Ashevilleans love their pets, often bringing them to breweries, festivals and restaurants. And it turns out there are a number of local shopkeepers who also take their dogs and cats to work. While some of these animals lounge and enjoy occasional treats from customers, others earn their keep. Featured on this week’s cover is Lou, a 4-yearold shih tzu poodle mix — a regular at The Local Barber & Tap. Also featured are barber Antoine Boykin and client Noah McCarter.
PUBLISHER &
Jeff Fobes
ASSISTANT PUBLISHER: Susan
MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas Calder
EDITORS:
Lisa Allen, Gina Smith, Jessica Wakeman
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Thomas Calder
OPINION
EDITOR: Tracy Rose
STAFF REPORTERS: Lisa Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Justin McGuire, Patrick Moran, Greg Parlier, Brooke Randle, Gina Smith, Jessica Wakeman
COMMUNITY CALENDAR & CLUBLAND: Braulio Pescador-Martinez
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Jon Elliston, Mindi Friedwald, Peter Gregutt, Rob Mikulak
REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Oby Arnold, Mark Barrett, Eric Brown, Carmela Caruso, Cayla Clark, Kristin D’Agostino, Brionna Dallara, Kiesa Kay, Storms Reback, Kay West
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Staff: Cindy Kunst
Intern: Caleb Johnson
ADVERTISING, ART & DESIGN MANAGER: Susan Hutchinson
LEAD DESIGNER: Scott Southwick
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: Tina Gaafary, Olivia Urban
MARKETING ASSOCIATES: Sara Brecht, Ralph Day, Scott Mermel, Geoffrey Warren
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES: Hinton Edgerton, Jeff Fobes, Mark Murphy, Scott Southwick WEB: Brandon Tilley
BOOKKEEPER: Amie Fowler
ADMINISTRATION & BILLING: Hinton Edgerton, Mark Murphy
DISTRIBUTION: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst
DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS: Ashley Alms, Corey Biskind, Tracy Houston, John McKay, Henry Mitchell, Courtney Israel Nash, Joey Nash, Carl & Debbie Schweiger, Gary Selnick, Noah Tanner
Compassion first would benefit everyone
[Regarding “Traveling Mercies: Churches Welcome Homeless Families in Safe Shelter Initiative,” July 3, Xpress:]
As someone who volunteers weekly to work with the homeless, I can tell you several things. First of all, none of these people want to be homeless. Secondly, all homeless people have one thing in common: They have suffered trauma that they can’t overcome. And third, many of the homeless people who receive help and get back on their feet are the next wave of volunteers to help others in the same situation.
Contact Kim Hicks for more info! kimhicks@shutterbugacademy.com shutterbugacademy.com
Here in Asheville and most of the South, the charitable work being done to help others in need is almost completely done by local churches. To neighbors of these churches, I understand your concerns, but in such a polarized environment in which some politicians blame those in need for their own problems, I can only say that as a society, it would be to everyone’s benefit if we could live with and love our neighbors with compassion. Most of us are only one tragedy away from being homeless ourselves.
— Brad Cook Leicester
Help housing shortage via Women Build
Have you heard about Asheville Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build?
I helped lead the first house in 1994, and since then, women have worked together to build 19 affordable houses in Buncombe County to help with our critical housing shortage.
It’s so much fun working with other women to build a house. You can be a “ground squirrel” — no ladders, feet on the ground — or a “flying squirrel” on ladders and scaffolding and doing
roof stuff … woohoo! No experience necessary — there’s a lot of teaching going on, and by the end of the day, new friends and skills are gained.
This year’s build is scheduled to start at the end of August and will be a 12-week build. Check out Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity’s website to find the calendar for the Woman Build sign-up. Look for the calendar to open around Aug. 1. Once it’s open, just sign up and show up!
Hope to see you there. Let’s build the 20th Women Build House!
If you have any questions, you can email me at robin.whiteoak@gmail. com.
— Robin Clark Asheville
Still opposed to Haw Creek rezoning
Regarding the rezoning of the 767 New Haw Creek Road development: I’m still against approval because of flooding, traffic, no affordable housing, school and school bus safety, and impact on environment issues.
Those who approve and develop this plan should be accountable or liable that current flood studies and traffic infrastructure evaluations are current.
My insurance company will not cover or will have increased rates for property depending on currency and type of study. The USAA company has a good look at these issues; I called and was advised all insurance companies have this policy for a good reason.
— Martin Beckman Asheville
Try research vs. conjuring development fantasies
In response to Robert McGee’s commentary titled “Embracing GIMBY: Goodness in My Backyard,” [July 10, Xpress], allow this Marshall outsider a few observations.
Last November, a nationally recognized consultant submitted a detailed report on how to create more “missing middle” housing in our big sister to the south. The missing middle refers to things like duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and garden apartments — the kind of denser and more affordable housing that apparently gives some Asheville homeowners and neighborhood associations a case of the cold cobbles.
The $115,000 report outlined zoning and other reforms intended to balance, in a practical way, competing societal interests in easing the housing short-
Word of the week
symbiosis (n.) 1. the living together in more or less intimate association or close union of two dissimilar organisms; 2. a cooperative relationship (as between two persons or groups)
For our purposes, we’re more interested in the latter definition, as this week’s issue is loaded with articles about the symbiotic relationships between local businesses. Be on the lookout for these stories across all sections, as well as in individual boxes under the headline “Working Together.”
CARTOON BY RANDY MOLTON
age, discouraging suburban sprawl, combating climate change, reducing car dependency, redressing a legacy of racial segregation, preserving neighborhood character and minimizing gentrification. After review by city planners, the reforms are scheduled to come before the Asheville City Council in September.
I wonder if McGee even read these recommendations before firing off his most recent screed against denser development. If he did, he didn’t mention the report in his piece. I guarantee the group he sneered at for wanting to make Asheville a city for all has read it. Readers can find Asheville for All’s
thoughtful analysis of the study on its website.
Much as I enjoyed McGee’s diverting prose, I found his commentary empty as a balloon. Although he grudgingly recognized a need “to make room for newcomers,” McGee never said how to do that. In its entirety, the piece amounted to one long rationalization for resistance to change, peppered with throwaway aspersions cast on anyone with the blinkered cupidity to think that it’s morally acceptable to make money from building homes. Homes, perhaps, similar to the one McGee lives in and around which he appears to think the universe revolves.
I suggest — and I do this with respect and affection — that he spend a little more time studying the real world of economics, climate change, environmental protection and racial justice, and less time conjuring dystopian fantasies about crazed developers and preaching jeremiads against the sin of greed. It’s a duller but more pragmatic approach to an important topic — one in which even unsophisticated rustics like myself have been known to employ on occasion.
In the meantime, one question: Have McGee’s own property values gone up as a result of the housing shortage? I’m not suggesting anything untoward here, but it’s important to know the sources of potential bias in any opinion. I would hate to think that something as distasteful to him as wealth accumulation might be coloring these high-minded objections to less expensive and more eco-friendly housing for struggling working folks and families. Just saying.
— Peter Robbins Marshall
Take a vacation from plastic with Plastic Free July
Want to be a part of the 89 million people who reduced plastic waste by
more than 500 million pounds last year during Plastic Free July? Read on. Plastic Free July, founded in 2011, started as a local initiative in Perth, Australia, but quickly gained momentum and became a global phenomenon, with millions of participants from over 190 countries joining each year. The primary goal is to raise awareness about the environmental impact of single-use plastic pollution and inspire people to make sustainable choices in their daily lives. The Plastic-Free WNC task force is asking the community to take the Plastic-Free July Challenge.
Plastics pose a significant challenge because:
• Production continues to rise rapidly, with over 300 million tons (300 billion kilograms) produced annually worldwide.
• Recycling rates remain very low, with only around 10% of plastics ever produced being recycled even once.
• Plastics are extremely durable and persist in the environment for centuries or longer, breaking down into microplastics that pervade ecosystems globally.
• Growing evidence indicates plastics and associated chemicals can have adverse health effects on humans and other life, such as endocrine disruption and potential carcinogenic impacts.
CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN
Folks in Asheville are concerned. In a 2023 community survey, 80% of residential respondents were in favor of action to curb single-use plastic waste. What is the solution?
• Reduce production.
• Production of alternative products.
• Production of products that break down more quickly into safe materials.
• More efficient and widespread recycling.
• Reduce use by businesses: Restaurants, grocery stores, retail merchants, health care providers, etc.
• Reduce use by consumers: Here’s where you come in.
Feeling helpless? Remember the quote from Edward Everett Hale: “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
Reducing your use does not mean that you can’t use any plastics. It means that you use fewer of them, especially single-use plastics.
These include:
• Plastic shopping bags. If you use 10 every time you do your weekly shopping, you’re adding 520 to the environment every year.
• Plastic water and soda bottles.
• Plastic takeout coffee cups.
• Plastic straws.
How to get started? Plastic Free July is going on right now. Take these steps:
• Look into MountainTrue, a nonprofit that champions resilient forests, clean waters and healthy communities in the Southern Blue Ridge. Visit “Plastic Free WNC” on its website.
• Plastic Free Challenge — Get weekly information on small but important changes you can make.
• Pesky Plastics Quiz — Answer questions about your current and planned use of plastics.
• My Challenge Choices — Learn how your choices affect the ocean, landfills and global warming.
• Solutions – Easy and specific ways to reduce your use of single-use plastics. This includes things like reusable shopping bags, reusable water bottles and bringing your own takeout containers.
Now’s the time to commit to reduced plastic use! Take the challenge. Make simple changes in your plastic use. Have a huge impact on the Earth.
— Elissa Klein and Christine Mauck Arden — Linda Tatsapaugh Black Mountain X
MY STORY
You can’t see what lies round the bend
In March 2002, I read a two-paragraph report in the Asheville Citizen Times concerning the release of some of President Richard M. Nixon’s White House tapes. During his presidency, Nixon had a recording system installed in the Oval Office, operated by a switch beneath his desk. Maybe he was seeking to garner material to help burnish his postpresidential reputation. Or perhaps he was gathering evidence aimed at persuading opponents to see things his way. (Can you spell blackmail?) But in any case, the fateful maneuver would lead to his 1974 resignation following the Watergate fiasco.
The Citizen Times report made brief mention of a 1972 conversation between the president and the Rev. Billy Graham that included an exchange about the malevolent influence of Jews in the United States and Graham’s suggestion that after Nixon’s reelection, something might be done about the problem. That, in turn, caught my attention. After all, doing something about Jews has a very long and unhappy history.
Graham’s spokespeople issued an apology indicating that he hadn’t really meant what he said and adding something along the lines of “some of my best friends, etc.” There was also the suggestion that the preacher had simply been going along with the president to get along.
But I wasn’t convinced, so I obtained a full transcript of the relevant tapes and, later, the audio recording. What I discovered was that Graham had, in fact, led the hour-and-a-half discussion of the topic, including Jews’ alleged responsibility for the spread of pornography. Furthermore, multiple sections of the conversation had been redacted, supposedly for national security reasons, as reported by Nixon’s chief of staff Bob Haldeman in his posthumously published White House diaries.
Over the next five years, I read most of Graham’s voluminous output, as well as every book I could get my hands on that mentioned his interactions with American presidents. I visited the Billy Graham archives at Wheaton College, where
I was told that some of his records would remain sealed until 25 years after his death. Those records have since been moved to The Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.
In addition, I enlisted three interns in Asheville and hired a researcher in Washington to comb the Nixon archives. I tapped resources at presidential libraries and the King Library and Archives in Atlanta. Thanks to my Xpress press credentials I was able to attend the Graham library’s 2007 dedication, as did former presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
In October 2007, I published The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire , with its 274 footnotes and a six-page index. To the best of my knowledge it was then, and may still be, the only critical political biography of the famed evangelist.
Realizing that some people might assume I disliked the preacher due to his religious views, I included this sentence in the book’s acknowledgements: “I don’t believe in supernatural beings of any stripe, and I happily acknowledge that I could be wrong.”
Cards on the table, eh? “I could be wrong” seemed clear enough to me. But little did I suspect what lay in store for me.
In 2009, I ran for Asheville City Council and, in the primary, finished first among 10 candidates. This apparently alarmed some local conservative activists, who spent several thousand dollars on direct mailings warning people — apparently based
solely on that single sentence, since the only other public mention I ever made of my personal beliefs was on a by-then-defunct Myspace page — that I was an atheist who would drag Asheville straight to hell. Their efforts may have had some effect, as I came in third in the general election but nonetheless won one of the three available seats. Local resident H.K. Edgerton, who claimed to be an “honorary life member” of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, challenged my qualification to serve, since the N.C. Constitution prohibits “any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God” from holding public office. But that rule is unenforceable under the U.S. Constitution’s Article 6 ban on religious tests for “any Office or public Trust,” and accordingly, I was duly inaugurated in December 2009.
Case closed … except that Rachel Maddow got wind of the hoo-ha, and my story went viral. I was interviewed by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Zucchino of the Los Angeles Times and by a stringer for The Associated Press whose story subsequently ran in The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune . I found stories mentioning my name in eight languages across thousands of webpages, and I was interviewed during a live television broadcast on “Russia Today.” I was invited to speak at atheist and humanist events in 25 cities in a dozen states, getting paid reasonably well for my trouble and spending more time in airports and hotels than any more rational person would choose to endure.
One oblique sentence in the back of a book: I definitely never saw all that coming.
— Cecil Bothwell Asheville Cecil Bothwell is a former managing editor of Xpress and the author of The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire ; Pure Bunkum: Reporting on the Life and Crimes of Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Lee Medford ; and, most recently, That’s Life! (as we know it) . X
CECIL BOTHWELL
‘Part of the culture’
Go Local continues its mission to support independent shops
BY LISA ALLEN
lallen@mountainx.com
Among the many elements that make Asheville distinctly and delightfully weird are its local businesses, from shoe stores with entrances on seemingly every block (we’re looking at you, Tops) to bars that double as wedding chapels (Fleetwood’s), and everything in between.
Also worth considering are the connections between local businesses — be it restaurants and mushroom growers, trivia emcees and breweries, social media masters and, well, everyone.
This week, Xpress looks at those independently owned enterprises and the interconnected web that helps keep these operations running. Part of that equation is Go Local.
Chances are, you’ve seen the Go Local logo around town. Similar to
a secret handshake, cardholders can flash their membership ID to over 640 participating Asheville-area businesses and unlock a variety of perks.
For example, The Hop Ice Cream offers participants a 15% discount. That alone could cover the card’s $20 cost in a matter of weeks — depending on how much you like sweets.
Since its launch in 2015, the Go Local card campaign’s goal has been to help maintain a resilient local economy. The program also raises funds for local schools, contributing $275,000 to Asheville City Schools thus far.
Xpress caught up with Sherree Lucas, the organization’s executive director, to find out more about Go Local and what it does for the community.
Xpress: What kind of businesses participate in Go Local?
Lucas: We have just about every category you can think of, from brick-
done workshops on how to leverage being a Go Local member. We have point-of-sale materials that recognize them. If they’re brick-and-mortar, the logo can be on their store, on their door, on their window, on their cash register. And if they’re homebased or web-based, then we give them digital assets of signage that they can use for their website or their car — wherever they would like to promote that they’re part of our community.
Do businesses have to offer a discount to a cardholder to be listed in the directory?
They do. That’s what we ask in lieu of a membership fee. [Discounts] don’t have to be huge. They can be really whatever makes sense for a business. Chai Pani offers free chai tea. Then we have The Hop, which offers 15% off anything that you get in that store. So those are just two examples of different types of discounts. And some people may offer a 10% off on a first-time service. Some may offer a free dessert or a free consultation.
and-mortar to mobile to home-based to web-based. I think it represents Asheville well in that it’s so diverse. We have many LGBTQ-owned businesses. We have many Black-owned businesses. More than 50% are women-owned businesses.
How does a business become a member?
It’s free. All they have to be is local and independent, meaning they’re not part of a chain or franchise, and the money stays in Buncombe County. There’s no membership fee. What they do is they offer a discount or an added value for Go Local cardholders.
We pride ourselves on not having a membership fee. In exchange for offering the discount, businesses get placement in the print directory, in our online directory, in our app, and we do social media whenever new business members come in. We’re always doing social media posts. It was National Pet Day, so we listed all of the pet companies that are on the card. Just imagine that throughout the year, there’s observances and holidays, and we’re able to get a lot of our businesses recognized in those types of postings.
What else do you do for member businesses?
We do [free] workshops. We’ve done marketing workshops, we’ve
We just ask that it be unique. So if you go to Go Local, and you look at their offer and it’s a free consultation, and then you go to their website and they offer everybody a free consultation, we wouldn’t say that’s a Go Local offer. We would want them to do something that would be unique to Go Local cardholders.
Tell me more about the organization’s fundraising efforts.
A quarter of card proceeds goes to Asheville City School Foundation for its In Real Life program, which is an after-school program in the middle schools. We also give 100 free Go Local cards for PTAs to sell, and they keep all of the money. If a school got 100 free cards and sold them at $20 each, that’s $2,000 for that school. We give out 1,000 cards to area schools. That has worked really well. We’re looking to expand to Buncombe County Schools. Why do you think independent businesses are so successful in Asheville?
I think it’s part of the culture. When something’s part of the culture, it’s just ingrained in everything we do. There are so many people here who love that about Asheville. Many people moved here because of that. I think there’s a sense of guardianship or protection. There’s a pride in businesses that are local, independent. You walk into these great stores and they’re so unique in the products that they offer at such good quality. X
COMMUNITY FOCUSED: Sherree Lucas, executive director of Go Local, says the organization’s annual campaign powers community businesses and local schools. Photo courtesy of Lucas
Coffee, art and playing possum
OPOSSUM PAINTER: Artist Jen Toledo displays her work at Big Crafty. Photo courtesy of Toledo
With flyaway fur and a scrunched-up snout, the little marsupial depicted in Jen Toledo’s drawing “Opossum Joey” caught Kristin Britton’s eye.
“He resonated with me,” says Britton, who co-owns Izzy’s Coffee Den, with locations in downtown and West Asheville. Both shops exhibit local artists. “People just love this little possum. It’s like [he suggests] needing to get a cup of coffee or feeling frazzled from too much caffeine.
“Art and coffee are a natural mix,” Britton continues. “It’s great … for people to walk in here and be able to see a brand-new art show every month.”
Toledo, who graduated from Western Carolina University with a degree in fine art, was waiting tables downtown at a restaurant next door to Izzy’s when she walked into the coffeehouse for a cup of joe.
“That’s when I saw the art up there,” Toledo says. She learned she could get a spot on Izzy’s walls by simply signing up for a show.
On Toledo’s website, the artist notes that her drawing of Joey was inspired by a young opossum that clambered into her attic bedroom and sat beside Toledo while she was watching an episode of “Twin Peaks.” Eventually, the critter curled up to sleep in Toledo’s sock drawer.
Capitalizing on the popularity of the adorable bedraggled critter, Britton and Ross, her husband and business partner, asked Toledo for permission to make “Opossum Joey” Izzy’s unofficial mascot, gracing the shop’s custom T-shirts. The artist agreed. Now, in addition to receiving payment for use of her art, Toledo says she also gets exposure.
“I see people at [art] markets, and they’re like, ‘I have your T-shirt from Izzy’s,” Toledo says.
Izzy’s hosts 24 art shows a year between its two locations, with Toledo participating in at least two annual exhibits. The sign-up calendar fills two years in advance of scheduled shows, Britton says.
“The art sells, and that’s a testament to our artists,” Britton continues, noting that 100% of proceeds from sales go to the makers.
For Toledo, discovering Izzy’s coffeehouse gallery proved to be a lifeline, and not for just financial reasons. At the time, she was coming from the professional art world, where she produced oil paintings, sculpture and prints for gallery shows.
“I didn’t like the art openings, the white walls and all of the ceremony around it,” Toledo says. “I didn’t like how unrelatable it was to everyone else around me.”
Toledo notes that exhibiting in coffee shops may be deemed unacceptable in the fine arts world, but she prefers the space that Izzy’s offers to the professional gallery walls.
“It’s more of an interaction [with the viewer] than just a one-sided statement,” Toledo says. “I really appreciate Kristin and her staff for facilitating art shows. It’s been a real leg up for me.”
— Patrick Moran X
Crossed paths
BY JUSTIN M c GUIRE
jmcguire@mountainx.com
Over the last few months, orange construction fences have gone up while 18 trees have gone down along a short stretch of Patton Avenue between Asheland and Coxe avenues. The sidewalk project is part of the City of Asheville’s long-term plan to make pedestrian walkways compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Advocates for the disabled say the changes are a small but welcome step toward improving accessibility throughout the city for people who use wheelchairs, walkers or canes. But some business owners in the area are angry that the city decided to do the construction during the height of the summer tourist season and question whether it is necessary at all.
“The sidewalks were not damaged, they were perfectly fine,” says Annabel Eckert, co-owner of Jack of the Wood Pub. “There’s a million other things the city could be spending money on. The potholes are terrible. It’s a little comical.”
City officials are sympathetic to the concerns of Eckert and other merchants and say they have tried to minimize disruptions. “This is a busy time of year for businesses, whether it’s restaurants, bars or otherwise,” says Chad Bandy, the city’s streets division manager. “We work as closely with their schedules as we possibly can because we do know those are real impacts that affect people’s livelihoods.”
But the work needs to be done, he says. The section of Patton Avenue under construction was identified as a top priority project for ADA compliance in the GAP Plan adopted by City Council in 2022. The GAP Plan, which aims to increase the connectivity of greenways, improve sidewalks and bike lanes, and make public walkways friendlier for disabled residents, includes an updated ADA Transition Plan.
The city’s original transition plan was adopted in the early 1990s, not long after the ADA became law. But like most American cities, Asheville has fallen far behind in terms of sidewalk compliance. According to a 2020 study in The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, 65% of curb ramps and 48% of sidewalks nationally were not accessible for people with disabilities.
Businesses grumble about Patton Avenue sidewalk work
The GAP’s ADA transition component calls for 25% of the city’s accessibility features to be ADA-compliant to the maximum extent feasible after 10 years. After 20 years, the figure is 50%; after 30 years, 75%; and after 40 years, 100%.
“We didn’t get in bad shape overnight, we won’t get out of bad shape overnight with [ADA compliance], but we are trying to be intentional about working on these compliance issues,” he says.
The Asheville Downtown Association identified 22 problems with the sidewalks on Patton Avenue between Asheland and Coxe avenues, including trip hazards caused by buckling pavement and bulging tree roots. Additionally, several noncompliant curb ramps must be replaced, and one must be built for ADA compliance.
DONE BY SEPTEMBER
In October, City Council authorized $300,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for the improvements. The city’s original plan called for the project to begin in November and be done by April, before summer tourism season. “We were hoping to do the concrete work over the winter, and then plant the trees this spring,” Bandy says. “But there were various delays, which is common with federal grants.”
As a result, the work didn’t begin until May 20 with a scheduled completion date of September. The city
is waiting until October to plant the new trees, a mix of ginkgos, black gum trees and little-leaf lindens because fall is a better time for planting than summer, Bandy says.
The construction started on the sidewalk in front of 81 Patton Ave. and is proceeding westward until it gets to the front of 115 Patton Ave. Work is being done MondaysThursdays, 7 a.m.-5 p.m., weather permitting, with sidewalk closures coordinated to minimize disruption to businesses, he says. For instance, Thirsty Monk at 92 Patton Ave. is closed Mondays-Wednesdays, so crews have concentrated their work in front of the pub on those days.
In addition to one-on-one contact with business owners, the city held meetings and public hearings for affected stakeholders. And officials regularly update the project’s progress on a dedicated webpage.
But not every business owner is satisfied.
Kate Burkhead, owner of Sonora Cocina Mexicana at 89 Patton Ave., says city officials met with some merchants when the construction first was scheduled to start in November. But after that, she didn’t hear anything until February.
“Trying to talk to anybody about anything has been extremely difficult,” she says. “They tell everybody a different thing. As far as the city is concerned, there is absolutely no communication from them whatsoever.”
She says her access to the business hasn’t been hurt much because the city was able to do the work in the
area in front of her restaurant during a week it was closed. Still, she says, the construction has had a negative effect. “The cones and signs everywhere at the beginning of downtown are such a deterrent for everyone to come to enjoy everything that’s down here.”
And, she says, the lack of trees had made her building hotter and increased her air-conditioning expenses.
“The lack of consideration is absolutely mind-boggling,” she says.
Eckert, co-owner of Jack of the Wood, similarly is not happy with how the city has handled the removal of the 18 trees. City officials say the trees needed to be removed because bulging tree roots caused the sidewalks to buckle, creating tripping hazards and limiting accessibility.
“They made the street really charming and cute with a much nicer ambiance,” she says. “The city did this without proper planning to time it where they could replant and do something to keep downtown looking beautiful. It’s just beyond me that they chose to do this in the middle of summer instead of in January or the fall when Asheville’s slower.”
But city officials say they opted not to wait until the fall because a survey of the Asheville Downtown Association indicated merchants didn’t want the work to interfere with the leaf and holiday seasons. Additionally, they say, summer is the best time for concrete construction work due to weather conditions.
Xpress reached out to several other area business owners, but they declined to comment or did not respond to inquiries.
“I think when something doesn’t go well or is not optimal, that tends to stick in people’s memory more than things that go well, and I understand that,” Bandy says. “So [business owner reaction] is somewhat mixed. But I do think that the result of how the work has been scheduled means it could have been a lot worse than it has been.”
SMALL STEP
And while some business owners think the sidewalks didn’t need to be upgraded, advocates for the disabled see the work as long overdue, even if it only addresses a small section of one road.
Eva Reynolds, associate director of the nonprofit DisAbility Partners, points out people with disabilities are
PEDESTRIAN DETOUR: Sidewalk construction on Patton Avenue has necessitated temporary sidewalk closures. Photo by Caleb Johnson
more reliant on pedestrian walkways than others because they’re less likely to drive. “There are a lot of people that use that road [Patton Avenue] because they’re trying to get to the bus or whatever,” she says. “So I’m happy to see some work being done, but I feel like it’s not even a small drop in the bucket.”
With locations in Asheville and Sylva, DisAbility Partners serves 14 Western North Carolina counties.
The ADA only sets minimum standards for sidewalk accessibility, she explains, and Asheville has failed to meet even those. “Improving this one section of a road that has a lot of pedestrian usage, that’s the minimum of the minimum,” she says.
The city acknowledges the work being done is only a small step, Bandy says. “We all know that this is not a quick fix, but it’s a many-year endeavor. This particular project is a very small section of much larger needs.”
The city expects to be working on ADA compliance over the coming months, years and even decades.
Bandy says the city is planning work over the winter and into next summer on sections of Patton
Avenue and College Street in the core of downtown Asheville with the goal of improving safety and accessibility. The area includes College Street between Spruce Street and Pritchard Park and Patton Avenue between Pritchard Park and Biltmore Avenue.
While the project will not include wholesale changes to the sidewalks, it will involve replacing several ramps to make them ADA-compliant, Bandy says. In addition, City Council has allocated money in recent years for curb ramp improvements in different parts of town and is identify-
ing more areas to be improved this fiscal year.
“We know it’s disruptive whenever anything’s done in front of a home or business, and we appreciate those folks’ patience,” he says. “Hopefully the outcome will outweigh the temporary inconvenience.” X
WORK IN PROGRESS: The City of Asheville Public Works Streets Division is constructing sidewalk replacements along a section of Patton Avenue between Asheland and Coxe avenues. Graphic courtesy of the City of Asheville
NEWS Employment sampler
Goodwill’s Career Quest uses YouTube to show young people what’s possible
BY JUSTIN M c GUIRE
jmcguire@mountainx.com
When Goodwill was forced to close its Asheville Career Center because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it did what so many other organizations did at the time: It turned to Zoom.
“We started hosting classroom webinars,” says Jody Stevenson, job developer/skills training manager for Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina. “We would find some large employer in the community and invite them onto a Zoom meeting where the students and their teacher could log on. And we would interview that employer live in front of the kids, and then the kids could have a chance to ask questions.”
The program, called Career Quest, allowed Goodwill to serve one of its missions: teaming with local schools on a workforce development curriculum for students.
Eventually Zoom fatigue set in, and Goodwill stopped the webinars. But officials had accidentally discovered that using video was an effective way to introduce tech-savvy young people to a wide range of career paths they may not have known about in the Asheville area.
“We liked what we had stumbled into,” Stevenson says.
Goodwill kept Career Quest going by building a video studio at the Career Center and creating a YouTube channel in 2023.
Local employers were then brought into the studio and interviewed for short videos exploring how they got into their roles and what it is like to work in their fields.
“We ask them to tell us their story,” Stevenson says. “People really gravitate toward stories, young people especially. We try to tease some things out [in the interviews], but we also never know exactly what we’re going to get, which kind of adds to the YouTube/podcast culture that we have right now.”
Business -toBusiness
The YouTube channel has posted 50 video interviews from employers at such organizations as the Verner Center for Early Learning, YMCA of Western North Carolina, the Asheville Hotel Group, Blue Ridge Power, the Grove Park Inn and GoPrime Mortgage. Most of the videos are 10 minutes or less.
Career Quest works with Asheville High School Career and Technical Education (CTE) students who are studying childhood education, business and hospitality. In the fall, they will work with Adobe Visual Design classes. The program also worked with a job exploration class at Buncombe County Early College and hopes to have more partnerships with Buncombe County Schools in the future. Additionally, Career Quest is doing a summer series of workplace tours with a Goodwill youth group.
AFTER THE VIDEOS
After students watch the videos, Goodwill officials and educators lead them in a discussion of the content and work with them to develop questions they can ask when they tour the businesses. Typically, classes tour two businesses per semester.
“The videos help us introduce these employers to them before seeing them in real life, but I think the real life tour is at the heart of this,” Stevenson says.
Stephanie Kelley, director of operations at the Verner Center for Early Learning, is one of the local employers who shared her story through Career Quest videos. Last school year, she led three Asheville High early childhood education classes on tours of the center, which serves children from birth to 5 years old.
“When the high school students meet me in person, they’ve already had that connection,” she says. “It’s funny because sometimes they’ll be like, ‘Oh, that’s the lady from the video!’” Students typically ask Kelley basic questions about the job, such as how much she gets paid.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: David Rogers, a Career Quest team member, shoots a video interview with Timothy Howell, chief people officer for Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina. Photo by Jody Stevenson
“They’re high schoolers, so their ideas and their questions are definitely different than they will be in 10 years when they’re working in education programs. But they have that spark for the work, and they want to know more about the job and what it looks like.”
One student who showed a spark during a fall tour of the Verner Center ended up interning for class credit during the spring semester. She is heading off to UNC Charlotte to study early childhood education. Kelley thinks two students who toured the center in the spring will be fall interns as well.
“If you’re just sitting in a classroom reading a textbook, you don’t have the emotional connection to the work,” she says. “Experiencing the highs and the lows with the teachers and the children is really important. I tell high schoolers all the time, ‘We don’t ever want you to do this work if it’s not something you really want to do because it’s not worth it. We’re not in it for the millions of dollars that we make every year.’”
Kelley is excited about connecting with students because, she says, the pandemic exacerbated an ongoing decline in the number of people who are interested in becoming teachers, especially for early education.
“One of the biggest things that we have to do is help to build up the workforce with the kids who are going through high school and want to be involved,” she says.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Darrell Clark, a career development coordinator with Asheville City Schools (ACS) CTE program, says the videos and tours do a good job of exposing students to job opportunities in Asheville.
“A lot of these kids don’t know about a lot of this stuff beforehand,” he says. “We try to talk about it in the school system, but when Goodwill comes and shows them the different factories and employers we have in the community, the kids are really interested. It’s bigtime eye-opening for the students.”
The students have a variety of questions when they meet with employers: What skills are required for the job? How much education is needed? And, of course, how much will they get paid?
“Kids always talk about the type of money they want to make, the type of money they know they need to make to live in Asheville,” Clark explains. “Or they talk about the type of work their family does, so maybe they want to go into that field until they see different things that Asheville has to offer.”
Ivry Cheeks, director of career and technical education for ACS, says getting in front of local employers is particularly important for students who do
not have connections or experience in the business world.
“One of the things we do with CTE is to show our kids how they can do the research to be able to find these opportunities,” she explains. “Sometimes our kids may not have that kind of support, so being able to do this partnership with CareerQuest on top of what we do with CTE helps fill those gaps.”
In addition to for-credit internships like the ones offered by Verner Center for Early Learning, Goodwill funds paid summer internships for high school students who participate in its OneLife program.
“I think it’s great to be able to get the knowledge and get the skills [through an internship], and if we can help the students earn money too, that’s the cherry on top,” Cheeks says.
Getting work experience and going through Career Quest is beneficial for students who are planning to enter the workforce right after graduation and for those who go to college, she says. “If you’re sitting with the admission counselor, and they’re trying to decide between two students, this program is something that’s going to help you stand out.”
Cheeks praises Goodwill for teaming with local companies that are willing to give students opportunities. Some Career Quest participants have landed full-time jobs at companies they first encounter through the program, she says.
Stevenson says the focus on letting students hear directly from local employers through the videos and the tours is crucial to making Career Quest work.
“There are some other platforms out there that focus on job exploration and what have you, but they use stock footage. Our thing is that we want to talk to local employers here in Asheville and make them our hometown heroes. It kind of brings the magic of the big screen to the classroom.” X
WORKING TOGETHER
BRIGHT IDEA: “I could have spent this money on Google ads or other social media ads,” says Amalia Grannis, owner of Move It Or Lose It. “But instead, my entire advertising budget was cash money into a local artist’s hand. And that just feels aligned with my values.” Photo courtesy of Grannis
Artist and muralist Jerry Cahill has worked with dozens of local businesses to bring a little color to their marketing efforts.
Whether handprinting T-shirts for local breweries from his co-owned studio at RAD Printworks in the River Arts District or creating eye-catching murals on buildings and vehicles, Cahill says that the ability to work with local business owners is one of the things that attracted him to Asheville years ago.
“Creativity can be a currency. It can help you connect,” says Cahill. “I feel like art is just a form of communication. When I work with local businesses, I get to have a conversation with them that helps them learn something about their work and share their brand.”
One of his recent collaborations was with local woman-owned junk removal and moving service, Move It Or Lose It. Owner Amalia Grannis first opened the business in 2020 after purchasing an old-box truck.
“It was a used U-Haul,” remembers Grannis. “It was like the sketchiest box truck you could imagine showing up to move your stuff.”
Since Cahill added his distinctive vision to Move It Or Lose It’s otherwise ordinary moving van in 2021, Grannis says that business has grown significantly.
“We’re a spectacle. Sometimes people are rubbernecking as we drive down the road,” Grannis says with a laugh.
Grannis says that working with local artists both helps support the community and create a unique product that drives business.
“Relationship building is really the most important thing in life, as far as I’m concerned,” says Grannis. “I could have spent this money on Google ads or other social media ads. But instead, my entire advertising budget was cash money into a local artist’s hand. And that just feels aligned with my values.”
— Brooke Randle X
ASHEVILLE’S FIRST
Climate focused
Warren Wilson hires director for new program
Despite a national search, Warren Wilson College didn’t have to go far to find a director for its new master’s degree program in applied climate studies.
It chose Keith McDade, Ph.D., who was the first director of Lenoir-Rhyne University’s master of science in sustainability studies and then led it for 12 years, according to a Warren Wilson press release. “We’re at a moment where climate is the most important issue,” McDade tells Xpress. “Warren Wilson is on the cutting edge of [that] issue.”
The two-year graduate program will “educate leaders capable of planning, implementing and managing effective, just and equitable climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies,” the press release continues. Applications will be accepted this fall for the first class that launches in 2025.
Not only will students master collecting, interpreting, analyzing and visualizing climate data, but they also will learn how to communicate climate change
findings effectively in ways that can bring about change.
“Communication is going to be critical in so many ways,” McDade says. “Communication can help others to understand the issues, and therefore make better choices.”
McDade also was a member of the Sustainability Advisory Council on Energy and the Environment for the City of Asheville from 2015-21.
McDade says Warren Wilson’s program is unique in that it augments classes in the fall with intensive on-campus residency sessions in the summer at the college’s Center for Working Lands.
The center, which Warren Wilson launched in April 2023, brings the college’s forest, farming and green space operations together into a single working landscape.
“The new [center] is an important partner for hands-on learning. [It] delivers multiple economic, ecological and social outcomes for students,” McDade
CLIMATE CHIEF: Keith McDade is the first director of Warren Wilson College’s new climate studies program. Photo courtesy of Warren Wilson College
says. Students will participate in three activities in the fall and spring – one climate class, one professional skills and leadership class and a team project.
“They are all interrelated and build on each other,” McDade says.
“Our efforts to address climate change need more people with the right abilities and knowledge to step up,” McDade continues. “This applied program will prepare students for [these jobs] with skills, knowledge, mindsets, values and strategies in ways that meet the moment.”
Good to know
• The City of Hendersonville is one of only 343 grantees among 3,300 applicants selected for a 2024 AARP Community Challenge grant. With the $15,000 quick-action grant, the city will advance the Hendersonville Bicycle Plan by installing shared lane markings (sharrows) connecting key destinations, as well as installing five bicycle racks and two bicycle repair stations at various locations in the city. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year. More information at avl.mx/dwi.
• The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation seeks support for critical projects that will enhance the 469-mile scenic route, which is the country’s most-visited national park. The initiatives include repairing historical structures, rehabilitating trails and overlooks, engaging children in outdoor activities and showcasing traditional mountain music for visitors. Working with the National Park Service, the Foundation has compiled a list of landmarks needing repairs, including Craggy Gardens. Donations will fund renovations and improvements including waterless vault toilets at the gardens’ 71-year-old visitor center and at the Craggy Pinnacle Trail parking lot, five new trailhead exhibits and improvements to the picnic area.
Contributions will be matched by a $750,000 grant from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority’s Legacy Investment from Tourism Fund. More information at avl.mx/dwh.
• A petition to help French Broad Outfitters at Hominy Creek has garnered nearly 1,500 signatures. Petitioner Nicholas Rutherford writes that French Broad Outfitters is a community hub for tubing and kayaking that offers a clean beach, a shipping container beverage bar, a food truck, live music and a welcoming space for dogs and children to play. According to the petition, Buncombe County is considering closing the business due to a land use assessment that had gone unnoticed for nearly 20 years. Petition signers say that French Broad Outfitters’ operations enhance conservation efforts by caring for the land and preventing it from falling into disrepair. More information at avl.mx/dwf.
Save the date
• The N.C. Arboretum’s Guided Trail Walk will lead groups of up to 15 people at its Baker Visitors Center, Saturday, July 27, 10-11:30 a.m. and 1-2:30 p.m. Topics of discussion include wildflowers, plant and tree identification, natural history and more. Walks are held rain or shine and are approximately one to two miles in length. More information at avl.mx/dwe.
• Craig LeHoullier will host heirloom tomato tasting and education for Hendersonville Tomato Day at the Hendersonville Farmers Market, Saturday, July 27, 8 a.m.-noon. There will be a tomato beauty pageant, cooking demo, free music and free tomato sandwiches while supplies last. More information at avl.mx/dwc.
• Roger Helm, an educator and author who worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 25 years, will lead the discussion “Climate Change and Hope” at the UNC Asheville Reuter Center on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 7-9 p.m. The talk focuses on food choices, transportation, housing, and energy efficiency. More information at avl.mx/dwa.
• Horticulturist and landscape designer Brannen Basham will teach a pollinator-friendly pest management class at AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina On Monday, Aug. 12, 5:30-7:30 p.m. The class will provide pointers on defining a pest and determining when and how to manage it with the least harm to pollinators. More information at avl.mx/dwd.
— Patrick Moran X
Pet shop boys (and girls)
Meet the animals in Asheville’s local businesses
BY JESSICA WAKEMAN
jwakeman@mountainx.com
The ubiquity of Ashevilleans bringing their pets everywhere is a common subject of mockery, as not every pet is as well-behaved as its caretaker might think. (This author tried to do the “dogs in bars” thing and ended up scrubbing pee off the floor of Haywood Country Club.) But others are so friendly, well-behaved and chill that their owners bring them to work.
Xpress conducted a thorough and highly scientific survey of Asheville’s shop pets. We’ve interviewed a few of their owners, but that’s just scratching the surface. (Get it? A pet pun!)
MARTY AT GOLDEN PINEAPPLE
Guests at Golden Pineapple, a cocktail bar and restaurant in West Asheville, will notice a few menu items with the name Marty on them. There’s a mango cocktail called the Marty Robbins (which is also the name of a country Western singer). Another cocktail is called Marty’s Mugshot, and on Sunday nights, Golden Pineapple sells a bar-style pizza called Marty’s Way.
The real Marty has never drank a cocktail before, and surprisingly, she doesn’t like the pepperoni on her namesake pizza. Marty is a 27-pound chihuahua, dachshund and terrier mix — at least, those are the best-guess breeds from her owner Katey Ryder. Ryder, co-owner of Golden Pineapple, adopted Marty during the COVID-19 pandemic. A friend’s mother found Marty wandering the woods of central North Carolina; the friend transported Marty to Asheville to find a forever home and Ryder scooped her up.
However, regular Golden Pineapple guests might never see Marty. Ryder brings her in the mornings or early afternoons for delivery arrivals; the mellow pooch sometimes stops by on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, when the bar’s clientele is more relaxed. But Ryder says she usually takes Marty home around the time daily dinner service starts. “She’s not here when it’s poppin’,” Ryder explains, because her dog gets overwhelmed.
TOP SHELF: Marty might look sweet and cuddly, but her owner, Katey Ryder, says the pup was responsible for “a baby bunny massacre.” She also attempts to catch squirrels and groundhogs. Fortunately, the only animals at Golden Pineapple in West Asheville, which Ryder co-owns, are the party animals. Photo by Caleb Johnson
Marty is prohibited from entering the kitchen and has been trained to stop at its awning. In fact, Ryder continues, when Marty wants to go home, she’ll sit in the awning and stare into the kitchen at her mom.
Marty’s also doesn’t partake in any of Golden Pineapple’s menu items. If a customer asks, Ryder might let them feed her a dog treat. Mostly Marty is interested in acquir-
AND A
ing pats. She taps her nose against patrons’ bodies — Ryder calls it “noodle-nosing” — until they pet her, or to encourage them to continue the physical affection. “She doesn’t like it when people stop petting her,” she says.
Customers who want to meet Marty will have to do so before the fall. According to Axios Charlotte, a new law adjusted licensing for venues that sell alcohol and food. Starting Oct. 1, only service animals will be permitted inside restaurants.
MILLIE AT JONNY’S BARBERSHOP
Folklore has it that a stork delivers a baby on the doorstep. But for Jonny Katzmarek of Jonny’s Barbershop, located in the Grove Arcade, the little bundle of joy who appeared unannounced was a poodle mix named Millie.
Katzmarek’s girlfriend , Laura Fairley , found Mille, who had broken legs, on her doorstep on Thanksgiving. After contacting local veterinarians to determine if Millie belonged to someone, they adopted her. They believe Millie had been previously owned, because the 10-year-old pup was spayed.
Katzmarek, who opened Jonny’s Barbershop in January, has been bringing Millie to the shop ever since. At first, the pint-sized pup
got underfoot while she adjusted to the new environment, he says. Now she relaxes on the couch or in her dog bed, and she watches her dad cut hair. Her favorite place to hang out, however, is in a sling that Katzmarek wears. He cut a hole in the side of the sling so the small dog can peek her head out.
“She gives a lot of love and calms people down,” Katzmarek says. She tags along to the gym and acupuncture with Katzmarek. “I’m definitely a little obsessed with her.” Although, not obsessed enough to groom her — that falls to Fairley. He’s a barber, not a dog groomer.
Millie isn’t the only pet inside Jonny’s Barbershop. A customer who was moving out of town asked Katzmarek if he could take the family’s betta fish named Banana. Between Banana and Millie, Katzmarek has plenty of company.
HOOVER AT SANIWAY VACUUM CLEANER CO.
Cats shed every single day, and twice a year they lose their coats even more. Fortunately, Hoover the cat lives in a vacuum cleaner shop.
Phillip Koch adopted Hoover from Buncombe County Animal Shelter in 2012. He has always had pet cats, he says, but his adoption of this tabby cat was strategic. At the time, about a dozen feral cats were being fed and cared for on the strip of West Asheville where Saniway Vacuum Cleaner Co. and a number of restaurants operate. Koch says when Asheville Humane Society rounded up the feral cats, suddenly rodents appeared.
SENIOR PUP: Jonny’s Barbershop owner Jonny Katzmarek believes his rescue dog Millie is 10 years old. She likes to watch him work from her dog bed. Photo courtesy of Katzmarek
SHAVE
HAIRCUTE: Lou may look dangerously cute, but she’s actually a big softie. Her owner, Eric Gold, who brings Lou to work with him at The Local Barber & Tap, says she’s “terrified” of houseflies. Photo by Caleb Johnson
CLEAN SWEEP: Saniway Vacuum Cleaner Co. co-owner Phillip Koch is effusive with praise for his tabby Hoover, who he calls “such a good-looking cat” with “striking markings.” Photo by Caleb Johnson
Koch “hired” Hoover for the job of rodent remediation and impressed his new boss immediately. The only unpleasant part of the arrangement was Hoover would leave his fresh kills in the Saniway window, Koch says. Hoover also killed a bird on Saniway’s back patio, and caught a bird who flew inside the shop. (Koch was able to extract the bird and let it free, unharmed.)
Koch describes his cat as “supersociable” with customers. (Indeed, Hoover made a photoshoot with Xpress difficult because he was constantly rubbing against the photographer’s legs.) But not everyone is as enthusiastic about Hoover. “A lot of people are afraid of cats,” Koch says, explaining that some customers will stand at the door to speak with him, rather than come inside the shop.
For his part, Hoover isn’t scared of vacuuming sounds, or vacuums themselves; he’s only afraid of thunder and lightning. He also doesn’t like grabby little children, although Koch describes him as a mellow cat. He’s never scratched or bit anyone.
Hoover lives in the Saniway shop full-time; his Igloo litter box, Wifienabled water bowl and food are in the back room. Koch lives within walking distance of the shop and visits his cat daily. Although there aren’t many rats or mice to catch nowadays, Hoover manages to keep busy by stealing pencils and hiding them under the window. He also performs playful “sneak-attacks” on any dogs who enter the store by swatting them with his paw.
When he’s not up to mischief, Hoover likes to stare through Saniway’s front door at Marty the dog in Golden Pineapple, which is located next door to the shop.
Hoover also likes to stretch out in the Saniway window. “He’s great publicity,” Koch says.
LOU AT THE LOCAL BARBER & TAP
People walking along West Walnut Street may peek into the windows of The Local Barber & Tap expecting to get a glance at someone receiving a shave. Instead, they might see 4-year-old shih tzu
RIP Pee Pee
Customers at Golden Pineapple, DeSoto Lounge and Fleetwood’s knew the orange cat that wandered inside the establishments as “Pee Pee” or “Petey.” His real name was Pee Pee Jones and he lived in the house behind Fleetwood’s, says his owner Christi Whiteley, a co-owner of Fleetwood’s. Pee Pee “frequented the bar, weekend markets, weddings and rock shows,” Whiteley writes in an email to Xpress. Pee Pee died earlier this year on Haywood Road, Whiteley says, adding that she was touched by how many people mourned his death. X
poodle mix Lou getting a belly rub from her dad, barber Eric Gold.
Gold adopted her off of Craigslist in 2020 — “love at first sight,” he says. He conferred with owner Jordan Stolte about bringing her in. Stolte suggested he bring her in at first and see how it goes. It turned out that Stolte is “one of her favorite people in the world,” and now Lou comes in every day.
Lou greets Local Barber & Tap customers with some barks, and her reception is “very warm,” her dad says. She recognizes regulars and has an “excited bark” for them. He notes that she adores babies and children (and also french fries).
Lou stays out of the way when hair is being cut, Gold says. She’ll play with her toys or nap on a chair. The only time she interacts with customers is when a fly enters the shop. “She’s terrified of flies,” he explains. “She will hide underneath the clients’ feet.”
Similar to Millie at Jonny’s Barbershop, Lou doesn’t get her hair cut in her father’s place of work. She gets groomed elsewhere, always with “her signature mohawk,” Gold says. X
Photo courtesy of Mary Kelley
Business-to-Business
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
CAROL L. KING & ASSOCIATES, P.A. clkcpa.com
COMMUNITY BENEFIT PARTNER avl.mx/dwn
EMSDC COMMUNITY EQUITY FUND eaglemarketstreets.org
LEAH B. NOEL, CPA, PC lbnoelcpa.com
SELF HELP CREDIT UNION self-help.org
Consulting & Coaching
ART HERO avl.mx/cu6
HERE MCB heremcb.com
MARY LOVE CONSULTING maryloveconsulting.com
THE DOULA OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP nicolelee.me/doula-ofentrepreneurship
TRAINING PARTNERS trainingpartnersinc.com
YOUR INSPIRED LIFE COACHING yourinspiredlifecoaching.com
Events, Workshops & Entertainment
APPALACHIAN MOBILE ONSITE MASSAGE DAY SPA appalachianspaventures. com
ARISE EVENT SERVICES ariseeventservices.com
ASHEVILLE CUSTOM E-BIKES theacebikes.com
ASHEVILLE PARTY / ZOWIE ENTERTAINMENT ashevilleparty.com
ASHEVILLE ROOFTOP BAR TOURS ashevillerooftopbartours.com
ASHEVILLE SALT CAVE ashevillesaltcave.com
AXEVILLE THROWING CLUB throwaxeville.com
BLUE RIDGE EVENT STAFFING blueridgeeventstaffing.com
BUILDER BUDDY HOME INSPECTIONS builderbuddyonline.com
BZDESIGN bzdesign.biz
DADDY VAN'S ALL NATURAL WOOD FURNITURE CARE AND FINISHING PRODUCTS daddyvans.com
ECOLAWNS UNLIMITED ecolawnsultd.com
GENERAL EQUIPMENT RENTAL generalrents.com
GREEN MOUNTAIN SPACE PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZING greenmountainspace.com
GREEN RIVER WOODS greenriverwoods.com
GREENLAND PRO CLEANING greenlandprocleaning.com
GREG BRANSON, REAL ESTATE BROKERS CENTURY 21 HI-ALTA kimmyandgreg.sites. c21.homes
HOMESOURCE DESIGN CENTER the-homesource.com
JENKINS TREE CARE jenkinstreecare.com
JUNK RECYCLERS junkrecyclers.net
LEAVE IT TO WEAVER HANDYMAN SERVICE leaveittoweaver.net
LOOM IMPORTS loomimports.com
Braver Angels
Agree
JULY 25th | 6:30pm - 9:00pm
PANDIMENSIONAL
WINDOW CLEANING INC. panwnc.com
PEGRAM BUILDERS pegrambuilders.com
ROBIN CAPE, EXP REALTY robincape.com
ROOF RESCUE roofrescuewnc.com
SOLFARM SOLAR CO. solfarm.com
SUGAR HOLLOW SOLAR sugarhollowsolar.com
THE ARCH thearchnc.com
THE SUPER SIGNGUY thesupersignguy.com
TOWN MOUNTAIN MAIDS townmountainmaids.com
WIN WIN STORAGE winwinstorage.com
WISHBONE TINY HOMES wishbonetinyhomes.com
IT Services & Digital Support
AARDONYX SOFTWARE adxsoftware.com
CHARLOTTE STREET COMPUTERS charlottestreetcomputers. com
CHRISTOPHER'S COMPUTERS christopherscomputers.com
ONLINE TRAINING CONCEPTS onlinetrainingconcepts.com
PRC APPLICATIONS prcapps.com
PURPLE CAT NETWORKS purplecat.net
THE ASHEVILLE COMPUTER CO. ashevillecomputercompany. com
WHITE FOX STUDIOS whitefoxstudios.net
Marketing Support, Creative and Printing Services
AMP'D DESIGNS ampddesigns.com
ASHEVILLE NC
WEB DESIGN ashevillencwebdesign.com
ASHEVILLE PRINTING COMPANY ashevilleprintingco.com
ATLAS BRANDING + DESIGN atlasbranding.com
AVL HEADSHOTS headshotphotographerasheville. com
BLUEBIRD DESIGNS bluebirddesigns.com
BUBBLEHOUSE DESIGNS bubblehousedesigns.com
COME FROM THE HEART comefth.com
COMMUNICATION MARK communicationmark.com
CUBE CREATIVE DESIGN cubecreative.design
DALTON CRAIGHEAD: NEXT-GEN WEB DESIGN daltoncraighead.com
ERIN ADAMS PHOTOGRAPHY erinadamsphotography.com
FIREFLY DESIGN STUDIO fireflynow.com
FISHER CREATIVE MARKETING fisher-creative.com
FORGE MOUNTAIN PHOTOGRAPHY forgemountainphoto.com
GROUND LEVEL MEDIA groundlevel.media
HARMONYAVL+MEDIA harmonyinteriors.com
HART & SOUL WEB DESIGN hartandsoulco.com
HORNSBY CREATIVE GROUP hornsbycreativegroup.com
IDENYO STUDIO idenyo.com
IMAGE 420 SCREENPRINTING image420.com
J&J ENGRAVES avl.mx/cu8
JB MEDIA INSTITUTE jbmediainstitute.com
KUDZU BRANDS kudzubrands.com
LARK ABOUT DESIGN larkaboutdesign.com
LESLIE SHAW DESIGN leslieshawdesign.com
LIGHTNING BOLT INK lightningboltinkscreenprinting. com
OUTSIDE THE BOX INTERACTIVE outboxin.com
POINT OF SALE STRATEGIESRETAIL AND E-COMMERCE CONSULTING posstrategies.com
RAGON CREATIVE ragoncreative.com
SCRIBBLEPIE CREATIVE STUDIO scribblepie.com
SOUND MIND DESIGN soundmind.design
STARBOY CREATIVE starboycreative.com
SUBJECT MATTER STUDIO subjectmatterstudio.com
SUND STUDIO sundstudio.com
THE DHARMA COLLECTIVE thedharmacollective.com
THE LOOK & THE FEEL lookandfeelbranding.com
THREE CATS CREATIVE threecatscreative.com
THRIVE DESIGN CO. thrivedesignco.com
WHAT'S THE IDEA? whatstheidea.com
ZHOOSH CREATIVE zhooshcreative.com
Media & Communications
103.3 ASHEVILLE FM ashevillefm.org
A LOOK AT ASHEVILLE alookatasheville.com
BIZRADIO.US (ASHEVILLE BASED) bizradio.us
BUZZ RADIO ASHEVILLE buzzradioasheville.com
EVAN ANDERSON visualsbyevan.com
IT'S ALL FINE AND DANJEE PODCAST fineanddanjee.com
MOUNTAIN XPRESS mountainx.com
RIDE HIGH PRODUCTIONS weridehigh.com
SHINDLER SOLUTIONS shindlersolutions.com
Celebrating hidden gems
Justin Picone says some of his rooftop bar patrons are undecided on which is the more fascinating attraction — the venue’s magnificent view of Asheville’s skyline set against the Blue Ridge Mountains or Pillar Rooftop Bar’s “living wall.”
Centered on a large neon Pillar bar sign, the living wall is a kind of vertical planter, says Picone, who serves as the company’s beverage director. The wall on the sixth floor of the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Asheville is a riot of mosses, orchids and decorations that change with the seasons, Picone says.
Among the bar’s regulars is Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours, a company that curates a series of tours that include stops at nearly a dozen rooftop bars in Asheville.
“We get locals and visitors alike on our tours,” says Kaye Bentley, a retired postal worker who launched the company in 2018. “We love it, especially when our local tour guests discover Pillar Rooftop Bar for the first time while on a tour with us.”
There, as with all the rooftop bars her company spotlights, Bentley has forged a close working relationship with managers such as Picone. Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours even gave Picone and his staff their very own tour.
“We got to see firsthand what she does from her perspective,” Picone says. Such cooperation enables Picone to offer the guests a unique experience.
“We offer exclusive seating for that tour, usually outside in front of a fire pit,” Picone says. The bar also makes special cocktails that aren’t on the menu, he continues.
“Usually, we do something local in regards to produce, or [serve] something from a local distillery,” Picone says.
Bentley’s love of Asheville’s architecture and history inspired her to launch the company centered on stunning views, craft cocktails, the best seating in the house and, in
Business -toBusiness
TOP OF THE WORLD: Retired postal worker Kaye Bentley runs Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours. Photo courtesy of Bentley
Pillar’s case, a rooftop aerie that is a bit off the beaten path
“It’s easy for folks to concentrate in the center of downtown,” Bentley says. “But there are some amazing [rooftop bars] just a little bit outside the major city blocks in Asheville.
Near the corner of Church and College streets, where a marker commemorates Lillian Exum Clement Stafford, the first female member of the N.C. House of Representatives, Pillar is something of a hidden gem, says Bentley.
“A lot of times, even locals haven’t heard of these [places] or been there yet,” Bentley continues. “Whenever they discover them on a tour with us, they [start] making plans to come back.”
As a local living in Asheville, Bentley says it’s encouraging to see familiar and welcoming faces at the rooftop bars her company highlights throughout the year.
“Strengthening and supporting our community means a great deal to me,” Bentley says. “Our commitment is to show what makes Asheville so unique.”
—
Patrick Moran X
up your
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brand with 103.3 Asheville FM!
A local institution since 2009, and the winner of Mountain Xpress reader poll as Best Local Radio Station (nocommercial) and 3x winner of 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.
Reach our loyal and engaged listenership
1) on-air
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In addition to radio spots, you can make your business’ presence known by sponsoring one of our annual events, including our 5th annual record fair at the Civic Center on Sunday, August 25.
Contact Robert at underwriting@ashevillefm.org Let’s amplify your business together!
SILVER MUSE PRODUCTIONS silvermuse.net
VISTANET TELECOMMUNICATIONS vistanet.co Professional Catering
CHEF MICHAEL'S CATERING chefmichaelscatering.com
DAPHNE'S CATERING BY TWISTED LAUREL twistedlaurel.com/catering Professional Services
AFFORDABLE ACUPUNCTURE OF ASHEVILLE affordableacuavl.com
ARGENTUM TRANSLATIONS argentumtranslations.com
ARIEL SHUMAKER THERAPY &
HUMMINGBIRD INSURANCE ♡ hummingbirdins.com
INTEGRATIVE FAMILY MEDICINE OF ASHEVILLE integrativeasheville.org
LOYCAL - LOYAL TO LOCAL - B2B MARKETPLACE loycal.com
MOUNTAIN MERCHANT SERVICES mountainms.com
RACHEL L GOLDSTEIN PHOTOGRAPHY rachellgoldstein.com
TIMELESS ASHEVILLE PHOTOGRAPHY timelessashevillephotography. com
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 34-35
More info, page 38
More info, page 40-41
WELLNESS & SUPPORT GROUPS
Tai Chi Fan
This class helps build balance and whole body awareness. All ages and ability levels welcome. Fans will be provided.
WE (7/17, 24), 1pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109
Gentle Yoga for Seniors
A yoga class geared to seniors offering gentle stretching and strengthening through accessible yoga poses and modifications.
WE (7/17, 24), 2:30pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109
Tai Chi for Balance
A gentle Tai Chi exercise class to help improve balance, mobility, and quality of life. All ages are welcome.
WE (7/17, 24), 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109
Chen Style Tai Chi
The original style of Tai Chi known for its continual spiraling movements and great health benefits.
TH (7/18, 25), MO (7/22), 1pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109
Nia Dance Fitness
A sensory-based movement practice that draws from martial arts, dance arts and healing arts.
TH (7/18, 25), 9:30am, TU (7/23), 10:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109
Weekly Zumba Classes
Free in-person Zumba classes. No registration required.
TU (7/18, 25), TU (7/23), 6:30pm, St. James Episcopal Church, 424 W State St, Black Mountain
Qigong for Health
A part of traditional Chinese medicine that involves using exercises to optimize energy within the body, mind and spirit.
FR (7/19), TU (7/23), 9am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109
Rise & Yoga on The Roof
Hot yoga sessions on the roof of the Radical.
SA (7/20), 9am, The Radical, 95 Roberts St
Yoga for Everyone
A free-in person yoga class for all ages and abilities that is led by alternating teachers. Bring your own mat and water bottle.
SA (7/20), 9:30am, Black Mountain Presbyterian, 117 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain
Adult Water Aerobics
Gentle water aerobics to improve cardio fitness, build strength, boost mood, and ease joint pain. Free for ages 60 and up.
SA (7/20), 10am, Dr Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center, 285 Livingston St
Yoga in the Park Yoga class alongside the French Broad River, based on Hatha and Vinyasa traditions and led by certified yoga instructors. All experience levels welcome.
SA (7/20), SU (7/21), 11am, 220 Amboy Rd
Yoga Nidra & Reiki
A soothing Yoga Nidra practice guiding you into the in between; that space between being awake and being asleep.
SA (7/20), 8pm, Asheville Salt Cave, 16 N Liberty St
Magnetic Minds: Depression & Bipolar Support Group
A free weekly peer-led meeting for those living with depression, bipolar, and related mental health challenges.
For more information contact (828) 367-7660.
SA (7/20), 2pm, 1316 Ste C Parkwood Rd
Sunday Morning Meditation Group Gathering for a combination of silent sitting and walking meditation, facilitated by Worth Bodie.
SWEET SUMMER CONCERT SERIES: The Summer Tracks concert series continues at Rogers Park in Tryon on Friday, July 19, with Asheville chanteuse Peggy Ratusz, the vocal power of Reggie Headen and Jonathan Pearlman and a five-piece band. Concertgoers can expect an evening of classic rock ’n’ roll, starting at 7 p.m. Photo courtesy of the Summer Tracks concert series
SU (7/21), 10am, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Yoga Taco Mosa Donation based yoga with Clare Desmelik. Bring your mat, a water bottle and an open heart.
SU (7/21), 10am, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave
Summer Cooling Yoga w/Jamie Knox
Our practice slows down in the summer to focus on stretching, calming, and cooling the body. We still include strength building but more emphasis is placed on internal calm. Walk-ins welcome.
SU (7/21), 10:30am, One World Brewing W, 520 Haywood Rd
Serenity Sound Bath
A sound bath can cleanse your soul, restore your balance, surround you with peace and tranquility and stimulate healing.
SU (7/21), 1pm, Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science Mind Way
Asheville Kirtan
These ancient mantras, chanted in Sanskrit, help to connect us to our hearts- invoking feelings of well-being, meditation, and joy.
TU (7/23), 7pm, Weaving Rainbows, 62 Wall St
QiGong Class w/Allen Gentle movements that will improve your balance and increase your flow of life force energy. All levels and
ages welcome.
TU (7/23), 10am, Asia House Asheville, 119 Coxe Ave
Community Yoga & Mindfulness
A free monthly event with Inspired Change Yoga that will lead you into a morning of breathwork, meditation and yoga. Bring your own mat.
WE (7/24), 11:30am, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave
Innerdance: Altered States of Consciousness w/Soundscapes & Energy Work
A healing journey into altered states of consciousness as we flow through brain wave states with soundscapes and energy work.
WE (7/24), 6pm, The Horse Shoe Farm, 155 Horse Shoe Farm Dr, Hendersonville
DANCE
Latin Night Wednesday w/DJ Mtn Vibez
A Latin dance social featuring salsa, bachata, merengue, cumbia, and reggaeton with dance lessons for all skill levels.
WE (7/17, 24), 8pm, One World W, 520 Haywood Rd
Barn Dances
Enjoy local food trucks, local music, and local folks gather in fellowship to dance, sit and sway, break bread and enjoy the beauty of the farm. See p40
SA (7/20), 5:30pm,Hickory Nut Gap Farm, 57 Sugar Hollow Rd, Fairview
Dances of Universal Peace
An evening of simple melody and movement set to sacred phrases from a number of spiritual traditions.
SA (7/20), 7:30pm, Haw Creek Commons, 315 Old Haw Creek Rd
Saturday Night Square
Dancing
Led by Frank Brown, relish in the tradition of Scotch-Irish and English music dancing and the celebratory cakewalk.
SA (7/20), 8pm, Geneva Hall, 86 High Ridge Rd, Little Switzerland
Pop-Up Broadway Dance w/Anna Kimmell
Break a Broadway sweat in this high-energy, low-pressure musical theatre dance class led by Anna Kimmell. Begin with a full body warm up, move across the floor, and have fun learning Broadway-style choreography.
SA (7/20), 2:45pm, Asheville Academy of Ballet & Contemporary Dance, 4 Weaverville Hwy
Tango Tuesdays
Tango lessons and social with instructors Mary Morgan and Mike Eblen. No partner required, and no experience needed for the beginners class.
TU (7/23), 6pm, Urban Orchard Cider Co. S Slope, 24 Buxton Ave
ART
Lakisha Blount: When We See Us
This new solo exhibition honors the essence of Blount's experiences
Exhibition through July 31.
Asheville Gallery of Art, 82 Patton Ave
Summer 1-On-1 Pottery Lessons Private lessons offering individuals 30 minute classes. Walk-ins will be welcome, schedule permitting.
SA (7/21), SU (7/21), 11am, Odyssey Clayworks, 236 Clingman Ave
Western North Carolina Glass: Selections from the Collection A variety of techniques and a willingness to push boundaries of American glass art can be seen in this selection of works. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through September 16. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square
Aaron Fields: Hidden Colors
and generational stories of Black mountain life in Appalachia through her figurative oil paintings. Gallery open Wednesday through Saturday, 10am, and Sunday, 11am. Exhibition through Aug. 10. Tyger Tyger Gallery, 191 Lyman St, Ste 144
Robert Chapman Turner: Artist, Teacher, Explorer
The exhibition will include work by some of Turner’s students and colleagues as well as work by contemporary ceramic artists whose work fits within the context of the show. Gallery open Tuesday through Saturday, 11am. Exhibition through Sept. 7.
Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St
Third Thursday Open Studio Social
An opportunity for artists to network, share ideas, and create together with extended gallery hours.
TH (7/18), 5pm, Foundation Studios, 27 Foundy St
Adult Studio: Painting Places from Imagination
Callie Ferraro will guide you through painting destinations that only live in our imagination. In this three-week course you will be guided through painting abstract landscapes on canvas.
TH (7/18), 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. Open daily, 10am. Demonstrations run through Dec. 31. Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Pkwy
Counter/Balance: Gifts of John & Robyn Horn
A presentation of important examples of contemporary American craft, including woodworking, metalsmithing, fiber and pottery by renowned American artists. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through July. 29, 2024.
Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square
Adult Studio: Exploring Dualities w/ Photography
Through a series of weekly assignments, contemplate the themes and create photos that investigate the distinctions, contradictions, and intersections of these dualities.
SA (7/20), noon, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square
Gail Drozd: Mystery in the Mist Embark on a journey of discovery with a captivating exploration of nature's mysteries through Gail Drozd's latest art work. Gallery open daily, 11am.
This art exhibition presents a story about the perfect summer day in the mountains through the use of mostly acrylic paint, paint markers and spray paint. Gallery open daily, 11am. Exhibition through Sept. 1. Marquee Asheville, 36 Foundy St
Shifting Perceptions: Photographs from the Collection
A selection of photographs presented in a trio of sections, each featuring seemingly opposing forces: Natural/ Unnatural, Together/ Apart, and Inside/Out. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through September 23. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square
The New Salon: A Contemporary View A modern take on the prestigious tradition of the Parisian Salon with the diversity and innovation of today’s art world. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through Aug. 19. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square
Honoring Nature: Early Southern Appalachian Landscape Painting
This exhibition explores the sublime natural landscapes of the Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina and Tennessee. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through Oct. 21. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square
on the art and craft of singer-songwriters. This week's featured artists are Hunter Begley and Charles Walker.
WE (7/17), 7pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Wings & Strings: Parker Zelter
This music series at at the Sweeten Creek location will feature local bluegrass-style bands every week.
TH (7/18), 6:30pm, Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack S, 3749 Sweeten Creek Rd, Arden Park Rhythms Concert Series w/Tyler Ramsey
This series features many talented artists from across the east coast with Tyler Ramsey providing the tunes this week.
TH (7/18), 7pm, Black Mountain Veterans Park, 10 Veterans Park Dr Black Mountain Concert Series on the Creek: Asheville Junction Free concert series for the community with Asheville Junction bringing a lively concert of bluegrass and Americana. These events are free with donations encouraged. Everyone is welcome. There will be food trucks available
on most nights. FR (7/19), 7pm, Bridge Park Gazebo, 76 Railroad Ave, Sylva Pianist Brian Turner
A renowned composer playing Bach, Beyonce, Sinatra to Swift. He takes your requests and can play almost anything.
FR (7/19), 7pm, The Omni Grove Park Inn, 290 Macon Ave Summer Tracks Concert: Peggy Ratusz & Reggie Headen Tryon's Summer Tracks concert series returns with Peggy Ratusz & Reggie Headen's Sweet Summer of Rock and Soul Revue.
FR (7/19), 7pm, Rogers Park, 55 W Howard St, Tryon
The Songwriter Sessions w/Kim Butler, Mare Carmody & The Water Kickers
An evening of original songs in a natural acoustic listening room. This month we'll feature popular local musicians and multi-instrumentalists Kim Butler, Mare Carmody and The Water Kicks.
FR (7/19), 7pm, The Brandy Bar, 504 7th Ave E, Hendersonville
Richard Smith
Internationally acclaimed guitar virtuoso Richard Smith will play Chopin, Bach, Mozart, Scott Joplin, fiddle tunes, pop, 60’s classics and Sousa marches.
SA (7/20), 8pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain
Sunsets: Electric Garden Day Parties
Experience the eclectic vibes of a music festival through the vibrant energy of the sunset, exotic entertainment, food, drinks and music curated from AVL's top DJs, every Sunday in July.
SU (7/21), 2pm, Haiku AVL, 26 Sweeten Creek Rd
Mark's House Jam & Sunday Potluck
Bring a potluck dish to share with an amazing community of local musicians from around the globe. Please note that this isn't an open mic.
SU (7/21), 3pm, Asheville Guitar Bar, 122 Riverside Dr
Asheville Jazz Orchestra Big Band
The AJO’s repertoire ranges from Swing Era dance classics to original charts by
band members and other contemporary composers.
SU (7/21), 7:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain
Pickin' In The Park
Enjoy performances by local singer-songwriters in an intimate and relaxed setting. Experience the rich musical heritage of Asheville as talented musicians share their stories and songs.
MO (7/22), 6pm, Pritchard Park, 4 College St
Mike Rabinowitz Quartet South Innovative jazz bassoon soloist Michael Rabinowitz performs a celebratory set of music on Next Chapter.
MO (7/22), 7:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain
Ljubinka Kulisic
A performance by accordion virtuoso Ljubinka Kulisic, featuring works by John Cage and John Zorn.
TH (7/25), 7pm, Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St
Park Rhythms Concert Series w/Colby T. Helms & The Virginia Creepers
This series features many talented artists from across the east coast with Colby T. Helms and The Virginia Creepers providing the tunes this week.
TH (7/25), 7pm, Black Mountain Veterans Park, 10 Veterans Park Dr Black Mountain
COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS
Brew & Taste Workshop
Learn with a Specialty Coffee Association certified brewer about coffee brewing science using only locally roasted coffees.
TH (7/18, 25), FR (7/19), SA (7/20), SU (7/21), 9:30am, Coffee Curious Workshops, 45 S French Broad Ave
Access to Capital
Learn why businesses borrow money, what lenders are looking for when reviewing your application, and the importance of having cash flow projections. Registration at avl.mx/dwk is required.
TH (7/25), noon, Online
Advanced Energetic & Spiritual Defense
This class is for individuals seeking deeper defense skill sets and who want to delve into more complex defense scenarios.
TH (7/25), 6pm, The Well, 3 Louisiana Ave
Ginger’s Revenge Pride Embroidery Workshop
Featuring two hours of hands on learning of several embroidery stitches and techniques to create your very own needlework piece. No sewing or needlework experience required.
Prepare a five-minute story about willpower. Tell us of your iron or paper thin resolve. Battles with fidelity, smoking, loving, shopping or all of the above.
TH (7/18), 7:30pm, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave
Monte’ Hill: Catbird Winter Book Release & Beer Collaboration
A book release and book signing event that features a special-themed beer release, Catbird in the Rye. Author, Monte’ Hill will be signing copies of her book as well.
See p41
TH (7/18), 6pm, Chimney Rock Brewing Co., 461 Main St Summer Prosperity Book Study
Open yourself up to experiencing a complete shift in your thinking about how abundance is already living in you and how it can be awakened in your life.
MO (7/22), 6:30pm, Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science Mind Way
Dale Neal in Conversation w/Terry Roberts & Sheila Kay Adams
This author event features a conversation with authors Terry Roberts and special guest Sheila Kay Adams and will be moderated by Dale Neal.
TU (7/23), 7pm, Citizen Vinyl, 14 O Henry Ave
THEATER & FILM
Story & Arts Residency Night 2: Beyond the Myth Carolina Quiroga will delve into the mythology of fathers and prevailing narratives passed down throughout time. From tales traversing heroic figures, absent gods, and the archetype of the “breadwinner".
See p40
TH (7/18), 6:30pm, free, Story Parlor, 227 Haywood Rd
Legally Blonde: The Musical America’s favorite blonde, Elle Woods, is ready to prove who’s in charge in this fabulously fun, award-winning musical based on the adored movie.
TH (7/18), FR (7/19), SA (7/20), 7:30pm, SU (7/21), 3 pm, Hendersonville Theatre, 229 S Washington St, Hendersonville Voice Commands
A dark comedy that follows three interlocking stories. Each piece dives deeper into the murky waters of our current situation, our second guessing, our sure-footedness, and our frailty.
TH (7/18, 25), FR (7/19), SA (7/20), 7:30pm, BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce St
Southside Family
Movie Night
Enjoy family-friendly blockbusters with freshly popped popcorn and drinks.
FR (7/19), 6pm, Dr Wesley Grant, Sr. Southside Center, 285 Livingston St
Movie Night: Grease Watch, sing and dance to this 1978 classic with John Travolta & Oliva Newton-John. Snacks and beverages will be available for a small cost.
FR (7/19), 7pm, Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science Mind Way
Footloose
Featuring the exhilarating story of a teenager who challenges the oppressive ban on dancing in a small town, sparking a revolution of youthful rebellion and self-expression.
TH (7/18, 25), FR (7/19), SA (7/20), 7:30pm, SU (7/21), 2pm, Hart Theatre, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville
Montford Park Players: Henry IV 1 & 2
King Henry IV worries about the future of the kingdom in the hands
of his clever but unruly son, Prince Hal. A plot to take back the throne brews with the brash and brave Henry Percy.
FR (7/19), SA (7/20), SU (7/21), 7:30pm, Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, 92 Gay St
Bye Bye Birdie
Some of Tryon's most talented youth take the stage in this summer production inspired by when Elvis Presley was drafted into the Army in 1957.
TH (7/18), FR (7/19), SA (7/20), 7:30pm, SU (7/21), 3pm, Tryon Little Theater, 516 S Trade St, Tryon
Joseph Reed Hayes: A Slow Ride
Three generations of women taking a Sunday ride, with the humor, affection and near-demented discord of family in close proximity for more than ten minutes.
FR (7/19), SA (7/20), 7:30pm, SU (7/21), 2:30pm, Asheville Community Theatre, 35 E Walnut St
Romeo & Juilet
Featuring the most authentic, ridiculous, compelling, romantic, surprising, and possibly even death-defying version of the tale told to date.
TH (7/18, 25), FR (7/19), SA (7/20), 7:30pm, SU (7/21), 2:30pm, NC Stage Co., 15 Stage Ln
Story & Arts Residency Night 3: Beyond the Myth
For the final night of the 2024 Residency, artist-in-residence Carolina Quiroga will delve into captivating tales of individuals who have undergone incredible transformations in the face of great challenge. See p40
TH (7/25), 6:30pm, free, Story Parlor, 227 Haywood Rd
Off the Grid Storytelling w/Greg Candle
An interactive performance featuring Greg Candle who will touch on the history of the WNC region.
TH (7/25), 7pm, Leveller Brewing Co., 25 N Main St, Weaverville
Before the Scream
An unforgettable experience featuring professional dancers from critically acclaimed companies across the US and abroad. See p34-35
Enjoy music, crafts, games, dancing, and more. Registration is required in order to plan food and activities. TH (7/18), 11am, Walton Street Park, 570 Walton S
Dharma & Discuss Meditation instructions will be given during a sitting which will last 15 to 20 mins. This will be followed by a talk and an opportunity to ask Roger questions afterwards.
TH (7/18), 6:30pm, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Haunted History Tour of Downtown Black Mountain
Visitors will learn about the humorous, haunting and harrowing history of the Swannanoa Valley while being visited by some of its most famous spirits.
FR (7/19), 7pm, Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center, 223 West State St, Black Mountain
Pollinators & Pests
Gardening Series: Pollinator-Friendly Pest Management
In this class, participants will learn about the pollinators, predators, prey, and pests found in the environment and methods to work with the ecosystem rather than against it.
SA (7/20), 10am, Reems Creek Nursery, 76 Monticello Rd, Weaverville
Third Saturday Muster
Speak with a Cherokee native and hear their story of life in the 18th century. Event is free but donations will be accepted.
SA (7/20), 10am, Davidson's Fort Historic Park, 140 Bud Hogan Dr, Old Fort
Sunday Celebration
A Sunday celebration for the spiritual community.
SU (7/21), 11am, Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, 2 Science Mind Way
Understanding Homelessness Learning Series
A three-part learning series presented by the Homeless Strategy Division of Community & Economic Devel-
opment. MO (7/22), 4pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave
Kung Fu: Baguazhang
It is the martial arts style that Airbending from the show Avatar: The Last Airbender was based on.
TU (7/23), 1pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Hoop & Flow Arts Jam
Whether you're a seasoned hooper or a beginner, this vibrant event invites everyone to dance, spin, and groove to the music in a welcoming and energetic atmosphere.
TU (7/23), 5:30pm, Pritchard Park, 4 College St
Ginger's Revenge Brewery Tour
Experience a tour of the production facility where you will learn about the history of the brewery and the story behind the brand. Tour runs for approximately 45 minutes.
TU (7/23), 6:15pm, Ginger's Revenge Craft Brewery & Tasting Room, 829 Riverside Dr
Every Black Voice: AVL's Racial Justice Coalition Lunch & Learn This event will be discussing reparations and the history of black Asheville. Housing, health and wellness along with community building and education will also be hot topics of conversation.
WE (7/24), 12:30pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave
Grove Street Ice Cream Social Celebrate summer with friends, crafts, and more.
TH (7/25), 3pm, Grove St Community Center, 36 Grove St
The Foxy Chef: A Night of Vegan Cooking Chefs will take us on a culinary journey, explaining health benefits of nature's herbs and spices. This
Dharma talk w/John Orr John will give Dharma talk and lead discussion on various topics related to meditation and Buddhist teachings. TH (7/25), 6:30pm, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain
GAMES & CLUBS
Dungeons & Drafts
An evening of adventure, drinks and company to play D&D. There will be premade characters for you to choose from and join the action.
WE (7/17), 6pm, Ginger’s Revenge Craft Brewery & Tasting Room, 829 Riverside Dr Drag Music Bingo w/ Divine the Bearded Lady
A free evening of music bingo hosted by Divine the Bearded Lady that will have you dancing along as you play this classic game. FR (7/19), 7pm, Highland Brewing Downtown Taproom, 56 Patton ave
Downtown Asheville Treasure Hunt
Use your treasure map to follow clues, solve puzzles, and crack codes on this unique walking scavenger hunt through Downtown Asheville.
SA (7/20), SU (7/21), 2pm, Dssolvr, 63 N Lexington Ave Weekly Sunday Scrabble Weekly scrabble play where you’ll be paired with players of your skill level. All scrabble gear provided.
SU (7/21), 1:30pm, Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave Music Bingo Test your music knowledge from the 80’s and 90’s as well as 4
different music themes and 2 possible winners per theme.
TU (7/23), 6:30pm, Asheville Brewing Co., 77 Coxe Ave
KID-FRIENDLY PROGRAMS
Asheville Museum’s Summer of Science
Dive into a world of discovery with interactive science activities, including bubbles and noise machines. This family-friendly event promises to engage and entertain all ages with hands-on experiments and demonstrations.
WE (7/17, 24), 5pm, Pritchard Park, 4 College St
Summer Splash
Dive into a world of water-themed activities and beat the heat with an array of aquatic adventures. Free and open to all ages.
TH (7/18), 11am, Malvern Hills Park, 75 Rumbough Pl
Kids & Teens Kung Fu Learn fighting skills as well as conflict resolution and mindfulness. First class is free to see if it’s a good fit for you.
TH (7/18, 25), MO (7/22), TU (7/23), 4pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109
Water Field Day Frenzy Summer is heating up and so is the competition. Join for the ultimate water field day competition.
SA (7/20), 2pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave Toddler Prom
Come dressed to impress and share special memories with music, refreshments, and a whole lot of dancing.
SA (7/20), 2:30pm, Linwood Crump Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd
Imagination Monday
Children can enjoy giant building blocks, tunnels, and fun games on this special day of open play geared for ages 1-5 years-old. No advance registration required, adults must accompany children the entire time.
MO (7/22), 10am, Weaver Park, 200 Murdock Ave
LOCAL MARKETS
Etowah Lions Farmers Market
An array of farm-fresh local produce that features lettuce, collards, kale, mushrooms as well as local artisans, herbal products, plant starts, prepackaged meals and more. Every Wednesday through October.
WE (7/17, 24), 3pm, Etowah Lions Club, 447 Etowah School Rd, Hendersonville
Leicester Farmers Market
A community-led farmers market local produce, cheese, meats and crafts, every Wednesday.
WE (7/17), 3pm, Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Hwy, Leicester
RAD Farmers Market
Providing year-round access to fresh local foods from over 30 local vendors offering fresh produce, baked goods, pastured meats, cheeses, raw honey, and more. Located right on the Greenway, the market is safely accessible by bike, foot, or rollerblade.
WE (7/17, 24), 3pm, Smoky Park Supper Club, 350 Riverside Dr
Weaverville Tailgate Market
A selection of fresh, locally grown produce, grass fed beef, pork, chicken, rabbit, eggs, cheese, sweet and savory baked goods, artisan bread, body care, eclectic handmade goodies, garden and landscaping plants. Open year round.
WE (7/17, 24), 3pm, 60 Lake Shore Dr Weaverville
Enka-Candler Farmer’s Market
A grand selection of local foods and crafts, everything from produce to pickles, baked goods to body care, and even educational resources. Every Thursday through October 31.
TH (7/18, 25), 3:30pm, A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Rd, Candler
East Asheville Tailgate Market
Featuring locally grown vegetables, fruits, wild foraged mushrooms, ready made food, handmade body care, bread, pastries, meat, eggs, and more to the East Asheville community since 2007. Every Friday through Nov. 22.
FR (7/19), 3pm, 954 Tunnel Rd
Pack Square Artisan Market
Featuring local handcrafted goods in the heart of downtown Asheville. Browse unique products and meet the folks that produce them. Every Friday through Oct. 25.
FR (7/19), 3pm, 1 South Pack Square Park Henderson County Tailgate Market
Featuring Henderson County's finest produce, hand crafts, plant starts, vegetables, Sourwood honey, baked goods, fresh eggs, mushrooms, sausage and more.
Every Saturday through Oct.
SA (7/20), 8am, 100 N King St, Hendersonville North Asheville Tailgate Market
The oldest Saturday morning market in WNC, since 1980. Over 60 rotating vendors providing a full range of local, sustainably produced produce, meats, eggs, cheeses, breads, plants and unique crafts. See p38
SA (7/20), 8am, 3300 University Heights
Asheville City Market
Featuring local food products, including fresh produce, meat, cheese, bread, pastries, and other artisan products. Every Saturday through December 21.
A producer-only tailgate market located on the campus of Mars Hill University on College Street. Offering fresh local produce, herbs, cheeses, meats, eggs, baked goods, honey, body care and more. Every Saturday through Oct. 26.
SA (7/20), 10am, College Street, College St, Mars Hill Plant Club Pop-Up Market
Each month we feature 6-10 different growers and makers offering a wide array of products; from rare tropicals to native medicinals and more.
SA (7/20), 11am, Canopy Gallery in Art Garden, 191 Lyman St, Ste 316
Summer Artisan Market
Featuring live DJ and local vendors that will be showcasing plants, candles, jewelry, skincare, aromatherapy and more.
SA (7/20), 3pm, The Railyard Black Mountain, 141 Richardson Ave, Black Mountain
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.
SU (7/21), 8am, 570 Brevard Rd
Honky Tonk Flea
A honky-theme flea market featuring western wear, vintage, antiques and hand crafted finds galore. There will also be a live
DJ and food on site.
SU (7/21), 11am, Eda's Hide-a-Way, 1098 New Stock Rd, Weaverville Junk-O-Rama
Browse vintage clothing vendors, local crafters, antiques and more.
SU (7/21), 11am, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd
Magical Market
A congregation of local makers and practitioners of all things magical, feline, and magically feline.
SU (7/21), noon, House of Black Cat Magic, Co., 841 Haywood Rd
West Asheville Tailgate Market
Featuring an array of goods including fruits, vegetables, baked goods, bread, eggs, cheese, milk, poultry, and fish to locally made specialty items such as natural beauty products, herbal medicine and locally made art and crafts. Every Tuesday through November 26.
TU (7/23), 3:30pm, 718 Haywood Rd
Summer Evening Market
This market will feature over 25 local artisans, Grand Olde Station Express Food Truck, popcorn, face painting, UpCountry Brewing and more.
TH (7/25), 5pm, Brevard Lumberyard, 200 King St, Brevard
FESTIVALS & SPECIAL
EVENTS
Four Feet to Hell Annual hotdog eating contest with all proceeds benefitting Manna Foodbank. Fearless competitors will battle it out to devour four-foot-long hotdogs in 6 minutes and 66 seconds.
WE (7/17), 6pm, Dssolvr, 63 N Lexington Ave
2024 Rhythm & Brews:
The Fritz w/The Big Hungry Free outdoor shows with a variety of established acts as well as up-and-coming artists from around the region. This week, The Fritz bring their blend of funk, rock and soul to the stage alongside blues-rock band The Big Hungry.
TH (7/18), 5:30pm, Downtown Hendersonville S Main St, Hendersonville
Reception & Conversation w/Joseph Bathanti
An afternoon reception honoring Joseph Bathanti, former poet laureate of North Carolina, honoree of the 2024 NC Writers Conference, and 2024 inductee into the NC Literary Hall of Fame. FR (7/19), 3pm, Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St
Folkmoot International Evening
Experience the vibrancy of the Canton community they host a multicultural parade celebrating the diverse tapestry of their community. Dress up to represent your own cultures and enjoy local artisans and a live music performance. There will be music, food, dancing and fun for all.
FR (7/19), 4pm, Downtown Canton
Downtown After 5
A free monthly street festival with live music, food, drinks and a craft market. This month spotlights the official kick-off to AVL Fest, and Asheville FM brings to the stage Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast as headliners, with The Greenliners opening. FR (7/19), 5pm, Downtown After 5, 100 Block N Lexington Ave
Folkmoot International Day
This special event transforms into a bustling hub of cultural exchange featuring captivating performances, a variety of local and international artisans and mouth-watering culinary delights.
SA (7/20), 10am, Downtown Waynesville, 285 N Main St, Waynesville Asheville Design District Anniversary Celebrate this anniversary with food trucks, live music, outdoor yoga, and a market hosted by Marchè, featuring local vendors.
SA (7/20), 11am, Atelier Maison & Co., 121 Sweeten Creek Rd
The Tiki Easy Bar 1
Year Anniversary
Celebrate Tiki Easy Bar's One Year Anniversary with drink specials all day, food, coconut bowling, a face sticker station, coloring sheets, limbo contest and photo booth area.
SA (7/20), noon, The Tiki Easy Bar, 197 Hilliard Ave
Jazz Fest
A celebration of rhythm, melody and soul with the vibrant sounds of jazz. Proceeds from this special event will benefit the Children's Hope Alliance of Asheville. SA (7/20), 4pm, Skylaranna Hotel & Resort, 2075 N Rugby Rd, Hendersonville
The Big Secret Family Festival
A musical extravaganza featuring 23 Skidoo and The Secret Agency, Empire Strikes Bass, The Fritz, The Delta House jazz Band and other performers organized by Toybox Theatre. See p40
SU (7/21), noon, Pisgah Brewing Co., 2948 US Hwy 70 W, Black Mountain
School of Rock: New Mountain Music Festival Supergroups
A gathering house bands from all over creation that will play a week-long festival with the final performance at the Peel.
TH (7/25), 7:30pm, The Orange Peel, 101 Biltmore Ave
BENEFITS & VOLUNTEERING
Dine w/Divas Disco Dinner
A night of extraordinary drag entertainment that honors the spirit of self-expression and the magic of the disco era. Proceeds will benefit Arms Around ASD.
TH (7/18), 7pm, Hi-Wire Brewing Big Top, 2A Huntsman Pl
Silent Vigil for Immigration Reform
The goal of this event is to heighten public awareness of and support for immigration reform legislation that: promotes reunification of families; meets economic needs of our nation; is responsive to those seeking to enter the United States legally and more.
FR (7/19), 4pm, 1 Historic Courthouse Square, Hendersonville Christmas in July Celebrate Christmas in July with the people in Smoky Mountain Toy Run. The funds raise from this joyful event will be used to purchase bicycles for local children, ensuring they have a magical holiday season come December.
SA (7/20), 10am, 20 Patton Cove Rd, Swannanoa
Community Quilt
The Local Cloth collective will be laying out donated blankets on the Warren Wilson College soccer field to create a giant community quilt. The donated blankets will be shared
Open doors
BY JESSICA WAKEMAN
jwakeman@mountainx.com
Those who have never been in an abusive relationship might not understand how the power dynamic severely limits a survivor’s day-today life.
Caitrin Doyle , outreach coordinator for Helpmate, a nonprofit that advocates for survivors of domestic violence, describes a hypothetical scenario of how an abuser exerts control.
“I might get permission to go to the grocery store, because that’s the dynamic of abuse in my relationship,” Doyle explains. “I might be told that I can spend $25. I drive to the grocery store … and my partner is going to review my location. He’s going to watch what I did, where I went, how I went there. He’s going to see how much money I spent, and he’s going to compare the time that I was gone to the time that he thinks it should have taken me to do that.”
Living under such control — with no access to money, and with phone and internet constantly monitored — restricts a survivor’s access to help. But a new collaboration in Buncombe County offers a unique solution. The Porchlight Project creates access to support in the path of survivors’ daily lives: through a network of libraries, shops, hotels and breweries.
Participating partners post a Porchlight Project logo on their doors; if a person asks to make a phone call to The Porchlight Project, these businesses are trained to take the individual to a private space, provide them with a phone to use and allow them privacy to make the call.
The Porchlight Project offers safe haven for abuse survivors
‘FOLKS COMING IN DEALING WITH CRISES’
Buncombe County Public Libraries participated in a trial run of The Porchlight Project in February, says Buncombe County Public Library Director Jason Hyatt. “We already know that libraries attract a great cross-section of people at any given time,” Hyatt explains. “There are folks coming in that are dealing with crises. … It made sense to participate.”
He says Family Justice Center employees came to each of its 13 branches to train library staff; they consulted on the ideal spaces within each library that would allow for making private phone calls.
“The reason that we ask businesses to be involved is because [going to these places] is sometimes the only opportunity that people have to speak at all about what’s happening at home,” says Doyle.
“Both sexual violence and domestic violence thrive in isolation,” explains Our VOICE Executive Director Rita Sneider-Cotter. “The more folks we have that are knowledgeable in the community and are wanting to take a stand to help survivors, the less isolated survivors feel.”
VIOLENCE IN BUNCOMBE COUNTY
The Porchlight Project is a collaboration between Helpmate, the sexual
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violence survivors advocacy nonprofit Our VOICE and the Buncombe County Family Justice Center.
Our VOICE program director Jenn Hegna says conversations about establishing a program like The Porchlight Project started in March 2023. She credits Helpmate’s lethality assessment protocol coordinator, Kevin Long, as being integral to developing the initiative. But most crucial, she says, was receiving input from survivors of domestic violence and sexual violence on what they thought the initiative should do.
According to a June 18 presentation by the Buncombe County Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, abusers killed three individuals in known intimate partner violence in Buncombe County during 2023. The review found high lethality indicators — meaning warnings that the abuser would kill the survivor — including access to a gun, controlling behavior and spying.
It also found abusers had “nearly uninterrupted access to firearms despite multiple intimate partner complaints.”
The presentation also shared that during fiscal year 2023, Helpmate administered 1,175 danger assessments, and 638 of those “indicated the highest level of extreme danger for a survivor.”
On July 1, The Porchlight Project launched countywide with dozens of participating locations, including Asheville YMCA and Woodfin YMCA; the Goodwill Career Center; shops like Gamers’ Haunt, Comic Envy and Maurices; breweries like Highland Brewing Co. and the River Arts District Brewing Co.; and all five hotels within Asheville Hotel Group. (A map of locations is at avl.mx/dw2.) There is no cost for businesses to participate in the program. Management attends a two-hour training at the Family Justice Center about the basics of sexual violence and intimate partner violence, available resources from Our VOICE and Helpmate, and the asks of the initiative. If managers decide to participate, they sign a memorandum of understanding, Hegna says. Management then trains the staff on The Porchlight Project procedure. New businesses can be trained to participate in The Porchlight Project on a rolling basis. Hegna says large businesses can receive one-onone training.
Car dealerships are one type of business that Doyle would like to see join The Porchlight Project; she surmises that car dealerships would perhaps see indications of financial abuse. The Porchlight Project is also hoping to bring aboard “service-oriented businesses — nails, hair, therapy practices, restaurants, bars,” she says. She calls them “places where you might have a professional relationship with the people who work there … because you’re going to be more likely to engage with help if you are comfortable.”
TRAILBLAZERS: The 13 branches of Buncombe County Public Libraries participated in a trial run of The Porchlight Project beginning in February, says Buncombe County Public Libraries Director Jason Hyatt. On July 1, the initiative launched at dozens of businesses across Buncombe County. Photo by Jessica Wakeman
THE LOGO: Participating partners post a Porchlight Project logo on their doors; if a person asks to make a phone call to The Porchlight Project, these businesses are trained to take the individual to a private space, equip them with a phone to use and allow the person privacy to make the call. Photo courtesy of Our VOICE
WHAT HAPPENS
When an individual asks to make a Porchlight Project call, the person can elect to call Buncombe County Emergency Services via 911, the Our VOICE hotline or the Helpmate hotline. (Our VOICE works with survivors age 13 and up, explains Hegna. Survivors of child sexual assault or child sexual violence will be referred to Mountain Child Advocacy Center, a social services organization for youth.)
Both Our VOICE and Helpmate have an individual hotline that is answered 24/7, 365 days a year. Staff members explain each nonprofit’s confidentiality policy. Helpmate also discusses North Carolina’s mandatory reporting laws on the initial call. According to N.C. State Statute, “Any person or institution who has cause to suspect that any juvenile is abused, neglected, or dependent … shall report the case of that juvenile to the director of the department of social services in the county where the juvenile resides or is found.”
Doyle explains that Helpmate discusses its legal responsibilities for mandatory reporting “right at the top, so that people can make informed choices about what they want to share or what they don’t want to share.”
Doyle says Helpmate’s hotline asks the caller if he or she has any immediate needs such as food or a place to stay. If the caller needs shelter and Helpmate has space in its own shelter, the agency conducts a screening over the phone to assess eligibility for shelter. But if Helpmate doesn’t have space in its own shelter, staff lets the caller know that upfront, then explores the possibility of other shelters in Buncombe County and other shelters serving domestic vio-
lence survivors in neighboring counties. Another option Helpmate can assist with is connecting the caller to friends or family.
Once these plans are made, Helpmate can start coordinating transportation for the caller, Doyle explains.
WHY IT’S NEEDED
While The Porchlight Project is, practically speaking, a procedure to connect survivors with support, it also demonstrates to survivors of abuse that a caring community exists.
A dynamic of abuse is that “oftentimes their abuser tells them this is happening because of something they did,” Hegna explains. Establishing a community of support for survivors is “validation that they don’t deserve this.”
Michael Horvath , executive administrative assistant for Asheville Hotel Group, says 40 managerial-level employees received Porchlight Project training and took what they learned back to each hotel to train staff. He emphasizes that the goal of participating in The Porchlight Project is to get staff comfortable with speaking up if they see something potentially amiss.
For example, one concern in the hotel industry is sex trafficking, Horvath says. Asheville Hotel Group staff are now trained to recognize possible indicators of trafficking behavior, such as “if the adult does not want a young person talking to anybody else,” he explains.
“We’re not looking for our staff to be saviors of the universe,” Horvath continues. “We want them to be aware … [and] get a manager involved right away.”
Increasing awareness among the Asheville Hotel Group’s staff about domestic violence and sexual violence is a worthy goal in itself, Horvath says, acknowledging that some employees may be experiencing it at home. “It’s devastating that this has to be done in the first place. It’s horrifying that this kind of stuff happens, so that alone is tear-jerking, to be honest.”
He notes that the Asheville Hotel Group’s chief operating officer, Brenda Durden, is an Asheville native. “The way we look at it is we live here and we’re all about the community,” he says. “We couldn’t be happier to be a part of this project.”
The next training for participation in The Porchlight Project is Monday, Aug. 5, 10 a.m., at the Family Justice Center, 35 Woodfin St. Businesses can sign up at porchlightprojectnc.org. X
WORKING TOGETHER
Sweet, sweet friendship Business -toBusiness
PEACHY: “Collaboration is a wonderful means to get your product out there,” says Tou Lee, far right, of Lee’s One Fortune Farm. Since 2020, he and his wife, Chue, second from right, have collaborated with, from left, Greg and Ashley Garrison, owners of The Hop Ice Cream. Photo by Caleb Johnson
Greg Garrison, who has co-owned The Hop Ice Cream since 2008 with his wife and business partner, Ashley, says that collaboration has always been at the heart of his operation.
“We’re really focused on the community aspect of the business. And so we’re always trying to find ways to work with as many different people as possible on as many things as possible,” says Garrison. “That’s pretty much the extent of our mission — just to try and get together with everybody in town and do cool stuff.”
That collaborative mindset is how Garrison met farmers Tou Lee and his wife, Chue, of Lee’s One Fortune Farm in Morganton. The Lees, immigrants from Laos, grow Asian produce, fruit and heirloom rice in Western North Carolina.
“In the last 15 years, our farm has blossomed into something that’s really nice,” says Lee, who sells his produce at local farmers markets. “It was hard at first, and tough to break into a new market. But we stuck through it, and it’s worked out for us really well.”
Garrison and Lee began working together in 2020.
“It started during the pandemic when Lee had this vision of using leftover fruits and veggies for ice cream,” remembers Garrison.
That relationship has since grown and has resulted in roughly a dozen fruit and veggie ice creams, including strawberry rhubarb and sweet potato. One of Garrison’s and Lee’s favorite collaborations is their peach ice cream — aptly named Lee’s Peach Ice Cream — which was released last week. Peach and ice cream lovers can enjoy the joint effort through August.
“As soon as we figured out that type of business that they were and how they operated within the community and how they grew their peaches and other produce, it was obvious that we would absolutely be selling this in our stores,” says Garrison.
“Collaboration is a wonderful means to get your product out there,” adds Lee. “And the publicity that both businesses receive from working together is something that you cannot buy.”
— Brooke Randle X
ARTS & CULTURE
Recipes for success
How Asheville food brands make it to supermarket shelves
BY GINA SMITH
gsmith@mountainx.com
When Isabelle George started selling her handcrafted hummus at the River Arts District Farmers Market in early 2022, she had no inkling that within two years she’d see it sharing space with national brands on Earth Fare’s coldcase shelves. But that progression, she says, happened quickly and organically.
Having recently moved to Asheville, George started regularly visiting area tailgate markets for both the social scene and the food. “I was trying to meet new people, so I was just like, ‘Well, I can sell hummus,’” she recalls. “My mom and I had kind of perfected our family recipe.”
Word spread quickly about George’s lemon-forward Sitto’s Hummus, which is inspired by her Lebanese grandmother, Norma George. (“Sitto” is a Lebanese word for “grandma.”) Soon she was also vending at the North Asheville Tailgate Market, and local retailers who tried her product began expressing interest.
“I wasn’t really going to make this a full-time gig,” says George, then a special events manager. “But I felt that it was very serendipitous and that I should kind of roll with it.”
She dipped a toe into wholesale waters through a partnership with local grocery delivery service Mother Earth Food. From there, she began working with a handful of small brick-and-mortar businesses, including Marked Tree Vineyard’s downtown tasting room.
Strong sales at Marked Tree’s Asheville location and its vineyard in Flat Rock persuaded her that it was time to take the next step of approaching a supermarket. She decided on homegrown Asheville chain Earth Fare and contacted a purchasing manager to set up a meeting at the store to share samples of her product. The hummus sold itself, she says, and is now being marketed at the grocer’s Asheville and Greenville, S.C., locations.
George is part of a large and growing community of Western North Carolina business owners whose entrepreneurial dreams have come true on supermarket shelves. But from packaging and food safety to marketing and distribution, makers with high hopes of someday seeing their crave-worthy creations displayed in grocery aisles have to tackle much more than just developing an excellent product.
TASTE OF SUCCESS: Isabelle George, owner of Sitto’s Hummus, offers samples at Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery in Greenville, S.C. George also recently started working as a vendor with Earth Fare. Photo courtesy of George
Local food businesses say there’s plenty of elbow grease, relationship-building and a learning curve that go along with the rewards of partnering with grocers. And retailers as well as community organizations have their own roles in supporting fledgling enterprises.
PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS
The first step to initiating vendor partnerships with supermarkets, George says, is just putting yourself out there and setting up meetings. But she stresses that the process varies depending on the product, the department it will be sold in and the company a business is approaching.
“Every store is different and will have different expectations of you as a vendor,” she says.
For Ginger Frank, founder of Poppy Hand-Crafted Popcorn, grocers weren’t part of the business plan when she first launched as a tiny retail shop on the second floor of North Asheville’s Merrimon Square shopping center in 2014. At the time a single mom with two young kids, she was focused on building a neighborhood enterprise that could support her small family and allow her to do a bit of fundraising for local schools.
“I thought about doing some corporate gifting and really just serving the customers who came in the door and ordered from us online,” says Frank. “I didn’t really have a wholesale model in mind at all.”
Fast-forward a decade, and Frank’s brightly colored bags of flavored popcorn are not only a ubiquitous sight in gift shops and supermarkets around Western North Carolina and the Southeast but can be found on retail shelves from coast to coast across the U.S. From grocers, including Whole Foods Market, Ingles and The Fresh Market to Ace Hardware and WilliamsSonoma — even Buc-ee’s gas stations — her little homegrown brand has blown up just like its non-GMO popcorn kernels.
The rapid growth of the company, which is transitioning this summer from the Black Mountain property it’s inhabited for the past five years into a new $4.3 million, 45,000-square-foot production space on Gerber Road, was partially facilitated by COVID-19, says Frank. Though Poppy had evolved into doing wholesale before 2020 — its very first account was Asheville Community Theatre — pandemic market shifts helped usher the product into supermarkets, starting with Greensborobased The Fresh Market.
After being forced to shutter her retail space and losing about 90% of her wholesale customers because they were also closed, The Fresh Market reached out. “It was like a gift,” she recalls. “I hadn’t really considered it, but they wanted to place a big order, and we had popcorn to sell.”
Whole Foods followed quickly after that, she says, and as the pandemic wore on, grocers became Poppy’s bread and butter. Today, Frank still nurtures relationships with small-scale retailers — roughly 90% of the 2,000 stores that sell Poppy products are independently owned — but working with grocery chains has proved to be key to the brand’s advancement.
“We’re so grateful to the people and [small retail] stores that have helped us grow,” she says. “But we know that’s kind of a limited market, and if we really want to give opportunity to our employees, we have to continue to grow. And for a food company to do that, you have to move into the grocery world.”
JUGGLING ACT
Frank says the urgency of the pandemic prompted the grocers she was working with to temporarily streamline their vendor onboarding, making it relatively painless for Poppy to make the shift. But she and George both say they encountered a learning curve when making the jump to working with supermarkets.
“Typically it’s kind of a long process of communicating with grocers with all kinds of paperwork and decision-making,” says Frank.
And the time and money involved in checking grocers’ boxes for packaging, labeling, food safety certifications and more means food businesses have to stop and consider their long-range goals before making that transition.
“We’ve had to really learn how to run as a food manufacturer rather than a small popcorn business,” Frank says. “I think I’ve kind of learned that you have to either stay small and be happy staying small, or you have to really go for it. There’s not a whole lot of room in between.”
George, whose hummus business is still mostly a one-woman show, says her background in events coordination has been helpful in her efforts to go bigger. “There are so many things to keep top of mind,” she says. “Making sure your inventory is stocked, making sure you have all your ingredients and your
boxes, that your labeling looks good, then prioritizing, like, what’s the next piece of equipment I’m going to buy.”
Scaling up to get her product supermarket-ready involved a lot of online searches and phone calls. She had to piece together the web of regulations and needs, including state inspections, labeling rules (“You need to write ’keep refrigerated’ on it, even though, I’m like, ‘Isn’t that obvious?’” George says with a laugh.), how to create barcodes — separate codes are needed for each product flavor and container size — and much more.
Then there is the matter of packaging. One of the main requirements, says George, is that containers be sealed and tamper-proof. But another consideration is how the packages will look and perform on the shelf. Stackability is important, as is the customer’s view from the aisles.
At first, George was only labeling the lids of her hummus containers, but after discussing it with Earth Fare staff, she realized that when looking at the cold case, shoppers could only see the clear sides. “With Earth Fare and with my local vendors, I can get constant feedback, and that’s really helpful,” she says.
TO MARKET, TO MARKET
Supporting small-scale local business owners new to the grocery market is the top priority of Dustin Kennedy’s job as senior forager for local and emerging brands at Whole Foods Market. Based in the Raleigh area, Kennedy’s team works with food businesses through-
out the Southeastern U.S., including North Carolina.
“The most important thing when brands are approaching us is for them to know that the grocery industry is a very competitive space,” Kennedy says. “They need to know their product, their customer and their community well, and they should have a strategy
for their brand before looking to get on shelves.”
The starting point for entrepreneurs, he says, is to read up on the company and get to know its quality standards. From there, they can submit information on their product through the Whole Foods’ online supplier portal for review.
True to his job title, Kennedy and his team also actively search within communities and on social media for local products. Contenders should be innovative, distinctive in their category and fit well within the customer’s local culture, he says. Sustainability and ethical sourcing are additional considerations.
“We aim to reflect the surrounding community within the four walls of our stores,” says Kennedy. “Our customers love that they can discover new and exciting products from their local communities in our stores.”
For many WNC food businesses, the West Village Market & Deli is the first steppingstone on the path to supermarket partnerships. Owner Rosanne Kiely launched the small, independent grocery downtown in the Grove Arcade in 2002, relocating it to its current home
CONTINUES ON PAGE 30
LOCAL LOVE: West Village Market offers a soft transition to small-scale food and beverage businesses looking to make the leap into supermarkets. The West Asheville grocer currently stocks around 140 WNC brands. Photo by Caleb Johnson
“I think I’ve kind of learned that you have to either stay small and be happy staying small, or you have to really go for it.”
— Ginger Frank, founder of Poppy Hand-Crafted Popcorn
on Haywood Road in West Asheville in 2009.
Throughout its history, the market has offered countless budding brands a bridge between tailgate market tables and supermarket shelves, including such success stories as Lusty Monk mustard, Mandala Chocolate and Asheville Tea Co. Kiely estimates that the store currently offers about 140 WNC products.
Other than making sure items align with West Village’s non-GMO requirement and contain as many organic ingredients as possible, aspiring vendors find very little red tape. Kiely starts off stocking a small quantity of a new brand to see how it sells, then increases orders depending on demand.
“We just give them a space on the shelf and really encourage them to come in and do tastings so people can taste [the product], meet them and hear their story,” says Kiely. “We’ll give almost anybody an opportunity.”
SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Making the decision to grow by partnering with a distributor is where things can start to get really complicated for small food businesses, says Kiely. “Some people get invited to do that or even search it out and don’t realize how much it’s going to change their world,” she says. “The big distributors start to ask you to cut your prices a bit and to provide a bunch of freebies for specials and things like that, so there’s an awful lot of lost margin.”
Kennedy says that with Whole Foods, suppliers are welcome to start out self-distributing, but as their products spread to multiple stores, they are encouraged to work with a distributor. Despite Poppy’s broad reach, Frank has always shipped most orders directly to her customers and only began using distributors when regional and national grocery store partnerships developed. George still hand-delivers all her orders but sees a distributor as the next big step for Sitto’s Hummus.
She’s clear, though, that before making such a move, she will need to scale up with more equipment and some employees and create a financial cushion through loans or grants.
“You don’t want to take on a purchase order that you can’t fulfill monetarily, because you have to upfront a lot of the costs before you get paid — maybe a month or two months later sometimes,” she says. “So you have to make sure that you can order all that
packaging and all those ingredients and everything and survive.”
George found help in navigating the confusing landscape of moving to wholesale through the Western Women’s Business Center, an Asheville-based program of the Carolina Small Business Development Fund. She was paired with a Mountain BizWorks coach who helped her polish her business plan and determine solid next steps for funding her growth.
As a community development financial institution (CDFI), Mountain BizWorks provides training, technical assistance and funding to startups, which are often turned away by banks, says Noah Wilson, the organization’s director of sector development. But he points out that another essential support is peer mentorship.
“Once you’ve gotten past startup, there’s this kind of valley of death when you’re scaling up your operation,” he says. “Our department is focused on the ecosystem that surrounds businesses and making sure there are very good networks of industry peers.”
To this end, Mountain BizWorks sponsors the Asheville Area Food Guild, which Wilson says is one of the largest such business groups on the East Coast. Open to all food and beverage manufacturers in North Carolina’s 25 westernmost counties, the guild connects members to resources, offers regular networking and educational events and helps promote peer-topeer relationships.
“People appreciate having folks who understand their world and will talk to you and you can benefit from their experience,” he says. “But I think part of what that community is all about is ensuring that our brands in this region — especially the small ones who are really creative — are able to grow at a sustainable pace but are also able to manage rapid growth for good and make it work for them.”
KITCHEN SPACE
Wilson adds that independent grocers like West Village Market and the larger French Broad Food Co-op play a vital role in incubating young businesses, because “the learning curve is gentler with the smaller shops, and they can give you good feedback.” And, likewise, some corporate supermarket chains, such as Ingles, Earth Fare and Whole Foods, have programs in place to encourage emerging brands.
Kennedy of Whole Foods says his company’s Local and Emerging Accelerator Program (LEAP) launched in 2022 to offer mentorship and tailored educational opportunities. LEAP has two cohorts: Early Growth, for aspiring Whole Foods vendors; and On the Verge, for current suppliers carried in limited stores but poised for expansion.
Also critical to the success of small food enterprises with grocery store ambitions, say Wilson, Kiely and George, is adequate access to commercial kitchens. George rents her own kitchen space in Darë Vegan Cheese’s Weaverville production facility but says such arrangements are rare and highly sought after by food makers.
“You can rent per hour with some spaces around town,” she says. “But I’ve definitely lucked out with this situation because if I get a last-minute, larger order, I can pop in and out as I please.”
Blue Ridge Food Ventures has been supporting WNC food entrepreneurs with kitchen infrastructure, equipment and other services since 2005, both Kiely and Wilson note. Wilson also mentions the newly opened WNC FoodWorks facility at the WNC Farmers Market, which he says is very much “incubator scale” with its two commercial kitchen spaces, equipment (such as ovens, mixers, blenders, fillers, etc.) ongoing educational offerings and consulting services.
Since launching last October, WNC FoodWorks has worked with more than 50 clients and currently has 30 active users, says manager Matthew Shimko Most of those clients are currently selling at tailgate markets and events, with grocery stores still on the horizon.
To champion that growth among the smallest enterprises, WNC FoodWorks offers tiered pricing. “If a company is a pure, noncash-flow startup, we start them off at lower rates and work up to our full hourly kitchen rate over their first year of operation to give them time to get their company going,” Shimko explains. “As they grow, I’m sure they will be stocking [grocery store] shelves shortly.”
George, who has just conquered that milestone, is focused on slow growth and savoring the new thrill of having her hummus in supermarkets. “It’s really gratifying,” she says. “Seeing them in the wild is very surreal.”
Frank says that with Poppy’s expanding capacity, the company has been working on partnering with more grocery stores while trying not to get ahead of its production capabilities. Though she’s much further along in her entrepreneurial journey than George, Frank still feels exhilarated when she encounters her popcorn in a supermarket aisle.
“I find it superexciting,” she says. “Especially when I’m outside of Asheville somewhere and I just stumble upon it.” X
IN THE BAG: Poppy Hand-Crafted Popcorn owner Ginger Frank hadn’t planned on marketing her products in grocery stores until The Fresh Market contacted her about a partnership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the product is sold in more than 2,000 retail shops across the U.S. Photo courtesy of Poppy Hand-Crafted Popcorn
Mars Hill magic
BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN
SART celebrates its 50th season earnaudin@mountainx.com
Every once in a while, something productive and constructive arises from locker room talk.
Take, for instance, one such conversation in 1974 that occurred in the men’s locker room at the gym of Mars Hill College (now Mars Hill University). Jim Thomas of the theater arts department and Don Anderson of the social and behavioral sciences department were chatting about ways for Madison County to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial in 1976. And the seeds for what became Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre (SART) were planted.
“[People] tell that story all the time, and I believe it because that’s the way wild things happen,” says playwright C. Robert Jones, who eventually succeeded Thomas as department chair.
Nearing the end of its 50th season, SART wraps things up Thursday, July 18-Sunday, July 28, with alternating shows of Jones’ play Taking a Chance on Love, and a stage adaptation of Wilma Dykeman’s novel The Tall Woman. In the midst of the company’s rehearsals and preparations for celebrating the milestone season, Xpress checked in with Jones and a few other integral players to reflect on SART’s history and what they hope lies ahead.
EARLY DAYS
In 1967, Thomas started a summer theater workshop, primarily designed for Mars Hill students seeking college credit. The following year, he invited Jones — then the chair of the theater department at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs — to direct a show.
“I did and fell in love with this place,” Jones says. “They offered me a job, and I was already busy working at GardnerWebb at that time. But I did come here in ’71.”
After Thomas’ fateful locker room discussion, he, Jones and their colleague Virgil Gray decided to reshape the summer theater workshop into a professional company. For SART’s inaugural season in 1975, they produced The Fantasticks, Black Comedy and the company’s first original show, Ark of Safety, all in the campus’s Owen Theater.
“It was much easier than it might have been for any other situation because we had the theater, we had the department, we had the program — everybody in place,” Jones recalls. “And that’s how it started.”
The three men initially used the repertory system in which a company of actors simultaneously does two or three rotating productions. But Jones notes that Owen Theater, formerly a church, lacked the necessary space for multiple stages and storage.
“So, it became logical for us to do a show, close it, do another show, close it,” he says.
In recent years, the theater has been renovated to accommodate more ambitious productions, and in 2017, the university added a black box theater in adjoining Day Hall, where smaller shows are performed.
The black box space is named in honor of Thomas, who served as artistic director until his 2000 retirement. Jones credits much of SART’s success to his colleague’s commitment to staging an original play every year, which quickly proved more popular than more famous, existing works. Thomas also prioritized scripts that reflect positively on Appalachia rather than reinforce negative stereotypes.
“It was a venture and an adventure,” Jones says. “I remember the first sea-
son, we seriously didn’t know anybody would come. But people came from everywhere, and Madison County as a whole really loved this idea because it gave a lot of people a chance to come see theater.”
SART’s 50th season honored its roots with a staged reading/concert event of The Fantasticks, featuring notable performers from the company’s history. Audience favorite Fiddler on the Roof was also staged, and now it’s Jones’ turn in the spotlight.
The playwright says he received requests for a revival of his antebellum musical Mandy Lou, but notes that some of the show’s politically incorrect details make it a difficult one to stage. Instead, he chose the romantic comedy Taking a Chance on Love to close out the drama-heavy season on a lighter note.
Bringing the play to Owen Theatre, where it debuted in 2006, are a few key figures who were involved in that original production. Bill Gregg returns as director, Richard Seagle is again designing the set, and Alyssa Kennedy is playing the same part she inhabited nearly 20 years ago, which Jones describes as “an Alexis Carrington kind of woman,” referring to the character from TV’s “Dynasty.”
“I can’t tell you how delighted I am,” Jones says of the minireunion. “It’s nice to revisit.”
SART TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
Jones’, Thomas’ and others’ dedication to SART helped keep the company active and has attracted a new batch of similarly minded professionals.
Among them is Asheville native Chelsey Lee Gaddy, who attended Mars Hill for its theater arts program. When she learned about the campus’s summer theater program, she immediately wanted to partake. Since 2003, she’s worked on and off at SART, including several years as senior artistic director.
“It was the stepping stone for all the other things that I was able to do later,” Gaddy says. “Even my internship that I got after graduate school was because of somebody I had met at SART..”
She adds that SART provided a safe place to make what she calls “good mistakes,” such as forgetting lines or oversleeping and missing rehearsal. And as her career developed, she kept getting pulled back to where it all began.
“I would go work somewhere else for a few years and then end up doing a show again,” Gaddy says. “This is my 14th, maybe 15th season that I’ve done at SART. It’s been a part of my life since I was a young’n, and I’m about to be 40.”
Mentorships have also proved key to Gaddy’s sustained bonds with SART. She’s found that experienced theater professionals with long-standing ties to the company have been happy to share advice when asked, and now she finds herself in that position.
Gaddy met Will Ezzell in 2018 while both actors were working on Asheville Community Theatre’s production of Avenue Q. Through the collaboration, she sensed that Ezzell and several other castmates could be great fits for the SART family and recruited them.
“Miracle in Bedford Falls [in 2019] was my first show there,” Ezzell says. “Then while we were doing Miracle, Chelsey was asking me who would be good for a pastor in Church Basement Ladies. And I was like, ‘Well, I would.’”
In addition to the company’s tightknit family feel, Ezzell says SART has allowed him to use his theater skills outside of acting. And in his current role as managing artistic director, he’s prioritized giving fellow multifaceted cast and crew members similar chances — sometimes out of necessity.
“In Fiddler, our stage manager also was an ensemble member, and our lighting designer was the innkeeper,” he says. “I don’t think a lot of theaters give you the opportunity to do that.”
Ezzell and Gaddy also point to SART’s history of producing original
SILVER STAGE: Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre’s first production was The Fantasticks in 1975. Photo courtesy of SART
CHANCE-TAKER: Playwright C. Robert Jones has been involved with SART since its inception. Photo courtesy of Jones
plays — which they note often requires some workshopping before they hit the stage — as central to its distinct ways. And the steady incorporation of community members as cast, crew and volunteers further strengthens the company’s connection to Mars Hill and Madison County.
“It’s pretty special that we are in such a small town that still values its theater and the arts so much,” Ezzell says. “Having everybody come to know the theater as an asset to the community and to see people’s excitement and enjoyment when they do come to a show is really meaningful to me.”
IN THE YEAR 2074 …
Looking ahead, Gaddy is confident in SART’s ability to “pivot and bring people what they need to see, depending on the temperature of the world surrounding us.” And Season 50’s slate is a big reason why she’s optimistic.
She feels that it was important to produce Fiddler on the Roof at a time when antisemitism is again on the rise. But likewise, it’s paramount to “do something that makes people feel good,” like the Woody Guthrie show Hard Travelin’ with Woody, plus End of the Rainbow, which starred Gaddy as Judy Garland, spotlighting addiction, toxicity and show business’s darker side.
“So, whatever it means for us to get to be storytellers and make people out there in our community keep using their brains,” she says. “I love that about SART — we actually bring it to you and make you think, even if it’s just ‘this land is your land.’”
She and Ezzell hope that the consideration put forth in programming Season 50 shows that SART is committed to producing quality work, to the extent that the community will continue to support the company as operating costs become increasingly expensive.
To those ends, SART’s director of development, Leif Brodersen, launched the SART Endowment with an initial goal of sustainably funding one musical each year.
“The goal with this season isn’t to fill the endowment immediately,” Ezzell says. “It’s to produce work that makes people feel confident and trust us enough to fund that endowment so that we can exist for another 50 seasons and more.”
Jones also has a sunny outlook regarding SART’s future, largely because the company has carried on Thomas’ commitment to creating a welcoming environment that “feels like you’re coming home to something.”
“People became very possessive about this place. They wanted it to succeed and they wanted it to work in this unlikely place: a Baptist college campus in the mountains — how likely is that to have a professional theater company?” he asks.
“I’d like to think that the legacy was that we gave quality theater, professionally done, with great love and affection. And I felt those things, and I still think that it was a magical thing that we were just lucky that we fell into.”
To learn more, visit avl.mx/drj. X
Located in Asheville at Western Carolina Universit y ’s Biltmore Park instructional site, the Master of Public Af fairs program equips leaders in public ser vice. Graduates ser ve in local government and nonprofit sectors, influencing regional management and policy decisions. This accredited MPA program provides professionals with the exper tise needed to leave a lasting impact
Scream queens (and kings)
Terpsicorps’ new season riffs on iconic artwork
BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN
earnaudin@mountainx.com
Ever wonder why the person in Edvard Munch’s 1893 painting “The Scream” is, well, screaming?
Multiple potential answers — ranging from hilarious to tragic — will be featured in Before the Scream, the showcase component of Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance’s Season 2024. Performances take place Thursday, July 25-Saturday, July 27, at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, and include two additional acts, each composed of their own series of vignettes.
It all comes from the mind of Terpsicorps artistic director Heather Maloy, who seeks inspiration each spring, unsure where it will take her. Sometimes a piece of music gets her started, but for Season 2024, it was visual art.
“I wanted to find something that encompassed that concept of everyone sees something different in art, and that everything is subject to the eyes of the beholder,” she says.
Maloy began her process by looking at approximately 80 famous works of art, and her core idea gradually evolved into an exploration of what might have happened prior to the events depicted in several well-known creations. For example, what made Mona Lisa smirk? And how did the pitchfork-wielding farmer and his daughter from Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” wind up in front of their house — if that is indeed their house?
But applying that concept to a range of art pieces strayed too far from the idea of a singular work inspiring numerous interpretations. So Maloy
zeroed in on Munch’s iconic painting, which she feels opens up the most varied possibilities of the works she considered — and aligns nicely with her ethos.
“I am a person who is very attracted to both darkness in art and humor in art,” she says. “And there’s something about ‘The Scream’ where, even though on one hand it’s depicted as this iconic representation of sorrow and horror, it’s also simultaneously used in a humorous fashion in pop culture.”
the little things, and appreciate what is good about life while you’ve got it.”
Among the talented dancers helping Maloy achieve her vision for the program is Lelo Ima Rosado González (who uses they/them pronouns). A native of Puerto Rico, Rosado González identifies as transgender nonbinary, and their ability to perform both male- and female-representing work at a high level inspired Maloy to choreograph a solo specifically for them that’s its own section of the program. The dance is called “Stayed on Freedom,” and is accompanied by Resistance Revival Chorus’ cover of the Civil Rights Movement song “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed on Freedom).”
“I wanted to highlight all of the things that make Lelo unique and not like any other dancer that I’ve seen before,” Maloy says. “And to also just express the joy that is inherent of being given the opportunity to be freely who you are, without any restrictions placed on you about what that means.”
Rosado González says having a solo created specifically for them is “surreal” and an opportunity that they didn’t think they’d get to experience anytime soon — despite being a part of such prestigious companies as Ballet Idaho.
Maloy elaborates that many people’s first encounter with “The Scream” is through something silly, such as a blowup punching doll or on a sock, which undercuts the painting’s scare potential. And yet its terrifying side endures, a dichotomy that aligns with Maloy’s own artistic explorations.
“So for me, that work kind of encompasses both of those possibilities,” she says. “I think all of what I have chosen will surprise people. I don’t know [that] anyone will be like, ‘That’s exactly what I thought of’ — except my husband, because one of them was his idea.”
FLUID MOVEMENT
Terpsicorps’ other Season 2024 performances include a revival of “Second Line,” which premiered in 2008 at Diana Wortham Theatre. Maloy created the piece in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s 2005 destruction of New Orleans to honor the resiliency of the city’s residents as well as the roles that music and dance played (and continue to play) in its recovery.
“I want people to remember Hurricane Katrina and remember what that was like,” Maloy says. “And to be inspired and remember to laugh at
“The piece is hard — it’s definitely pushing me in stamina,” Rosado González says. “It has a lot of neoclassical and contemporary elements with [ballet] pointe work. That’s a beautiful challenge.”
Assigned male at birth, Rosado González was, in their words, “pushed into this binary system” to which they never felt like they belonged. Before starting dance lessons at the age of 9 in Puerto Rico, they took gymnastics classes and were always taught male technique in both pursuits.
“I didn’t really understand the concepts of the binary system within the world of ballet,” says Rosado González, who was yelled at for wanting to study prepointe classes with their female peers.
“I was a little bit ashamed of it. It was embarrassing and not the best experience you would want to have at that time — when you’re dancing and then, all of a sudden, they’re telling you that you can’t dance like that.”
WHO Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance WHERE Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, avl.mx/dvw WHEN Thursday, July 25-Saturday, July 27, 8 p.m. $25-$65
ON POINTE: Lelo Ima Rosado González is one of the featured performers in Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance’s Season 2024. Photo courtesy of Terpsicorps
Rosado González then took it upon themself to train as hard as possible in order to feel more self-confident about their gender identity. Once they turned professional and were hired for male representing dance on a full-time basis, they sought out night classes on pointe work and honed this other part of their true identity.
“And then I really fell in love with it,” Rosado González says. “I was like, ‘No, this is how I actually feel like myself.’ It’s not like I’m putting on this extreme mask over me. It was freeing, as ballet should be — as dance should be. It actually felt like art, rather than just a job.”
WORKING TOGETHER
All hands on decks
An arts supply store manager, a charter school teacher and a skate shop owner walk into a gallery. … No, that’s not the start of a joke. It’s the culmination of an ongoing collaboration between Aly Perez, Nate Barton and Rob Sebrell, which has been providing kids a sense of fulfillment and self-worth, while teaching them about creativity, skate culture and the art world.
It all started when Perez, who manages Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff, an art supply store on the outer edge of the River Arts District, befriended Barton, who teaches art to middle school and high school students at IC Imagine Public Charter School in Asheville.
“We partnered,” Perez says. “He would teach his students stencils, and then I would come in and teach them how to spray paint with their stencils. It’s fun because they get to experiment.”
As Barton’s students grew versed in the form, Perez helped plug the class into the city’s vibrant art scene through her connection with Sebrell, owner of Push Skateshop in downtown Asheville.
“They sell skate decks and clothing,” Perez says. “And in the back, they have a gallery section. Lots of local artists display there.”
Initially, Sebrell arranged it so Barton would get used and damaged skateboard decks through Push, which Barton’s students used as blank canvases to create art. In time, Barton’s budding artists graduated to painting on newer decks that are factory seconds from a company that manufactures skateboards.
“There’s a flaw in each one,” Barton says. “We essentially get what is like a brand-new blank skate deck.”
“I sell my students the skate decks for $15,” Barton continues. “Five dollars pay for the deck, and another five helps pay for supplies for the project.” The remaining $5 are donated to the Foundation Skatepark, a nonprofit DIY venture launched and supported
Business -toBusiness
by Push. Credit for the skate park also goes to “the skateboarding community that volunteers their time to build and maintain the space,” Sebrell says.
“The biggest question I get [from my students] is, ‘Are we gonna get to make art on skate decks?’” Barton says. Each year his class culminates in a show featuring the students’ art, hosted by Push.
“It’s a fundraiser for our DIY community skate park and for their school,” Sebrell says. “The students’ families are so appreciative because it’s a real gallery space. They get to come in and have a reception downtown. They’re over the moon.”
“Most galleries take 50% of the cut that the artist makes,” Barton says.
“Rob is very generous and allows my students to have the full amount.”
Barton adds that opening night at the gallery can be very emotional. Push follows the standard gallery show procedure of placing a red dot on the label beside an artist’s work once a piece is sold. When that happens at a Push show, Barton gives his students the honor of affixing the sticker.
“I get choked up when that happens,” he says.
— Patrick Moran X
CLASS ACT: Nate Barton teaches skate deck art to his students. Photo by Clint Jackson
by Edwin Arnaudin | earnaudin@mountainx.com
Insiders assess the local art scene
COMEDY CRAFT
Jordan Julius is an Ashevillebased stand-up comic.
Xpress : Is there an upcoming comedy event happening in Asheville that you’re looking forward to seeing?
I’m really looking forward to the Asheville Comedy Festival, [Wednesday, Aug. 7-Saturday, Aug. 10, at Harrah’s Cherokee Center –Asheville and the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts]. I know that’s kind of the obvious answer coming from a comedian, but I’m always excited to discover new comics and experience comedy from some brand-new perspectives.
I’m a bit of a nerd about comedy. I feel like, as a comedian, you can’t help but see every set as kind of a lesson, so ACF is like a four-day crash course. Also, we’ve got some great local comedians and friends of mine hosting: Petey Smith-McDowell , Zandra Johnson and Hilliary Begley. It’s always great to see them do their thing.
Outside of comedy, what other upcoming local arts happening intrigues you?
I’m interested in attending the River Arts District Second Saturday Art Stroll [next slated for Aug. 10, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.] It’s a monthly event with tons of local art on display in galleries up and down the RAD. You also get the chance to meet and talk with a lot of the artists. It’s a great way to spend a Saturday.
What current project are you working on that you’re especially excited about?
My top priority is the development of my website, BrownJuliusComedy.
Ashton Zager is an Ashevillebased fiber artist.
com. I want a central place that I can share with anyone who wants to see and know a little bit about me and my style of comedy. On my website, you can find short clips of my work and a link to my YouTube channel for my longer sets, as well as my social media.
Soon, I will be featured on the podcast Home Planet, run by Ryan Cox, another great local comedian. Check out his YouTube channel at avl.mx/dvu. It’s got lots of colorful conversation and inside baseball looks at comedy. X
Xpress: Is there an upcoming fiber arts event happening in Asheville that you’re looking forward to seeing?
The Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair is happening at the WNC Agricultural Center Friday, Oct. 18-Sunday, Oct. 20. I’ve never actually attended because I’m usually finding out about it too late, but this year I’m planning ahead. Any chance to connect and appreciate others who practice fiber art in a way that’s very different than mine is a treat.
Outside of fiber arts, what other upcoming local arts happening intrigues you?
Art in the Park is a favorite event that is happening at Pack Square Park [on Saturdays, Oct. 5, 12 and
19]. They always have a great variety of local artists, and it’s so inspirational to see others pushing their craft forward into the world.
What current project are you working on that you’re especially excited about?
Right now, I’m finishing up my last two commissioned pieces I committed to for the summer and then have a long list of new ideas to experiment with. I’ve had some frames made to make “germ-shaped” pieces that break away from symmetrical circles and square tapestries. I’m always wanting to create work that better mirrors organic shapes and textures within nature — things like a patch of lichen on a tree and the irregular flow of underwater plant life. We’ll see how it goes. X
JORDAN JULIUS
Photo courtesy of the artist
ASHTON ZAGER
Photo courtesy of the artist
Trevor Darden is an Ashevillebased singer-songwriter.
Xpress: Is there an upcoming music event happening in Asheville that you’re looking forward to seeing?
I’m looking forward to The Big Secret Family Festival coming up on Sunday, July 21, at Pisgah Brewing Co., plus Juvenile and The 400 Degreez Band at Rabbit Rabbit on Saturday, Aug. 31. I made a promise to myself to see more shows this summer so I can really appreciate all the great art Asheville attracts.
Outside of music, what other upcoming local arts happening intrigues you?
I’m looking forward to seeing [comedian] Sarah Squirm at The Orange Peel on Wednesday, Aug. 21, because I am an admirer of classic forms of entertainment. Sarah is giving royal court jester vibes, and I’m here for it.
What current project are you working on that you’re especially excited about?
I’ve recently started a new band called the Regents of Rhythm, which is a jazzy, funky, soulful fusion of sonic landscapes. We host a brunch every Saturday and Sunday at Sovereign Remedies, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and we are excited to start recording music as a band this summer. X
Lauren Moody is a Morganton-base jewelry designer and owner of Fox & Beaux Boutique in downtown Asheville.
Xpress: Is there an upcoming craft event happening in Asheville that you’re looking forward to seeing?
We attend local gem shows as much as we can. The Gem & Lapidary Wholesalers Show is coming up Tuesday, Oct. 29-Wednesday, Oct. 30, at the WNC Agricultural Center.
Otherwise, we don’t really attend too many other jewelry events, but we’d be interested if we had better outlets to learn about other local jewelry events. We’ve talked about hosting different quarterly events at our store, but pulling these off is tough sometimes.
Outside of crafts, what other upcoming local arts happening intrigues you?
This isn’t so much an arts event, more entrepreneurial, but we would like to start attending 1 Million Cups events [held each Wednesday, 9-10 a.m., at Hatch Innovation Hub] for a bit of networking, support and education toward scaling our business. I live in Morganton, so it’s harder for me to learn about and attend local eventssometimes. 1 Million Cups events are on my radar, though.
What current project are you working on that you’re especially excited about?
My team is highly creative, so we all work really well together to make art that most importantly we have the passion and desire to create. The energy we put into the jewelry we create can most certainly be felt in our store, and I think one reason we have so many
loyal customers. Stones carry energy, and jewelry can be worn as talismans of love, protection, guidance, hope and remembrance, so the energy you put into and around these creations is so important.
I’m excited to have such a talented team who listens and guides our clients during their dream custom projects — wedding and engagement ring designs — but to also have a team that plays so well outside of the box and pushes through the design boundaries. We are truly building something special, and this business is well beyond me and what my vision for Fox & Beaux ever was. I’m lucky to be a part of it. X
TREVOR DARDEN
Photo by Anthony Bellemare Photography
LAUREN MOODY
Photo courtesy of the artist
What’s new in food
North Asheville Tailgate Market returns to summer in the shade
There were a lot of happy vendors and shoppers set up and roaming the North Asheville Tailgate Market (NATM) the morning of July 6. That day saw the return of Asheville’s longest-running producer-only market — founded in 1980 — to the spacious, tree-covered UNC Asheville parking lot P28 that it had inhabited since 2007 after construction relocated it to the smaller, steeper and unshaded P34 lot last November.
On July 5, UNCA released a statement announcing that it had formalized its relationship with NATM through a “new agreement that will keep the now 44-year-old producer-only farmers market on campus for the foreseeable future.”
According to the new arrangement, NATM will occupy its original P28 lot from early May through the third weekend in August each year, then
move to P34 during UNCA’s academic year.
“Getting the news [about the return] from UNCA was a big morale booster for all the vendors and staff,” says Oakley Brewer, executive director of NATM since its 2021 season.
“The vendors were really excited, especially the produce vendors who were losing some product at P34 due to the heat.”
Anne Grier, owner with her husband, Aaron Grier, of Gaining Ground Farm, a member of the NATM since 2008, confirms Brewer’s take. “We are totally thrilled at the move back,” she said the afternoon before the first market back, on a rain delay from picking eggplant on the farm’s Leicester property. “The P34 was better than nothing, and we’re grateful we had a place, but there was no shade, and it was sweltering.”
Brewer, who uses they/them prounouns, points out that not only did P34 reduce the number of vendors NATM could accommodate, but it totally changed the market’s layout. In P28, vendors are set up on both sides of the wide, tree-canopied lot, but at P34, they had to be stacked with no space between tents.
“We got creative in the layout, but we’ll be glad to bring in more vendors, be able to spread out more and have some space between vendors as all the summer produce is coming in,” she says.
NATM will also see new leadership this summer. Brewer’s last day as director is Saturday, July 27; they have taken a job as communications and engagement coordinator for the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. Jason Mogan is the incoming new director.
North Asheville Tailgate Market is at 3300 University Heights Blvd., Lot P28. The market is open 8 a.m.noon Saturdays, April-November and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, JanuaryMarch. The Holiday Bazaar happens 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, Nov. 30-Dec. 21. For more information, visit avl.mx/bei.
Canning workshops
If you find yourself with an abundance of produce in this season of abundance, local author/teacher/
homesteader Ashley English has a plan for you — as well as three upcoming workshops at Fifth Season Gardening Co. On Sunday, July 28, it’s Home Canning 101, with tips on food safety and water-bath canning. On Sunday, Aug. 11, learn how to turn summer’s most beloved produce item into jars of sauce, salsa and jams in Preserving Tomatoes. Finally, on Sunday, Aug. 25, Drying and Dehydrating will help build your winter pantry. All classes include recipes and samples.
Classes are noon-2 p.m. at Fifth Season Gardening Co., 4 S. Tunnel Road. Preregistration is required. For more information, visit avl.mx/dvp.
Farewell to Avenue M
North Asheville neighborhood restaurant and bar Avenue M permanently closed on July 6, according to a post on its social media pages. In the announcement, owners Tony Creed and Ralph Lonow thanked the local community and encouraged people to support local businesses. “It’s been a difficult year for so many, and your support means everything to them,” the statement reads.
Avenue M opened in 2010 at 791 Merrimon Ave. Creed and Lonow took over the business in 2019, introducing a new concept and menu in 2020. Lonow, a certified sommelier, reconstructed the restaurant’s wine program, which received a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in June.
Read the full announcement on Instagram at avl.mx/dw1.
Black history mural at Grind AVL
Come for the coffee and stay for the compelling story of how urban renewal — or as it is often described, “urban removal” — decimated Asheville’s once-thriving Black Southside community. A recently installed mural on one wall at Grind AVL, Asheville’s only Blackowned coffee shop, details the history through letters, photographs, documents and maps compiled by Southside native and local historian Priscilla Ndiaye Robinson Grind manager Mark Bollt says, “The mural is a living memorial to what used to be and was taken. We are excited by the seed it has planted.” One seed is a documentary being planned by filmmaker Todd Gragg in collaboration with Robinson and current and former community members.
Urban renewal was an effort by the U.S. and local governments between the 1950s and 1980s to revitalize cities through acquiring, demolishing and redeveloping private and public properties. The policies devastated Black urban neighborhoods, closing businesses and removing residents. Robinson’s childhood home was among the parcels acquired.
Since the mural was unveiled in May, Grind — which is on the Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail — has held a few gatherings for people to learn more about the history behind the mural, and more will be planned soon. Bollt says he is
FARM TO MARKET: Gaining Ground Farm celebrates the return of the North Asheville Tailgate Market to the shaded and spacious P28 lot on the UNC Asheville campus. Pictured, from left, are Max Bisaha, Hannah Maynard, Rosa Koehnlein and farm co-owner Anne Grier. Photo by Tyver Butler
also always available to act as docent for interested visitors.
Grind is at 346 Depot St. For updates on mural events and the documentary, follow Grind AVL at avl.mx/dvt.
Brunch service at Luminosa
Pastry or pasta? Both are on the new weekend brunch menu at Luminosa, the Italian-flavored downtown restaurant led by executive chef Graham House. Also available are breakfast pizza, bialy with mortadella, a brunch dog and pastrami hash. Guests can indulge in some day drinking with special cocktails like a white Negroni and Midnight in Rome.
Luminosa is at 20 Battery Park Ave. Brunch service is 11:30 a.m.2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, visit avl.mx/duw.
Awards for Noble Cider
Raise a glass to celebrate Noble Cider’s wins at Cidercraft magazine’s seventh annual Cidercraft Awards. The 2024 results were announced June 12, with Noble’s Black & Gold cider capturing a platinum award in the Modern Dry category and its French Cidre receiving a double gold award in the High TanninDry category.
Both of Noble’s winning ciders are from its Lewis Creek Orchard Reserve line, which features apples planted eight years ago at Lewis Creek Farms in Henderson County. The Black & Gold is made with Arkansas Black and Gold Rush apples, and French Cidre is a blend of heirloom French apples. Noble’s taproom on New Leicester Highway now serves food from its
shelves and cooler case, including DIY charcuterie board items such as bread, crackers, cheeses, olives and spreads plus Sunshine Sammy ice cream sandwiches.
Noble Cider is at 356 New Leicester Highway. For more information, visit avl.mx/dvs.
Summer dishes at Corner Kitchen
Just in time for peak Biltmore Estate visiting season, Corner Kitchen in Biltmore Village has released its summer menu with new items for daily brunch and dinner service. Watermelon gazpacho, peach and burrata salad and summer Bibb salad land on both menus, while dinner offers lobster shrimp ceviche, summer corn scallops, Cajun grilled pork chop and summer phyllo ratatouille.
Corner Kitchen is at 3 Boston Way in Biltmore Village. For the full menu, visit avl.mx/bpl.
New ice cream flavors at The Hop
National Ice Cream Day is officially Sunday, July 21, but the entire month of July can barely contain the new flavor releases from The Hop Ice Cream. The business partnered with Bountiful Cities’ FEAST garden at Hall Fletcher Elementary to source mint for dairy and vegan versions of a fresh mint chip flavor. A collaboration with Lee’s One Fortune Farm provides the fruit for dairy and vegan peach ice creams. And celebrate Christmas in July when peppermint stick and other December favorites are added to the cases in all Hop locations on Friday, July 26.
For The Hop Ice Cream Café stores and hours, visit lavl.mx/auf.
Wine classes at Quench!
Swirl, sniff, sip and spit like a professional — or pursue your dream of being a professional — by enrolling in upcoming wine certification courses offered At Quench! Wine Bistro by the MWWine School in partnership with MetroWines and Asheville School of Wine. Since its inception in August 2022, the program has helped wine lovers expand their knowledge and wine industry professionals achieve their certifications. The courses are led by MWWine School director Melanie Webber
Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 1 Award in Wines on Sunday, Aug. 4, is a one-day, beginner-level introductory course with tastings of 11 vintages. The threeday WSET Level 2 Award in Wines course happens Monday-Tuesday, Aug. 5-6, and Monday, Aug. 12, offering foundational principles for wine tasting, wine and food pairing, winemaking, viticulture and wine regions of the world. It includes and tasting of over 30 wines and the certification examination.
Spanish Wine Essentials on Sunday, Aug. 11, and Tuesday, Aug. 13, presents the world of Spanish wine in an accessible and engaging way with tastings of more than 25 Spanish wines. Participants receive a detailed book with photographs, maps and infographics and oneyear access to the Wine Scholar Guild’s e-learning platform.
All classes run 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at Quench! Wine Bistro, 60 N. Merrimon Ave., Woodfin. For more information and to register, visit avl.mx/dvv.
Around Town
Big Secret Family Festival is back
The Big Secret Family Festival will return for its third year on Sunday, July 21, noon-8:30 p.m., this time on Pisgah Brewing Co.’s outdoor stage.
Founded by Grammy Awardwinning children’s musical artist Cactus Skidoo, the festival combines local music, games, prizes, circus acts and performance art geared for all ages. This year’s musical acts include Empire Strikes Brass, The Fritz, 23 Skidoo & the Secret Agency and the Delta House Jazz Band. There will be roving clowns, stilt walkers, Cherokee storytelling by John Grant, postmen who will deliver letters written to anyone at the festival and more. Food options will range from hot dogs and gourmet pretzels to ice cream and organic cotton candy.
The Big Secret Family Festival was created as an opportunity to give back. “I wanted to create an event that feels like old-school Asheville, full of eclectic music and circus acts, where everyone gets to feel like a kid and where we also help kids in the area get the food, shelter and support that they need,” says Skidoo. In its first two years, the festival raised over $36,000 for two local nonprofit organizations, My Daddy Taught Me That and BeLoved. This year, all profits will go to Delta House after-school program and Bounty & Soul’s free food program.
Tickets are $23 in advance and $30 the day of the show. Kids younger than 3 get in free.
Pisgah Brewing Co. is at 2948 U.S. 70, Black Mountain. For more information, visit avl.mx/dw3.
Story/Arts residency presentation continues
Story Parlor will present the second installment of its 2024 Story/Arts residency showcase on Thursday, July 18, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Local artist-in-residence Carolina Quiroga will continue her series “Beyond the Myth: Re-imagining the Stories That Shape Us,” this time delving into mythology and prevailing narratives about fathers as they have been passed down through time. Quiroga will share art and present personal and universal stories that explore heroism, absent gods and the “breadwinner” archetype to examine how paternal conventions shape our cultures and family dynamics. Guest artist and improviser Joe Carroll will also perform as part of the “Mythology of Fathers” presentation.
Following the performance, guests will be encouraged to contribute their own stories and reflections in a community circle. The third and final presentation in the series will take place Thursday, July 25, 6:30-9:30 pm.
Quiroga has presented at the National Storytelling Festival and the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. She is a member of the Teaching Artists Presenting in Asheville Schools Program. Story Parlor’s Story/Arts residency was created to showcase the work of locally based creatives hailing from the LGBTQ+ community, communities of color and other historically marginalized communities. The monthlong residency offers a $500 stipend, two creativity coaching sessions,
professional headshots and a platform for artists to present their work.
Story Parlor is at 227 Haywood Road. For more information, visit avl.mx/bqx.
Barn Dance Season in full swing
Hickory Nut Gap Farm will continue its Barn Dance Season on Saturday, July 20, 6-9 p.m., with zydeco, swamp pop, second line and Cajun swing music.
The family-friendly event will feature local band Zydeco Ya Ya in the Big Barn, a historic, open-air dairy barn-turned-music venue. VooDoo Roux food truck will be on-site, serving scratch-made Cajun/Creole New Orleans-style street food. The Barn Bar will be open to serve a variety of local beers and snacks, and Barn Door Cider will serve hard cider made with North Carolina apples.
The remaining events in the Barn Dance Season are as follows:
On Saturday, Aug. 24, 2-5 p.m., the farm will host a free musical event with out-of-town guests the Laughing Lizards performing Cajun and Texas swing, waltz and two step. On Saturday, Sept. 21, 6-9 p.m., Iliana Rose and her Cuban Jazz Trio will play Cuban jazz originals and new twists on old favorites, with Root Down Farm food truck providing farm-to-table food. On Saturday, Oct. 19, 6-9 .p.m, Old Charlotte Highwaymen will play oldtime and bluegrass music and call a square dance, while Grush’s Cajun Dino Grill food truck offers Cajun fusion with local ingredients. All Barn Dances are $10 per person, and ages 5 and younger are admitted free. Picnic tables and benches will be available, but participants are encouraged to bring camp chairs or picnic blankets to secure their seats. Pets are not allowed.
Hickory Nut Gap farm is at 57 Sugar Hollow Road, Fairview. For more information, visit avl.mx/dw5.
SECRET SKIDOO: Cactus Skidoo, center, of local Grammy Award-winning 23 Skidoo & the Secret Agency, brings his family festival back to Asheville. Photo courtesy of Mike Bellamy
Improvised play comes to NC Stage
Adesto Theater will present The Spontaneous Play: An Improvised Living Room Drama at N.C. Stage Company on Tuesday, July 23, 7:30 p.m.
Adesto was founded by directors Laurie Jones and Paul Vonasek. For this performance, the stage is set as a living room, and all lines are improvised using audience suggestions. The actors do not know in advance what characters they will play, and as a result, the play could be comedic, dramatic, frightening or a combination, but regardless, it will be a unique performance.
“This is my favorite art. It’s theater, improv and writing all rolled into one,” says Jones, the play’s co-artistic director, in a press release. “This cast got it so quickly and so effortlessly. I can’t wait to show more folks in Asheville what this show is about.”
Tickets are $15. The show runs every Tuesday through Aug. 6.
N.C. Stage is at 15 Stage Lane. For more information, visit avl.mx/dw6.
Book release presents beer collaboration
Fairview author Monté Hill will be signing copies of his forthcoming novel, Catbird Winter, at Chimney Rock Brewing Co. on Thursday, July 18, 6-8 p.m.
Chimney Rock Brewing and Hi-Wire Brewing of Asheville will create a collaboration beer in honor of the book’s release. The beer, called Catbird in the Rye, references one of the story’s characters who brews rye whiskey. The beer will be a rye lager brewed with a mash bill similar to what a whiskey distiller would use, with a hint of oak derived from real oak chips.
Catbird Winter, Hill’s debut novel, is a historical drama that takes place in the Hickory Nut Gorge area during World War I and the Great Flood of 1916. “Hickory Nut Gorge was my playground and a place where I would escape often as an adult seeking to find myself, or rather, lose myself,” says Hill. “Those steep granite walls, the rolling Rocky Broad, and the stories told by my family all served to stoke my imagination. My paternal grandfather was raised in the Gorge and, at the encouragement of family, left an oral
history of his life on a cassette tape. Those stories are what inspired me to write Catbird Winter.”
Chimney Rock Brewing Co. is at 461 Main St., Chimney Rock. For more information, visit avl.mx/dw7.
ArtsAVL community grant applications open
ArtsAVL, the designated arts agency for Buncombe County, is accepting applications for its 2024-25 Arts Build Community Grant until Monday, July 22.
This is the eighth year for the grant, which was created to support artsbased projects that inspire civic participation and community engagement. Since 2018, ArtsAVL has funded 68 community arts projects, according to a press release. In the most recent awards cycle, the grant supported regional programs and initiatives that included storytelling, Black history, musical theater, arts programming for veterans, comedy, community arts and dance, creative placemaking, programming for queer and trans youths and more.
Eligible organizations must have been in operation for at least one year
and must be in Buncombe County. Priority is given to low-income neighborhoods and communities in need. Grants range from $1,000-$2,500. All projects must center on the arts. Support for the Arts Build Community Grant comes from a Buncombe County Arts & Culture Block grant.
For more information on ArtsAVL grants, visit avl.mx/cns.
— Oby Arnold X
MOVIE REVIEWS
LONGLEGS: Osgood Perkins’ masterful horror film mixes intense dread with Nicolas Cage weirdness. Grade: A-minus — Edwin Arnaudin
Find full reviews and local film info at ashevillemovies.com ashevillemovies.substack.com
For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, opt. 4.
Banned From Utopia w/ The Paul Green Rock Academy (Frank Zappa tribute), 7:30pm
THE JOINT NEXT DOOR
Rod Sphere (soul, rock), 7pm
THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO.
Well-Crafted Music w/Rick Cooper, Zach Smith & Matt Smith, 6pm
THE ODD
Leather Lung, Bonedozer & Old Dead Gods (stoner-doom, metal, rock'n'roll), 9pm
THE OUTPOST Bluegrass Jam w/Sam Wharton, 6pm
THE RAILYARD BLACK MOUNTAIN
Dan's Jam (bluegrass), 7pm
THURSDAY, JULY 18
27 CLUB
HeartBreak Club Presents: Circus of Freaks Burlesque & Variety Show, 9pm
ASHEVILLE GUITAR
BAR
MGBs (Americana), 8pm
ASHEVILLE MUSIC
HALL
Space Armadillo w/ The Dude of Life (rock, funk), 8pm
CROW & QUILL
Russ Wilson & The Kings of Jazz, 8pm
EDA'S HIDE-A-WAY Karaoke, 8pm
EULOGY
Collapse Fest w/Blood Handsome, Healng, Joyfriend, Jeff in Leather & Cold Choir (electronic, darkwave, industrial-dance), 8pm
CLUBLAND
JAZZ ORGAN TRIO: On Saturday, July 20, The Dan Davis Group performs a variety of music styles at One World West, starting at 4 p.m. This organ trio brings a mix of jazz, funk, Latin and New Orleans grooves. Photo courtesy of Dan Davis
ONE WORLD BREWING 81 Drifters (bluegrass, Americana, blues), 8pm
ONE WORLD BREWING WEST
Fee Fi Phaux Fish (Phish tribute), 8pm
PISGAH BREWING CO.
Zoso (Led Zeppelin tribute), 7pm
SHAKEY'S Karaoke w/DJ Franco, 9pm
SHILOH & GAINES Karaoke Night, 8pm
SOVEREIGN KAVA Stand Up Comedy for Your Health, 8pm
STATIC AGE LOFT Auto-Tune Karaoke w/ Who Gave This B*tch A Mic, 10pm
STATIC AGE RECORDS Yasu Cub, Feeling Format, Trust Blinks & Dish (pop, indie-folk), 8:30pm
THE GREY EAGLE
The Last Revel (folk, indie-rock, old-time), 8pm
THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Knotty G's (Americana), 7pm
THE OUTPOST Outpost: Sari Jordan & Julie Odell (alt-jazz, folk), 7pm
THE RAILYARD BLACK MOUNTAIN The Lazy J's (acoustic), 7pm THE ROOT BAR Peter Stone & Liliana Hudgens (rock, alt-country, indie), 5:30pm
WICKED WEED BREWING
Andy Ferrell (folk, blues, bluegrass), 6pm
KEEPING ASHEVILLE WEIRD SINCE
8pm
Check Instagram for details
FREEWILL ASTROLOGY BY
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Have you ever been given a Starbucks gift card but then neglected to use it? Many people fail to cash in such freebies. Believe it or not, there are also folks who buy lottery tickets that turn out to have the winning number — but they never actually claim their rewards. Don’t be like them in the coming weeks, Aries. Be aggressive about cashing in on the offers you receive, even subtle and shy offers. Don’t let invitations and opportunities go to waste. Be alert for good luck, and seize it.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The coming weeks will be a favorable time to enhance your relationship with food. In every way you can imagine, be smart and discerning as you plan and eat your meals. Here are ideas to ponder: 1. Do you know exactly which foods are best for your unique body? 2. Are you sufficiently relaxed and emotionally present when you eat? 3. Could you upgrade your willpower to ensure you joyfully gravitate toward what’s healthiest? 4. Do you have any bad habits you could outgrow? 5. Is your approach to eating affected by problematic emotions that you could heal? 6. Are you willing to try improving things incrementally without insisting on being perfect?
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Hybridization could be a fun theme for you in the coming weeks. You’re likely to align yourself with cosmic rhythms if you explore the joys and challenges of creating amalgamations, medleys, and mash-ups. Your spirit creatures will be the liger, which is a cross between a lion and a tiger, and a mule, a cross between a horse and a donkey. But please note that your spirit creatures will *not* be impossible hybrids like a giroose (a cross between a giraffe and a moose) or a coyadger (a cross between a coyote and a badger). It’s good to be experimental and audacious in your mixing and matching, but not lunatic delusional.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In 1986, Cancerian singer-songwriter George Michael released his song “A Different Corner.” It was a big hit. Never before in British pop music had an artist done what Michael accomplished: wrote, sang, arranged, and produced the tune, and played all the instruments. I foresee the possibility of a similar proficiency in your near future, Cancerian — if you want it. Maybe you would prefer to collaborate with others in your big projects, but if you choose, you could perform minor miracles all by yourself.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In the Biblical allegory of Noah and the Ark, God warns Noah about an impending flood and commands him to build a giant lifeboat to save living things from extinction. Noah obeys. When the heavy rains come, he, his family, and many creatures board the boat to weather the storm. After 40 days and nights of inundation, they are all safe but stranded in a newly created sea. Hoping for a sign of where they might seek sanctuary, Noah sends out a dove to reconnoiter for dry land. But it returns with no clues. A week later, Noah dispatches a second dove. It returns with an olive leaf, showing that the earth is drying out and land is nearby. Dear Leo, your adventure isn’t as dire and dramatic as Noah’s, but I’m happy to tell you it’s time for you to do the equivalent of sending two doves out to explore.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): According to an ancient Chinese proverb, “An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.” I will add a corollary: An ant may be able to accomplish feats an ox can’t. For instance, I have observed an ant carrying a potato chip back to its nest, and I doubt that an ox could tote a potato chip without mangling it. Anyway, Virgo, this is my way of telling you that if you must choose between your ispiration being an ant or an ox in the coming days, choose the ant. Be meticulous, persistent, and industrious rather than big, strong, and rugged.
ROB BREZSNY
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “If it sounds too good to be true, it always is,” said stage magician Ricky Jay. I only partially agree with him. While I think it’s usually wise to use his formula as a fundamental principle, I suspect it won’t entirely apply to you in the coming weeks. At least one thing and possibly as many as three may sound too good to be true — but will in fact be true. So if you’re tempted to be hyper-skeptical, tamp down that attitude a bit. Open yourself to the possibilities of amazing grace and minor miracles.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): What is the largest thing ever sold in human history? It was a 530-million-acre chunk of land in North America. In 1803, the French government sold it to the American government for $15 million. It stretched from what’s now Louisiana to Montana. Here’s the twist to the story: The land peddled by France and acquired by the U.S. actually belonged to the Indigenous people who had lived there for many generations. The two nations pretended they had the right to make the transaction. I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to make a big, important purchase or sale — as long as you have the authentic rights to do so. Make sure there are no hidden agendas or strings attached. Be thorough in your vetting.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): An antiques dealer named Laura Young bought a marble bust of a distinguished man at a thrift store in Austin, Texas. Later she discovered that it was over 2,000 years old and worth far more than the $35 she had paid for it. It depicted a Roman military leader named Drusus the Elder. I foresee similar themes unfolding in your life, Sagittarius. Possible variations: 1. You come into possession of something that’s more valuable than it initially appears. 2. You connect with an influence that’s weightier than it initially appears. 3. A lucky accident unfolds, bringing unexpected goodies. 4. A seemingly ordinary thing turns out to be an interesting thing in disguise.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): My childhood friend Jeanine used to say, “The best proof of friendship is when someone gives you half their candy bar. The best proof of fantastic friendship is when they give you even more than half.” And then she would hand me more than half of her Snickers bar, Milky Way, or Butterfinger. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to give away at least half your candy to those you care for in the coming days. It’s a phase of your astrological cycle when you will benefit from offering extra special affection and rewards to the allies who provide you with so much love and support.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): If you’re a teacher, it’s a favorable time to enjoy a stint as a student — and vice versa. If you’re a healthcare worker trained in Western medicine, it’s an excellent phase to explore alternative healing practices. If you’re a scientist, I suggest you read some holy and outrageous poetry, and if you’re a sensitive, introverted mystic, get better informed about messy political issues. In other words, dear Aquarius, open a channel to parts of reality you normally ignore or neglect. Fill in the gaps in your education. Seek out surprise and awakening.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Jane Brunette, a writer I admire, uses the made-up work “plurk” to refer to her favorite activity: a blend of play and work. I have always aspired to make that my core approach, too. I play at my work and work at my play. As much as possible, I have fun while I’m doing the labor-intensive tasks that earn me a living and fulfill my creative urges. And I invoke a disciplined, diligent attitude as I pursue the tasks and projects that bring me pleasure and amusement. I highly recommend
MARKETPLACE
ESTATE & RENTALS |
Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 advertise@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember the Russian proverb: “Doveryai, no proveryai,” trust but verify. When answering classified ads, always err on the side of caution. Especially beware of any party asking you to give them financial or identification information. The Mountain Xpress cannot be responsible for ensuring that each advertising client is legitimate. Please report scams to advertise@mountainx.com
EMPLOYMENT
GENERAL
CHURCH MUSICIAN St. Luke's Episcopal Church seeks applicants for Parish Musician to begin September 1. Organists and pianists are encouraged to apply. Review the full job description at https://www.stlukesavl. org/staff
FIELD INSTRUCTOR WITH MOMENTUM YOUNG ADULT Momentum is hiring mentors to help facilitate their campus-based adventure therapy program for young adults ages 18-25! Learn more at growatmomentum.com/ employment
UNITED WAY IS HIRING FOR A COMMUNITY SCHOOL COORDINATOR AT ASHEVILLE HIGH/SILSA If you love building and maintaining relationships, organizing and collaborating with various groups, and know how to “get things done,” we want to hear from you! Full job description: unitedwayabc.org/employment-opportunities. Deadline to apply is 8/5/24.
UNITED WAY SEEKS A DIRECTOR OF MAJOR GIFTS If you're an effective communicator and relationship builder passionate about equity-centered philanthropy and have a proven track record of driving major gift support for a nonprofit organization,
we want to hear from you! View the full job description at unitedwayabc.org/ employment-opportunities Deadline to apply is 8/5/24.
XCHANGE
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
JAMES MARTIN PLATFORM SERIES 36 Beautifully modern, brushed brass bathroom vanity mirror by James Martin designs. New in box. Retails for $750. Two available. $375 each. 954.868.4642
YARD SALES
PALLET CONTENTS SALE 73 Sloan Road Franklin NC. Fri and Sat 8-4, Sun 12-3.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Donate it to Patriotic Hearts. Fast free pick up. All 50 States. Patriotic Hearts’ programs help veterans find work or start their own business. Call 24/7: 1-855-402-7631. (AAN CAN)
NAME CHANGE I, Rakesh Singh son of Surender Singh resident of 936 Carmelita Ave Clovis California changed my name from Rakesh to Rakesh Singh for all future references.
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WATER DAMAGE CLEANUP & RESTORATION A small amount of water can lead to major damage and mold growth in your home. We do complete repairs to protect your family and your home's value! For a free estimate, call 24/7: 1-888-290-2264. (AAN CAN)
YOU MAY QUALIFY For disability benefits if you have are between 52-63 years old and under a doctor’s care for a health condition that prevents you from working for a year or more. Call now! 1-877-2476750. (AAN CAN)
1 Pop corn?
8 Home planet of a classic TV alien
11 ___ Ren of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
15 Brainstormer’s graphic
16 Stooge with the catchphrase “Oh, a wise guy, eh?”
17 Lighting tubeful
18 Cranky
19 Balderdash
21 Pop quizzes?
23 “Yesterday, I ___ a clock. It was very timeconsuming!” (example of a 1-Across)
25 Set upon en masse
26 Edge of a path
27 Planning to, informally
30 The U.S. is its southernmost member
32 Appreciated, as a joke
33 Nonfiction films with an editorial viewpoint, in a New York Times series
35 Attending to pressing matters?
39 Pop song?
42 Minor bump against another car
44 Long Islander of literature
48 Old French coin
49 Small scratch
52 “___ et Blanche” (Man Ray’s study in contrast)
53 Misbehaves
57 LX ÷ XX
59 There and back, perhaps
60 Pop wisdom?
64 How contest winners might be chosen
65 Opening
68 More than theoretical
69 “I won’t list them all”: Abbr.
70 Obstacle to change
71 Poem about pastoral life
72 Major employer in Maryland whose employee count is classified, for short 73 Pop art? DOWN
1 Crudité go-with
2 Drink suffix
3 One side of a pool
4 Island on which the Dutch introduced coffee in the 1600s
5 Elide
6 Casey of radio countdowns
7 “Sleepless in Seattle” director
8 All: Prefix
9 Demos for democracy, e.g. 10 Distance running powerhouse 11 They’re often held in the fetal position 12 Symbol on the Nikkei 225 13 Subject of a worried pet owner’s posting
