowledges isn’t ideal.

“It takes significant time — often years — to go through the environmental, engineering, design, planning, bidding and building required to add more permanent parking to an

airport. Additionally, we must be able to finance the cost. Airports are complex organizations with many regulations to follow, and the wheels do not turn quickly — even when growth is occurring faster than forecasted.”

In the meantime, Kinsey suggests travelers consider getting dropped off and picked up at the airport. If that’s not feasible, she says, passengers should arrive at least two hours before a flight to ensure there’s time to find parking, and if the main lots are full, attendants at the toll plaza will direct drivers to an overflow lot with shuttle service.

If you opt for a taxi or ride app, Kinsey says the designated pickup location will temporarily change “very soon” to the parking garage, allowing those waiting to do so out of the weather.

And to help pay for more spaces, parking fees have gone up starting this month. Daily parking now costs $12 a day and $72 a week, up from $10 and $60, respectively, and rates are higher in the garage and hourly lots. Kinsey says these rates are comparable to other airports in the Southeast.

PARDON ITS DUST

While officials insist the runway size is sufficient, the terminal is not, and its forthcoming expansion may give passengers the feeling that they are flying out of a construction zone, especially during WNC’s peak travel months.

“Passengers will feel crowded during the peak hours of our peak months,” Kinsey acknowledged. “But this is a natural consequence of the higher-than-average growth our region is experiencing, and we are moving forward with our plan to alleviate this congestion.”

Currently, three gates are open in a modular building on the south end of the current terminal, which will allow the airport to maintain seven gates throughout construction. A new north concourse with seven gates and a larger waiting area is projected to be completed by the end of 2025, at which point the south end will be closed, demolished and rebuilt.

Ultimately, the airport will be 150% larger than it is now, designed to serve up to 4 million passengers a year with room for further future expansion, Kinsey says. Last year’s 1.8 million passengers had the airport bursting at the seams.

Until then, airport officials are asking for patience from passengers fighting for parking spaces and seats in concourse waiting areas while the airport grows.

“To be an organization that experiences double-digit growth year after year is challenging in many ways, and I am proud of the forward-thinking board and management team who have put the wheels in motion for all the great improvements that have recently taken place, and that are on the way,” Bleiweis says. “We’re working hard to continually improve your experience as we build for the future [Asheville airport]. It’s going to be worth it, I promise.” X

FLYING HIGH: The number of passengers using Asheville Regional Airport has been growing for years. Graphic by Scott Southwick

Belle Meadow apartments in Hominy Valley asks to expand plans

Buncombe County

A project requiring a special-use permit, one special-use permit revision and one variance are on the agenda at the Buncombe County Board of Adjustment meeting at noon Wednesday, July 12. The in-person meeting will be at the Board of Commissioners Chambers, 200 College St.

Information on how to attend and apply for comment can be found at avl.mx/anq. No email or voicemail comments will be accepted.

SPECIAL-USE PERMITS

Both special-use permits are continued from the previous meeting in June.

Belle Meadow Phase II SUP Revision (37 Rathburn Plaza, 224 Cherrywood Way, 309 Blossom Bend Lane and 17 Eastview Circle, Lower Hominy Township)

QP Rathburn LLC of Newton, Mass., requests a special-use permit to revise aspects of Phase II of the Level I Planned Unit Development Belle Meadow. The revised plans will include nine residential structures with 17 additional rental units over 1.99 acres of the 10.69-acre development. Phase I of the development was approved in May 2022. Previous coverage in Xpress can be found at avl.mx/cql. Project documents can be accessed at avl.mx/cqj.

Old Fort Vacation Rental Complex SUP (343 and 347 Old Ford Road, Fairview, 28730)

Jonathan and Maria Pattavina of Fairview-based Pattavina Property Management LLC request a special use permit to have a four-unit, short-

VALLEY MEADOW: The developers of the Belle Meadow complex in Lower Hominy Valley have requested a special-use permit to build nine additional structures in Phase II of construction. Photo courtesy of Buncombe County Planning and Development Department

term rental complex over 1.55 acres. The two duplexes that house the units already have been approved for construction, and the two-unit duplex on the lower lot has been approved for short-term rental. The upper lot building has been approved for longterm rental. The current zone for the property is Open Use.

Project documents are available at avl.mx/cqk.

Asheville Planning Commission revises use tables

The City of Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission held a brief meeting June 21. The meeting, which was less than an hour long, focused on a proposed zoning text amendment to the allowed use tables in the United Development Ordinance.

To simplify use of the UDO, the city proposed to compile the ordinance’s four existing tables — the Main table, the Haywood table, the River Arts table, and the Land Impact Use table — into one large table. According to a presentation by the planner coordinating the review, Clay Mitchell, the consolidation would make it easier to find information and eliminate duplicate information.

The motion passed 5-0. Documents related to the zoning text amendment can be accessed at avl.mx/csx.

Walker Variance (82 Rhododendron Drive, Arden, 28704)

Leonard and Ellen Walker request a variance on a 0.33-acre property to change the front setback minimum requirement from 20 feet to 0 feet. According to the application, requiring an additional 20 feet of setback will make it more difficult to access the property, which is already 18 feet from the road. To meet steep slope requirements — the property has a slope of 47% — a switchback driveway would be required.

Eliminating the setback requirement will allow for the construction of a suitable residential driveway with minimal disturbance to the steep slope.

Project documents are available at avl.mx/csw.

City of Asheville

The public will be able to provide input on two plan reviews, three zoning map amendments and one zoning text amendment at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 19, which will

be in person at City Hall’s first-floor North Conference Room at 70 Court Plaza. A meeting of the same body to review the agenda, which is open to the public but does not allow public comment, will be at 4:30 p.m. in the fifth-floor Large Conference Room.

The Design Review Committee will meet virtually at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, July 20, with an agenda review at 12:15 p.m. the same day. The agenda for that meeting was not available as of press time.

PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION

Residents can submit comments over email and voicemail until 24 hours before the meeting or provide in-person comment during the meeting itself. Instructions on how to attend and comment, as well as the full meeting agenda, are available at avl.mx/8b6.

Because this month’s meeting is two weeks later than usual, an agenda was not available at the time of publication.

— Sara Murphy

What Would What Would You Do You Do Without Without Neuropathy Neuropathy Pain Pain

Several years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemotherapy treatments. I'm now in remission and have felt blessed to be here except for so much pain. My feet and hands were constantly burning – a tingling sensation, almost like when your leg is falling asleep," shares Barbara of Biltmore Forest.

Barbara was suffering from Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy or CIPN. While chemo kills cancer cells, it also causes much bodily damage. Nerves, especially those far from the brain, are among the first to be harmed. 30-40% of cancer patients treated with chemotherapy experience peripheral neuropathy.

"Standing all day was not just a challenge, and it caused me physical agony. Keeping up with my busy schedule – forget about it. I couldn't even go for walks in my neighborhood."

Barbara, like so many others, was prescribed Gabapentin help with the pain and told there was nothing anyone could do. In Doctors’ words, 'there is no treatment for neuropathy.'

Then Barbara found Dr. Autum Kirgan, DACM, C.SMA, L.Ac of South Slope Acupuncture & Wellness. By blending the time–tested science of acupuncture with more modern medical technology, Dr. Kirgan has designed a natural solution for peripheral neuropathy.

"Acupuncture is incredible at restoring blood flow and stimulating damaged nerves, preventing them from dying off," says Dr. Kirgan. "We take our treatments a step further by integrating FSM Therapy which targets specific nerves in the body using microcurrent. FSM Therapy is like watering a plant. This treatment will stimulate the blood vessels to grow back around the peripheral nerves and provide them with proper nutrients to heal and repair.

After only four weeks of treatment, Barbara is already seeing incredible improvement. "I've taken the handicap placard off my rearview mirror and I am finally back to walking my neighborhood. I can't wait to see how I feel at the end of my program! I used to think that this pain was just the price I had to pay for still being alive. Dr. Kirgan has really given me hope for a better life!"

The number of treatments needed to allow nerves to recover fully will vary from person to person and can only be estimated after a detailed neurological and vascular evaluation. If you or someone you love suffers from peripheral neuropathy (of any origin), call 828-575-5904 to schedule a consultation with Dr. Kirgan and her South Slope Acupuncture & Wellness team.

They are waiting for your call.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

JULY 12 - JULY 20, 2023

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 35

 More info, page 38

 More info, page 40-41

WELLNESS

Narcotics Anonymous

Meetings

Visit wncna.org/ basic-meeting for dates, times and locations.

Tai Chi for Balance

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

WE (7/12, 19), 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Free Zumba Gold Fitness program that involves cardio and Latin-inspired dance. Free, but donations for the instructor are appreciated. For more information please call (828) 350-2058.

WE (7/12, 19), noon, Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Yoga & Mindfulness

Free evening of breathwork, meditation and yoga with local yoga instructor Lauren Catalano.

WE (7/12), 6pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Dharma & Discuss

People coming together in friendship to meditate, learn and discuss the Dharma. Beginners and experienced practitioners are welcome.

TH (7/13, 20), 7pm, Swannanoa Valley Friends Meetinghouse, 137 Center Ave, Black Mountain

Free Yoga

Free yoga session outdoors.

FR (7/14), 5pm, Rabbit Rabbit, 75 Coxe Ave

Yoga Taco Mosa Donation based yoga with Clare Desmelik. Bring your mat, a water bottle and an open heart.

FR (7/14), 5:30pm, The Outpost, 521 Amboy Rd

Yoga at the Rooftop Terrace: Creative Flow Series

A unique creative flow experience that

combines the beauty of art with the power of mindful movement. All levels are welcome. Please bring your own mat.

SA (7/15), 9:30am, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Goat Yoga on the Farm

Move through your sun salutation in a wide open field as baby goats frolic nearby. Registration is required.

SA (7/15), 10am, Round Mountain Creamery, 2203 Old Fort Rd, Black Mountain

Therapeutic Slow Flow

Yoga

A blend of mediation, breathing and movement. All bodies, genders, and identities welcome. Bring your own mat.

SA (7/15), 10am, Mount Inspiration Apparel, 444 Haywood Rd, Ste 103

Magnetic Minds:

Depression & Bipolar

Support Group

Free weekly peer-led meeting for those living with depression, bipolar, and related mental health challenges. Email depressionbipolarasheville@gmail.com or call or text (828) 367-7660 for more info.

SA (7/15), 2pm, 1316

Ste C Parkwood Rd

Yoga in the Park

Each class is unique, intertwining movement and breath, with a different focus of strength and release. All-levels welcomed, but bring your own props and mat. Pre-register at avl.mx/9n6

SA (7/15), SU (7/16), 11am, Yoga in the Park Asheville, 220 Amboy Rd

Walking Meditation

A short walk with meditation instructions to reduce stress, anxiety and increase health and balance. Afterwards, there will be tea and snacks.

SU (7/16), 10am, Lake Tomahawk Park, 401 S Laurel Circle Dr Black Mountain

Summer Flow w/Jamie

This class is designed to cool the body during the summer months.

DEEP CREEK CLEAN: On Friday, July 14, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, July 15, at 8 a.m., Discover Life in America partners with Save Our Smokies to host a Bioblitz and Cleanup at Deep Creek Picnic Pavilion near Cherokee. This collaboration aims to remove litter in the area and also document many kinds of animals, plants and other organisms within Deep Creek.

Expect a slow flow with long cool downs. Class is held outside. Bring a mat.

SU (7/16), 10:30am, One World Brewing West, 520 Haywood Rd

Gentle Yoga for Queer & GNC Folks

This class is centered towards creating an affirming and inclusive space for queer and gender non-conforming individuals.

SU (7/16), 1:30pm, West Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Moving Through Grief:

Restorative Yoga & Grief Circle

A gathering meant to help ground and hold you as you navigate the many, and oftentimes mixed, emotions that are inevitable with loss. Live flute music provided by Conrad.

SU (7/16), 6:30pm, Black Mountain Yoga, 116 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Free Zumba

A fun hour of dance fitness. No experience required, all fitness levels are welcome. Bring a towel and

dancing shoes.

MO (7/17), 11:30am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Metta & Meditation

In-person guided meditation focused on benevolence & loving-kindness. This event is free to attend and open to beginners as well as experienced practioners.

MO (7/17), 7pm, Black Mountain Library, 105 N Dougherty St, Black Mountain, NC

Zumba

Mask and social distancing required. Registration not necessary. Por Favor usa tu cubre bocas antes de la clase.

TU (7/18), 6:30pm, St. James Episcopal Church, 424 W State St, Black Mountain

ART

Bailey Mountain Art Show

This show is a celebration and benefit of Bailey Mountain Preserve by local artists and community. Gallery open Monday through Friday, 10am, closed on Tuesday. Exhibition

through Aug. 18. Mars Hill University, Weizenblatt Gallery, 79 Cascade St, Mars Hill

Jacqueline Shatz & Margaret Thompson: Eidolon

Features Jacqueline Shatz’s small sculptures of ambiguous and hybridized figures as well as Margaret Thompson’s paintings which are inspired by elements of the symbolist movement and magical realism. Gallery open Tuesday through Saturday, 10am, and Sunday, 11am. Exhibition through July 23.

Tyger Tyger Gallery, 191 Lyman St, Ste144

Wildflower Drawing

Stephanie will guide you through stepby-step drawing and coloring techniques. There will be a handout of photographs of the flower to use as visual references. Each flower will be observed closely to learn more about their parts and unique characteristics. WE (7/12, 19), 10am, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

McNair Evans: Tomorrow Ever Comes

An installation of photographs taken on Amtrak trains between 2012 and 2022 by San Francisco based photographer McNair Evans. Gallery open Tuesday through Saturday, 11am. Exhibition through July 15.

Tracey Morgan Gallery, 188 Coxe Ave

Public Tour: The Art of Food

Join museum educators for a tour of The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. This exhibition explores the many identities of food in daily life: whether a source of pleasure, a reason for gathering, a mass-produced commodity, or a reflection of social ideologies and divisions. No reservations are required.

TH (7/13), 6pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Daily Craft Demonstrations

Two artists of different media will explain and demonstrate their craft with informative materials displayed at their booths, daily. These

free and educational opportunities are open to the public. Daily, 10am.

Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Pkwy Pulp Potential: Works in Handmade Paper

The works in this exhibition reveal the breadth of possibilities and unique qualities that exist when artists choose to employ and even create handmade paper. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed on Tuesday. Exhibition through July 14.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 SPack Square

Art Trunk Show: Carol Misner

Annual season of trunk shows highlighting talented creators of fine art, designer jewelry, and home goods. This week features Carol Misner's botanical paintings. SA (7/15), 10am, Acorns Boutique, 465 Main St, Highlands Hand-Piecing

In this class you'll learn how to create templates, transfer them to fabric and hand stitch everything together, along with lots of tips and tricks

along the way. SA (7/15), 10am, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

Bizarre Sábado

These Bizarre Sábadohappenings are inspired by Mexico City’s Bazaar Sábado, the innovative gathering place and crafts market first organized in 1960 by BMC alum Cynthia Sargent and her husband Wendell Riggs. SA (7/15), 1pm, Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St Art from the Garden Exhibit View the works created during the Garden Tour and mingle with the artists during the last leg of Art in Bloom's festivities. Gallery open Monday through Friday, 10am. Exhibition through July 26. Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain

The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation This exhibition explores the many identities of food in daily life: wheth-

Photo by RJ Smith

er a source of pleasure, a reason for gathering, a mass-produced commodity, or a reflection of social ideologies and divisions. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed on Tuesday. Exhibition through Oct. 22.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Black Mountain College & Mexico

Exhibition

The exhibition includes original visual works and sound installations by prominent contemporary Mexican artists alongside vintage works by BMC artists and relevant archival materials.

Gallery open Monday through Saturday, 11am, closed Sunday. Exhibition through September 9.

Black Mountain College

Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St

Altruistic Genius: Buckminster Fuller’s Plans to Save the Planet

This exhibition brings the inventions and designs of R. Buckminster Fuller to Western North Carolina and introduces visitors to Fuller’s strategies for the sustainability of humans and the planet relating to housing, transportation, mathematics, and engineering. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through August 21.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Arts-N-Scraps

Bring your creativity and interest in craft.

All the supplies will be provided for you.

TH (7/20), 5pm, The Burger Bar, 1 Craven St

Public Tour: Intersections in American Art Museum educators lead a tour of Intersections in American Art. The exhibition focuses on key aspects and strengths of the Museum’s holdings and provides a narrative framework within which visitors can interact with and experience works of art. No reservations are required. The

TH (7/20), 6pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

COMMUNITY MUSIC

The Orchard Sessions

w/Andrew Wooten & Caroline's Roost

The music of Andrew Wooten & Caroline's Roost feels like a pine-covered moonshine still on a foggy mountainside somewhere in the Carolinas.

WE (7/12), 6pm, The Farm at Old Edwards, 336 Arnold Rd, Highlands

Pritchard Park Songwriter Series

Each week will feature two songwriters from

the community playing songs about life in the 21st century.

TH (7/13, 20), 5:45pm, Pritchard Park, 4 College St

Jazz Jam

An open jam session. Drop-ins are welcome so bring your instruments.

TH (7/13, 20), 7pm,

LEAF Global Arts, 19 Eagle St

Galen Holland, Jack Miller & George Reeves

An evening of music from three of Asheville's most talented singer and songwriters.

TH (7/13), 8pm, Asheville Guitar Bar, 122 Riverside Dr

Summer Music Series

Live music from favorite local artists around town. This week enjoy music from Levi Carr.

FR (7/14), 6pm, Oak and Grist Distilling Co., 1556 Grovestone Rd, Black Mountain Concert Series on the Creek: Bird in Hand Free concert series for the community with Appalachian folk band Bird in Hand providing the good times this week. These events are free with donations encouraged. Everyone is welcome. There will be food trucks available on most nights.

FR (7/14), 7pm, Bridge Park Gazebo, 76 Railroad Ave, Sylva

Lillian Chase & Micah

John Concert

Two teen proteges who share a love for old-time tunes, tight harmonies and fiddle duets.

FR (7/14), 7pm, First Baptist Church of Weaverville, 63 N Main St, Weaverville

Summer Tracks Concert: Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters

Summer Tracks concert series in Rogers Park continues with Americana band Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters. Nuanced and insightful, her lyrics and the music she puts to them are rooted in country and Americana traditions.

FR (7/14), 7pm, Rogers Park, 55 W Howard St, Tryon

Rock Academy

Students perform rock songs of various genres, including blues, classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, punk and more.

SA (7/15), 1pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave

AmiciMusic Presents: Tremendous Trios

A powerful program of piano trios with Asheville natives Taya

Ricker and Franklin Keel who will join forces with pianist/Artistic Director Daniel Weiser.

SA (7/15), 2pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

An Appalacian Evening Series: The Amanda Cook Band

A six piece group with a great mix of contemporary and bluegrass sounds crowned by Amanda’s vibrant country voice and rhythm guitar.

SA (7/15), 7:30pm, Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center, 121 School House Rd, Robbinsville

Christopher Paul Stelling & Sophia

Corrine

An evening with Western North Carolina musical artists with intimate original sounds.

SA (7/15), 7:30pm, Story Parlor, 227 Haywood Rd

Micah Thomas Trio

Intimate show at the Foundry with Micah Thomas, Michael Jefry Stevens, and Danny Iannucci.

SA (7/15), 7:30pm, The Foundry Hotel, 51 S Market St

Gailfean

An Irish traditional music group featuring all-Ireland champions Brian Conway, John Whelan, and Máirtín de Cógáin, and renowned musician and festival organizer Don Penzien.

SA (7/15), 8pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Mark's House Jam & Beggar's Banquet

Weekly Sunday pot

luck and musician's jam with acoustic and plug in players. It's a family friendly community day so bring a dish to share.

SU (7/16), 3pm, Asheville Guitar Bar, 122 Riverside Dr

Chris Ruggiero: Teenage Dreams & Magic Moments

Chris's show breathes new life into the timeless music of the 50s, 60s and 70s with a live 6-piece band. He'll be joined by Jimmie Ross & Donna Groom.

SU (7/16), 7pm, Diana Wortham Theatre, 18 Biltmore Ave

The Asheville Jazz Orchestra

An evening of jazz favorites featuring this 17-piece Jazz Orchestra. Whether they are playing a swing dance, club date, or formal concert, the AJO is the hardest swinging band in Asheville.

SU (7/16), 7:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Sirens of Hominy Series

A collaborative in-the-round, featuring a different set of Asheville songstresses every week. Hosted by CaroMia, genres ranging from soul, R&B,

pop, jazz and country.

TU (7/18), 6pm, FBO Hominy Creek, 230 Hominy Creek Rd

Free Sound: Country Westerns & Gentleman Jesse

A highly curated collaborative concert series from Burial and Static Age Records, bringing audaciously inspiring live music to the Collier stage throughout the summer. This week features country rock and alternative rock acts.

WE (7/19), 5pm, Burial Beer Co., 40 Collier Ave Tina Malia Sonic creations span sacred chant, world, dream pop and folk music genres. A prolific singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and sound engineer.

WE (7/19), 7:30pm, AyurPrana Listening Room, 312 Haywood Rd

LITERARY

Pack Library Book Club: Why Bob Dylan Matters

A book discussion group that meets the second Wednesday of each month. The July 2023 book is Why Bob Dylan Matters by Richard F. Thomas.

WE (7/12), 10:30am, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St

Joke Writing Workshop

Hosted by Disclaimer Stand Up Lounge and moderated by Cody Hughes, weekly. Bring 90 seconds of material that isn’t working.

WE (7/12, 19), 6:30pm, Asheville Music Hall, 31 Patton Ave Poetry Open Mic Hendo

A poetry-centered open mic that welcomes all kinds of performers every Thursday night.

18+

TH (7/13, 20), 7:30pm, Shakedown Lounge, 706 Seventh Ave E, Hendersonville

Creative Writing Group

A workshop through Zoom with several rounds of writing prompts. This is a supportive and fun environment that promotes creativity. Email anna.booraem@ buncombecounty. org for the link to the online meeting.

TH (7/13), 4pm, Online Juniper Bends Reading Series

The series is curated by Lockie Hunter and Alli Marshall and It spotlights established and emerging writers. Expect readings by poets, novelists, short story writers, essayists and special musical guests.

FR (7/14), 6:30pm, Citizen Vinyl, 14 O'Henry Ave

Teen Poetry Writing & Slam

Explore styles, work with prompts, flex your voice and share your prose. Unique lesson plans every Tuesday.

TU (7/18), 2pm, The Elephant Door, 126 Swannanoa River Rd

Dark City Poets

Society Poetry Night

An evening of poetry with the Dark City Poets Society. Open to the public. Share a poem or just come listen.

TU (7/18), 6pm, 107 Market & Deli, 107 Black Mountain Ave, Black Mountain

Reading & Book

Signing w/Traci Sorell

A reading and book signing in the Museum

Store with Cherokee Nation citizen Traci Sorell. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required.

WE (7/19), 3pm, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, 589 Tsali Blvd, Cherokee

Swannanoa Valley

Book Club: Escaping

Yesterday: Book One in Freedom’s Edge Trilogy

Book club discussion of Escaping Yesterday: Book One in Freedom’s Edge Trilogy followed

by an author presentation with Jill LaForge Jones.

TH (7/20), 10am, Black Mountain Public Library, 105 N Dougherty St, Black Mountain

Lorna Goodison & Amy E. Elkins in Conversation

A lecture, poetry reading and conversation with Lorna Goodison and Amy E. Elkins.

TH (7/20), 7pm, Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St

THEATER & FILM

A Christmas Carol (in July)

The Montford Moppets

Youth Shakespeare Theater Co. stages, A Christmas Carol (in July). The cast and crew had just three days to produce their version of the Charles Dickens classic.

TH (7/13), 7pm, Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, 92 Gay St

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

This fresh and humorous musical version of the tale introduces new characters, even a sympathetic stepsister, additional Rodgers and Hammerstein songs and surprising magical

elements.

TH (7/13), FR (7/14), SA (7/15), TH (7/20)

7:30pm, SU (7/16), 2pm Hart Theatre, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville

Fully Awake: Black Mountain College

The film explores the college's progressive pedagogy, radical approach to arts education, and influential experiment in education that inspired and shaped twentieth century American art.

FR (7/14), 7pm, Black Mountain Public Library, 105 N Dougherty St, Black Mountain

Twelfth Night

A beloved Shakespearean masterpiece that combines mistaken identities, hilarious pranks and a touch of romance. FR (7/14), SA (7/15), SU (7/16), 7:30pm, Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, 92 Gay St

Movies in the Park

All movies are free and begin at dusk in Pack Square Park. This month's movie is Top Gun: Maverick. Bring blankets and folding chairs for comfort. There will also be food and treats from local vendors.

FR (7/14), 8pm, 1 South Pack Square Park

Denton The Dragon

A heart-warming not-just-for-kids musical written by Jeff Hutchins.

WE (7/12), TH (7/13), FR (7/14), SA (7/15), 7:30pm, SU (7/16), 2pm Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, 44 College St, Mars Hill

Some Notes on Dating

During Outbreak

After being quarantined to an empty dining room in a fancy restaurant, two strangers must decide whether to fight for their lives or simply enjoy the last night they may ever have on earth.

TH (7/13), FR (7/14), SA (7/15), 7:30pm, BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce St

Rocky Horror Music Show Live

A 12 person live music rock and roll review that presents the songs of Rocky Horror in a rock club setting. Think of it as a Rocky Horror tribute experience. SA (7/15), 8pm, The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave

Connect: An Improv Comedy Workshop

An improv workshop focused on developing group-mind through improv games and exercises. Open to

beginners and all experience levels. Ages 18+ SU (7/16), 1:30pm, Catawba Brewing Co. South Slope Asheville, 32 Banks Ave

Rock of Ages

This musical tells the story of a small-town girl, a city boy, and a rock ‘n’ roll romance on the Sunset Strip. This jukebox musical features all of your favorite ‘80s rock anthems and power ballads from bands including Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and more.

TH (7/14), FR (7/15), SU (7/16), 3pm, Hendersonville Theatre, 229 S Washington St, Hendersonville

Ten Minute Movies

Cult and classic movies are transform into ten-minute plays for the Grey Eagle stage, building ramshackle worlds out of old cardboard and goodwill castoffs. This installment of TMM is a benefit for Asheville Survival Project. SU (7/16), 8pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave

To Protect & Preserve: Historic Flat Rock's Legacy to Keep A new film showcasing a wealth of stories and

history specific to Flat Rock. The archivally rich film includes photos, maps, blueprints, literature and art from diverse repositories. The event is free to the public.

TU (7/18), 6pm, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood St

The Anonymous People: Recovery is Out

This enlightening and inspiring documentary examines how anonymous recovery programs for addiction have led to widespread misunderstanding about the realities of living with alcoholism and drug dependency.

TU (7/18), 6:30pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

MEETINGS & PROGRAMS

Competitive Duplicate Bridge Check bridgeweb.com/ avl for dates, times and special announcements.  All are welcome.

WE (7/12, 19), FR (7/14), MO (7/17), noon, Congregation Beth Israel, 229 Murdock Ave

Pritchard Park Series: Summer of Science

Explore hands on activities and experiments while we learn about the Science of Bubbles or the Science of Sound. Every other week we will play and learn together using a variety of tools, instruments, and toys.

WE (7/12, 19), 5:30pm, Pritchard Park, 4 College St

Spanish Club Spanish speakers of all ages and levels are welcome to join together for conversation to practice the language in a group setting.

WE (7/12, 19), 6pm, Black Mountain Brewing, 131 NC-9, Black Mountain

Butts & Boots: Line Dancing Beginner line dance and two-step lessons, every Thursday. No partner or experience needed.

TH (7/13, 20), 6pm, Banks Ave., 32 Banks Ave

Farm to Fabric Summer Camp

Local Cloth's initiative to reach out to the youth in our area to spread the love of these arts is highlighted with the debut of

this summer camp. Six fiber arts skills will be offered to learn in our Farm to Fabric class series.

TH (7/13, 20), TU (7/18), 9am, Local Cloth, 408 Depot St, Ste 100 North Asheville Family Bird Walk

An all-ages family bird walk with members of the Blue Ridge Audubon Society. This bird excursion will take place around Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary. Spaces are limited, so registration is required. Register online at avl.mx/cuj

TH (7/13, 20), 9am, North Asheville Library, 1030 Merrimon Ave

The Learning Garden Presents: Kid Friendly Gardening

Bring your children to learn about soil, water, seeds, plant needs and more with Extension Master Gardener volunteer Carol Brown. The presentation is free, but attendance is limited and registration is required.

TH (7/13), 10am, Buncombe County Cooperative Ext Center, 49 Mount Carmel Rd, Ste 102

Bridging the Language Barrier: Improving Safety Culture

Gain insight into how to provide a safer and more welcoming environment for Hispanic employees.

This includes strategies to put into practice to improve safety and communication.

This online seminar is essential for non-Hispanic trainers and supervisors of Hispanic workers, including crew leaders, project managers, superintendents, HR Managers and senior staff in the construction industry. Register at avl.mx/ct1

TH (7/13), 11am, Online

MBBC Networking

Meeting w/Steve Smith

An MBBC Networking meeting featuring Steve Smith, M.S. Lean Landscaping LLC. Expect a good conversation, networking, valuable business resources and food.

TH (7/13), 11:30am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Kingfisher Summer Mountain Bike Race

Series

A 6-week Summer Mountain Bike Race Series for fun and fitness. Bring your own bike and helmet.

50% of all Race Entry

Fee proceeds will be donated to IC Imagine to maintain their new Kingfisher Cross-country XC Trail.

TH (7/13, 20), 4pm, IC Imagine K-12 Public Charter School, 110 Champion Way

Change Your Palate

Cooking Demo

This free food demonstration is open to everyone but tailored towards those with type 2 diabetes or hypertension and/ or their caretakers.

Our featured host is Change Your Palate's very own Shaniqua Simuel.

TH (7/13), 5:30pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Story/Arts Residency:

The Memory Quilt Project (Scent & Taste)

This first iteration is an evening of art and stories inspired by the sense memories of scent and taste. Participants are encouraged to contribute their own stories, memories, and sensory items to enrich the fabric of this community quilt-making project. See p35

TH (7/13), 6:30pm, Story Parlor, 227 Haywood Rd

Swing Dance Lesson & Dance

Swing dancing lesson and dance, every Thursday.

TH (7/13, 20), 7pm, Alley Cat Social Club, 797 Haywood Rd

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 8:46 p.m. Location directions at avl.mx/prxa

FR (7/14), 5pm, Grassland Mountain Observatory, 2890 Grassland Parkway, Marshall

Brews & Bears

An after-hours summer event series where you can enjoy the WNC Nature Center in the evening. There are also food vendors and educational programming, along with popsicle enrichment for black bears Uno and Ursa.

FR (7/14), 5:30pm, WNC Nature Center, 75 Gashes Creek Rd

Plant Clinic

Master Gardener volunteers will be available to answers your gardening questions and address your related concerns.

SA (7/15), 9am, Asheville City Market, 52 N Market St

Composting Demonstration

See five different composting methods on display, including a single bin unit, a tumbling composter, a wood pallet bin, a classic 3-bin system and an example of vermiculture on demo day.

SA (7/15), 10am, Jesse Israel Garden Center at WNC Farmer's Market, 570 Brevard Rd

The Sri Kalki Soma Deeksha

Experience the power of Grace through the phenomena of Soma, water blessing, for breakthroughs in health, wealth, success, relationships, higher states of consciousness, joy and peace.

SA (7/15), 1pm, Unity of the Blue Ridge, 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Rd, Mills River

Shiloh Game Night

An evening of fun and innovative games. SA (7/15), 6pm, Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd

Ladies Sunday Cycles

This is a non drop ride, we have cue sheets via Ride with GPS, and there are options to either do the whole ride or head back when needed. Routes will be posted on the Ride My GPS app under WNC Outdoor Collective.

SU (7/16), 7:30am, WNC Outdoor Collective, 110 Black Mountain Ave, Black Mountain

Weekly Sunday Scrabble Club

Tournament-style scrabble. All levels of play. SU (7/16), 12:15pm, Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Game Day: Perspective Café

Traditional game day with board and card games as well as refreshments from the Perspective Cafe. SU (7/16), 2pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square Music Business 101

The event will feature a panel discussion with six music professionals in the industry. They will each be interviewed and the audience will have a chance to ask questions as well. The night will close with a showcase of local songwriters. See p40-41 SU (7/16), 5pm, Different Wrld, 701 Haywood Rd, Ste 10

Imagination Monday

Giant building blocks, tunnels and fun games await on special days of open play geared for ages 1-5 years-old. No advance registration or sign up required, adults must accompany children the entire time.

MO (7/17), 10am, Jake Rusher Park, 160 Sycamore Dr, Arden Sew Co./Rite of Passage Factory Tour

On this 30 minute micro-tour, learn about sustainable and transparent business practices and hear about production processes and client collaborations. Preregister at avl.mx/cec MO (7/17), 11am, Rite of Passage Clothing & Sew Co, 240 Clingman Ave Ext

Chess Club

Open to all ages and any skill set. There will be a few boards available, but folks are welcome to bring their own as well.

MO (7/17), 4pm, Black Mountain Brewing, 131 NC-9, Black Mountain Black Men Mondays

A local group that has stepped up in the community to advocate for and mentor students through academic intervention. Kids 7+ are welcome to join. MO (7/17), 7pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Let's Get Messy

Intentionally messy classes to help your child explore their 5 senses and develop creativity. Be sure to dress prepared for you and your little one to get messy. This week's class will focus on Jell-O soap foam.

TU (7/18), 4pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

Pritchard Park Summer Series: Hoop & Flow Arts Jam

Asheville Hoops provides jammin’ tunes, demo props for all to use and a positive event that promotes movement, creativity, dance and fun.

TU (7/18), 6pm, Pritchard Park, 4 College St

Bikes 'N’ Brews

A weekly group ride that takes in the views of Black Mountain and Old Fort and concludes at the WNC Outdoor Collective with your favorite beer or kombucha.

WE (7/19), 5:30pm, WNC Outdoor Collective, 110 Black Mountain Ave, Black Mountain

Workshop for Job Seekers: Your Combination for Successful Employment

This free workshop will walk you through proven exercises so you can leave with a map to guide you to your successful employment.

WE (7/19), 7pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Planting Success: Trees & Shrubs

Horticulture Specialist and Associate Professor Barbara Fair demonstrates proper planting techniques for trees and shrubs and how to recognize problems that may develop years later when trees are not planted correctly. Register at avl.mx/cuc

TH (7/20), 10am, Online

Craft Archive Fellowship Virtual Program

This online program showcases the recently published research of the inaugural Craft Archive Fellows in Hyperallergic. Free and open to the public. Register at avl.mx/cts

TH (7/20), 1pm, Online InvestHER Asheville Chapter Kickoff Event

A community of like-minded women who believe in the power of real estate and upleveling your life and business. This group will be focused on education, action, and accountability.

TH (7/20), 5pm, Harmony AVL Media, 936 Tunnel Rd

Story/Arts Residency: The Memory Quilt Project (Sound)

This second iteration is an evening of art and stories inspired by the sense memories of sound. Participants are encouraged to contribute their own stories, memories, and sensory items to enrich the fabric of this community quilt-making project. See p35 TH (7/20), 6:30pm, Story Parlor, 227 Haywood Rd

LOCAL MARKETS

Wednesday Farmers Market

Discover a vibrant marketplace filled with local vendors offering fresh produce and handmade goodies. WE (7/12, 19), 2pm, The Railyard Black Mountain, 141 Richardson Ave, Black Mountain

Etowah Lions Club

Farmers Market

Fresh produce, honey, sweets, flowers, plant starts and locally crafted wares. Stop by to chat with vendors, the Lions club, and enjoy the fruits of their labors. Every Wednesday through Oct. 25.

WE (7/12, 19), 3pm, Etowah Lions Club, 447 Etowah School Rd, Hendersonville

Leicester Farmers Market

Farmers Market with over 30 vendors. Locally grown and sourced selection of meats, produce, eggs, plants and flowers, baked goods, cheese, honey, sauces, crafts, art, and more. Every Wednesday through Oct. 25.

WE (7/12, 19), 3pm,

Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Hwy, Leicester

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, fire cider, coffee, pickles, body care, eclectic handmade goodies, and garden and landscaping plants. Open year round.

WE (7/12, 19), 3pm, 60 Lake Shore Dr, Weaverville

RAD Farmers Market

Providing year-round access to fresh local foods, with 25-30 vendors selling a variety of wares. Handicap parking available in the Smoky Park lot, free public parking available along Riverside Drive. Also accessible by foot, bike, or rollerblade via the Wilma Dykeman Greenway. WE (7/12, 19), 3pm, Smoky Park Supper Club, 350 Riverside Dr Biltmore Park Farmers Market

A wide array of farm-fresh seasonal produce, eggs, honey, locally-grown flowers,

artisan baked goods, foraged mushrooms, handmade soaps, and more from local farmers, specialty food producers, and crafters. Every Thursday through Aug.17.

TH (7/13, 20), 3pm, Biltmore Park Town Square, Town Square Blvd

Enka-Candler Tailgate Market

A grand selection of local foods and crafts, everything from produce to pickles, baked goods to body care, with a hefty helping of made-to-order meals from our food trucks. Every Thursday through Oct.

TH (7/13, 20), 3pm,

A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Rd, Candler

Flat Rock Farmers Market

A diverse group of local produce and fruit farmers, craftfood makers, bread bakers, wild crafters, art-crafters, and merrymakers. Every Thursday through Oct. 26.

TH (7/13, 20), 3pm, Pinecrest ARP Church, 1790 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock

Pack Square Artisan Market

This market will showcase local handcrafted goods in the heart of downtown Asheville. Every Friday through Oct. 27.

FR (7/14), 1pm, 1

South Pack Square Park

Saluda Tailgate Market

With over a dozen vendors this agriculture-only market features an assortment of homegrown produce, meat, and eggs within a 25 mile radius.

FR (7/14), 4:30pm, W Main St, Saluda

Henderson County Tailgate Market

Seasonal fruits, fresh mushrooms, vegetables, local honey, meat, eggs, garden plant starts, perennials and much more. Every Saturday through Oct. 28.

SA (7/15), 8am, 100 N King St, Hendersonville Hendersonville Farmers Market

A vibrant community gathering space with produce, meat, eggs, baked goods, coffee, crafts, food trucks, live music, kids' activities and more. Every Satur-

day through Oct. 28.

SA (7/15), 8am, 650 Maple St, Hendersonville

North Asheville

Tailgate Market

The oldest Saturday morning market in WNC, since 1980. Over 60 rotating vendors offer fresh Appalachian grown produce, meats, cheeses and eggswith a variety of baked goods, value added foods, and unique craft items. Weekly through Dec. 16.

SA (7/15), 8am, 3300

University Heights

Asheville City Market

Local food products, including fresh produce, meat, cheese, bread, pastries, and other artisan products.

Weekly through Dec. 17.

SA (7/15), 9am, 52 N Market St

Black Mountain

Tailgate Market

Featuring organic and sustainably grown produce, plants, cut flowers, herbs, locally raised meats, seafood, breads, pastries, cheeses, eggs and local arts and handcrafted items. Every Saturday through Nov. 18.

SA (7/15), 9am, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Celebration/Disruption

Summer Art Market Series

This market features art and goods by Native artists and vendors to disrupt the idea of what Cherokee art is “supposed” to look like.

SA (7/15), 10am, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, 589 Tsali Blvd, Cherokee

Mars Hill Farmers & Artisans Market

A producer-only tailgate market located on the campus of Mars Hill University on College Street. We offer fresh local produce, herbs, garden and landscape plants, cut flowers, cheeses, meats, eggs, baked goods, jams, honey, soaps, tinctures, crafts & more.

SA (7/15), 10am, College St, Mars Hill Makers Market

Featuring a different combination of weekly vendors alongside resident studio artists.

SA (7/15), noon, The Elephant Door, 126 Swannanoa River Rd

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

Meadow Market

Browse goods and gifts from local makers and artisans with different vendors every week, you’ll find specialty items. Shop for handmade jewelry, housewares, vintage goods, and crafts.

SU (7/16), 1pm, Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Hwy Ste 200

Asheville Night Market

A bizzare bazaar on the third Sunday of every month for up-and-coming peddlers, new artists, and questionable goods.

SU (7/16), 6pm, The Odd, 1045 Haywood Rd

Tuesday Creative Market

Browse the wares from local makers and creatives.

TU (7/18), 4pm, Different Wrld, 701 Haywood Rd, Ste 101

FESTIVALS & SPECIAL EVENTS

Skyview Golf Association: 63rd Annual Pro-Am Tournanment

The Skyview Golf Tournament welcomes

all new golfers and hope to see all of our returning players at Muni. Limited spots remain for amateurs for this year's tournament. Register to play at avl.mx/cu5

WE (7/12), TH (7/13) 8am, Asheville Municipal Golf Course, 226 Fairway Dr

20th Anniversary: Celebration of the Ancients

This celebration will include an improvisational dance performance by the cast of Cleopatra, music by DJ Molly Parti, a variety of snacks by Grove Arcade restaurants and drinks from Battery Park Champagne Bar and Carmel's.

WE (7/12), 6pm, Grove Arcade, 1 Page Ave

One Year Anniversary Party

One year anniversary celebration with live music, food and drink specials and more.

TH (7/13), 3pm, La Tapa Lounge, 402 E State St, Black Mountain

Park Rhythms Summer Concert Series w/ Jessica Lea Mayfield

This year’s series features artists from across the nation. The series will also include

several artists from North Carolina, along with a few local favorites. Alt-indie artist Jessica Lea Mayfield will be performing this weekk. All shows are free and open to the public.

TH (7/13), 7pm, Black Mountain Veterans Park, 10 Veterans Park Dr Black Mountain

2023 Asheville Bike Fest: Industry Night

On day one of this three-day event, you'll hear stories and learn about the latest products and services from local cycling entrepreneurs, service providers and industry leaders. Seating is limited, so RSVP for industry night at avl.mx/cso

FR (7/14), 6pm, Gravelo Workshop, 793 Merrimon Ave

LOTS Burlesque Festival: Geekstatic Nerdlesque Revue

The Land of the Sky Burlesque Festival in Asheville invites you for a night of combined cabaret, variety & performance art with Burlesque for a festival unlike any other. Ages 18+

FR (7/14), 8pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave

8th Annual Front Street Arts & Crafts Show

Browse over 40 vendor booths with regional fine artists and fine crafters intermingled with the sounds of family entertainment. There will also be live music entertainment and food for visitors. See p40 SA (7/15), 10am, Front Street Arts & Crafts Show, Front St, Dillsboro

2023 Asheville Bike Fest

On day two of this three-day event, enjoy cycle-centric activities, including pop-up bike parks and kid's bicycle demos, how-to clinics, a cargo bike expo and more. The night ends with Asheville's first in person Bicycle Film Festival at 8:30 p.m. SA (7/15), 11am, Rabbit Rabbit, 75 Coxe Ave

Catalyst

A family-friendly weekend curated by Rising Appalachia that will include live music, urban foraging, yoga, movement, herbalism, mural art, a speaker series, local crafts & merchandise, a vintage clothing shop, boutique food & beverages, and a robust lineup of amazing musicians and educators.

SA (7/15), noon, Salvage Station, 468 Riverside Dr

Summer Block Party

Celebrate summer in Asheville with a variety of activities, including craft creation areas, games, face painting, live music, animal education, henna tattoos, massage on wheels and more. See p38 SA (7/15), noon, Asheville Market, 4 S Tunnel Rd

Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas

A music festival fostering shared experiences of joy, creativity and transcendence. Each week is a new program featuring tremendous musicians such as Jasper String Quartet, duoJalal, Raman Ramakrishnan, countertenor Nicholas Tamagna and more.

SA (7/15), 7:30pm, Kittredge Theatre, Warren Wilson College, 701 Warren Wilson Rd, Swannanoa

Shindig on the Green

Bring a blanket, chair, dancing shoes and family for this dose of regional music, dance and storytelling. Bear's Smokehouse food truck and The Hop Ice Cream on site.

SA (7/15), 7pm, 1 North Pack Square

LOTS Burlesque: Just A Peak

The Land of the Sky Burlesque Festival in Asheville invites you for a night of combined cabaret, variety and performance art with Burlesque for a festival unlike any other.

SA (7/15), 8pm, Diana Wortham Theatre, 18 Biltmore Ave

2023 Asheville Bike Fest: Grand Fondo

On the final day of this three-day event, participate in the SUAREZ Grand Fondo National Championship. Riders will have their choice of 100-, 60-, or 30-mile routes that take them throughout North and West Asheville. Register for the race at avl.mx/cu4

SU (7/16), 8am, Rabbit Rabbit, 75 Coxe Ave

LOTS Burlesque

Festival: Burlesque Brunch

The Land of the Sky Burlesque Festival in Asheville invites you for a night of combined cabaret, variety and performance art with Burlesque for a festival unlike any other.

SU (7/16), noon, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave

100th Birthday Party

A fun day for the whole family, including hikes, music, ice cream and more to celebrate Carolina Mountain Club turning one-hundred.

Admission to the Arboretum will be free that day for anyone attending the celebration.

SU (7/16), 1pm, NC

Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way

Friends of the Black Mountain Library Annual Gathering w/ The Upbeats Ukelele Band

An evening of music and snacks. The Upbeats Ukulele Band will perform and debut an original Black Mountain song video. Everyone is invited and admission is free.

WE (7/19), 5:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands

Over 200 juried artisans of the Southern Highland Craft Guild will fill both the concourse and arena levels of the venue. Visitors are invited to explore a variety of fine American craft ranging from contemporary to traditional works of clay, wood, metal, glass, fiber, natural materials, paper, leather, mixed media, and jewelry. Plus enjoy 11 musical acts throughout the weekend

TH (7/20), 10am, Harrah's Cherokee Center, 87 Haywood St

Rhythm & Brews

Concert Series: The Stooges Brass Band

Free outdoor shows with a variety of established acts as well as up-and-coming artists from around the nation. This week, New Orleans brass band The Stooges will be performing alongside Cajun act Zydeco Ya Ya.

TH (7/20), 5:30pm, Downtown Hendersonville S Main St, Hendersonville Park Rhythms Summer Concert Series w/ LYRIC

This year’s series features artists from across the nation. The series will also include several artists from North Carolina, along with a few local favorites. This week, vocalist, songwriter, musician and DJ, Lyric will be providing the music.

TH (7/20), 7pm, Black Mountain Veterans Park, 10 Veterans Park Dr Black Mountain

BENEFITS & VOLUNTEERING

The Sanctuary Series: Sistas Caring 4 Sistas

A concert benefiting Sistas Caring 4 Sistas that will feature Grammy-nominated Sarah Siskind, Amanda Platt and Jane Kramer in an intimate style performance of their original songs, stories and harmonies.

TH (7/13), 7pm, Central United Methodist Church, 27 Church St

Discover Life in America & Save Our Smokies: Bioblitz & Cleanup

This joint collaboration

between Save Our Smokies, Inc and Discover Life in America aims to record life and remove litter at Deep Creek Picnic Pavilion. The public is invited to join this free, family friendly event.

FR (7/14), 6pm, Deep Creek Picnic Pavilion, 2431 W Deep Creek Rd #2027, Bryson Writers Who Run 5k Race For Literacy

This event helps promote worldwide literacy by raising money through the 5k and also through collecting book donations. This year's literacy partner is Read2Succeed Asheville and they are requesting book donations that feature black main characters and/or authors. Register for the race at avl.mx/ctm SA (7/15), 7:30am, Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center, 91 N Lakeshore Dr, Lake Junaluska

Book Sale Fundraiser

Items for sale will include donated used books on various spiritual and wellness topics, as well as donated artwork and household items. Proceeds will benefit The Meditation Center and other local charities. SA (7/15), 11am, The Meditation Center, 894 E Main St, Sylva

Christmas in July: Drag Brunch Fundraiser

A dazzling drag show hosted by Asheville Drag Brunch. All profits from this event will be donated to WNCAP's Merry & Bright gift exchange. SU (7/16), 2pm, The Hideaway, 49 Broadway St

Top Surgery Benefit

For August w/Drag & Burlesque

A benefit for top surgery benefit for a local community member with drag performances and a burlesque show.

18+ WE (7/19), 8pm, The Odd, 1045 Haywood Rd

Dine w/Divas: Drag Dinner Show

Fundraiser

This fundraiser for Beloved Asheville promises to dazzle attendees with an extraordinary lineup of drag queen celebrity impersonators. TH (7/20), 7pm, Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Hwy, Ste 200

Summer Soiree Fundraiser

Indulge in a variety of cuisines from different parts of the world. It's an explosion of flavors paired with live music, culturally-inspired rooms and a silent auction featuring unique items and experiences.

See p38 TH (7/20), 7pm, Folkmoot Friendship Center, 112 Virginia Ave, Waynesville

‘Potential for a deeper connection’

Sherree Lucas on the importance of buying local

You don’t have to have lived in Asheville long to know that buying locally made artwork and other crafts and enjoying provisions at local restaurants and breweries are parts of the fabric of the community. Spending at local businesses is one thing that helps keep Asheville vibrant while supporting friends, family and neighbors.

But what’s less frequently discussed are the dozens of business-to-business relationships that make up the backbone of Asheville’s business community. The cidery that purchases apples from a local farmer. The restaurant that hires a local musician to perform. Or the manufacturer who supplies textiles to local fiber artists.

Sherree Lucas, executive director of Go Local Asheville, says that while some of the benefits of working with local makers and sellers are numerous, it is the face-to-face relationships that business owners enjoy with one another that have the most impact.

“There’s going to be the potential for a deeper connection because you’re living in the same area, you have so many things in common,” Lucas explains. “You’re both busi-

nesspeople, and you’re going through the same kind of situations in the local economy.”

Xpress sat down with Lucas to discuss what local supply businesses look like and the lasting impact of COVID-19.

What are the benefits of working with other local businesses?

We can use an example of a boutique. If they’re sourcing their jewelry or their candles locally, then more money is staying in Asheville.

Say I go to Embellish Asheville downtown on Broadway and buy a $20 pair of earrings. If those earrings were not made in Asheville, the only money that stays here in Asheville is the profit margin, or what Embellish makes from the sale. But let’s assume that they bought those earrings from a local jeweler and they paid $10 or $15 to that local jeweler. A larger percent of the sale would stay in our local economy.

In some cases, working with other local businesses could mean reduced cost, because you’re not paying for transportation. And it can also mean faster delivery times because you’re not worrying about delays from shipping something from across the country or halfway across the world.

IN THE BIZ: Sherree Lucas of Go Local Asheville says the benefits of working with local makers and sellers are numerous. Photo courtesy of Lucas

Another good one is improved relationships with suppliers. You’re going to know these people. It also speaks to improved customer service to locals who have more of a connection to other local businesses.

What are some examples of B2B relationships?

When people think about the local supply chain, they tend to think about it more from the manufacturing standpoint, but I’m encouraging folks to consider it more broadly.

One of our biggest categories is actually in marketing support — hiring local graphic artists and others in the creative community. Another big one is wholesalers, that is, people who sell into other businesses who then turn around and sell their products.

Businesses could also choose local professional services, such as accountants, financial services or insurance agents, as opposed to going to one of a franchise.

And local farmers that are supplying grocery stores and restaurants here. There are really many examples.

How did COVID change the way that local businesses think about supply chains?

What happened during COVID is a great example of the importance of a localized supply chain. If you remember, supply chains were in disarray at the national level. We couldn’t get [personal protective equipment], like masks, into the area when that happened.

In Asheville, we had companies who were mainly local manufacturers that were able to convert their operations to create masks and gowns and face protections, which enabled PPE to get into our community much faster.

COVID helped people realize the vulnerability of local independent businesses and why they need to be supported and protected. The business owners were their neighbors and friends, and everyone saw how quickly their lives changed. It was through the support of the community that many of our businesses survived the pandemic.

What are some limitations to local supply chains?

One is the availability of local resources, and another is the amount of demand to sustain a supply chain. If there isn’t adequate demand, it doesn’t make sense to establish a supply chain. So, we’d look to where it makes sense. A great example is the outdoor industry. WNC is an outdoor mecca, so it makes sense to develop a local supply chain to support it. A supply chain of professional services that caters to local independent businesses makes sense. And the greater the demand for local products and services, the healthier our local supply chain becomes. While I’d love to envision a day where there’ll be no more Amazon trucks clogging our local roads, it’s also unrealistic to think that everything can be sourced locally. What I’d hope is that businesses when they’re deciding on where to order their office supplies, deciding where to take their staff to lunch or for team-building, finding creative support for building a website or an advertising campaign, to ask the question “Where can I find a local independent business to support my business needs?”

Will it take some extra effort? It could. More time? Maybe at first. But if they understand the importance and it just becomes routine, we’ll see our local business-to-business community thrive. And that I believe to be a realistic goal.

Where do you see Asheville’s B2B community in five years?

No doubt it will continue to grow; however, continued focus and education about the importance of supporting local businesses is crucial to its growth. Asheville is an amazing place for local independent businesses because we have a culture that supports it. We need to continue to support, nurture and protect it. And every one of us can make a difference by remembering to shop local first, helping to educate our new neighbors and Asheville residents on why it’s important to keep local culture thriving and thanking our local independent businesses for all they do for our community.

GET THE APP!

— Brooke Randle X Now available on Apple Store & Google Play for Apple and Android smartphones.

Not so peachy

Shortage trickles through peach economy

BY GREG PARLIER

gparlier@mountainx.com

A series of April freezes devastated the peach crop in WNC and beyond, and the resulting shortage will affect more than your grandma’s cobbler.

WNC farmers are left with bitter losses — 90% for peaches in Henderson County alone, amounting to $600,000 in lost revenue, says Terry Kelley, tree fruit expert and director of the Henderson County cooperative extension. That compares with an 80% loss in Georgia and 50% in South Carolina from the same warm winter-cold April combination that was lethal to the iconic Southern stone fruit. (Despite its Peach State nickname, Georgia grows fewer peaches than South Carolina.)

Fruit farmers hope they can recoup deficits from peach season with later-blooming pears, apples and berries, while local producers of peach jams,

sodas and pies may have to look farther afield for their peach supply this year, leading to higher prices for lower-quality fruit. The shortage also affects locally focused produce distributors and farmers markets that depend on the foot traffic that peaches attract.

“When a crop that is so iconic [in the South] like a peach, has a failure in a region like ours, it means prices for local peaches are going to go up. [That] means all the businesses that rely upon them, either have to jack up their prices, eat the cost, or go elsewhere for product,” says Noah Wilson, director of sector development for Mountain BizWorks, who sits on the steering committee for the Asheville Area Food Guild.

For farmers in more southern areas, peach trees didn’t get a required number of chill hours this winter — below 45 degrees — to set fruit. In the more northern peach-growing areas, like WNC, the

WORKING TOGETHER

Having your back

Most business owners will tell you that the first rule of sales is don’t talk about your competition.

White Labs Brewing Co. does not adhere to this philosophy. The company brews as well as provides brewing ingredients to other industry leaders, both locally and internationally.

Erik Fowler, who works as the head of education and craft hospitality at White Labs, says that his company strives to go beyond being a traditional supplier by also providing technical advice and lending equipment.

“The craft beer industry is a very people-driven industry. And it’s very open source, which is unique. Even on the restaurant side, they sometimes see similar businesses as competitors. That’s not really the case in beer,” says Fowler. “We try to be pretty open with any advice anybody needs, whether it’s our products or not.”

Sean Felosa, head brewer at Archetype Brewing, says he has experienced that local support firsthand.

“If any kind of emergency hits — we don’t have yeast or our yeast is bad or whatever — we can just call them and, typically, they have exactly what we need,” he adds.

For Fowler and White Labs, seeing other local brewers as colleagues rather than customers or competitors bolsters the entire local industry.

“We tend to see that meeting these breweries on their terms builds an honest relationship, as opposed to just trying to leverage the most we can get out of everybody,” he says.

“As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all ships.”

— Brooke Randle X

late freeze devastated peach blossoms that were already developing fruit after a warmer-than-expected February, Kelley says.

The resulting higher cost for fresh peaches means less profit from some local brands’ signature offerings, like Waynesville Soda Jerks’ peach soda and Baked Pie Co.’s peach pie, and local distributors are left searching for the iconic fruit farther from home.

When brands and suppliers have to reach beyond growers in the immediate region, it affects the entire community, says Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s David Smiley

“It drains the community pool that we all rely on being quite full for living healthy, productive and happy lives here in Appalachia. Supporting your local farmer keeps money in our community, and inversely, when crop failure occurs, it can often be a missed economic opportunity and fortifier for farmer and community alike,” says Smiley, program manager for ASAP’s local food campaign.

ON THE FARM

At KT’s Orchard and Apiary in Haywood County, the April freezes left farm namesake Kathy Taylor with only two of her 500 peach trees with harvestable fruit. That means no peaches to sell directly to the public and a limited harvest suitable for wholesale accounts.

“When you get [peaches], it takes care of a lot of expenses because it’s your first crop. And then you have some breathing room to save some money with your apples. But when

you lose a crop, any crop, that hurts,” Taylor says.

This year, that same late freeze hurt her apple crop, leaving her with less than half of her typical apple production, she estimates. That means the pressure moves to KT’s pear trees, which fortunately are at prime fruit-bearing stage, to make up for lost peach income, she says.

“You know, any farmer that loses a crop, if they are dependent on it, it’s a hardship. In turn, you try to find another crop that you grow to try to help take its place. So you know, this year we have pears. It’s not that pears are as popular as peaches, but we do have some pears this year. It won’t completely take the place of peaches, but it will help.”

In Henderson County, Dawn Creasman says she has experienced about a 60% loss in her peach crop on Creasman Farms.

They have managed to scrape together enough to make a couple of runs to Asheville City Market in June, but Creasman warns that supply is low and peach lovers should get to the market early to get the Southern delicacy.

In Franklin, after three straight years with a minimal peach crop because of weather complications, about 50% of J.W. Mitchell Farm’s peach trees produced this year, estimates market stand employee Tori Queen. That’s not enough to allow customers to pick Mitchell’s biggest fruit crop in the orchard themselves, but the farm should have some supply for the farm stand and some wholesale accounts, she says.

While the down year for peaches hurts farms’ bottom lines, these

PEACH PREP: There may be fewer fresh local peaches for Waynesville Soda Jerks to de-pit and juice for its year-round peach soda this year. Photo courtesy of Waynesville Soda Jerks

ERIK FOWLER

days, it’s not terribly uncommon, notes Kelley.

There weren’t that many peaches in the mountains 25 to 30 years ago, but more cold-resistant varieties have come on the market recently, leading to more farmers taking a risk on them because of their popularity and the prices they garner at farmers markets, Kelley says. However, warm winters and late freezes are not uncommon in WNC, making peaches susceptible to significant crop loss, he adds.

PEACHY PRODUCTS

In a region where local businesses value keeping their money close to home, the economic hit of a down peach crop doesn’t end with farmers.

Waynesville Soda Jerks co-owners Megan Brown and Chris Allen freeze peach juice sourced in the summer so they can produce peach soda, one of their signature flavors, year-round. While soda currently on shelves was sourced from KT’s Orchard last year, they’ll start working on finding this summer’s peaches in the next month or so.

“When we get to sourcing peaches for this year, that’s where we may hit an issue with a lot of the farmers having frost in the spring,” Brown predicts.

Brown and Allen do their best to source all their fruits as locally as possible, but because of the precarity of the North Carolina peach season, they have to stretch their sourcing to South Carolina and Georgia some years.

Going to a local or regional distributor for products increases costs for businesses shopping for produce, leaving them with two options: eat the cost or pass it on to customers.

After 10 years electing to eat the increasing costs of fuel, bottling and fluctuations in produce costs, Brown and Allen are increasing their prices for the first time this summer.

At Copper Pot and Wooden Spoon in Waynesville, Jessica DeMarco stays flexible, adapting to the whims of the weather year to year in sourcing for her specialty jams and pickles. If a particular fruit is more expensive because of supply limitations or having to source from further away, she says she might change how she sells one of her jams.

“If the price is just too high on [something], we won’t make as much of it, we’ll just sell it direct retail, and we won’t offer it wholesale to other stores,” she says.

Kirsten Fuchs at Baked Pie Co. in Arden has already seen her peach pie season delayed from late June until at least mid-July because of a lack of fruit from her main supplier, Creasman Farms.

The less the fruit has to travel, the fresher, and therefore more flavorful it is, she says. If she has to expand her source range deeper into South Carolina, it will be more disappointing than economically impactful to her business, she says.

While some small companies can pivot because of their diverse offerings, when money is spent on farm products outside the area, the more than 850 family farms in ASAP’s Appalachian Grown region — within 100 miles of Asheville — feel it, Smiley says.

“These farms are your neighbors, your children’s classmates, they are dining at your restaurant, they are attending your concert, and in turn, money spent with local farms is spent with all of us,” he says.

AN ALLURING FRUIT

Ron Ainspan, founder and owner of local food distributor Mountain Food Products, says the limited supply of peaches in WNC and upstate South Carolina has forced him to look for peaches as far away as Columbia, S.C. That’s outside the region ASAP defines as local, which means the product will cost more and won’t be as fresh, he says.

Ainspan predicts the cost for peaches this summer could as much as double at the WNC Farmers Market, where Mountain Food Products is headquartered. That high cost and low supply will reduce traffic at the market and impact everyone.

“Peaches are a really important crop to this area, and particularly to the activity out here at the farmers market. If there are peaches, people will come here for those and a lot of other things. And if there are no peaches, it really reduces the traffic out here. So that means buyers aren’t coming in, and that means suppliers aren’t bringing them here. So it really has a significant impact on the supply chain,” he says.

Farmers get more profit selling produce directly to consumers at farm stands and farmers markets, so they will likely prioritize that customer base for what peaches they do have this year, further limiting what’s available to a distributor like Mountain Food Products.

Fortunately, Ainspan says he doesn’t expect a major financial blow to his business, mainly due to the creative problem-solving nature of his main customer base: chefs and food service professionals.

They’ll shift to using what’s available, like blackberries and blueberries, he says.

Regardless, fewer peaches on the farm means fewer peaches at market, in stores, on restaurant plates and in specialty items, and less money in everyone’s pocket. That means a less secure food system, Smiley says.

Fortunately, agencies like ASAP and the Asheville Area Food Guild are helping to connect farms, businesses and consumers to provide economic insulation from the notorious unpredictability of mountain weather.

“A strong relationship between farm and buyer can help weather both metaphorical as well as literal storms, allowing for both farm resiliency as well as improved quality of product,” Smiley says.

Relationships aside, nothing impacts farms and farm-reliant businesses like unpredictable weather, something Taylor knows she’ll battle in her orchards every season with increasing frequency.

“You gamble every day of your life being a farmer,” she says. “Things happen. I think we’ve always had things happen. But it seems like our weather pattern is more unreliable now than it’s been in a long time.”

FRUIT FARMER: In a good year, Kathy Taylor supplies several local businesses with peaches, but KT’s Orchard and Apiary also grows apples, pears, berries and other fruits in Haywood County. Photo courtesy of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project

Pressing for success

Local vinyl manufacturers discuss the industry’s growth and potential

BY SARA MURPHY

smurphy@mountainx.com

In early 2021, Graham Sharp, guitarist and banjo player for the local Grammy Award-winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers, was preparing to release his solo album, Truer Picture. But problems soon emerged. Due to supply chain snags brought on by COVID-19, his label, Yep Roc Records, couldn’t get vinyl copies made by its usual European producer.

Thinking fast, Sharp turned his attention to Citizen Vinyl, North Carolina’s first vinyl record pressing plant, which launched in downtown Asheville in October 2020. After Sharp visited the venue, his label agreed to work with the local company.

Fast-forward to today, and Sharp says he was so impressed by Citizen Vinyl’s quality that Steep Canyon Rangers are preparing to press their next album, Morning Shift, with the local company as well.

“Everybody’s superexcited about the prospect of pressing our music right here in Western North Carolina,” Sharp tells Xpress.

For musicians and fans alike, Citizen Vinyl is one of two local options within the unique industry. Shortly after its launch, the company was joined by American Vinyl Co., located on the South Slope. Both shops opened amid an upswing within the trade. According to Billboard, the vinyl industry saw a 46.2% yearover-year increase in sales in 2020; in 2021, total sales continued to climb, increasing by an additional 5%.

But the wave has shown signs of slowing. In 2022, for example, sales

rose only 4.2%. Meanwhile, local producers say a more pressing issue is the reliance on a diminishing number of machine parts and materials suppliers, as well as experts who can service and repair these devices.

“With this industry, it is usually just one supplier at every stop,” says Ryan Schilling, American Vinyl Co.’s owner and founder. “All across the industry, whether you’re pressing or cutting records, we all feel that kind of strain once in a while, and we wake up in the middle of our sleep hoping we have our materials the next day.”

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Shared struggles within the industry, says Schilling, have fostered a spirit of collaboration. Locally, the two record-making companies have recently started working together, with

American Vinyl Co. manufacturing the lacquer master discs that Citizen Vinyl uses to press its vinyl copies.

“We have a very cohesive, complementing business,” Schilling says.

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

Citizen Vinyl’s production manager, Seth Adler, the company’s first

hired employee, began as a technician. Today, he oversees all steps related to production — from ordering materials to sending files out for cutting and plating.

Despite Citizen Vinyl opening during COVID, he says the company weathered the pandemic relatively well. The PVC pellets used to make vinyl records never ran short, though cardboard and paper product shortages made producing the sleeves, jackets and center labels challenging. More concerning was a significant rise in ocean freight costs.

“Now they’ve come back to reasonable levels,” Adler says. As a result, he continues, Citizen Vinyl released a new, lower price list on June 1.

To make its records, the plant uses three pressing machines, including a new semiautomatic press made in Canada and an automatic machine custom built by Record Pressing Machines in Pegram, Tenn. The same company also updated Citizen Vinyl’s “workhorse” press, an automatic SMT 1500 originally produced in the late 1970s.

“As far as parts go, we do have one or two suppliers,” Adler says.

But if those suppliers have a backlog of orders, he continues, the staff has to improvise. “It is definitely hard to find good personnel for this industry,” he notes.

Nevertheless, the plant has developed an impressive client list in just a few years. “We get a lot of North Carolina artists or North Carolina labels that press their artists with us,” Adler explains. Among those are local musicians Angel Olson and Moses Sumney, as well as the Piedmont-based bluegrass group Chatham Rabbits and electronic duo Sylvan Esso out of Durham.

Farther afield, Citizen Vinyl handled the reissue for acclaimed New York hip-hop artist MF Doom after his death in 2020; at 24,000 records, it was the company’s largest order to date. Other famous clients include LCD Soundsystem, Wu Tang Clan, Depeche Mode and Mobb Deep.

With the pandemic vinyl boom, the company was quickly swamped with orders. Adler says the firm only caught up with its backlog at the end of 2022. Now, the focus is on winning over new clients with innovative designs and technology. The company offers records in solid colors, as well as colorful splatter and marble swirl patterns — both of which, Adler notes, are increasingly popular with buyers, especially collectors.

The company also created a vinyl NFT, or nonfungible token. A radio frequency identification chip is embedded in the record that stores transaction data. If the record is ever

SPINNING PLATES: A staff member at work at American Vinyl Co.’s South Slope shop. Photo courtesy of American Vinyl Co.

sold, a percentage of the resale value will go back to the original artist.

Most of all, Adler says, Citizen Vinyl emphasizes painstaking quality control at every stage of production. Larger presses focused on quantity might only inspect one out of every 100 records, he notes. But at Citizen Vinyl every record is inspected multiple times.

“They’re all visually checked by hand,” Alder explains. “We’ve built a reputation for our quality.”

REVIVING A DYING ART

Down on South Slope, Schilling notes he became obsessed with record cutting in the mid-2010s. At the time, his options for learning the process were limited. He ended up traveling from his home in California to southwest Germany to apprentice with a master who had set up his lathe in a barn.

“I trained for basically like 48 hours straight, with very little sleep,” Schilling remembers.

Soon after founding American Vinyl Co. in 2016, he and his partner, Christy Lynn, moved to Asheville, having fallen in love with the city when they toured here with their musical act, the Christy Lynn Band.

Of the seven manual lathes American Vinyl Co. has in its Coxe Avenue shop, the ones used for short runs of up to 30 copies can easily fit on a desktop. For the larger runs, employees rely on a 1966 Neumann lathe that Schilling calls their “workhorse.”

This lathe is used to cut lacquer master discs for vinyl pressing plants. The quality of these masters is superior to vinyl records, but they are also incredibly fragile. “After about 10 plays, you would start losing all your high end on the audio because it’s literally like a soft wax,” Schilling explains.

Lacquer is also incredibly flammable, a quality that devastated the industry when the Apollo Masters factory in Banning, Calif., burned down on Feb. 6, 2020. According to Rolling Stone, the factory was responsible for approximately 70%-80% of all lacquer discs worldwide. Now, only one factory in Tokyo remains.

According to Schilling’s estimates, there are roughly 30 professional cutters in the country. With such low numbers, the greatest concern is ensuring that the knowledge of this craft continues.

“We all have this group mentality of keeping the knowledge distributed between us and stored away for safekeeping,” he says. “Each one of us holds a part of it.”

Like Citizen Vinyl, American Vinyl Co. blends older technology and his-

tory with modern sensibilities. The company also puts out splatter and color records, as well as records in a variety of shapes like hearts and stars.

With its mobile recording studio the American Sound Truck, Schilling and his staff of five can also cut records live,

carrying on the tradition of recording pioneers such as ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. Among the company’s many features, it has a live recording booth in the shop where customers can walk in, record a song and leave minutes later with a finished record.

WORKING TOGETHER

Shared values

Shared values are often a big part of what brings two people together in a relationship.

As it turns out, the same is true for the business community, says Libby O’Bryan, owner of Sew Co., an industrial sewing manufacturing facility located in the River Arts District.

Business ideals, such as fair wages, reduced production waste and appreciation for the craft, connected O’Bryan to the folks at East Fork, which produces kitchenware and other handmade items. Today, Sew Co. produces specially designed and locally manufactured napkins which East Fork features in their dinnerware sets. The collaboration, says Taylor Renn, retail buyer at East Fork, was a “no-brainer.”

“[Sew Co.] is incredible with sourcing [materials], and their values align with East Fork in the way that they celebrate domestic manufacturing and fair wages for all of their employees,” Renn says. “Libby and her team make such an incredible effort to maintain domestic manufacturing and celebrate the value of handcraft.”

Both women say that the partnership strengthens the impact of their

shared principles and deepens both business and personal relationships.

“I feel like when you’re in the same community with someone, you really know them and what they stand for,” says O’Bryan. “It also just keeps it really human. There’s something about it saying, ‘I know that person.’”

— Brooke Randle X

A LOCAL VINYL COMMUNITY

As a local musician himself, Schilling loves helping out bands on short notice. “We’ve worked with several artists where they call us and they’re like, ‘Hey, man, I have a show Friday night,’” he says. In such situations, he explains, American Vinyl Co. can quickly produce records that groups can then sell during their performances.

Meanwhile, Session at Citizen Vinyl also provides local artists with a place to promote their releases. “If artists want to have a record signing or release party, they can do that here,” Adler says.

The company’s building, previously owned by the Citizen Times, is itself a powerful reminder of the area’s music history: The third floor is the former home of WWNC, which broadcast radio pioneers such as Jimmie Rodgers and Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys. Today, Citizen Vinyl’s founder Gar Ragland has restored the upstairs space where he runs his label, Citizen Studios.

“It’s just got a ton of that music history,” Sharp says of the space. And that, tied with Citizen Vinyl’s growing contributions to the building’s legacy, “really grabbed hold of me,” he adds. X

MEET THE PRESS: Press operator Blake Whitaker works on one of Citizen Vinyl’s three presses. Photo by J. Friede

Go Local Asheville

Below, readers will find the complete listing for Go Local Asheville’s business-to-business members. This subset within the broader Go Local network represents local businesses with revenues that are generated through products and services provided primarily to other businesses.

If you’re a local independent business and would like to become a Go Local member, visit golocalasheville.com and click the “Join the Movement” tab to learn more.

Accounting & Financial Services

AUSTIN CPA, PC austincpapc.com

828-785-1556

CAROL L. KING & ASSOCIATES clkcpa.com

828-258-2323

EMSDC COMMUNITY EQUITY FUND eaglemarketsts.org

828-281-1227

Elevate

LEAH B. NOEL, CPA, PC lbnoelcpa.com

828-333-4529

SELF-HELP self-help.org

828-255-0809

Apparel

Wholesale MAADILI COLLECTIVE maadilicollective.com

828-707-7111

MOUNT INSPIRATION APPAREL mountinspiration.com

828-484-2318

Building & Maintenance

ASHEVILLE

FURNITURE REPAIR

ashevillefurniturerepair.com

828-633-3088

ASHEVILLE SOLAR CO. ashevillesolarcompany.com

828-552-4851

BLUE MOON WATER bluemoonwater.com

828-253-6060

BLUE RIDGE BIOFUELS blueridgebiofuels.com

828-253-1034

DADDY VAN'S daddyvans.com

877-215-0008

ECOLAWNS ecolawnsultd.com

828-736-2457

GENERAL EQUIPMENT RENTAL generalrents.com

828-658-2334

GREEN RIVER WOODS, INC. greenriverwoods.com

828-450-4535

METICULOUS SERVICES meticulousservices.co

828-702-4781

ROOF RESCUE roofrescuewnc.com

828-499-8040

SOLFARM SOLAR CO. solfarm.com

828-332-3003

SUGAR HOLLOW SOLAR sugarhollowsolar.com

828-776-9161

THE ARCHARCHITECTURAL FINISHES, FLOORING, AND MORE thearchnc.com

828-253-5455

THE SUPER SIGN GUY thesupersignguy.com

828-390-9636

TOWN MOUNTAIN MAIDS

townmountainmaids.com

828-705-6243

WISHBONE TINY HOMES, LLC

wishbonetinyhomes.com

828-484-1758

Consulting & Coaching

ART HERO avl.mx/cu6

828-829-0498

BIG PURPLE COTTAGE bigpurplecottage.com

828-713-2083

LOYCALB2B CONNECTOR SERVICES

loycal.com

828-390-0848

MARY LOVE CONSULTING maryloveconsulting.com

828-279-6723

POINT OF SALE STRATEGIES- RETAIL CONSULTING posstrategies.com

513-254-4820

A local institution since 2009, and the winner of back-to-back local and national awards for best community radio station, Asheville FM captivates audiences with diverse and carefully curated programming, locally-generated news in English and Spanish, thought-provoking talk shows, and the widest spectrum of electrifying music.

1) on-air

2) streaming from ashevillefm.org with our new phone app!

In addition to radio spots, you can make your business’ presence known by sponsoring one of our annual events, including our 4th annual record fair at the Civic Center on August 26.

Contact Robert at underwriting@ashevillefm.org

Let’s amplify your business together!

THE DOULA OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

avl.mx/cua

828-747-5270

Events & Entertainment

APPALACHIAN MOBILE ONSITE MASSAGE DAY

SPA

appalachianspaventures.com

828-230-1441

ARISE EVENT ariseeventservices.com

828-808-4774

ASHEVILLE PARTY ENTERTAINMENT / ZOWIE ENTERTAINMENT ashevilleparty.com

828-808-1757

ASHEVILLE ROOFTOP BAR TOURS ashevillerooftopbartours.com

828-774-7785

AXEVILLE THROWING throwaxeville.com

828-589-2937

BLUE RIDGE EVENT STAFFING

blueridgeeventstaffing.com

828-357-4323

DAMN FINE AUDIO

damnfineaudio.com

828-209-8846

HI-WIRE BREWING

BILTMORE VILLAGE

PRODUCTION BREWERY & TAPROOM

hiwirebrewing.com

828-738-2451

KICK IT EVENT MANAGEMENT

kickitevents.com

828-338-8380

PURPLE CRAYON

purplecrayonavl.com

828-771-6148

RED FIDDLE VITTLES

redfiddlevittles.com

828-412-0506

RIVER ARTS DISTRICT

FARMERS MARKET

radfarmersmarket.com

WAXON BATIK & DYE STUDIO

waxonstudio.com

828-367-7537

Food & Beverage Wholesale

BAKED PIE CO. bakedpiecompany.com

828-333-4366

BLUNT PRETZELS

bluntpretzels.com

828-619-0734

CITY BAKERY

citybakery.net

828-252-4426

DELISH THE STORE avl.mx/cu7

305-812-7952

DJ'S PICKLES

djspickles.com

828-647-0357

DOLCI DI MARIA dolcidimaria.com

828-669-8787

FERMENTI fermenti.biz

828-989-8172

GERALDINE'S BAKERY geraldinesbakeryavl.com

828-252-9330

HIGH CLIMATE TEA CO. highclimatetea.com

828-505-4771

WORKING TOGETHER

Businesses with benefits

Cristina Hall Ackley, co-founder and president of local Ginger’s Revenge, says a common challenge that new businesses face is finding affordable benefits packages for their employees.

“When we started, we did a company health plan where we subsidized 70% and the employees paid 30%,” Ackley explains. “It was hard because they were high-deductible plans, and it was very ‘one-size-fitsall.’ With a small team like ours, it was difficult because they were still paying part of their premiums out of pocket and weren’t able to access a lot of health care.”

After a year, Ackley started looking into other options for the business and was eventually referred to Hummingbird Insurance, a local agency. Instead of offering a traditional benefits package, agents at Hummingbird spoke with employees to find the best insurance policies for their individual needs. Afterward, they provided the Ginger’s staff with recommendations for a wellness stipend so that employees could use the extra funds to pay for their policies.

“When it comes to health insur ance, there are just not a lot of options, and small businesses like us are not big enough company to negotiate affordable premiums,” Ackley says. “To have a company like Hummingbird to work with our individual team members and guide them through the process is definite ly very helpful.”

CRISTINA HALL ACKLEY

MATCHA NUDE

matchanude.com

828-367-7701

MORSEL COOKIE CO. morselcookie.company

828-289-5859

ROOTS AND LEAVES, LLC rootsandleaves.info

806-670-1572

SAM'S POP SHOP samspopshop.com

828-775-9105

SHANTI ELIXIRS shantielixirs.com

828-351-4879

SUGAR AND SNOW GELATO sugarandsnowgelato.com

828-258-0757

THE HOP ICE CREAMERY hopicecreamnc.com

828-774-5058

VEGETABLE KINGDOM vegetablekingdom.com

843-473-5149

WILD SALMON CO. thewildsalmonco.com

828-216-2565

IT Services & Digital Support

AARDONYX SOFTWARE adxsoftware.com

828-571-0799

ASHEVILLE COMPUTER CO.

ashevillecomputercompany.com

828-290-9092

CHARLOTTE STREET COMPUTERS charlottestreetcomputers.com

828-225-6600

CHRISTOPHER'S COMPUTERS christopherscomputers.com

828-670-9800

ONLINE TRAINING CONCEPTS onlinetrainingconcepts.com

828-222-0825

PRC APPLICATIONS prcapps.com

828-338-2270

PURPLE CAT NETWORKS, INC.

purplecat.net

828-250-9446

WHITE FOX STUDIOS whitefoxstudios.net

828-246-9552

COME FROM THE HEART renewtees.com

828-505-8175

COMMUNICATION MARK communicationmark.com

828-650-0902

CUBE CREATIVE DESIGN cubecreative.design

828-684-3040

DYNAMIC IMAGE dynamicimage.biz

828-275-5006

ERIN ADAMS erinadamsphotography.com

323-533-7537

FISHER CREATIVE MARKETING fisher-creative.com

843-991-1689

FORGE MOUNTAIN PHOTOGRAPHY forgemountainphoto.com

828-243-2755

GROUND LEVEL MEDIA, INC. groundlevel.media

828-424-0906

HART & SOUL CO.

WEB DESIGN hartandsoulco.com

828-768-7377

HORNSBY CREATIVE GROUP, LLC hornsbycreativegroup.com

828-407-0487

IMAGE 420 SCREENPRINTING

image420.com

828-253-9420

J&J ENGRAVES avl.mx/cu8

828-412-7064

KUDZU BRANDS kudzubrands.com

828-357-8350

LESLIE SHAW DESIGN leslieshawdesign.com

828-259-9013

LIGHTNING BOLT INK lightningboltinkscreenprinting. com

828-281-1274

LONG LIVE SIMPLE longlivesimple.com

704-340-6376

OUTSIDE THE BOX INTERACTIVE LLC outboxin.com

828-848-4072

SCRIBBLEPIE CREATIVE STUDIO scribblepie.com

786-554-1663

SUBJECT MATTER STUDIO subjectmatterstudio.com

828-423-1480

SUND STUDIO sundstudio.com

413-923-2213

THE DHARMA COLLECTIVE thedharmacollective.com

508-259-9528

THE LOOK & THE FEEL lookandfeelbranding.com

828-209-8974

THREE CATS CREATIVE, LLC threecatscreative.com

828-774-4028

THRIVE DESIGN CO. thrivedesignco.com

828-775-2940

VISUALS BY EVAN visualsbyevan.com

828-215-9054

WHAT'S THE IDEA? whatstheidea.com

516-967-3875

WORKING TOGETHER

Supporting the creation of new businesses

Created in 2020, Blaze On Creations uses repurposed aluminum cans as containers for custom, all-natural soy wax candles. Owner Michele Cook says local breweries have played a major role in her business’s success.

“I worked at Archetype Brewing for about 10 years as their beer sales representative and began making candles out of our cans as a part of a marketing campaign,” Cook says. “It was really successful, and the owner, Brad Casanova, encouraged me to start my own business. They had a storage unit full of cans that they could no longer use, so he donated a huge portion of them, which really gave me a leg up on inventory.”

Since Blaze On Creations’ inception, several other breweries have joined in donating spare cans, including Asheville Brewing Co., Riverside Rhapsody Beer Co. and 12 Bones Brewing.

“It has been really amazing to have so much support from so many different breweries in the area, and I am so grateful that we are able to upcycle the unused cans,” Cook notes.

MICHELE COOK

Additionally, Cook says support from local retailers has been essential.

“I met the majority of our retail partners organically through festivals and markets,” Cook says. “I prefer working with local businesses, not only because I can be within arm’s reach in case they need something but also because I care about those personal relationships that I am able to make with the businesses. You can’t really do that with large retailers.”

— Chase Davis X

The perks of local creative partnerships

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Local collaborations often create opportunities for businesses to bring new life to community campaigns. Such was the case for Highland Brewing Co.’s Pints with a Purpose, after it teamed with Sound Mind Design.

The yearly campaign, originally created in 2019, involves the release of several limited brews. Sales benefit multiple local organizations, including the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, the Asheville Humane Society, Helpmate, the WNC Nature Center and MANNA FoodBank.

Laura Beck, creative design manager at Highland, says that 2022 was the first year the brewery decided to sell the special releases in cans. They turned to Jenny Fares, owner and lead designer of Sound Mind Design, for unique label designs.

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Fares has worked in the graphic design business for over 20 years and says she was thrilled to come on board.

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Sometimes, Beck notes, smaller cities lack the local talent to take on such projects. But Asheville, she continues, is fortunate to have a large arts community. “It made it easier to use [Sound Mind Design] because they were already very familiar with us and the five nonprofits we were working with,” she says.“ I don’t feel that we would have gotten that level of connection from a bigger agency.”

— Chase Davis X

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New barriers

12-week abortion ban adds layers of red tape

BY JESSICA WAKEMAN

jwakeman@mountainx.com

On July 1, the window in which to end a pregnancy in North Carolina narrowed. Senate Bill 20 criminalizes abortion after 12 weeks of gestation with few exceptions and places additional requirements on women seeking abortions.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which operates nine health centers in North Carolina, and OB/ GYN Dr. Beverly Gray, who provides abortions, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging certain provisions of SB 20. However, their request for an injunction to keep the law from going into effect was denied. The overall lawsuit is ongoing.

Until July 1, Planned Parenthood’s Asheville location, the only clinic providing abortions in Western North Carolina, provided abortions through

14 weeks. Those who sought to terminate a pregnancy through 20 weeks were typically routed to health care facilities in Chapel Hill or elsewhere that could provide that service.

SB 20 bans most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. In the case of rape or incest, abortion is allowed up to 20 weeks.

“We do expect the new barriers put in place may be insurmountable for some people,” Planned Parenthood South Atlantic spokesperson Molly Rivera tells Xpress. On June 30, two patients who were past 12 weeks of pregnancy were turned away from Asheville’s Planned Parenthood clinic in anticipation of the law going into effect the next day.

“We’re definitely already turning patients away in Asheville,” she says. Violating the law would mean disciplinary action and, in some cases, felony penalties for abortion providers.

A YEAR OF RESTRICTIONS

Previously, North Carolina was considered one of the Southern states with the fewest abortion restrictions. State law legalized abortion until fetal viability, which was generally considered to be around 24-26 weeks.

After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, Republicans in the General Assembly asked a U.S. District Judge to reinstate a ban on abortion after 20 weeks in August 2022. SB 20 followed in May, which was introduced and ratified in both chambers within 72 hours. According to reporting by The Associated Press, Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the legisla-

ALREADY AN IMPACT: On June 30, two patients who were past 12 weeks of pregnancy were turned away from Asheville’s Planned Parenthood clinic in anticipation of abortion restrictions going into effect the next day, says Planned Parenthood South Atlantic spokesperson Molly Rivera. Photo by Frances O’Connor

tion May 16, but Republicans overrode that veto the following day.

SB 20 requires providers to schedule three in-person appointments. In-person counseling must be done at least 72 hours before the procedure. (Prior to July 1, nurses at Planned Parenthood’s Asheville clinic provided the required counseling over the phone, according to previous Xpress reporting.) “We do expect this extra in-person appointment [beforehand] to be an insurmountable barrier” to access, Rivera says. Patients may need to take more time off work and secure more child care, additional transportation to and from the appointment and potential travel accommodations if they’ve come long distances.

SB 20 also requires the provider to schedule a follow-up appointment seven-10 days after the abor-

tion. Clinics already offer follow-up appointments if a patient wants one, but SB 20 mandates that a third in-person appointment is scheduled. The patient is not required to attend the third appointment.

Rivera says the condensed time frame to have an abortion, plus the additional scheduling of in-person appointments, could strain the capacity of Asheville’s clinic even further. The mandated appointments could impact the ability to provide other reproductive health care, including birth control, HIV services, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, transgender hormone therapy and the morning-after pill.

OB-GYN Dr. Elizabeth Buys, who practices at Mission Hospital, says she doesn’t consider the additional appointments now required by SB 20 to be medically necessary.

“[T]he criteria for a medical necessity typically would be that something medically would change based on that appointment,” Buys explains. “To have something ‘medically necessary’ means to me that if you don’t do something in that moment, then there’s a risk, or something you’re actually impacting that alters that medical condition.”

SB 20 has also changed access for terminating pregnancies resulting from sexual violence. Abortion is legal for up to 20 weeks in the case of rape or incest. Until Oct. 1, abortions for these circumstances may continue to be performed in clinics, Rivera explains. However, after Oct. 1, SB 20 mandates pregnancy terminations after 12 weeks can be done only in hospitals.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic has requested an injunction to halt the additional restrictions for rape and incest. Rivera says a hearing is not yet scheduled.

Julie Mayfield, state senator for Buncombe County’s District 49, tells Xpress constituents who have contacted her office have been “overwhelmingly opposed to the bill.” She says she felt “a lot of anger and frustration” by the speed at which SB 20 was introduced to the General Assembly and subsequently passed.

“They know this is not a commonsense or mainstream bill,’” she says of Republicans in the General Assembly.

TAPPED-OUT RESOURCES

Asheville’s Planned Parenthood clinic has seen a high volume of out-of-state patients since Dobbs v. Jackson, says Rivera.

The number of out-of-state patients at Asheville’s clinic fluctuates each week, she says, but it has risen as high as 80%. The statewide average was 15% before Roe was overturned.

Rivera notes that the abortion providers at Asheville’s Planned Parenthood clinic are part time, and they hold other jobs in the community as family physicians, OB/GYNs or fetal medicine providers. “We’re not able to provide abortion care every day of the week,” she explains. “What we’ve been able to do is schedule our providers for more appointments” by increasing the clinic’s hours.

Still, Rivera is concerned that increasing the clinic’s longer hours won’t meet the need. “There’s just no way that one health center in Asheville can see everyone who needs care in WNC and in these other states,” she says.

Mayfield is concerned that these abortion restrictions mean “we’re going to have a lot of horror stories about women who were not able to get the medical care that they needed, or that they wanted, and

they sought other remedies.” Unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

“Women are going to get abortions,” Mayfield says. “They will be legal, or they will be illegal. They will get them if they want them. … This bill is not going to change that. It’s just going to make it more dangerous by pushing it underground.”

‘THERE ARE UNKNOWNS’

Most abortions are performed before 12 weeks, according to data from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When an abortion occurs after 12 weeks, “often [it’s because of new] information around fetal development [such as] anomalies or birth differences that have been identified that may not make that fetus viable, which means able to live,” says Buys.

Some maternal health concerns aren’t identified until the second trimester, such as cardiac stressors like high blood pressure or impaired kidney function. An existing condition such as asthma also can “be fairly significantly changed during pregnancy,” Buys explains.

Also, some patients aren’t aware of a pregnancy in the first trimester, Buys says, explaining that some pregnancy-related “changes are vague or subtle, and patients aren’t aware.” Other times, a woman may be unaware she is pregnant because she was using contraception that affected her menstruation cycle.

Buys says patients have asked how the ban on abortion after 12 weeks may impact decisions made following the receipt of any test results. The cellfree DNA test, which screens for chromosomal abnormalities, has become common practice. However, “that test sometimes does not come back until after the 12-week mark,” she says. Other information about fetal health can be revealed through test results that are available later in pregnancy. Maternal health providers can screen for 144 genetic diseases in the mother, Buys says. If a screening shows that a mother is a carrier for a rare genetic disorder, parents may seek to screen the father’s genetic makeup as well. That process can “take more time than 12 weeks,” Buys says.

Buys emphasizes that her patients hold a wide range of views and values around abortion. Yet regardless of individuals’ personal views, she says, “many of the patients that I take care of have an appreciation for the situation — there are unknowns that can happen to you and that you don’t know what you can do if you haven’t been in that exact situation.”X

SB 20 challenged by lawsuit

A lawsuit filed in federal court June 16 sought to prevent the new restrictions from going into effect.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which operates nine health centers in North Carolina, and OB/GYN Dr. Beverly Gray, who provides abortions, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging certain provisions of SB 20.

“The act was negotiated by politicians behind closed doors and passed with almost no time for public input or debate,” the lawsuit states. “Likely as a result of this hurried process, SB 20 has injected requirements that are unintelligible, inherently contradictory, irrational, and/or otherwise unconstitutional …”

Twelve defendants are listed, including N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein, the district attorneys in the nine North Carolina cities that have a Planned Parenthood clinic, the secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and the heads of the state medical and nursing boards. (Stein tweeted June 22 that “many of the provisions in North Carolina’s anti-abortion law are unconstitutional. My office will not defend those parts of the law.”)

The federal court issued a temporary restraining order June 30 on a portion of SB 20 regarding ectopic pregnancies. According to NC Health News, the temporary restraining order expires after 14 days.

Meanwhile, in response to issues raised in the lawsuit, the General Assembly passed House Bill 190 on June 22. HB 190 sought to clarify whether SB 20 is in conflict with North Carolina’s fetal homicide law; the legality of medication abortion in the first trimester; and the legality of whether a provider may help a person who is more than 12 weeks into a pregnancy find a legal abortion in another state.

Gov. Roy Cooper signed HB 190 into law. In a statement, the governor said, “In addition to being dangerous for women, the rushed abortion ban was so poorly written that it is causing real uncertainty for doctors and other health care providers. This bill is important to clarify the rules and provide some certainty; however, we will continue fighting on all fronts the Republican assault on women’s reproductive freedom.”

Recollection collective

Shunyu Huang’s Story Parlor residency explores senses and memories

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN

earnaudin@mountainx.com

Earlier this year, Shunyu Huang sat down to enjoy a pot of High Bush Shui Xian Rock Oolong tea and was transported.

“As soon as I smelled the aroma and had that first sip, my body was activated,” says the Chinese native, who has lived in Asheville since 2017. “It was like, ‘I know this flavor. I know this scent. What is this?’ But as I remember, I had never had this tea [before].”

Fascinated by the experience, the storyteller and photographer conducted some research and discovered that the beverage was frequently brewed by her neighbors in Zhuhai, on the central coast of southern Guangdong Province in southern China. Many of these local merchants moved to her part of Guangdong from the province’s eastern side, where she says High Bush Shui Xian Rock Oolong is extremely popular. And after sitting with the tea a little longer, she remembered her father hanging out with other people on their street — a childhood memory that sparked a strong emotional response.

Then in March, Huang attended a performance by visiting Japanese storyteller Motoko at UNC Asheville. Motoko told a Chinese folk tale that included the tune “Kangding Love Song.” When Motoko started singing it, Huang joined in from the audience. But again, there was a catch.

“I was like, ‘Wait, I never learned this song, so how do I know it?’” she recalls. “I never studied this song, but I knew that when I was a child, this song was everywhere. It

was describing central China where Tibetan people live in the mountains — how great they are, how straightforward they are, how when they see somebody they’re interested in, they just go seek out this person.”

The one-two punch of memories triggered by senses inspired Huang to consider how other people might benefit from such explorations. And she soon found a local partner, Story Parlor, to help turn this vision into a reality. In June, Huang became the art space’s third artist-in-residence for its Story/Arts residency program. Along with a $500 stipend and dedicated rehearsal time, Huang will put on multiple events throughout July, sharing her stories and inviting others within the community to do the same.

RESIDENCY REVOLUTION

A resident of West Asheville, Huang was no stranger to Story Parlor’s programming. Before their current collaboration, she participated in the first installment of the art space’s 2023 Story Mixer events; each of these gatherings showcases a variety of narrative artists exploring a particular theme.

“Our Story Mixer in January was [focused on] ‘Homeland,’ and it was inviting in local artists who hailed from international homelands to come pay tribute,” says Story Parlor founder and artistic director Erin Hallagan Clare. “Shunyu came and did this beautiful tribute on China through poetry and photographs and song.”

With that positive experience still fresh in her mind, Huang applied for Story Parlor’s Story/Arts residency, which aims to support artists from historically marginalized communities.

Local multidisciplinary artist Gina Cornejo was the program’s first artist-in-residence, producing “Dirty Laundry” in July 2022, a public performance in partnership with Stewart/ Owen Dance. Asheville-based storyteller and poet Meta Commerse followed in November. She offered a workshop on creating legacy stories about elders. She also provided participants guidance for becoming elders themselves.

“We really look for applicants that explore this idea of story in all art forms, and I think that is really kind of at the centerfold of what we’re doing here,” Hallagan Clare says. “The residency in particular is really geared at bringing community together, especially disparate parts of the community.”

A

SENSE OF HOME: Shunyu

named [the series] ‘Memory Quilt.’ I’m inviting the whole community to make this quilt with me. And I want people to leave here feeling covered by this quilt that we make.”

SENSE OF PLACE

Each event in Huang’s series will feature a curated slate of artists presenting multidisciplinary stories and memories rooted in the five senses. Thursday, July 13, focuses on scent and taste; Thursday, July 20, explores sound; and Thursday, July 27, looks at sight and touch.

UNC Asheville humanities professor Leslee Johnson will share a story about tomatoes; singer-songwriter and visual artist Ben Phantom will use music and imagery to delve into a memory about pho; and West Asheville native JoeRob, with whom Huang volunteers at Asheville Poverty Initiative’s 12 Baskets Cafe, will share his relationship with trees and wood during the “sight and touch” program. In selecting her collaborators, Huang was inspired by the Chinese proverb “Qiu Tong Cun Yi,” meaning “Strive for unity in diversity.”

“The people that I bring here, if you look at them, they’re very, very different people. They’re from different countries and regions, and their culture is very different,” Huang says. “Some grew up here in the mountains, some are from Tajikistan or Indonesia. It’s kind of like where I grew up. It’s a really diverse place, and we hang out with different people all the time. We don’t think that they’re different — they’re minorities, but we still hang out together.”

In considering what kind of sensory-themed events to propose in her application, Huang found herself drawn to quilts. She says during and before the application process the woven items kept appearing in her life. As one example, she points to a friend who specializes in memory quilts — pieces made of T-shirts and other items, often belonging to people who’ve passed away. Rather than being displayed as art, the quilts are typically used as a layer to keep warm.

The symbolic power of these quilts influenced the way Huang began to think about the way she’d relay stories during her residency. “The action of being covered by those memories is very strong,” she says, adding that she wanted to create a similar experience, albeit metaphorical in nature. “That’s why I

The series will culminate each evening in a communal circle where attendees can share their own sensory memories. In reviewing Huang’s application for the residency, says Hallagan Clare, the artist’s inclusion of this nightly gathering truly showcased her commitment to community-oriented work.

Huang hopes when people leave each “Memory Quilt” event, they begin sharing more memories with their friends and families. But she also desires that attendees — particularly her West Asheville neighbors — use the series as an opportunity to let their guard down and open up to each other.

“These are very important people, and I think their voice and stories need to be heard in order for our community to be a little healthier,” Huang says. “Asheville is going to be more diverse, but is it a real diversity? An inclusive diversity or an exclusive diversity? Because sometimes it doesn’t feel very inclusive.”

To learn more, visit avl.mx/bqx.  X

Huang enjoys some High Bush Shui Xian Rock Oolong tea at Story Parlor. The beverage helped inspire her “Memory Quilt” Story/Arts Residency. Photo by Edwin Arnaudin

Creatives in the Crowd

BY CARMELA CARUSO

carmela.caruso@yahoo.com

Crislyn V’Soske Baughman sits hunched over a wooden desk in her North Asheville studio wrapping floss-thin wire around a long needle. She then picks up a set of clippers and snips the wire into rounds so small I’m sure it must be time to invest in bifocals.

Recognizing my struggle, she selects a new strand of wire.

“I’ll use copper so you can see better,” she says.

I watch as she forms two rounds — one copper, one silver — flattening the first into a perfect oval, then opening the second ring just enough to link it through the copper before clamping it shut.

Baughman, who designs earrings, necklaces, hair clips and mobiles, will repeat this process dozens, sometimes hundreds, of times for every new project she undertakes. She says it takes days (“and days and days”) to finish a single necklace chain because she handcrafts every link, clasp and bail (the metal casing that holds beads, gems and prisms in place).

“I won’t sit down unless I know I have hours to work,” she continues, likening jewelry-making to her yoga practice. “It isn’t worth it to do just five minutes.”

QUIET TIME

Baughman, who is also a hospice nurse for CarePartners, creates jewelry in between shifts. On workdays, she wakes up at 3 a.m. to fit in a yoga practice before starting her 13-hour nurse shift at 6:15 a.m. “If you do yoga or meditate, you get into the flow, you

don’t have self-awareness, you get lost … you’re just totally in the groove.”

She says she experiences that same peaceful flow when she’s making jewelry inside her home studio. Tucked away in a corner room, her wooden desk and bench are positioned in front of a window overlooking a yard lush with trees, a creek and patches of pepper plants that her husband, Bruce, tends.

The space has everything she needs. A row of pliers and clippers are nested in a wood holder to her left. Small hammers fill a glass jar adjacent to what Baughman calls “the cutest anvil” she’s ever seen — barely a few inches high and not much wider than the

palm of her hand. To her right, vials of glass beads stand at the ready. In the middle drawer of the desk, a rainbow of seed beads organized by color fill icecube trays. A mat in the center forms her workstation, artfully strewn with needles, strands of wire like hair and small rounds.

According to Baughman, working as a hospice nurse and a maker complement each other. “Hospice care is go, go, go. It’s very much a communal experience,” she explains. Jewelrymaking is “just the opposite — totally quiet, sitting, not moving.”

Though the art form requires long hours of solitude, she says her cat,

Body Piercing & Tattoo

Clementine, often curls up in her lap to keep her company while she works.

SERENDIPITOUS START

In discussing her path to jewelry-making, Baughman notes it was somewhat by chance. In 2009, she took a necklace to a local bead store for repair. When the worker handed her the tools and showed her simple techniques to fix the necklace, Baughman says she felt her hands charged with energy and excitement. Jewelry-making felt like something she was destined to do.

Shortly after, while visiting a different bead store downtown, she glanced

MISSING LINK: Crislyn V’Soske Baughman happened upon jewelry-making by chance when she brought a necklace to a local bead shop for repair and received a free tutorial. Photo by Carmela Caruso

through a simple paperback book on wire jewelry-making and thought, “I can do this.”

She soon fell in love with wire because of its versatility. “You can do anything with it,” she explains. “It’s like drawing with a pencil but 3D.” The mobiles — flowers, a fish, an insect and cascades of geometric shapes — hanging in each of her office windows prove her point.

The self-taught artisan has spent years perfecting her craft, and her studio is filled with finished products. In addition to the mobiles, Baughman has a tray of hair clips resting on a nearby bureau and at least half a dozen picture frames filled with pillowy, satin fabric pinned with earrings and necklaces.

While touring me through her space, Baughman gingerly lifts a white display holding a single necklace featuring several layers of wider interlocking circles with teardrop beads hanging from the front. It was the first piece she ever made.

“I like to keep it around to remind myself where I began,” she explains, pointing out the relative simplicity of the clasp (a few wire strands) compared to the more intricate ones she makes today.

IN THE FAMILY

Despite her serendipitous introduction to the craft, Baughman adds that making may be in her genes. Her grandfather, Stanislav V’Soske, was influential in the custom-made rug movement. In his obituary, which ran in The New York Times’ April 7, 1983, edition, he’s noted as “the dean of American rug design.”

Baughman’s father, Paul V’Soske, continued the tradition. Baughman recalls her childhood spent watching her father weaving rugs in their living room. Today, his plush, intricately patterned creations adorn the rooms of her home, including the floor of her studio.

The insider’s guide

“Must be something in the gene strand,” says Baughman of her life as a maker. “I’m not anywhere near [Paul’s] talent, but I like to make things with my hands. Even dinner,” she adds with a smile.

But Baughman hesitates to call herself an artist. And at her father’s suggestion, she avoids labeling herself a jewelry maker since she hasn’t taken formal classes and doesn’t use certain tools.

As part of her approach, Baughman never looks at others’ works for inspiration. Each necklace, earring, mobile and hair clip is unique with wire formed into different shapes, sizes and styles.

“A lot of it is just intuitive,” she says. “You just start and see what it wants to be.”

She holds up a heart-shaped pair of dangly earrings as an example. She says she created the shape and pattern, which bears the intricacy of a Celtic knot, just by playing around with the materials.

Baughman’s jewelry is currently for sale at Lola Salon and Gallery on Biltmore Avenue and she’s hoping to expand her reach in a few more shops.

But ultimately, Baughman says she creates because she enjoys both the process and the finished product.

“The best feeling is when I’m out and I see someone walk by wearing a piece of jewelry I made,” she says.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/ctd.

This article is part of our ongoing feature, “Creatives in the Crowd,” which focuses on local artists — both established and new. The feature spotlights unique stories and innovative artistic approaches within our creative community. Unlike much of our Arts & Culture reporting, these stories are not tied to upcoming events, exhibits or releases. The feature strives to represent a diverse range of voices, experiences and artistic mediums. If you’d like to nominate a community member for consideration, please reach out to ae@mountainx.com with the subject line “Creatives in the Crowd.” X

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CREATIVE PLAY: Baughman’s workstation in her North Asheville home studio. The self-taught artist says she allows intuition to guide each piece, creating unique patterns, shapes and styles by going with the flow. Photo by Carmela Caruso

What’s new in food

Folkmoot, Waynesville’s premier folk festival dedicated to the preservation of culture and heritage, invites guests to indulge in cuisines from around the world during a 40th-anniversary Summer Soirée on Thursday, July 20, 7-9 p.m.

The soirée will serve as a fundraiser celebrating Folkmoot, recognized as North Carolina’s official International Folk Festival by the N.C. General Assembly, while also drumming up the support needed to propel its mission.

“Folkmoot has had struggles related to the pandemic,” says board member Jessica May, “but this event is meant to serve as a fundraising resurgence to help let the world know we are still here. We’re hoping to move the needle in terms of cultural representation in our state through arts, education and creative entrepreneurship.”

The event takes place at the Folkmoot Friendship Center, which once housed Hazelwood Elementary School. Most former classrooms are now occupied by local artisans displaying their wares. During the Folkmoot Summer Soirée, these rooms will be transformed into unique environments celebrating five cultures.

“We have artifacts that we’ve acquired throughout Folkmoot’s history that we’ll use to decorate each room respective to the particular culture,” May explains. “And each room will provide hearty bites, from savory dishes to sweet treats, from partnering restaurants specializing in each culture’s cuisine. Each guest receives a pseudo-passport that we’ll stamp at each cultural area, just as if they were traveling from country to country.”

The Celtic heritage room will feature shepherd’s pie, corned beef and cabbage meatballs and shortbread cookies from The Scotsman Public

Soirée

the summer away with Folkmoot

House. The Asian room will welcome Watami Sushi & Noodles for sushi and pad thai; Boccelli’s Italian Eatery will bring garlic knots, lasagna and pizza to the Italian room; Guayabitos is coming from Maggie Valley to feed visitors in the Latin America room; and the Appalachian room will naturally include locally sourced and smoked barbecue.

Two drink vouchers are included in each ticket, and local artists will play live music related to each room’s cultural theme.

One hundred percent of ticket sale proceeds ($50 per person) will directly support Folkmoot. One-of-a-kind items and experiences will also be up for bid via a silent auction to benefit the organization.

“We want to tap into who Folkmoot is and pay homage to the history of our organization while looking forward to the future by acknowledging the many cultures that have contributed to our local culture,” says May.

The Folkmoot Friendship Center is at 112 Virginia Ave., Waynesville. Visit avl.mx/ctj for tickets and information.

Cure for the summertime blues

The Asheville Market will host a summer block party geared toward nature-based activities and wellness resources on Saturday, July 15, from noon-4 p.m.

Asheville Market has gathered a diverse array of nearly 20 merchants, community members and local nonprofits for the event, which will serve as a communal celebration of the summer season and a chance to spend time outdoors with neighbors and familiars.

Whole Foods will be on-site to provide discounted healthy dining options. Jack the Dipper Ice Cream will have a booth set up, and Fifth Season Gardening plans to provide a specialty summer drink menu.

Organizations such as the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Angel K Love Project, Food Connection Asheville, Babies Need Bottoms and Western Women’s Business Center will be in attendance for education and donation gathering. Live music, massage stations, henna tattoo booths and dedicated spaces for children offering arts, crafts, games and enrichment will round out the afternoon’s offerings.

Asheville Market is at 4 S. Tunnel Road. Visit avl.mx/ctf for additional information.

Pickles prevail

Pickles. They’re a pretty big dill if you ask chef Donald Paleno, owner

and operator of DJ’s Pickles. So much so that he’s planned his third annual PicklePalooza event paying homage to the crunchy cucumbers on Saturday, July 15, 4-9 p.m., at Blue Ghost Brewing Company.

“With the pickle love and support we have received over the last three years, we hope to build on that momentum by inviting businesses and people together to have a great time and taste all things pickled,” says Paleno.

Blue Ghost Brewing has pledged to donate $1 to Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity per pint sold. The event will include a variety of food options provided by Kinfolk, The Hungry Ghost, Up All Night Bottling Co. and Frios Gourmet Pops of WNC, as well as activities such as themed games, face painting and fairy hair applications.

Progressive Southern rock band The Log Noggins and multi-instrumental singer/songwriter Daniel Sage plan to perform.

As for the pickles? Paleno has prepared an offering of classic favorites, such as the Serious Dill pickle variety and the pickled red onions with star anise, as well as new snack-packsized variations of the Silly Dilly, En Fuego, Basil & Balsamic Beets and the aforementioned Serious Dill.

“Supporting local is both fun and easy to do here in WNC,” says Paleno. “We do what we do with love and a commitment to bringing generations together, and we value the work of Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity in rising to meet the challenges of housing in our area.”

Blue Ghost Brewing Co. is at 125 Underwood Road, Fletcher. Visit avl.mx/cth for additional information.

AROUND THE WORLD: Folkmoot, North Carolina’s official International Folk Festival, celebrates local cultures with a new fundraiser. Photo courtesy Folkmoot

Light Your Fire

Heritage Fire, an outdoor culinary experience bringing together local chefs to celebrate cooking over a live fire, takes place Sunday, July 16, 4-7 p.m., at The Horse Shoe Farm.

“Heritage Fire is designed as an educational and immersive experience aiming to enlighten consumers about the importance of honest food sourced from real farmers,” says Isabella Ballesteros , event organizer at A21 — the team behind the event. “We’re bringing together some of the top chefs, bartenders, winemakers, brewers, farmers and purveyors in the region for a livefire feast.”

Over 20 local chef participants will each create their own fire-fueled dish in hopes of winning Best Bite of the Day, to be voted on by event attendees. Last year’s winner, chef Owen McGlynn of Asheville Proper and Little D’s, returns to defend his title against a loaded field eager to dethrone the reigning champ.

Tickets costing $125 for general admission and $175 for VIP early access include all food and beverage offerings. DJ Labonita provides the event’s live soundtrack, and Smoky

Mountain Axe House will contribute live ax throwing.

The Horse Shoe Farm is at 155 Horse Shoe Farm Drive, Hendersonville. Visit avl.mx/bqo for tickets and a full list of event details and participants.

Steady Drip

Three’s company for coffee café

The Dripolator, also known as “The Drip,” after opening its third location in South Asheville’s Gerber Village.

“We felt like South Asheville was underserved in the specialty coffee arena because it’s such a bustling and busy area,” says founder Amy Vermillion of the motivation behind the latest expansion. “We hope this café will be another, ‘third place’ for anyone who wants to gather friends or do a little work, or who commutes and needs to get in and out quickly with a hot (or cold) latte.”

The look and feel of the third Drip are distinct from that of the other two locations. “We like to call it romantic industrial,” explains Vermillion. “The space is roomy and bright with lots of windows, and it’s accessible via an outdoor patio space and garage door.”

However, the menu, Vermillion states, “is exactly the same as at our original location in Black Mountain. You can expect all of your favorites, like our Cubano, the Golden Milk Latte and the delicious cold brew we make in house with Ethiopian beans roasted at our Candler store.”

The Dripolator’s new location is at 20 Gala Drive, Suite G-101. Visit avl.mx/cti for more news and updates.

Grata Pizzeria says ‘ciao’

Grata Pizzeria has permanently closed.

“We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve you our delicious pizzas for the past three and a half years and appreciate all the support we have received from the Asheville community,” say owners Grant and Rubí-Sabel Fox in an announcement on social media.

The former Grata owners cite a “drastic decline in sales” in 2023 as the primary factor in the difficult decision. After UpCountry Brewing Co. closed its operations in the building shared with Grata at 1042 Haywood Road earlier this year, cus-

tomer confusion as to whether or not Grata remained open contributed greatly to that decline. But the Fox family views this decision as a “see you later” more than a “goodbye.”

“We are sad and disappointed at this situation but are looking forward to the next chapter in our lives and are excited about the prospect of getting back to normal 40-hour workweeks,” says the couple.

Kids eat free

The Buncombe County Schools communications department has announced that breakfast and lunch will be provided at no cost to all students for the next school year.

Beginning Aug. 28, this new program will be implemented for schools in Buncombe County via the Community Eligibility Provision, a national option for schools in low-income areas that allows all students to receive free meals without application.

Parents with questions about this announcement are encouraged to contact the Buncombe Schools Nutrition Office at 828-255-5932 or visit avl.mx/ctl.

— Blake Becker  X

Around Town

Dillsboro’s Front Street

Arts & Crafts Show enters eighth year

Over 40 regional artists and crafters will set up booths along Dillsboro’s Front Street on Saturday, July 15, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

The event highlights the mountain traditions of Appalachia. “Dillsboro has long been known for its arts and crafts, and it’s one of the reasons people discover our area and Western North Carolina,” says Julie Donaldson, executive director of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.

The eighth annual show will also feature live music starting at 10:30 a.m. with “Blue Ridge balladeer” singer-songwriter Anna Victoria, followed by multigenre singer Suzie Copeland and ending with a 2 p.m. performance by Twelfth Fret, a married duo that covers classic rock and pop.

“We have some talented regional musicians and dancers performing, as well as excellent local restaurants, breweries and event vendors,” says Kelly Donaldson, assistant director of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. “There is truly something for everyone.”

“The consistency and quality of the vendors as well as the variety of handcrafted items at reasonable prices” is the reason the festival has grown each year, says Kelly. “The intimate and personal shopping experience attained from a handmade purchase is a feeling that a big-box store is unable to match: originality, quality, creativity, local artisan support, plus shopping ‘one on one under the tent’ help keep traditions alive.”

The free festival will provide a shuttle service from Monteith Farmstead and Community Park, near the downtown shopping district.

For more information, visit avl.mx/ctn.

Stories of the South

Local author David Joy is one of many creative personalities featured in a new three-part documentary series on PBS.

The Sylva native will be featured on the first episode of “Southern Storytellers,” which premieres on Tuesday, July 18, at 9 p.m. His segment will focus on “lamenting the disappearance of the culture he loves,” according to a press release.

The docuseries — which is from PBS, Arkansas PBS and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Craig Renaud — reveals stories of the South as told by well-known storytellers who call it home.They include poet Jericho Brown, songwriters Jason Isbell and Lyle Lovett and actor Billy Bob Thornton.

“‘Southern Storytellers’ comes from our desire, as native Southerners, to show the South in an authentic light,” says Courtney Pledger, executive director and CEO of Arkansas PBS in a press release. “And we can think of no better way to do that than through the experiences of the region’s writers and creators who are able to engage us, move us and take us to a deeper understanding of such a dynamic place and its people.”

“‘Southern Storytellers’ gives our audiences the opportunity to hear creators from across the region as they share, in their uniquely Southern voices, the places and histories that inspire them to honor and preserve traditions and to create new ones for the future,” adds Bill Gardner, vice president of multiplatform programming and head of development at PBS, in the same press release.

For more information, visit avl.mx/cto.

Spotlight on songwriting

Spotlight Collective, which provides local songwriters with networking and gigging opportunities, will host Music Business 101 from 5-9 p.m. Sunday, July 16, at Different Wrld.

“The intention of the event is to break down barriers to entry in the

UPFRONT: “Blue Ridge balladeer” Anna Victoria will return to the stage at this year’s Front Street Arts & Crafts Show. Photo by Kelly Donaldson

music business industry and help musicians further their music careers,” says Leah Worley, Spotlight Collective co-founder and moderator of the event. Panelists will include:

• James Keane, director of operations for Virginia-based Artistzen Business Management.

• Matt Evans, booking agent for The Odd.

• Spencer Scanlon, owner and director of operations for Asheville’s Transmission Publicity.

• Edwin Arnaudin, music journalist at Mountain Xpress and Asheville Stages

• Jae Hargis, DIY organizer at Rabbit Hole.

The panel discussion will be 5-7 p.m., followed by a local songwriter showcase from 7-9 p.m.

The featured songwriters will be Pat Zim, Lurky Skunk, David Barnard, Doctor Delia and Jilly Jean

Different Wrld is at 701 Haywood Road, Suite 101. For more information, go to avl.mx/ctg.

Crafting community

The Center for Craft is launching new regional grant program, in partnership with the UNC Asheville’s UNC Gillings Master of Public Health.

The purpose of the grant is to explore crafting’s impact on community vitality. Six selected artists, artist collectives or art organizations will receive a $2,200 grant to use craft to engage with Western North Carolina communities.

“Through the practice of traditional and contemporary crafts, individuals develop skills, express their artistic abilities and find a sense of purpose and fulfillment,” says Center for Craft Executive Director Stephanie Moore in a press release.

“Craft also plays a crucial role in preserving cultural traditions and strengthening identity, passing down knowledge from one generation to the next.”

Proposed projects must take place between September and November, and each selected project will be paired with a UNCA MPH student.

The Center for Craft invites letters of interest to be sent to ahelgeson@ centerforcraft.org before 11:59 pm. Friday, July 24

The Center for Craft is at 67 Broadway. For more information, visit avl.mx/6og.

NC in DC

Briana Sosa-Trejo , a recent graduate of Henderson County Early College, is North Carolina’s 11th District winner of the 2023 Congressional Art Competition. The announcement was made by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards. “Briana is the first winner of the Congressional Art Competition since the time I’ve been sent to represent North Carolina’s 11th District, and I was pleased to be able to show her where her artwork is currently displayed in the U.S. Capitol,” said Edwards in a press release. “I’m glad to see how she used her exceptional talent to contribute to our community and wish her the best as she begins her undergraduate studies.”

Sosa-Trejo’s artwork, titled “Skeptical of Myself,” will be on display in the U.S. Capitol building for one year. She will begin undergraduate studies at UNC Charlotte this fall.

For more information on the Congressional Art Competition, visit avl.mx/ctq.

With additional reporting from Justin McGuire.

— Andy Hall  X

MOVIE REVIEWS

JOY RIDE: Four ChineseAmerican friends take an eventful trip to Asia in this hilarious, boundary-pushing comedy.

Grade: B+

— Edwin Arnaudin

For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 12

12 BONES BREWERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Stand-Up Comedy Open Mic, 8pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Jay Brown (roots, blues, jazz), 6pm

FLEETWOOD'S Totally 80's Wednesday Night Dance Party, 9pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

Bluegrass Jam w/The Saylor Borthers, 6:30pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Songwriter Series w/ Matt Smith, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB Old Time Jam, 5pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

FBVMA: Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Latin Night w/DJ Mtn Vibez, 8:30pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Poetry Open Mic, 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Sun Organ w/Good Trauma & Lost Plan (indie rock), 9pm

THE ODD

Parental Advisory: Burlesque & Hip Hop, 9pm

TWIN LEAF BREWERY

Wednesday Open Mic, 5:30pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Irish Music Circle, 7pm

THURSDAY, JULY 13

AMAZING PUBCYCLE

The Office Trivia Night, 6pm

BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE

Mike Kenton & Jim Tanner (jazz), 5:30pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Ryan Furstenberg (indie, folk), 6pm

CROW & QUILL

Sweet Megg (hot-jazz), 8pm

FLEETWOOD'S

Rougarou, Tula Vera & Hex Wizard (psych, rock), 8pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

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

GREEN MAN BREWERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

HAIKU AVL

Don't Tell Comedy: Biltmore Village, 8pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

DOWNTOWN TAPROOM

Not Rocket Science Trivia, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD

PUB

Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich, 7:30pm

DOUG SAHM TRIBUTE: Alternative country band Son Volt plays Pisgah Brewing Co. on Saturday, July 15, at 6 p.m. The band, which is celebrating its 28th year, is embarking on a three-month tour to support its new Doug Sahm tribute album, Day Of The Doug. Photo courtesy of Auset Sarno

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

J. Dunks (rock, pop, folk), 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

Paul Edelman (folk, rock'n'roll), 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Magenta Sunshine (blues, folk, soul), 8pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Andrew Scotchie & The River Rats (rock, blues), 6:30pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Django Jazz Jam, 7pm

THE DFR LOUNGE

Steve Simon & The Kings of Jazz (Latin, jazz), 7pm

THE GREY EAGLE

• Patio: The Krickets (Americana), 5pm

• Caitlin Rose & The Kernal (country, alt-indie), 8pm

THE ODD

Graveyard Shift: Goth Dance Party, 9pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

King's X w/Sound & Shape (metal, rock), 8pm

THE ROOT BAR

Kendra & Friends (multiple genres), 6pm

URBAN ORCHARD

Trivia Thursday, 7pm

URBAN ORCHARD CIDER CO. SOUTH SLOPE

Social Bachata, 8:30pm

WNC OUTDOOR COLLECTIVE Trivia, 6:30pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Dirty Cello (blues, rock, Americana), 7:30pm

VOTED WNC #1 KAVA BAR

SUN: Aaron “Woody” Wood & Friends 7pm MON: Ping-Pong Tournament 7pm

TUE: Open Jam w/ house band the Lactones 8pm

WICKED WEED BREWING

Stephen Evans (folk, rock), 5pm

FRIDAY, JULY 14

27 CLUB Sacrilege Goth Dance Party, 10pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR

BAR

Mr Jimmy's Friday Night Blues, 7:30pm

BEN'S TUNE UP EK Balam (reggaeton, hip-hop), 8pm

BIER GARDEN

The Coveralls (acoustic), 8pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Syrrup (jazz, soul, and blues), 6pm

CORK & KEG

The Uptown Hillbillies (honk'n'tonk, country), 8pm

FLEETWOOD'S

Beware the Dangers Of A Ghost Scorpion, Slow Poison & Impending Joy (horror surf, rock-a-billy), 9pm

GINGER'S REVENGE

SOUTH SLOPE

LOUNGE

Modelface Comedy

Presents: Damon Sumner, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

DOWNTOWN

TAPROOM

Lady & The Lovers (funk, R&B, pop rock), 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

5J Barrow Friday Nights (folk), 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Local Color Comedy Presents: War of Worlds, 8pm

RABBIT RABBIT

Silent Disco: Disco Demolition Party, 8pm

SHILOH & GAINES

The Utility Players w/ Drew Matulich, Sean Newman & Peter Mencher (blues, funk, rock), 9pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Tony Black Trio (jazz, acid), 9pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Mike L!ve w/C. Shreve

The Professor, Gritty City & Hunter Bennett (hip-hop, rap) 9pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Patio: Quickchester (multiple genres), 5:30pm

THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Cloud City Caskets & The Deathbots (punk rock), 7pm

THE ODD Night Beers, Small Doses, Tiny TVs & The Discs (rock'n'roll, punk, metal), 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL Mustache The Band (country), 8pm

THE OUTPOST

Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road (bluegrass, old-time, roots), 7pm

7/14: Tony Black Trio, 9pm Rock / Jazz Fusion 7/15: Mountain SoundSystems, 9pm EDM

WED: Poetry Open Mic AVL 8:30pm/8pm signup 7/19: Featured Poet, Tom Murphy, 8:30pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

• Honky-Tonk Fridays w/ Jackson Grimm, 4pm

• Jesse Harman & The Jugs (honky-tonk, bluegrass, blues), 9pm

LA TAPA LOUNGE

Open Mic Night w/ Hamza, 8pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING

CO.

Kayla McKinney (country, honky-tonk), 8pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Brushfire Stankgrass (bluegrass), 10pm

UPCOUNTRY BREWING COMPANY

AL “StumpWater” Lyons (Celtic, folk), 5pm

WXYZ BAR AT ALOFT Eric Barker (country, covers), 7pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN Mead Ritcher & The Swingbillies (acoustic), 8pm

SATURDAY, JULY 15

12 BONES BREWERY Claire Whall (folk), 6pm

27 CLUB

Freak Show: Burlesque, 10pm

ASHEVILLE CLUB

Mr Jimmy (blues), 7pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR

The Travelling Pilsburys (acoustic), 8pm

BATTERY PARK BOOK

EXCHANGE

Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 5:30pm

BEN'S TUNE UP

Jaze Uries (house, electronic), 8pm

CORK & KEG

Zydeco Ya Ya (Cajun, Zydeco), 8pm

DSSOLVR

Grime House (indie rock party), 8pm

FOUR POINTS BY SHERATON

Comedy Hypnosis w/Jon Dee, 8am

FROG LEVEL BREWERY

Boogie Down Bash w/ Pleasure Chest & Andrew Scotchie (blues, soul, indie rock), 6:30pm

GINGER'S REVENGE

Don't Tell Comedy: River

Arts District, 8pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

• Nobody's Darling String Band, 4pm

• The Jackson Grimm

Band (Americana, folk pop, Appalachian), 9pm

LA TAPA LOUNGE

Karaoke Night, 9pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING

CO.

Sleepin' Dogz (rock), 1pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

TopHouse (Americana, folk), 9pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

WEST

• Freeway Jubilee Trio (rock, bluegrass, country), 4pm

• Boat Command (chillhop, hip-hop, electronic), 8pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Son Volt (alt-country, rock, folk), 6pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Joey's Van (pop, funk), 9pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Mountain Soundsystems (psybass), 9pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Fust w/Ben Asbury, Colin Miller & Natalie Jane Hill (indie folk, alt-rock), 9pm

THE BURGER BAR

Best Worst Karaoke, 9pm

THE GREY EAGLE

• Patio: Doc Robinson (grassroots-indie), 6pm

• Skies of Avalon (rock), 8pm

THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

Sean Hobbes & The Hi Res (pop, soul), 6pm

THE ODD Party Foul Drag: Saturday Night Tease, 8pm

THE OUTPOST

Air Park (pop, indie folk), 7pm

THE RAD BREW CO.

Chilltonic (rock, hip-hop, funk), 7pm

WXYZ BAR AT ALOFT

Livin’ on the Ledge Series w/Phantom Pantone, 2pm

SUNDAY, JULY 16

ASHEVILLE BEAUTY

ACADEMY

Sunday Hustle Dance Party, 9pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Dark City Kings (garagerock, country, pop), 2pm

CATAWBA BREWING

CO. SOUTH SLOPE

ASHEVILLE

Modelface Comedy

Presents: Monster Comedy Jam, 6pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 3pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

Sunset Salsa on the Rooftop, 6pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

DOWNTOWN

TAPROOM

Mr Jimmy Duo (blues), 1pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

• Bluegrass Brunch, 1pm

• Traditional Irish Jam, 3:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Mr Jimmy (blues), 3pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

• Sunday Jazz Jam, 1:30pm

• Kid Billy (ragtime, blues, indie-folk), 6pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Pisgah Sunday Jam, 6:30pm

SALVAGE STATION Catalyst, 12pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Aaron Woody Wood (Appalachia, soul, Americana), 7pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Tympanic Rupture, Pissrot, Ignorance Kills

Everyone & Cystic

Nourishment (grindcore, punk), 9pm

THE MEADOW

DSSOLVR

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

GREEN MAN BREWERY

Traditonal Old Time Jam, 5:30pm

HAYWOOD COUNTRY CLUB

Taylor Martin's Open

Mic Mondays, 6:30pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Totally Rad Trivia w/ Mitch Fortune, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

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

NOBLE CIDER

DOWNTOWN

Freshen Up Comedy Open Mic, 6:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

It Takes All Kinds Open Mic Nights, 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

Open Mic Downtown, 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Mashup Mondays w/The JLloyd Mashup Band, 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Modelface Comedy

Presents: Bobcat Goldthwait, 7pm

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR

Mr Jimmy & Friends (blues), 7pm

THE MONTE VISTA HOTEL

Music Mondays, 5pm

THE RAD BREW CO.

Trivia w/Billy, 7pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Jay Brown w/Walter

Finley, April Dawne & Anne Stieber (roots, folk, blues), 7pm

TUESDAY, JULY 18

D9 BREWING CO.

Malus Mons (electronic), 6pm

DOC BROWN'S BBQ

Greg Candle (blues, country), 7pm

FLEETWOOD'S

Tuesday Night Karaoke

Dance Party, 9pm

FRENCH BROAD BREWERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Team Trivia, 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

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

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Weekly Open Jam

hosted by Chris Cooper & Friends, 6:30pm

THE BURGER BAR

C U Next Tuesday Trivia, 9pm

THE ODD

Open Mic Comedy, 8pm

TWIN LEAF BREWERY

Tuesday Night Trivia, 7pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

White Horse Open Mic, 7pm

WEDNESDAY,

JULY 19

12 BONES BREWERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

Stand-Up Comedy Open Mic, 8pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Jay Brown (roots, blues, jazz), 6pm

FLEETWOOD'S

Totally 80's Wednesday Night Dance Party, 9pm

FRENCH BROAD BREWERY

Bluegrass Jam w/The Saylor Borthers, 6:30pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Songwriter Series w/ Matt Smith, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Old Time Jam, 5pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. FBVMA: Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Latin Night w/DJ Mtn

Vibez, 8:30pm

SALVAGE STATION

Gideon (metalcore), 7pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Poetry Open Mic, 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE

Patio: Sara Jean

Kelley (Americana, pop, country), 5:30pm

TWIN LEAF BREWERY

Wednesday Open Mic, 5:30pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Irish Music Circle, 7pm

THURSDAY, JULY 20

AMAZING PUBCYCLE

The Office Trivia Night, 6pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR

BAR

The MGB's (acoustic), 8pm

B-SIDES LOFT

Man on Man & Cooling Prongs (alternative, electro-rock), 9pm

BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE

Mike Kenton & Jim

Tanner (jazz), 5:30pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN

BREWING

Dan Signor (multiple genres), 6pm

CROW & QUILL

Cyndi Lou & The Want

To (honky-tonk), 8pm

FRENCH BROAD RIVER

BREWERY

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

FROG LEVEL BREWERY

Muddy Guthrie (Americana, rock, blues), 6pm

GREEN MAN BREWERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

HIGHLAND BREWING DOWNTOWN

TAPROOM

Not Rocket Science Trivia, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Bluegrass Jam w/Drew

Matulich, 7:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Rhythm & Brews

Afterparty w/Kid Billy (Americana, blues, ragtime), 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Electro Lust (funk, electronic, Latin), 9pm

PULP

Stand Up Comedy w/ Petey Smith McDowell, 8pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Bobby Miller & The Virgina Dare Devils (acoustic), 6:30pm

SALVAGE STATION

Led Zeppelin 2 (Led Zeppelin tribute), 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Casual Hex, Lunar

Creature, Spiral Prone, Tulpas & Haugr (punk, post-punk), 9pm

THE DFR LOUNGE

Steve Simon & The Kings of Jazz (Latin, jazz), 7pm

THE GREY EAGLE

• Patio: Miami Gold (rock'n'roll), 5:30pm

• Big Freedia (Southern-rap, bounce), 8pm

THE ODD

L.M.I & Loss of Consciousness (hardcore punk), 8pm

THE OUTPOST Orange Moon (Erykah Badu tribute), 7pm

THE ROOT BAR

Kendra & Friends (multiple genres), 6pm

URBAN ORCHARD

Trivia Thursday, 7pm

URBAN ORCHARD

CIDER CO. SOUTH SLOPE

Social Bachata, 8:30pm

WNC OUTDOOR

COLLECTIVE Trivia, 6:30pm

WICKED WEED BREWING

Beer & Loathing (rock), 5pm

WRONG WAY RIVER

LODGE & CABINS

Modelface Presents Comedy: Kelsey Rosen, 7pm

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Many astrologers enjoy meditating on the heavenly body Chiron. With an orbit between Saturn and Uranus, it is an anomalous object that has qualities of both a comet and a minor planet. Its name is derived from a character in ancient Greek myth: the wisest teacher and healer of all the centaurs. Chiron is now in the sign of Aries and will be there for a while. Let’s invoke its symbolic power to inspire two quests in the coming months: 1. Seek a teacher who excites your love of life. 2. Seek a healer who alleviates any hurts that interfere with your love of life.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): It’s high time for some high culture! You are in a phase to get rich benefits from reading Shakespeare, listening to Beethoven and enjoying paintings by Matisse and Picasso. You’d also benefit lavishly from communing with the work of virtuosos like Mozart, Michelangelo, and novelist Haruki Murakami. However, I think you would garner even greater emotional treasures from reading Virginia Woolf, listening to Janelle Monáe’s music, and enjoying Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings. For extra credit, get cozy with the books of Simone Weil, listen to Patti Smith’s music, and see Frida Kahlo’s art. If you read between the lines here, you understand I’m telling you that the most excellent thing to do for your mental and spiritual health is to commune with brilliant women artists, writers, and musicians.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The French phrase j’ajoute (translated as “I adjust”) is a chess term used when a player is about to adjust their pieces but does not yet intend to make a move. J’ajoute might be an apt motto for you to invoke in the coming days. You are not ready to make major shifts in the way you play the games you’re involved in. But it’s an excellent time to meditate on that prospect. You will gain clarity and refine your perspective if you tinker with and rearrange the overall look and feel of things.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Simpsons animated show has been on TV for 34 seasons. Ten-year-old Bart Simpson is one of the stars. He is a mischievous rascal who’s ingenious in defying authority. Sometimes teachers catch him in his rebellious acts and punish him by making him write apologetic affirmations on the classroom blackboard. For example: “I will not strut around like I own the place. I will not obey the voices in my head. I will not express my feelings through chaos. I will not trade pants with others. I will not instigate revolution. I am not deliciously saucy. I cannot absolve sins. Hot dogs are not bookmarks.” In accordance with your unruly astrological omens, Cancerian, I authorize you to do things Bart said he wouldn’t do. You have a license to be deliciously saucy.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Early in her career, Leo actor Lisa Kudrow endured disappointments. She auditioned for the TV show Saturday Night Live but wasn’t chosen. She was cast as a main character in the TV show Frasier but was replaced during the filming of the pilot episode. A few months later, though, she landed a key role in the new TV show Friends. In retrospect, she was glad she got fired from Frasier so she could be available for Friends. Frasier was popular, but Friends was a super hit. Kudrow won numerous awards for her work on the show and rode her fame to a successful film career. Will there be a Frasier moment for you in the coming months, dear Leo? That’s what I suspect. So keep the faith.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The coming weeks will be a good time to seek helpful clues and guidance from your nightly dreams. Take steps to remember them — maybe keep a pen and notebook next to your bed. Here are a few possible dream scenes and their meanings. 1. A dream of planting a tree means you’re primed to begin a project that will grow for years. 2. A dream of riding in a spaceship suggests you yearn to make your future come more alive in

your life. 3. A dream of taking a long trip or standing on a mountaintop may signify you’re ready to come to new conclusions about your life story. (P.S.: Even if you don’t have these specific dreams, the interpretations I offered are still apt.)

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In reviewing the life work of neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, critic Patricia Holt said he marveled at how “average people not only adapt to injury and disease but also create something transcendent out of a condition others call disability.” Sacks specialized in collaborating with neurological patients who used their seeming debilitations “to uncover otherwise unknown resources and create lives of originality and innovation.” I bring this up, Libra, because I suspect that in the coming months, you will have extra power to turn your apparent weaknesses or liabilities into assets.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): It’s a mistake to believe we must ration our love as if we only have so much to offer. The fact is, the more love we give, the more we have available to give. As we tap into our deepest source of generosity, we discover we have greater reserves of it than we imagined. What I’ve just said is always true, but it’s especially apropos for you right now. You are in a phase when you can dramatically expand your understanding of how many blessings you have to dole out.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Home computers didn’t become common until the 1980s. During the previous decade, small start-up companies with adventurous experimenters did the grunt work that made the digital revolution possible. Many early adapters worked out of garages in the Silicon Valley area of Northern California. They preferred to devote their modest resources to the actual work rather than to fancy labs. I suspect the coming months will invite you to do something similar, Sagittarius: to be discerning about how you allocate your resources as you plan and implement your vigorous transformations.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I’m tempted to call this upcoming chapter of your life story “The Partial Conquest of Loneliness.” Other good titles might be “Restoration of Degraded Treasure” or “Turning a Confusing Triumph into a Gratifying One” or “Replacing a Mediocre Kind of Strength with the Right Kind.” Can you guess that I foresee an exciting and productive time for you in the coming weeks? To best prepare, drop as many expectations and assumptions as you can so you will be fully available for the novel and sometimes surprising opportunities. Life will offer you fresh perspectives.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): By 1582, the inexact old Julian calendar used by the Western world for 13 centuries was out of whack because it had no leap years. The spring equinox was occurring too early, on March 10. Pope Gregory commissioned scientists who devised a more accurate way to account for the passage of time. The problem was that the new calendar needed a modification that required the day after October 4 to be October 15. Eleven days went missing — permanently. People were resentful and resistant, though eventually all of Europe made the conversion. In that spirit, Aquarius, I ask you to consider an adjustment that requires a shift in habits. It may be inconvenient at first, but will ultimately be good for you.

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ACROSS

1 Smurf with a red hat

5 One thing … or two people

9 Urgent request

13 “Word”

14 Green juice staple

15 Succeeds, as a joke

17 “Bye, beautiful,” in Bologna

19 Accessory worn by Fred in “Scooby-Doo”

20 “___: Large, crashing waves threaten cruise ship”

22 Gemstone unit

24 Originate (from)

25 “Toy Story” character voiced by Wallace Shawn

26 “___ appears to show that the ship has been damaged”

30 Ocean State sch.

31 Took part in the final leg of a triathlon

32 Inhaled, so to speak

33 Apes with a matriarchal social structure

36 “Ta-da!”

40 Goal of a half nelson

41 Microbrewery option

42 Actor and filmmaker Reiner

43 “Water is pouring into the ship! You can see it here ___”

47 “Power” suffix

49 First-year college assignment

50 Supporter of the arts?

51 “Changes in ocean conditions allowed the ship to return safely to port. Stay tuned for more ___”

55 Fix, as code

56 Kind of joke

59 Stick (to)

60 Home to the Ibsen Museum

61 Mama’s mama

62 Droops

63 Hammer end

64 Shade of black

DOWN

1 Follower of super or preceder of Man

2 “Are you telling this story or ___?”

3 Knucklehead

4 Pullover jacket traditionally lined with fur

5 Home furnishings superstore

6 It can be small, smooth or sweet

7 “Invisible Man” author Ralph

8 Will, if all goes well

9 Electronics purchase of the early 2000s

10 Go the distance

11 “One more!”

12 Treasure

16 Underworld boundary

18 Belle’s counterpart

21 Soak up the sun

22 Kind of soda, steak or sandwich

23 Prefix with dynamic

27 Speak monotonously and at length

28 Followers of mis

29 Nat ___ (nature channel, familiarly)

34 Choice word

35 Common source of protein for opossums

36 Commercial prefix with Pen

37 Biometric identification method

38 A battlefield, per Pat Benatar

39 Genesis brother

41 Dunk

43 Landlocked Balkan country

44 Music genre related to glam rock

45 Chap

46 Like roughly a fifth of the U.S. population

47 “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” band

48 Plot points in “Hamilton”

52 Ladder part

53 Low-lying area

54 Class that might involve investing in a virtual stock market, for short

57 Whichever

58 “I hopped off the plane at ___” (Miley Cyrus lyric)

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE

RE BU S