Mountain Xpress 08.23.23

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Should APD’s drones monitor public gatherings?

[Regarding “Look Up: How Are Drones Changing the Way Local Departments Operate?” Aug. 9, Xpress:]

One has to be careful when reporting on police department statements and simply taking their word. Across the U.S. and here in Asheville, local police departments have a history of misleading the public to suit their own narrative.

A good example of misleading communication is being used here by the Asheville Police Department: APD chooses to provide an example where its officers assessed an assault suspect, but they conveniently forget to mention that they’re also surveying what seems to be any political gathering that happens in downtown Asheville, regardless of size.

When I was at the Rally for Reproductive Justice and Bodily Autonomy, there was one of their large drones flying overhead. When I was at the May Day Rally, there was one of their large drones flying overhead. When I was at a gathering of about 20 people discussing the force and neck-pinning used against Devon Whitmire? Drone overhead. When the city and county teachers associations gathered to demand higher pay? Drone overhead. In my experience, it’s usually from a healthy distance where it can be hard to hear or spot.

In the article, APD Capt. Brandon Moore states that APD policy isn’t “designed to ... just throw things in the air to do surveillance on the

unknowing public,” but that seems like exactly what they’re doing by surveilling any given public gathering — including, per the article, the city’s Fourth of July festivities.

APD’s drone policy says nothing of notifying the public about drone usage. The only explicit guardrails in the section on Deployments (514.4) are around physical safety and intentional recording of private spaces. It ultimately states, “In all cases, the UAS Program Coordinator and/or UAS operators have ultimate discretion in determining when it is safe and lawful to fly a UAS.”

In terms of Jay Stanley of the ACLU’s concern that we don’t “sleep-

walk into a world of widespread aerial surveillance,” we’re already there.

— David Pudlo Asheville

Editor’s note: Xpress contacted the Asheville Police Department with the writer’s points and received the following response from spokesperson Samantha Booth: “The Asheville Police Department utilizes unmanned aircraft systems to enhance the department’s mission of protecting lives and property when other means and resources are not available or are less effective. The department adheres to clear guidelines and regulations established by departmental policy and Federal Aviation Administration guidelines to ensure departmental drones are being used lawfully and appropriately. Any use of a UAS will be in strict accordance with constitutional and privacy rights and FAA regulations.”

Arguments falter in gender, abortion letters

From where are your dramatic letter writers getting their misinformation? NPR or rumor or inadequate news coverage?

One commenter, Penelope Stephens, complains about mistreatment by “right-wing politicians” [“The Right to Be Free, Happy and Transgender,” Aug. 2, Xpress]. Offering no proof of legislation, is the writer referring to House Bill 574 protecting women’s and girls’ sports? Does the writer selfishly feel that a tiny minority’s rights to participate in women’s sports should infringe on the rights and protection of the vast majority of females? Is the writer referring to House Bill 808/Senate Bill 639, which prohibits gender transi-

tion procedures for minors? How are these “erasing” trans folks?

And reader Mena Kates speaks of “forced pregnancy” but offers no law or fact to back up those words [“The Consequences of Forced Pregnancy,” Aug. 2, Xpress]. What state law is the writer referring to? Not one law forces a girl or woman to have a baby. Perhaps the writer needs to read N.C. Senate Bill 20, which allows for abortions up to three months. How is this “forced pregnancy”?

— Janet Burhoe-Jones Swannanoa

Bad drivers create traffic hazards in Swannanoa

Even before school opened, we were already having traffic problems in the Swannanoa area. When school starts, the traffic and ignorance of the parents are horrible. They cut other vehicles off first and do not pay any attention to the yield signs.

My ex-neighbor worked at the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove and was past the entrance of Asheville Christian Academy, and a woman tried to cut off the next car on Riverwood Road and rear-ended my neighbor’s car almost to back of the front seat. Luckily, no one was hurt.

The yield sign on U.S. 70 at the traffic light that turns to the entrance toward the school states: Yield to turning traffic.

They will cut you off driving because they are important and might save two seconds of their precious time. It gets worse as the years go on.

The drivers have no concept of what yield or speed limit signs are. The county needs to address this issue or even have an unmarked sheriff’s car keep watch at the yield sign/traffic light on U.S. 70, plus the entrance road to the school.

I’m afraid that something bad is going to happen in this area, and soon.

— Leonard Nickerson Swannanoa

Kudos to the road crews

The hardworking men and women repaving Charlotte Highway are doing a wonderful job. It is such a pleasure to drive to and from home now. I shouldn’t be at all surprised; I’m fairly certain these are the same people who also repaved the Blue Ridge Parkway.

While the rest of us have the luxury of sleeping when it’s dark, these workers are up all night providing safe, smooth roads for us. Thank you to each and every one of them.

— Lauri Bailey Asheville

CARTOON BY RANDY MOLTON

Moral dilemma

West Asheville struggles with the impacts of homelessness

BY JESSICA WAKEMAN

jwakeman@mountainx.com

You could say they’re compassionate but fed up.

On the afternoon of July 21, Athena Kaskey and Liza Kelly sat on a front porch in West Asheville and described the trash, feces, syringe litter, thefts and trespassing their respective families have dealt with in recent years.

Both women, who are next-door neighbors, moved to their neighborhood in 2015. Before COVID-19, they say, the homeless people in the area were familiar faces. But more recently, that’s been less true — and some of the people they see on the street are acting aggressively. Kelly says she’s been chased, and Kaskey says someone threw a rock at her.

There are no public bathroom facilities in West Asheville, and

Kaskey describes a recent smell outside as “horrific.” Kelly echoed that concern: “It was really bad yesterday with all the rain. I was out in the driveway, and it smelled like a porta-potty minus the chemicals.”

Meanwhile, drug use in the area is “off the charts,” Kaskey maintains. She says she regularly collects used needles from her yard, and she remembers picking up 10 in a single day.

The two neighbors say they’ve repeatedly contacted the Police Department about the drug use, trespassing and property damage. Kaskey recalls the time several strangers ripped branches off her maple trees. Her son called her to his bedroom window and said, “There’s this guy with his shirt off swinging a 6-foot branch in our yard!” She says she informed the man that children live in her home and he “was kind enough to move on.”

Kelly says she’s filed service requests in every single category on the Asheville App, which the city encourages residents to use to report a wide variety of concerns. In 2022 alone, she reported issues ranging from needle litter to someone cursing at her in front of her children. And while Kelly says city representatives did respond “in a timely manner,” the problems persist.

FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES

That same afternoon, the police were summoned to Trinity United Methodist Church, which sits nearby. APD spokesperson Samantha Booth says a neighbor called to report a suspicious person who appeared to be trespassing on Trinity’s property, but the officers weren’t able to locate the person. The same thing happened the next day. Police returned a third time on July 23, found two people on church property and warned them about trespassing.

Since 2022, the church has had a “no trespassing” letter on file with the APD covering the hours from dusk to dawn. Normally, that would enable responding officers to issue a citation or arrest the trespasser. But because church staff members “have verbally allowed certain people permission to be there,” and the APD doesn’t have a written list of people

WILD WEST: “We’re kind of on our own,” says Jamie Howton, co-owner of Local 604 Bottle Shop on Haywood Road, about neighborhood businesses. He has called Asheville Police Department for assistance but says resources seem stretched too thin for officers to respond.

allowed on the property, it’s hard to enforce the letter, Booth explains, adding that this scenario has played out at the church “a slew of times.”

Trinity staff members have a somewhat different perspective, however. “The land at 587 Haywood Road is Sanctuary for all God’s children,” the Rev. Nancy Dixon Walton and Dustin Mailman, the pastor of family ministries and missions, wrote in a recent email to Xpress. They also noted that according to the 1847 deed, the property was donated “for the benefit of the neighborhood.”

A DIFFICULT BALANCE

Since mid-June, people haven’t been allowed on the church property. Trinity had previously allowed “everyone a place on the front side of the property, facing Haywood Road, to rest in the shade, reorganize their backpacks and/or spend a few moments of quiet” during daytime hours, the pastors’ email explains. The pair stress that they welcome service providers such as Buncombe County’s community paramedics and offer pastoral care to anyone who seeks it.

But the church has now asked people to stay off the property “due to an increased amount of vandalism and presence of trash,” the email notes, making the “no trespassing” letter enforceable at all hours. The pastors

note that they communicate with the police regularly, and “They said they would offer an increased presence.”

When asked about the three consecutive police visits, both pastors said they weren’t aware of any incidents on the property or of any church representative asking for assistance.

The pastors acknowledge that they often face frustrated visitors and neighbors, but they believe that their spiritual mission transcends those concerns. “We are called to offer a moral consciousness to the challenges of our community. We feel called to stand in this tension of caring for our housed and unhoused neighbors.” Instead, their goals are to “make sure we do no harm to any guest within Sanctuary, we are doing good, and that our relationship with God is alive and loving.”

SERVING FOLKS IN NEED

On Tuesday afternoons, The Steady Collective, which is registered with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, parks its vehicle at 610 Haywood Road. Since 2016, state law has allowed such programs to distribute sterile syringes to any member of the community, to safely dispose of used syringes, to provide naloxone (an overdose reversal drug) to anyone who asks for it and to offer referrals to facilities providing mental health and addiction treatment.

Photo by Jessica Wakeman

Some neighbors and business owners maintain that distributing free syringes brings people who use drugs to the neighborhood, resulting in more discarded needles. In an emailed response, Steady Collective members wrote, “Harm reduction is still a very polarized issue, so often the loudest voices we hear are those that are upset about the work that we do.” However, they underscore their own commitment to ensuring clients’ health and safety by providing needed services.

“Fear of police interaction by people who use drugs and participate in syringe exchange programs can lead to lower rates of used-syringe return and thus increased needle litter,” Steady Collective members wrote in an emailed statement. “It can also lead to less engagement with safer-use services in general, which can lead to higher rates of blood-borne pathogens and disruptions of housing and job security due to detainment.”

Pointing out that any community member, including businesses, can schedule pickups of any amount of needle litter, the statement added, “We also care about the greater communities that we operate in and are receptive to constructive feedback.”

HARSH WORDS AND LIMITED RESOURCES

From his business, Local 604 Bottle Shop on Haywood Road, Jamie Howton has a front-row seat to the problems in the area. In the course of a roughly half-hour interview in his shop on a recent Wednesday afternoon, this reporter saw three people standing on Balm Grove Avenue lift up their shirts and inject one another in the back with orange needles.

Like the business’s residential neighbors, Howton says he regularly picks up needle litter. He also calls the APD for assistance when he sees people trespassing, often in connection with drug use, but he doesn’t always get a response. “I don’t think they have the resources,” says Howton, adding, “We’re kind of on our own.”

That means Howton sometimes has to tell people who are using drugs in his doorway or behind his shop to leave. “It’s always an aggressive exchange,” he says, describing the cavalcade of F-bombs he hears in those situations.

Howton has found one strategy that works, though. “All I have to do is say, ‘Hey, you’re on video right here.’ And even if they talk s---, telling me to f--- off, they leave because they don’t want to be on video.”

He clearly sees a need for more services in the neighborhood, however.

“We need 24-hour public bathrooms,” Howton declares. “We need a water fountain so people can fill up their water bottles. Those are the things that would benefit the homeless a lot. And they hopefully benefit me, too, because they would have a bathroom to go into instead of go into the doorway.”

NO EASY ANSWERS

These problems aren’t limited to West Asheville. On Aug. 10, five elected officials — Mayor Esther Manheimer, Vice Mayor Sandra Kilgore and City Council members Sheneika Smith, Sage Turner and Maggie Ullman — released a public letter spelling out a multipronged approach to addressing concerns about public safety and related issues. Five days later, Council member Kim Roney responded with her own public letter detailing a somewhat different vision of how the city should proceed.

The Aug. 10 letter also referenced a 60-day downtown safety initiative that was rolled out in late April. It included a more visible police presence, sanitation services in parks, improved street lighting and security cameras in parking garages. Another component, the Fire Department’s community responder pilot program, sent firefighters to talk with business owners and people on the street, and to refer those who were homeless or in crisis to the appropriate resources.

During a July 14 Downtown Commission meeting, Assistant City Manager Rachel Wood said that some

— Trinity United Methodist Church pastors The

of those services will now be ongoing. More recently, city spokesperson Kim Miller noted that services such as the community responder program are extending their reach into other neighborhoods. The program’s public portal shows most of the West Asheville responses clustered along Haywood Road, particularly around Dorchester, Balm Grove and Martin avenues.

Howton says that someone from the program did come by his shop and ask if he could identify any of the trespassers by name so that responders could speak to them about their behavior, but he says there’s only one man he recognizes.

Like their downtown counterparts, many West Asheville business owners and residents have experienced problems related to homelessness and drug use. Some feel frustrated

by seeing people sleeping in doorways, trespassing and leaving trash and used syringes behind. Others say that homeless folks and those with substance use issues aren’t being adequately served by the existing systems, and these vulnerable people need all the help they can get.

Many residents say they recognize that addiction is not a crime, yet they’re unsure where to turn for help. “This has been our moral dilemma, because we don’t think it’s fair that people get [punished] because of how bad the system is,” Kaskey explains, adding, “We just want a solution.”

While Xpress was interviewing the two neighbors, Kelly’s children frolicked in a kiddie pool, their joyful shrieks periodically interrupting the somber conversation. But as Kelly pointed out, “They’ve seen a lot more than we want them to see.”

CALLED TO CARE: Trinity United Methodist Church pastors the Rev. Nancy Dixon Walton, left, and Dustin Mailman say they “are called to offer a moral consciousness to the challenges of our community.” Photo by Jessica Wakeman

“The land at 587 Haywood Road is Sanctuary for all God’s children.”

Lonely at the top The search for UNCA’s next chancellor begins

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN

Over the past decade, the position of UNC Asheville chancellor has been somewhat of a revolving door.

After Anne Ponder’s nine-year tenure ended in 2014, Mary Grant served for two years and Nancy Cable for four. During that time, Doug Orr, Joseph Urgo and now Kimberly van Noort have stepped in as interim directors for about a year apiece. The turnover has left UNCA in a state of uncertainty as another search for a new chancellor commences. Xpress spoke with faculty and students about the impact these frequent administrative shifts have on the campus and their expectations for the next chancellor.

STUDY HALL

Cable announced her resignation as chancellor Oct. 12. Nine months later, on June 28, a 13-member search advisory committee was formed. According to Andy Wallace, director of media relations for the University of North Carolina System, the gap was largely due to an eight-month study of chancellor searches by the UNC Board of Governors Committee on Strategic Initiatives. Its research involved consulting experts across the U.S. and interviewing numerous chancellors, trustees, faculty and staff from the state’s 17 public institutions.

“That began in September 2022 and concluded with policy changes by the board in May 2023,” Wallace says. “The policy changes put the UNC System in line with other public university systems across the country.”

With the new procedures in place, UNC System President Peter Hans and UNCA board of trustees interim Chair Roger Aiken announced the formation of the search committees. In line with the new UNC policy, the committee is composed of up to 13 voting members, among them representatives of the trustees, faculty, staff, students and alumni. The policy also calls for a current or former chancellor of a UNC campus, the president and representatives of the UNC Board of Governors to be on the committee.

Dee Eggers , chair of the Environmental Studies Department and the Faculty Senate, is the lone

faculty member on the search committee. The 2017 committee had 22 members, including five faculty members.

“In spring, I heard faculty express concern about a new chancellor being installed that we did not choose,” Eggers says. “That was the concern that I heard most often.”

Aiken, chair of the search advisory committee, says the panel will deliver an unranked list of three candidates by mid-October to the UNCA board of trustees. If the trustees approve the list, it is then sent to Hans.

“At that particular point, Peter will talk to or select or whatever he needs to do in order to make his choice,” Aiken says. “It’s his choice to pick the next chancellor of UNC Asheville, and then he presents his choice to the UNC Board of Governors for ratification.”

NATIONWIDE TREND

That person will encounter numerous challenges from the start. Enrollment at the campus is down nearly 24%, from 3,600 students in fall 2019 to 2,914 in fall 2022. At the same time, due to various factors, including difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the average tenure of a college president has shrunk nationwide to 5.9 years,

according to a recent survey by the American Council on Education. Those figures are down from 6.5 years in 2016 and 8.5 years in 2006.

“It’s a tough job. It’s a 24/7 job. [Before] you could take summers off, or summers would reduce stress. That’s not the case anymore,” Aiken says. “Ann Ponder was at UNCA for nine years. That’s a wonderful tenure. I hope we get that with our next chancellor but if we do, we’re bucking a nationwide trend.”

Aiken adds that it’s necessary to have a support system in place so that the next chancellor “does not have to be all things to all people.” He views that pressure relief as the shared responsibility of the board of trustees and the UNC System as a whole, and is encouraged by local community advocacy for the university and what he calls UNCA’s “tremendous faculty and staff.”

The search committee arranged listening sessions with staff, students, faculty and community members in mid-August to learn what attributes they wanted in the next chancellor. From those discussions, the committee will draft a leadership statement to spotlight the skills and qualities that the next chancellor needs to have. If all goes according to plan, that person will begin work in January, but Aiken notes that the process could take longer.

VISION QUEST: UNC Asheville board of trustees interim Chair Roger Aiken, left, and Faculty Senate Chair Dee Eggers are among the 13 members on the UNCA chancellor search advisory committee. Photos courtesy of UNCA

“The most important thing to me is not the timeline as much as it is finding the right person — that trumps everything,” he says. “If we don’t feel good by the end of the timeline, we’ll do whatever’s necessary in order to get the right person.”

FEELING STUCK

Outside of those listening sessions, direct involvement from those most affected by the new chancellor is minimal. Jonathan Brown, assistant professor of economics, considers it “an unfortunate choice to limit faculty voices in regards to the room where the choice will ultimately be made,” adding that “faculty input is being deprioritized across higher education.” With several staff and faculty positions still unfilled, he hopes the incoming chancellor is aggressive about hiring and prioritizes enrollment numbers despite challenges from a tight budget.

“From an academic perspective, fewer students means less diversity demographically, less diversity of thought, smaller classes — which can be great, but if the classes are too small, then you’re not getting that variety of perspectives in the classroom,” Brown says. “If we can get enrollment up, yes, it’ll help the budget. But it’ll also help us as professors teach better classes. You don’t want to be up there in a vacuum, talking to nine students who all already have the same preconceived notions on something.”

To those ends, Brown also would like to see UNCA admit more out-ofstate students. In-state enrollment has hovered just below 90%, with spring 2023 enrollment figures reporting 88.6% of the student body as in-state. Though Brown loves that so many North Carolina residents attend UNCA, he believes it would benefit the campus to be more aggressive about recruiting students from different areas to attract different perspectives.

“I hope that a chancellor that comes in can balance that importance of serving the local community with also trying to make UNCA richer academically by pursuing a variety of students,” Brown says.

Even with these obstacles, Eggers says most faculty are “definitely happy to come to work every day and do a great job.” In her capacity as Faculty Senate chair, she’s heard varying degrees of concern about the recent chancellor turnover and, like Aiken, believes that the “very competent faculty and staff” have allowed the university to weather multiple administrations.

But as Brown notes, the “state of flux” can prove frustrating and has made it difficult to get things accomplished. While he feels that UNCA is very clear about its vision, which he says is communicated to new hires — especially in high-level administrative roles — he notes that everyone wants to realize that vision differently.

“When you’re constantly having people step in that want to make new changes, even if they’re all kind of in agreement with one another, it just slows the process down. No one can get used to a management style. No one can get used to a concrete plan to move the university forward,”

Brown says. “So, I do think there’s an element of feeling stuck. And I do think the students pick up on that.”

CONSISTENCY IS KEY

Among them is Thomas Tillman, a senior English/creative writing major, who says that greater consistency at the chancellor position is imperative at a time when liberal arts institutions are under immense political scrutiny. As the president of the Black Student Association and chief of staff for the Student Government Association, he’s felt a lack of support for minority students from past administrations and hopes that the next chancellor will help these underserved undergraduates feel more welcome at UNCA.

“Funding is really important, but also events that are catered toward us and a campus that includes us and doesn’t just view us as obstacles to homogeneity — that would be really important,” Tillman says.

Tillman has been following the chancellor search closely but notes that information hasn’t been readily available for students. Sabrina Betz, a senior political science major, says she hasn’t heard much about the process but has been more focused on navigating the range of pandemic-induced hurdles that she feels have defined her UNCA days. And as a new set of students arrives on campus this fall, the effects of the global health crisis on young adults remains at the forefront of the faculty’s minds.

“There’s been a lot of research on this new crop of students nationwide. Their experience in high school was different, and because of the stress, they didn’t retain as much information on average as other students,” Eggers says. “That is a challenge, so we’re doing things to try to identify what they don’t know and how we can help them plug holes in their knowledge.”

Bands: Ashley Heath, Firecracker Jazz Band, DJ Lil Meow Meow

EDUCATIONAL EQUITY: UNCA senior Thomas Tillman hopes that the university’s next chancellor will work more closely with the campus’s minority students. Photo by Lauren Braswell

Why I support Xpress:

Fender-bender corps

Traffic investigators could help alleviate APD staffing woes

Susan

BY BROOKE RANDLE

brandle@mountainx.com

We’ve all been there: backing out of the parking space one-handed while devouring a Bojangles biscuit and hitting an incoming car.

Or singing your favorite Taylor Swift song so enthusiastically that you don’t notice the car ahead is stopped and bump into it at a low speed.

OK, maybe we haven’t all been there, but accidents do happen.

Most of the time, these and other minor collisions leave drivers unscathed and incur only minimal property damage. Still, North Carolina law requires all drivers who are involved in a car accident that causes personal injury, death or property damage to call 911 to report such incidents and wait for a police officer to arrive.

But a newly passed bill might change that. House Bill 140, which was signed into law in June after bipartisan support, will allow the city of Asheville and other municipalities to train and recruit

civilians to respond to minor traffic accidents. Before the bill’s passage, the city of Wilmington was the only municipality in the state with such a program.

Democratic state Sen. Julie Mayfield of Buncombe County says she hopes the measure will free the Asheville Police Department to allow officers to focus on more urgent calls for service.

“If you back into somebody in the Whole Foods parking lot and you call 911, you’re going to get a uniformed, armed, sworn officer, even though that’s a ridiculous place to have such a person,” says Mayfield. “The goal [is] to expand the capacity of the Asheville Police Department by removing officers from these situations and allow them to be more available for calls that require their specific training.”

SPEED BUMPS

According to APD spokesperson Samantha Booth, since 2018 roughly 10% of all calls to APD have been relat-

ed to a motor vehicle collision. Police Chief David Zack says requiring officers to respond to property damage-only incidents is often a tedious and inefficient use of the police force, especially when the department has fewer officers.

“It can be very time consuming, not only in the time that it takes to respond, but then to exchange information and file a report,” Zack explains. He noted that service calls to minor accidents can last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or longer depending on the circumstances.

“It’s a relatively simple process, but it can draw officers away from activities that would be more productive.”

Asheville’s police force has been operating at a reduced capacity after police officers began leaving the department en masse starting in 2020. Since then, Zack notes, the department has been down 35%-40% of its staff on any given day.

In 2021, APD announced that the department would stop responding

TEN AND TWO: Under the new law, civilian traffic investigators would respond to minor traffic accidents but would not be equipped with a weapon of any kind or have the authority to arrest or conduct a criminal process. Photo by iStock

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to certain calls for service, including some types of theft, simple assaults and funeral escorts, because of the staffing shortages. In 2022, Xpress reported that APD response time, including for calls related to homicide, armed robbery or domestic violence, continued to rise in spite of that policy change.

A civilian traffic investigators program may offer the beleaguered department a break, says Zack, though he adds that he had been considering the concept before APD began experiencing staffing challenges.

“What we’re talking about is freeing up officers to handle more serious matters or to do more proactive work,” he explains. “If there’s a faster, more efficient way to respond to these types of incidents, that’s what we want to explore.”

FOLLOWING THE BLUEPRINT

Since 2007, the Wilmington Police Department’s traffic investigators division, made up of six trained civilian investigators, have responded to more than 1,500 crashes each year.

Asheville’s initiative would be modeled after Wilmington’s, says Mayfield. The legislation requires investigators to attend a training program designed by the Asheville Police Department in conjunction with the N.C. Justice Academy.

Investigators will complete at least four weeks of field training with a member of law enforcement experienced in responding to traffic investigations. The investigator positions would be paid, though a budget for the program has yet to be fleshed out.

House Bill 140 does not give investigators the power to issue citations to drivers. In Wilmington, if an investigator responds to a traffic accident that requires a citation, officers must be dispatched to the scene.

Under the new law, the investigators will be issued a uniform “substantially different” from sworn APD officers and will not be equipped with a weapon of any kind or have the authority to arrest or conduct a criminal process. Any vehicles issued to or used by an investigator will not bear markings or symbols that identify them as police vehicles. The vehicle may have emergency equipment and lights installed but will not use blue lights in any manner or form. Red and amber lights are permitted.

“They would get trained just like police officers do on responding to crashes,” Mayfield says. “I would think you would also want to train them on deescalation and implicit bias because that’s required for officers who are interacting with the public on a regular basis.”

Zack adds that should the traffic investigators experience a dispute among the drivers or other safety issues, officers will be called to the scene.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel, but we will be sitting and working closely with [the city of Wilmington] to discuss their experiences and what problems they encountered so hopefully, we don’t have problems rolling out our own program,” he explains.

OVER THE FINISH LINE

Mayfield has introduced or co-sponsored similar bills since being elected to office in 2020 but those initiatives didn’t gain partisan support needed for approval. Mayfield attributes that lack of support to Asheville’s politics and national sentiments around policing over the last few years.

“My understanding — and nobody explicitly said this to me, but I just kind of picked it up — is that two years ago, we were way too close to the ‘defund the police’ movement. And for a lot of Republicans, [this initiative] sure looked like defunding the police, even though it’s not,” Mayfield explains.

But in light of police forces around the state facing officer shortages, those attitudes may be shifting. During this year’s session, six bills aimed at expanding civilian investigator programs or giving municipalities across the state the power to create such initiatives were introduced.

“I think at that point people have started to say, ‘This isn’t just Asheville. This is actually being responsive to a serious problem that all of these municipalities are having,’” Mayfield says.

APD spokesperson Booth notes that even with the passage of the legislation, the process of creating a civilian investigators program in Asheville will take time as standards and training for the new positions are developed. How a traffic investigators program could impact APD’s budget or the department’s next steps haven’t been determined.

“This is not a fast-moving process,” she adds. “Unfortunately, we just do not have those [details] at the moment.”

Even though those details need to be hammered out, Mayfield says the passage of the bill will benefit the city in years to come.

“This was the best possible outcome, and we got it once several Republicans got behind it and pushed it through,” she adds. “[This is] good news not just for Asheville, but every city [in North Carolina].” X

Conservation groups prepare for lawsuit over Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan

The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of MountainTrue, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity, sent a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue to the U.S. Forest Service in relation to its Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan. According to SELC, the proposed plan violates the Endangered Species Act and puts endangered forest bats at risk. The U.S Forest Service previously released a 419-page document responding to objections; however, opponents argued that the document knowingly withheld information.

At its most basic level, the NantahalaPisgah Forest Plan outlines where activities like logging and road building are prioritized and restricted. The plan, initially published in February, states that the use of sustainable practices to maintain environmental stability was of the highest priority during its development. However, the conservation groups argue that the plan does the opposite.

“The Forest Service’s management plan for the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests is deeply flawed. The Forest Service put commercial logging first, ignored the best science available and is needlessly putting endangered species at risk of extinction,” said Josh Kelly, public lands field biologist for MountainTrue, in a press release. “MountainTrue and our litigation partners are willing to go to court to win a plan that we can all be proud of.”

The Notice of Intent to Sue alleges the Forest Service had information showing increased risks to endangered species but withheld that infor-

mation from the Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees endangered species protection. As of publication time, the U.S. Forest Service has not responded to the notice or requests for comment. The agency has 60 days from the day that the notice was issued to take action before litigation is pursued.

Clean Air Excellence Award

The Asheville-Buncombe Air Quality Agency awarded Dynamite

Roasting Co. in Black Mountain with the Clean Air Excellence Award. According to a press release from the agency, the award is given to businesses and organizations that “surpass air quality rules and regulations to adopt voluntary, innovative programs that include emissions reductions that lead to improved air quality and regional visibility.”

The company recently installed solar panel systems at its production facility in Swannanoa and coffee shop in Black Mountain. In 2022, it became the first local business to invest in an electric delivery van, furthering the goal of positive environmental stewardship. According to the release, the emissions reductions associated with the renewable energy systems and the electric delivery van equal about 102,600 pounds of greenhouse gasses, 50 pounds of nitrogen oxides and 10 pounds of sulfur dioxide and fine particles per year.

Good to Know

• For the past several weeks, toxic smoke from Canadian wildfires has spread across North America, creating potentially unsafe air conditions in several major cities, including Asheville. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

recommends that people with air sensitivity issues wear an N95 mask to help prevent smoke and ash from getting into their lungs. More information can be found at avl.mx/cwi.

• With the help of over 60 volunteers, Asheville GreenWorks was able to complete their heat mapping campaign of the greater Asheville area. GreenWorks will work with the city of Asheville to use the final heat data to target tree planting and tree canopy restoration projects to the most heat-vulnerable neighborhoods. The full analysis is slated to be released to the public in February.

• In an effort to promote environmental sustainability and reduce plastic waste, the City of Asheville has implemented a new ordinance prohibiting the use of plastic bags for brush and leaf collection. To assist with this transition, the city has provided paper yard waste bags for residents to sample. Reusable containers marked yard waste are also possible options. More information can be found at avl.mx/cwj.

• Multiple road projects are taking place along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which may lead to road closures throughout the season. Parkway officials encourage visitors to plan ahead and check the latest closure information at avl.mx/7tw.

• The WNC Nature Center recently welcomed two new coyote puppies to its facility. The pups, named Cal and Walker, are still getting acclimated to their new surroundings and will soon be on exhibit in the Predator Pavilion while the current coyote habitat undergoes renovations.

• During the week of Aug. 14, the Environmental Protection Agency continued its cleanup work at the CTS of Asheville Superfund Site, 235 Mills Gap Road. The site, which was used to manufacture electrical components for automobiles in the late ’50s, was found to be contaminated with trichloroethylene and fuel oil in 2012. After the cleanup is finished, groundwater monitoring will continue every six months in the treatment area until the EPA’s regulatory goals have been met.

• The Asheville Recyclery, a local nonprofit dedicated to recycling and repairing old bicycles, is asking for assistance in finding a new space for its operations. The agency needs about 1,000 square feet in either downtown or the River Arts District. To help, visit ashevillerecylery@ gmail.com.

RISK OF EXTINCTION: Conservation groups involved in a lawsuit over the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan argue that it puts endangered species at risk of extinction. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service

pout at Lake Julian Park, 37 Lake Julian Road in Arden, on Saturday, Sept. 9. The annual event is family friendly and designed for first-time campers. Registration is open until Thursday, Aug. 31. More information can be found at avl.mx/cwk.

• Bullington Gardens, a local nonprofit horticultural learning center and botanical garden in Hendersonville, is hosting its Fall Plantapallooza Sale from Friday-Saturday, Sept. 8-9, 9-a.m.-4 p.m. An early bird special invitation is available to all Friends of Bullington members. More information can be found at avl.mx/cwl.

• MountainTrue is hosting its fourth annual virtual fishing tournament Friday, Aug. 26, to through Monday, Sept. 4. Competitors can take a picture of any fish they catch within the allotted dates to be entered. Recognition as the “Broad’s Best Angler” will be given to the fisher who has the highest combined total length of the three biggest fish. More information can be found at avl.mx/cwm.

• The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s annual Farm Tour returns Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 23-24. All farms on the tour are

within an hour’s drive of Asheville and showcase the region’s agricultural diversity, from fruits and vegetables to livestock and fiber. More information and passes are available at avl.mx/bt9.

• The WNC Gardening Symposium, organized by the region’s Extension Master Gardeners, comes to Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock on Wednesday, Oct. 11. With the theme of “Seeds of Joy: The Evolution of Your Home Garden,” the event will feature YouTube personality Linda Vater and Craig Mauney of the Mountain Horticulture Crops Research and Extension Center. More information is available at avl.mx/bka.

• The WNC Nature Center is hosting a Junior Wild Walk zookeeper experience on Sunday, Sept. 10, 9:30 a.m.-11 a.m. Participants will meet an animal ambassador, take a peek behind the scenes and step into the shoes of the animal keepers by helping to prepare and deliver enrichment for several animals. This program is for children ages 5-12. More information can be found at avl.mx/cwo.

— Chase Davis X

Buncombe commissioners deny GE’s tax refund request

After a nearly 30-minute discussion, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted 5-1 to deny a tax refund request from General Electric Healthcare and Finance at its Aug. 15 meeting, potentially sending the issue to the courts.

Board Chair Brownie Newman voted against the denial, and Parker Sloan was absent.

GE Healthcare and Finance, a conglomerate that previously absorbed GE Capital and GE Industrial, according to its legal representative, Gilbert Laite III, requested a nearly $280,000 refund because of an administrative error by the companies in 2019.

Four years ago, both GE Capital and GE Industrial, at the time separate legal entities, paid property taxes on the same equipment after redundantly listing it on their independent forms. The mistake wasn’t discovered by the companies until a 2022 audit, leading to the refund request.

County Attorney Curt Euler recommended commissioners deny the request on the grounds that no GE company appealed its apparent listing errors after they were made and the county had legal authority to levy the tax initially based on the information provided. GE has also requested a refund of about $227,000 from the City of Asheville.

Conversely, Laite said, the same property was taxed twice, creating an improper windfall for the county.

“No one is accusing the county of doing anything wrong. The fact is that the same property was taxed twice, and payment was made. That can’t be done,” he said.

Commissioner Jasmine BeachFerrara said she didn’t think the

commission was the right body to be making the decision.

“The law isn’t exactly mute on these issues, nor is the law crystal clear on what government action [should be taken]. In the absence of that, I think what we typically do is defer to the courts to get clarity,” she said.

In voting against denial, Newman said he didn’t think it was right to keep tax money that the county now knows was based on an administrative error by GE.

“The payments were made twice by mistake. And just because it’s a big corporation, I mean, if this were some other local business, I don’t think we can treat people any differently just based on who it is,” Newman said.

GE now has three years to bring civil action against the county, if it wishes.

Affordable parking program to expand

Starting Monday, Aug. 21, qualifying downtown workers can apply for one of 50 affordable parking spots in the College Street parking deck for $40 a month.

The affordable parking program, which launched in December 2022, has seen measured success despite a slower-than-expected start at the Coxe Avenue garage, said Tim Love, Buncombe’s director of economic development and government relations, prompting its expansion.

There is a high usage rate among the 75 applicants enrolled to park in the Coxe Avenue garage, according to a staff presentation, but there are 150 total spots available in that garage, at 11 Sears Alley.

During public comment, Jen Hampton, a leader in Asheville Food and Beverage United who has been promoting the program among service industry workers, attributed the initial lower-than-expected participation in the program to its winter start date.

Hampton said if staff expanded the program now, during summer, she would have more time to promote the program, and people would be more likely to sign up.

“It’ll be pretty popular, you guys will be pretty popular; it’s a win for everybody,” she said

Staff plans to move the program to a first-come, first-served basis so those interested can immediately participate rather than wait for an application window to close. Love believes more of the initial 167 applicants may have followed through if the application process were streamlined in that way. Participants saved an average of $74 a month on parking fees in the Coxe Avenue garage in July, according to a staff analysis.

Any adult who works downtown, has a valid driver’s license and makes less than 80% of area median income — $47,600 for a one-person household — can apply for the program. A staff survey showed there’s a large cluster of downtown workers who would qualify who work near the College Street and Broadway intersection, just a couple of blocks from the College Street garage.

In other news

Commissioners unanimously approved allowance bonuses for the investigations team of Buncombe County’s Child Protective Services division, as well as incentive pay for members who recruit additional employees to help address the department’s staffing shortage.

According to a staff presentation, investigations staff will receive an extra $400 a month until fiscal year 2024-25, or when the department fills 22 of its 29 positions, whichever happens first. Currently, 11 of the department’s 29 positions are filled, said Sharon Burke, Buncombe’s human resources director.

Additionally, commissioners approved up to $750 in recruitment incentives for current employees if their recruits stay for a year, Burke said.

— Greg Parlier

STATE YOUR CASE: Buncombe County Attorney Curt Euler makes the case that county commissioners should deny a tax refund to General Electric Healthcare and Finance, represented by Gilbert Laite III, left. Photo by Greg Parlier

Now available on Apple Store & Google Play for Apple and Android smartphones.

New Asheville City Schools superintendent outlines priorities

About a month after beginning her tenure as the latest superintendent of Asheville City Schools, Maggie Fehrman outlined her promises to the Asheville City Board of Education on Aug. 14.

Amid meetings with principals, administrative staff, board members and various ACS stakeholders over her first month on the job, Fehrman developed a three-pronged promise to “help focus and bring people together” in the upcoming school year.

At the top of her list is to create a sense of belonging for students and staff.

“For me, it’s really important to honor the inherent dignity and the humanness of each person in our district,” she said. “When you feel like you belong, and you’re part of something, you really want to be invested. And that’s what we want to create here in our school system.”

Her second focus involves creating “challenging, meaningful and culturally relevant” grade-level curriculum for students every day.

“We have all the natural resources that we need to do amazing things as a school system; we just need that focus, we need that accountability piece. And we’ve got to focus on what’s most important, which is our students,” she said.

Finally, Fehrman stressed the need to “make every second count” by creating rituals so every student knows what to expect when they enter the classroom.

“We will provide each student a welcoming learning environment with clear and consistent procedures to maximize learning time,” she noted in her presentation.

She said she plans to stress these approaches in district communications, including on social media, highlighting examples of these promises playing out throughout the year.

Board Chair George Sieburg said the reception to Fehrman has been positive thus far.

“I’ve heard from plenty of folks within the community, in our schools and our staff. The energy that you brought in this first month that you’ve been with us is a breath of fresh air for us, and I’m really grateful for your

immediate dedication to the health of our staff, our students and our well-being in this district,” he said.

Fehrman is the district’s first permanent superintendent since Gene Freeman abruptly retired in June 2022, five months before his previously announced November retirement. James Causby served as interim superintendent until ACS hired Rick Cruz in May after a four-month search. However, Cruz withdrew for personal reasons on June 6, leaving the board to ask its second choice,

Fehrman. Fehrman has a four-year contract that pays $215,000 per year.

In other news

The Mountain Area Health Education Center’s School Health Program released its annual direction on when parents should keep their children home from school in case of any illness, from chickenpox to COVID-19.

April Dockery, ACS’ executive director of operations, outlined the updated guidance for positive COVID-19 tests.

Students and staff should stay home until it has been at least five days after the first day of symptoms and at least 24 hours since the person had a fever without using any fever-reducing medications. Students and staff should wear masks for 10 days after the first day of symptoms or until they take two consecutive negative tests at least 48 hours apart, according to MAHEC’s recommendation.

“Staying home when you’re sick is critical to everyone’s health in our school community,” Dockery said.

Board member James Carter asked Dockery to make the protocol easier to find on ACS’ website because he is concerned about increased COVID-19 transmissions in Buncombe County.

“Right now, we are seeing explosions of COVID all over the place. And we know that this is going to be a very interesting start to the school year,” he said.

The first day of school for students is Monday, Aug. 28.

— Greg Parlier  X

FITTING SEAT: Board Chair George Sieburg, third from left, said he has heard positive reviews throughout the district about the first month on the job of new Superintendent Maggie Fehrman, seen here, center, in her first board meeting Aug. 14. Photo by Greg Parlier

NEW BOSS: Superintendent Maggie Fehrman, second from right, is sworn in as Asheville City Schools’ fifth hired superintendent in the last 10 years at the Asheville City Board of Education’s Aug. 14 meeting. Photo by Greg Parlier

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

 More info, page 30

 More info, page 32-33

WELLNESS

Tai Chi for Balance

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

WE (8/23, 30), 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Free Zumba Gold Fitness program that involves cardio and Latin-inspired dance. Free, but donations for the instructor are appreciated. For more information please call (828) 350-2058.

WE (8/23, 30), 12pm, Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Tai Chi Fan

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

WE (8/23, 30), 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 (8/24, 31), 9:30am, TU (8/29), 10:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon, Ste 109

Tai Chi for Beginners

A class for anyone interested in Tai Chi and building balance as well as body awareness.

TH (8/24, 31), 11:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon, Ste 109

Beginner Full Body Workout

Free workout for those looking to jump start their fitness. Drop-ins welcome, but advance registration helps with planning.

TH (8/24), 6pm, Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St Dharma & Discuss People coming together in friendship to meditate, learn and discuss the Dharma. Beginners and experienced practitioners are welcome.

TH (8/24, 31), 7pm, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, 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 (8/25),TU (8/29), 9am, SA (8/26), 11am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Routines for Healthful Sleep

Sleep is essential to living a healthy life. Learn easy ways to achieve the best night’s sleep.

FR (8/25), 10am, Black Mountain Library, Black Mountain

Free Yoga

Yoga session hosted outdoors.

FR (8/25), 5pm,Rabbit

Rabbit, 75 Coxe Ave

Therapeutic Slow Flow Yoga

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

SA (8/26), 10am, Mount Inspiration Apparel, 444 Haywood Rd, Ste 103

Magnetic Minds:

Depression & Bipolar Support Group

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

SA (8/26), 2pm, 1316

Ste C Parkwood Rd

Yoga in the Park

Each class is unique. All-levels welcomed, but bring your own props and mat. Pre-register at avl.mx/9n6

SA (8/26), SU (8/27), 11am, 220 Amboy Rd

Wild Souls Authentic Movement Class

A conscious movement experience in a 100year old building with a community of women at all life stages.

SU (8/27), 9:30am, Dunn's Rock Community Center, 461 Connestee Rd, Brevard

CLASSIC COMEDY: Based on the film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Spamalot will begin showing at the Hart Theatre on Friday, Aug. 25, at 7:30 p.m. The irreverent musical parody tells the story of King Arthur’s quest to find the Holy Grail. Photo courtesy of HART

Walking Meditation

Reduce stress, anxiety and increase health and wellbeing. Meditation instructions provided.

SU (8/27), 10am, Walk Jones Wildlife Sanctuary, Montreat

Yoga Taco Mosa

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

SU (8/27), 10:30am, The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave

Gentle Yoga for Queer & GNC Folks

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

SU (8/27), 1:30pm, W Asheville Yoga, 602 Haywood Rd

Yoga in The Solarium

Flow through gentle Vinyasa and center yourself to the effects of sound bathing.

All experience levels welcome.

SU (8/27), 7:45pm, The Restoration Hotel Asheville, 68 Patton Ave

Summer Flow w/Jamie Knox

This class is designed to cool the body during the summer months. Class is held outside. Bring your mat.

SU (8/27), 10:30am, One World Brewing West, 520 Haywood Rd

Barre Fusion

A high energy low impact practice that shapes, sculpts, and tones the body like a dancer. No experience necessary, open to all

levels.

MO (8/28), 9:30am, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109 Metta Meditation

In-person guided meditation focused on benevolence & loving-kindness. This event is free to attend. Beginners and experienced practitioners are welcome.

MO (8/28), 7pm, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Morning Meditation

A grounding meditation experience with a silent group sit. Everyone is welcome to join the sit; however no meditation instructions are provided.

TU (8/29), 7:30am, Quietude Micro-retreat Center, 1130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Weekly Group Run No pressure run club that is open to all ages and experience levels.

TU (8/29), 6pm, Weaverville Yoga, 7 Florida Ave, Weaverville

Zumba

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

TU (8/29), 6:30pm, St. James Episcopal Church, 424 W State St, Black Mountain

ART

My Soul: Mexican Surrealism with a Japanese Heart Japanese-Mexican artist, Yui Sakamoto paints large colorful and highly

detailed dream-like works, carrying forward the rich history of Surrealism in Mexico.

Gallery open Monday through Saturday, 10am and Sunday, noon. Exhibition through Aug. 26.

Bender Gallery, 29 Biltmore Ave

Spark of the Eagle

Dancer: The Collecting Legacy of Lambert Wilson

This exhibition celebrates the legacy of Lambert Wilson, a passionate collector of contemporary Native American art. Over 140 works on view tell the story of the relationships he built and the impact that he made by dedicating himself to this remarkable collection. Gallery open Tuesday through Friday, 10am. Exhibition through Dec. 8.

WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee

Romare Bearden: Ways of Working

This exhibition highlights works on paper and explores many of Romare Bearden's most frequently used mediums including screen-printing, lithography, hand colored etching, collagraph, monotype, relief print, photomontage, and collage. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through Jan. 22, 2024. Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Transient Bodies

This exhibition will expound upon the fragmented, damaged, and repaired body to

demonstrate ideas of transience and resilience despite limitations, pain and trauma. Gallery open Monday through Friday, 9am. Exhibition through Aug. 30.

Revolve, 821 Riverside Dr, Ste 179

Geometry of Nature

This show brings together 18 glass artists to create representations of the geometry of nature and its symmetry that both thrill and mystify artists, scientists, and laymen alike.

FR (8/25), SA (8/26), SU (8/27), 10am, North Carolina Glass Center, 140 Roberts St, Ste B

The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation This exhibition explores the many identities of food in daily life: whether a source of pleasure, a reason for gathering, a mass-produced commodity, or a reflection of social ideologies and divisions. Gallery open daily, 11am, closed on Tuesday. Exhibition through Oct. 22.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

David Sheldon: We Are The Mountains

This exhibition is a celebration of the people, animals, and natural wonders of Western North Carolina. Gallery open Tuesday through Saturday, 10am. Exhibition through Aug. 26.

Mark Bettis Studio & Gallery, 123 Roberts St

Western North Carolina Glass: Selections from the Collection

A variety of techniques

and a willingness to push boundaries of the medium can be seen in this selection of works.

Gallery open daily, 11am, closed Tuesday. Exhibition through April 15, 2024.

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Public Tour: The Art of Food

A volunteer educator led tour of The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation No reservations are required.

SU (8/27), 2pm,

Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square

Rachel Meginnes: Snapshot Exhibition

A collection of deconstructed quilts and discarded textiles woven on a digital loom, utilizing images sourced from Rachel Meginnes’ surrounding environment. Gallery open Tuesday through Saturday, 11am.

Exhibition through September 9.

Tracey Morgan Gallery, 188 Coxe Ave

Opening Reception: Spark of the Eagle Dancer: The Collecting Legacy of Lambert Wilson

This exhibition celebrates the legacy of Lambert Wilson, a passionate collector of contemporary Native American art. This event will include a gallery talk by the artists along with complimentary hors d'oeuvres and drinks.

WE (8/30), 5pm, WCU Bardo Arts Center, 199 Centennial Dr, Cullowhee

Black Mountain College & Mexico Exhibition

The exhibition includes original visual works and sound installations by prominent contemporary Mexican artists alongside vintage works by BMC artists and relevant archival materials. Gallery open Monday through Saturday, 11am, closed Sunday. Exhibition through September 9. Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center, 120 College St

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. Folk Art Center, MP 382, Blue Ridge Pkwy

COMMUNITY MUSIC

Outdoor Jazz Concert Series

A live jazz series with host, pianist, and composer, Michael Jefry Stevens. This program is free to attend and no registration is required. TH (8/24), 6pm, Enka-Candler Library, 1404 Sandhill Rd, Candler

Wings & Strings: Carver & Carmody

This music series at at the Sweeten Creek

location will feature local bluegrass-style bands every Wednesday.

TH (8/24), 6:30pm, Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack S, 3749 Sweeten Creek Rd, Arden Singer Songwriter Showcase: Ken Horgan, Robert Thomas & Tim Williams

This showcase features local musicians such as Ken Horgan, Robert Thomas and Tim Williams.

TH (8/24), 8pm, Asheville Guitar Bar, 122 Riverside Dr Concert Series on the Creek: Maggie Valley Band

Free concert series for the community with Appalachian and Americana-folk group, Maggie Valley band providing the tunes this week. These events are free with donations encouraged. Everyone is welcome.

FR (8/25), 7pm, Bridge Park Gazebo, 76 Railroad Ave, Sylva

Summer Tracks

Concert: Abby Bryant & The Echoes Summer Tracks concert series in Rogers Park continues with Americana artist Abby Bryant & The Echoes.

FR (8/25), 7pm, Rogers Park, 55 W Howard St, Tryon Bluegrass Night w/ Buncombe Turnpike & Holler Choir

Hendersonville Theatre presents Asheville bluegrass favorites Buncombe Turnpike and Holler Choir as August’s intimate Hometown Sound concert. See p32

SA (8/26), 7:30pm, Hendersonville Theatre, 229 S Washington St, Hendersonville

Slow Packer & Tre. Charles

Slow packer is collaborative music project between two brothers. Tre. Charles is an alternative indie soul artist.

SA (8/26), 7:30pm, Story Parlor, 227 Haywood Rd

The Asheville Jazz Orchestra

The hardest swinging 17-piece jazz orchestra in Western North Carolina.

SA (8/26), 8pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Mark's House Jam & Beggar's Banquet

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

SU (8/27), 3pm, Asheville Guitar Bar, 122 Riverside Dr

Emerald Empire

Asheville Showcase

This showcase offers the opportunity to meet your producer,

who can answer any questions you may have about booking a band.

SU (8/27), 6pm, One World Brewing West, 520 Haywood Rd Symphony in the Park Features selections from classic movie scores by Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, James Horner and more. See p32-33

SU (8/27), 7pm, Pack Square Park

A Night of Grief & Mystery

A combination of stories and observations by author/ culture activist Stephen Jenkinson, drawn from his decades of work in palliative care, with original songs/sonics by recording artist Gregory Hoskins SU (8/27), 7:30pm, Wortham Center For The Performing Arts, 18 Biltmore Ave

Reuter Center Singers

Seasoned seniors that study and perform classical, popular, show tunes and other favorites.

MO (8/28), 6:15pm, UNC Asheville Reuter Center, 1 University Heights

Beer & Hymns

A new monthly concert series that brings the community once a month to sing hymns, drink beer or other beverages and raise money for various nonprofits.

MO (8/28), 7pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Sirens of Hominy Series

Featuring a different set of Asheville songstresses every week. Hosted by CaroMia, genres ranging from soul, R&B, pop, jazz, to country.

TU (8/29), 6pm, FBO Hominy Creek, 230 Hominy Creek Rd

Dark City Song Swap

A new concert series that focuses on talented local, regional and national songwriters who both write and sing their original compositions. This month welcomes to the stage Todd Hoke, Hannah Kaminer and Beth Lee.

WE (8/30), 7:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Rent Party

Playing popular music ranging from baroque, Broadway, jazz to Jimi Hendrix, seductive standards to roof-raising rock n roll.

TH (8/31), 7:30pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

LITERARY

Joke Writing Workshop

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

WE (8/23, 30), 6:30pm, Asheville Music Hall, 31 Patton Ave

Poetry Open Mic Hendo

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

18+ TH (8/24, 31), 7:30pm, Shakedown Lounge, 706 Seventh Ave E, Hendersonville

Poetry Reading: Sam Barbee & Michael Hettich

A joint poetry reading with North Carolina poets Sam Barbee and Michael Hettich who will share selections from their respective works.

SA (8/26), 3pm, City Lights Bookstore, 3 E Jackson St, Sylva Science Fiction Book Club

Dive into the world of science fiction, fantasy, weird fiction, speculative fiction, and literary horror with a healthy mix of underappreciated classic and contemporary books. Nathan Ballingrud will special guest this month. For more information visit avl.mx/au7.

MO (8/28), 7pm, Online

THEATER & FILM

Tranzmission Prison

Project Movie Night: Shinjuku Boys & Shakedown

A double movie feature that will benefit for Tranzmission Prison Project.

WE (8/23), 8pm, The Odd, 1045 Haywood Rd

Reasonably Priced

Babies

An improve comedy group that ask the audience for suggestions and then they make that come to technicolor life.

SA (8/26), 7pm, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W State St, Black Mountain Treasure Island

A new take on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of buccaneers and buried gold, from local playwright Honor Moor.

FR (8/25), SA (8/26), 7:30pm, Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, 92 Gay St

Monty Python's Spamalot

The Tony award winning Broadway musical that was "lovingly ripped off" of the cult classic movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Rated PG-13.

FR (8/25), SA (8/26), 7:30pm, SU (8/27), 2pm, Hart Theatre, 250 Pigeon St, Waynesville

Film: At the River

A local showing of Carolyn Crowder's feature length documentary

At The River: Struggle and Grace in the Segregated South.

SU (8/27), 3pm, White Horse Black Mountain, 105C Montreat Rd, Black Mountain Femme And? Improv Comedy Workshop

Open to all femme and non-binary identifying people and all comedy levels. Ages 18+ SU (8/27), 1:30pm, Catawba Brewing Co. S Slope, 32 Banks Ave

Blades (1989)

Free movie night.

WE (8/30), 9pm, The Odd, 1045 Haywood Rd

MEETINGS & PROGRAMS

Choosing the Correct Business Entity

The free online seminar will review the four main business entity choices and help you choose the one right for your business today, and in the future.

WE (8/23), 11:30am, Online

Beginners Aerial Silks

Learn a new skill and be part of a supportive community. All bodies are welcome. Space is limited so registration is required.

WE (8/23, 30), 4pm 5:30pm, Amethyst Realm, 244 Short Coxe Ave

Free E-Bike Rental

A free one hour bike adventure to experience Asheville’s historic River Arts District, French Broad River Greenway, local breweries, restaurants and more.

WE (8/23, 30), 10am, Ace Bikes, 342 Depot St

Homemade Health & Wellness Series w/ Ashley English

A class series focusing on homemade health and wellness items with author, teacher, and homesteader, Ashley English.

WE (8/23), 6pm, Enka-Candler Library, 1404 Sandhill Rd, Candler

Bikes ‘N Brews

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

WE (8/23, 30), 5:30pm, WNC Outdoor Collective, 110 Black Mountain Ave, Black Mountain

Swing Dance Lesson & Dance Swing dancing lesson and dance, every

Food Trucks: The Hop, El Kimchi, Melt Your Heart, The Smokin’ Onion

Bands: Ashley Heath, Firecracker Jazz Band, DJ Lil Meow Meow

Party Sept 7, 5-9pm The Meadow at Highland Brewing Free community event

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Thursday.

TH (8/24, 31), 7pm, Alley Cat Social Club, 797 Haywood Rd

Spanish Club

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

WE (8/23, 30), 6pm, Black Mountain Brewing, 131 NC-9, Black Mountain

The Learning Garden Presents: Printing w/ Leaves & Flowers

Learn how tannin and pigments in plants allow us to make amazing prints on fabric.

TH (8/24), 10am, Buncombe County Cooperative Ext Center, 49 Mount Carmel Rd, Ste 102

Butts & Boots: Line Dancing

Beginner line dance and two-step lessons, every Thursday. No partner or experience needed.

TH (8/24, 31), 6pm, Banks Ave., 32 Banks Ave

InvestHER Asheville Chapter

This second meetup will feature information about InvestHER and what to expect when you join this group and reviewing the commitment expectations.

TH (8/24), 6pm, Harmony Interiors AVL, 936 Tunnel Rd

Montford Glow Nights

Each month offers a different glow activity for children ages 6 to 12 to enjoy. This month's theme is capture the flag.

FR (8/25), 6pm, Tempie Avery Montford Community Center, 34 Pearson Ave

WNC GEMS: Generating Empowerment through Mindful Solutions

Provides direct services, promotes health education, and advocates for policy changes to address the root causes of violence.

FR (8/25), 7pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave, Change Your Palate

Cooking Demo

This free food demonstration is open to everyone but tailored towards those with type 2 diabetes or hypertension and/ or their caretakers. Our featured host is Change Your Palate's very own Shaniqua Simuel.

SA (8/26), TH (8/31), 5:30pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Ladies Sunday Cycles

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

SU (8/27), 7:30am, WNC Outdoor Collective, 110 Black Mountain Ave, Black Mountain

Blessing of the Backpacks

A time of celebration for students, teachers, and administration returning to school with some school supplies available to people in need.

SU (8/27), 10am, First Baptist Church of Black Mountain, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Weekly Sunday Scrabble Club

Tournament-style scrabble. All levels of play.

SU (8/27), 12:15pm, Stephens Lee Recreation Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

Game Day: Perspective Café

Traditional game day with board and card games as well as refreshments from the Perspective Cafe. SU (8/27), 2pm, Asheville Art Museum, 2 S Pack Square Sew Co./Rite of Passage Factory Tour

On this 30 minute micro-tour, learn about sustainable and transparent business practices and hear about production processes and client collaborations. Preregister at avl.mx/cec MO (8/28), 11am, Rite of Passage Clothing & Sew Co, 240 Clingman Ave Ext

Chess Club

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

MO (8/28), 4pm, Black Mountain Brewing, 131 NC-9, Black Mountain

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 (8/24, 31), MO (8/28), TU (8/29), 4pm, Dragon Phoenix, 51 N Merrimon Ave, Ste 109

Black Men Mondays

A local group that has stepped up in the community to advocate for and mentor students through academic intervention. Kids 7+ are welcome to join.

MO (8/28), 7pm, AmeriHealth Caritas, 216 Asheland Ave

Asheville Museum of History 2023: Cemetery Series

Tour several cemeteries and burial locations, learning about the people and the stories connected with these local sites. See p33

WE (8/30), 10am, Various Locations in Western North Carolina

Eightfold Path Study Group

A group will gather to study the Eightfold Path Program published by the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. Kris Kramer will host the group as a fellow participant and student.

WE (8/30), 3pm, Black Mountain, Honeycutt St, Black Mountain

Family Fun & Worship

Under the Oaks

A community hangout featuring cornhole, kids activities, music and a campfire. All ages are invited.

WE (8/30), 6:30pm, First Baptist Church of Black Mountain, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Sun & Shade Garden

Series: Dealing With Plants

A walk through the Sun & Shade garden to talk about why some plants won’t grow, and others have to go. Free, but registration is required.

TH (8/31), 10am, Buncombe County Cooperative Ext Center, 49 Mount Carmel Rd, Ste 102

LOCAL MARKETS

RAD Farmers Market

Providing year-round access to fresh local foods, with 25-30 vendors selling a variety of wares. Handicap parking available in the Smoky Park lot, free public parking available along Riverside Drive. Also accessible by foot, bike, or rollerblade via the Wilma Dykeman Greenway.

WE (8/23, 30), 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, fire cider, coffee, pickles, body care, eclectic handmade goodies, and garden and landscaping plants. Open year round.

WE (8/23, 30), 3pm, 60 Lake Shore Dr Weaverville

Etowah Lions Club

Farmers Market

Fresh produce, honey, sweets, flowers, plant starts and locally crafted wares. Every Wednesday through Oct. 25.

WE (8/23, 30), 3pm, Etowah Lions Club, 447 Etowah School Rd, Hendersonville

Leicester Farmers Market

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

Oct. 25.

WE (8/23, 30), 3pm, Leicester Community Center, 2979 New Leicester Hwy, Leicester

Farmer's Market

A weekly farmers market with a wide variety of fresh, local veggies, handsome oils and wines, and other vendors.

WE (8/23, 30), 5pm, The Railyard Black Mountain, 141 Richardson Ave, Black Mountain

Enka-Candler Tailgate Market

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

Every Thursday through Oct.

TH (8/24, 31), 3pm, A-B Tech Small Business Center, 1465 Sand Hill Rd, Candler

Flat Rock Farmers Market

A diverse group of local produce and fruit farmers, craft-food makers, bread bakers, wild crafters, art-crafters, and merrymakers.

Every Thursday through Oct. 26.

TH (8/24, 31), 3pm, Pinecrest ARP Church, 1790 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock

Pack Square Artisan Market

This market will showcase local handcrafted goods in the heart of downtown Asheville.

Every Friday through Oct. 27.

FR (8/25), 1pm, Pack Square Park

Saluda Tailgate Market

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

FR (8/25), 4:30pm, W Main St, Saluda

Henderson County

Tailgate Market

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

SA (8/26), 8am, 100 N King St, Hendersonville

Hendersonville

Farmers Market

A vibrant community gathering space with produce, meat, eggs, baked goods, coffee, crafts, food trucks, live music, kids' activities and more. Every Saturday through Oct. 28.

SA (8/26), 8am, 650 Maple St, Hendersonville

North Asheville

Tailgate Market

The oldest Saturday morning market in WNC, since 1980. Over 60 rotating vendors

offer fresh Appalachian grown produce, meats, cheeses and eggs - with a variety of baked goods, value added foods, and unique craft items. Weekly through Dec. 16.

SA (8/26), 8am, 300 University Heights

Asheville City Market

Local food products, including fresh produce, meat, cheese, bread, pastries, and other artisan products. Weekly through Dec. 17.

SA (8/26), 9am, 52 N Market St

Black Mountain Tailgate Market

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

SA (8/26), 9am, 130 Montreat Rd, Black Mountain

Friends of the Black Mountain Library

Vintage & Antique

Book Market

Browse a selection of vintage and antique books that have been donated to the Friends of the Black Mountain Library over the last few years.

SA (8/26), 10am, The Monte Vista Hotel, 308 W State St, Black Mountain

Swannanoa Valley Museum Antique & Collectible Market

The museum will be showcasing deaccessioned items from its extensive collection and select vendors will be selling antiques and collectibles.

SA (8/26), 10am, Monte Vista Hotel, 308 W State St, Black Mountain Makers Market

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

SA (8/26), noon, The Elephant Door Night Markets

Discover handcrafted wonders, artisanal delights and treasures at this community market with local vendors and makers.

SA (8/26), 5pm, 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.

570 Brevard Rd

Junk-O-Rama Vintage Flea Market

A bi-monthly vintage, antique and craft market.

SU (8/27), 11am, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd

Celebrate 828 Maker's Market

Over 40 Asheville makers will be on site selling a variety of goods on the brewery's lawn.

SU (8/27), noon, New Belgium Brewing Co., 21 Craven St

Monthly Artisan Market

Discover the magic of aromatherapy, skin care, plants, candles, jewelry, children's goods, honey and more.

SU (8/27), noon, The Railyard Black Mountain, 141 Richardson Ave, Black Mountain

Sunday Market

A monthly market celebrating and supporting local indie craft, design, and vintage. Browse vintage clothes, housewares, handmade jewelry, ceramics, apparel and more.

SU (8/27), noon, Rabbit Rabbit, 75 Coxe Ave

Meadow Market

Browse goods and gifts from local makers and artisans with different vendors every week, you’ll find specialty items. Shop for handmade jewelry, housewares, vintage goods, and crafts. SU (8/27), 1pm, Highland Brewing Co., 12 Old Charlotte Hwy, Ste 200

FESTIVALS & SPECIAL EVENTS

Riceville Community Yoga Celebrates 5th Anniversary

Riceville Community Yoga celebrates half a decade of dedicated service with a joyful picnic. For more information, contact egibau@gmail.com.

WE (8/23), 1:30pm, Riceville Community Center, 2251 Riceville Rd

103.3 Asheville FM Record Fair

A day filled with live music, food, collectable cds and vinyl records. SA (8/26), 10am, Harrah's Cherokee Center, 87 Haywood St East End/Valley Street

Community Heritage Festival

A family-friendly event featuring live music, vendors, food trucks, and a children's area. East End/Valley St parade starts at 10am at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Alexander Drive. See p32 SA (8/26), 10am, 50 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr

4th Annual Record Fair

Over 30 vendors this year providing 10,000 square feet of records, vinyl, 45s, CDs, collectibles and more.

SA (8/26), 11am, Harrah's Cherokee Center, 87 Haywood St

Go Topless Rally 2023

The rally is a public gathering of men and women who support a woman's right to be shirtless any where a man can be bare-chested without fear of being arrested.

SA (8/26), 11am, Pack Square Park

Summer Breeze Games

w/Asheville Sport & Social Club

A Tournament of team based skills challenges inspired by your favorite summer yard game. See p30

SA (8/26), 1pm,The Mule, 131 Sweeten Creek Rd, Ste 10

The WestVILLEminster Dog Show

A dog show benefitting Asheville Humane Society. Learn more and register your pup in one of these categories at http://avl.mx/cxp SA (8/26), 4pm, One World Brewing West, 520 Haywood Rd

Shindig on the Green

Bring a blanket, chair, dancing shoes, and family for this dose of regional music, dance and storytelling. No pets or alcohol.

SA (8/26), 7pm, Pack Square Park

Emote Talent Show

Big gay talent show and dance party. There will be a cash prize for the winner who will be voted on at the end of the show.

SA (8/26), 8pm, Different Wrld, 701 Haywood Rd, Ste 101

BENEFITS & VOLUNTEERING

SART Annual Golf Tournament

This annual golf tournament raises money for the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre. A registration form can be found on SART's website at avl.mx/cxs.

FR (8/25), 10am, Mt. Mitchell Golf Course, 11484 NC-80, Burnsville ABCCM’s Transformation Celebration Gala & Auction

The ABCCM Gala and Auction will help support its seven ministries providing food, clothing, medical care, job training and placement, transitional or permanent housing and more FR (8/25), 6:30pm, The Rock Church, 273 Monte Vista Rd, Candler

Trailblazers Disabled athletes push for more accessible trails

BY JENNIFER A. SHEFFIELD

Riding a bike in Western North Carolina is an immersive experience of flying on miles of single-track trails, cruising over creeks and under the tree canopy. Yet full access to nature is challenging for mountain bikers living with disabilities.

Aidan Morse, 28, of Hendersonville can ride an upright, two-wheeled bike on flat, paved surfaces like the Asheville Greenway. But mountain biking is difficult for Morse due to a rare neuroimmune disorder that affects his central nervous system. He doesn’t have the balance to navigate the terrain or distances he desires.

That changed one year ago, when Morse explored DuPont State Recreational Forest on a pedal-powered recumbent trike. It puts a rider in a reclining position and makes the trike easier to control. Recently, Morse traded the trike for a recumbent handcycle, which he pedals with his arms since he has no feeling in his feet. “It’s a great way to gain confidence and find paths through technical parts of a trail,” Morse says. “It also feels good to be outside and move.”

The bikes Morse propels are on loan from the Asheville chapter of Catalyst Sports, a nonprofit that sponsors monthly rides, climbs and kayak opportunities in the Southeast for people who have physical disabilities. Catalyst Sports is partnering with Ride Kanuga, a rider-built mountain bike park in Hendersonville, to host a downhill adaptive mountain bike race and skills clinic at its facility FridaySaturday, Sept. 2-4.

Last year’s inaugural race took place on Ride Kanuga’s Evergreen trail, which will be used again by this year’s racers. It’s the easiest option but still sets up riders for a challenging series of small humps and steep rounded corners.

The race will be a chance for athletes with disabilities and their volunteer support bikers to safely hit a trail together.

“If you were a racer before sustaining an injury and you wanted to race again, there needs to be an opportu-

nity for you,” says recreational therapist and Catalyst Sports founder Eric Gray.

ASSESSING CAPABILITIES

Maggie Frederick and Brad Smith are adaptive riders based near Atlanta who regularly come to Pisgah National Forest and DuPont in search of backcountry trails.

Frederick, 33, was born with spina bifida; she started climbing with Catalyst in Atlanta in 2015 and took up mountain biking in 2020. “Being in the woods is a different experience than what other sports offer,” she says. “You can’t compare it to anything else.”

Smith, 46, lived in Asheville, when 13 years ago a car sideswiped him on his bike, resulting in a T10 spinal cord injury. After rehab, he returned in 2021 when Catalyst’s Asheville chapter biking volunteer coordinator Matthew Kirby showed him around. Smith got hooked.

Adaptive riders like Smith and Frederick want a challenge while also having a lot of fun. This is the expertise of professional paraplegic athlete and consultant Jeremy P. McGhee, who has ridden Ride

Kanuga’s and DuPont’s trails as research for the disabled athletic community. McGhee’s nonprofit The UNPavement Project is dedicated to documenting how safe a trail is for everyone who rides it.

“The interests and motivations of the adaptive rider spectrum are huge,” says McGhee. Riders can range from those who want to get rowdy on a trail to those whose disabilities are so involved it takes three volunteers just to maneuver a bike around in a field.

McGhee’s assessments show a rider where support is recommended. “I ride as the average rider, based on ability, disability and equipment capability, and estimate about what 70% of riders will encounter,” he explains.

His research helps newbies like Shannon Slater , 54, of Hendersonville, who has Parkinson’s disease. She began riding three months ago, for the first time in her life, with Catalyst. Mountain biking has been a life-affirming experience. “The forest is where I rejuvenate, and it’s where I don’t

AMONG THE TREES: “It’s a great way to gain confidence and find paths through technical parts of a trail,” says Aidan Morse of Hendersonville about adaptive mountain biking. “It also feels good to be outside and move.” Photo courtesy of Jennifer Sheffield

What Would What Would You Do You Do Without Without

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

have Parkinson’s for a few hours,” Slater says.

THE E-QUESTION

Many of us are familiar with electric bikes, or e-bikes, as a more environmentally friendly mode of transport. Bikes with a throttle, electric motor and other advanced assistive technology also make maneuvering certain spaces easier for anyone, including those without disabilities. As a result, trail users of all abilities have embraced e-bikes.

The Americans with Disabilities Act states commercial facilities must allow transportation for people with disabilities who use power-driven devices. However, e-bikes are not considered to be mobility aids in the same way as power wheelchairs, and thus e-bikes are only used in places where all motor vehicle use is allowed. E-bikes fall into the same category as off-road vehicles and are presumed to make trails more dangerous for users.

E-bike access for riders who are disabled can come down to individual parks. Currently in Pisgah, trails are closed to all motorized activity. However, Gray says Catalyst athletes

on e-bikes gained access to DuPont after rangers received more education about how power-driven vehicles made the trails more accessible to adaptive riders.

Morse notes that he can’t walk or drive without an ankle brace or enjoy the outdoors without an adaptive bike. “I know [they are] polarizing, but mobility aids are freedom,” he says.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Mountain biking landscapes are another area where adaptive riders’ needs take some consideration. Preservation is a key concern of those who love the outdoors. But sometimes, it isn’t possible to make a trail more accessible to adaptive riders without alterations to the land.

The challenge for trail builders is balancing sustainability with “staying appealing to those demanding more variety from a trail,” says Jon

Lane of G5 Collective, a nonprofit that maintains trails in five Western North Carolina counties. For example, Butter Gap Trail in Transylvania County is being extended, which will give seasonal riders access yearround. But it is also being narrowed due to boggy intersections and erosion concerns, says Jared Hartman, trail coordinator for the Asheville chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association.

Water crossings can potentially be tricky for a rider seated closer to the ground who has limited strength to remove herself from a creek bed. Laying rock features into the water, rather than constructing bridges over water, can add access for adaptive riders without putting additional construction stress on the area, says Lane.

Hartman was surprised to learn how the smallest adjustment to a trail can make a big difference for adaptive riders. “We assumed we needed wider, new trails but everybody’s got different levels they are comfortable riding,” he says. Trails may only need minor tweaks, rather than full face-lifts.

SHREDDING MISCONCEPTIONS

Ride Kanuga manager Callie Horwath learned more about adaptive riding in 2021 during a mountain biking festival in Knoxville, Tenn., where Catalyst offered a clinic. Planning the upcoming race at Ride Kanuga has also expanded her thinking on the meaning of accessibility. “Catalyst has taught me subtle nuances that are overlooked for people with disabilities,

like parking, restrooms and travel,” she says.

These are issues SORBA and G5 Trail Collective consider as they build trails in the U.S. Forest Service’s ranger district. At Old Fort’s Gateway trailhead, for example, the Meadows Loop will have an accessible trail and accessible bathrooms located near a spacious parking lot.

Yet more can always be done. Lisa Jennings, recreation and trails program manager with the Pisgah Ranger District, says that e-bike and adaptive equipment policies need updating across the board. Projects like the Meadows Loop “are opportunities to make little changes, to show people that there is a need,” she says.

Meeting that need goes a long way toward making all riders feel welcome. “What is memorable about riding [in WNC] was that I felt included and seen,” says McGhee.

Horwath recalls last year’s Ride Kanuga race, where trail conditions had little visibility and it was pouring rain. “I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but the riders went up and continued their runs,” she says. “I realized they’ve faced bigger adversity in their life than riding in a storm.”

The author is a freelance journalist and current volunteer with Catalyst Sports in Asheville. X

ADVENTURE SEEKERS: Brad Smith and Maggie Frederick are adaptive riders based near Atlanta who regularly come to DuPont State Forest for mountain biking. Photo courtesy of Frederick

“The forest is where I rejuvenate, and it’s where I don’t have Parkinson’s for a few hours.”

— Shannon Slater of Hendersonville

30 years later

Asheville’s

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN

Earlier this summer, Disney published local author Megan Shepherd’s novelization of The Nightmare Before Christmas to celebrate the film’s 30-year anniversary. That Asheville has one writer with ties to Tim Burton’s classic stop-motion animated musical is special enough. But longtime fans of the movie might recall fellow local author Frank Thompson’s 1993 Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, The Art, The Vision — the official “making of” book that coincided with the movie’s release.

Xpress caught up with both Shepherd and Thompson to discuss their individual experiences in writing each book, as well as their shared appreciation for the film and why they think The Nightmare Before Christmas still resonates with audiences 30 years later.

FACING YOUR FEARS

In both her young adult and adult novels, Shepherd says she is frequently drawn to tales of fantasy and the macabre. Whether writing stories inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau (which influenced her 2013 novel, The Madman’s Daughter) or that blend the supernatural with classic horror films (this year’s Midnight Showing), a dark playfulness serves as a through line across her catalog.

So, when Disney presented Shepherd the opportunity to write the tale of Halloweentown’s “pumpkin king” Jack Skellington and his misguided

attempt to take over Santa Claus’ work in Christmastown, she was ready.

“A lot of my works are retellings of classics, so I was already familiar with researching and retooling beloved works,” she says. “Plus, I’m a lifelong fan of Disney and Tim Burton.”

Yet, a fear of stop-motion animation (which she admits sounds strange), kept Shepherd from seeing the film in theaters when it came out.

“However, a friend of mine loved it and had the soundtrack, which we listened to endlessly, and so I first fell in love with the film from its songs without ever seeing a single clip,” Shepherd says. “When I did finally see the movie (a few years later), it was like a lightbulb went off. Suddenly, all the voices fit with characters I didn’t know, and there were whole scenes and plot points I couldn’t have imagined. And, ironically, the stop motion actually enhanced the experience, since the film was supposed to be creepy.”

To prepare herself for the novelization, Shepherd rewatched the movie several times to reacquaint herself with the world of Jack, Sally and Oogie Boogie. She also visited multiple online fan groups to soak up what captivated the most die-hard viewers about the story.

Even with this firm foundation, she encountered challenges in conveying the film’s characters’ interiority, since most of these expressions occur via song. Unable to use the lyrics in the novel, Shepherd had to find other ways to express the characters’ emotional arcs beyond just the actions and words seen on screen.

“Disney wanted the text to adhere very closely to the film, so I hit it frame by frame, along with the original script, to capture every moment,” she says. “I like to think of it as The Nightmare Before Christmas bible: Fans will find every aspect that they love from the film faithfully captured in prose.”

BURTON BECKONS

Thompson’s invitation into the Nightmare Before Christmas family came about after his 1991 book, Alamo Movies, caught the attention of Michael Singer, author of Batman Returns: The Official Movie Book, which chronicled Burton’s Caped Crusader sequel. Singer was subsequently hired as a publicist for filmmaker Oliver Stone and assigned to write several books related to Stone’s movies.

“One day, out of nowhere, the phone rang. It was Tim Burton,” Thompson says of the fateful 1992 call. “He said that he had wanted Michael to write the Nightmare book but because of Michael’s new situation, he couldn’t. But Michael had said to Burton, ‘I’ll tell you who would do a great job — Frank Thompson.’”

The assignment involved covering every aspect of the film’s production that was already underway in San Francisco, as well as conducting sit-

down interviews with the film’s director, Henry Selick, Burton’s longtime producer Denise Di Novi and other key behind-the-scenes players.

“I didn’t have a great deal of information when I went to San Francisco. I had a cast and crew list and probably a synopsis of the film,” Thompson says. “My friend Howard Green, the legendary Disney publicist, accompanied me to Skellington Studios and always stayed two steps ahead of me,

arranging the next interview while I was interviewing someone else.”

Thompson had conducted previous research on stop-motion animation for a separate project, offering him insights into the process. He recalls sitting for most of one day with Angie Glocka, who was animating the scene where an excited little boy runs downstairs on Christmas morning, opens a package and finds a shrunken head. Thompson was there for hours and swears that, at

the end of the day, he could tell almost no difference between where the character had started and where he ended.

“That was a subject that I brought up with several of the animators — how do you get a ‘performance’ out of these figures when you have to move them so slowly and precisely, literally 24 times for every second of action?” he says. “Nobody could really answer me. They knew how to do it but not how to talk about it.”

Back in Los Angeles, Thompson conducted interviews with Burton, composer Danny Elfman and screenwriter Caroline Thompson, whom Frank says is no relation. And on Oct. 31, 1993, Thompson’s book was published, complete with plentiful behind-the-scenes photos and concept art sketches, as well as lyrics from Elfman’s songs.

Over the subsequent decades, Thompson remained connected to the film, hosting panel discussions at Disneyland and the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Though he didn’t get to interview any of the voice actors during production, these events allowed him to meet Catherine O’Hara (who voices Sally), Glenn Shadix (the two-face Mayor) Ken Page (Oogie Boogie) and Paul Reubens (Lock, one of Oogie Boogie’s henchmen).

HALLOWEENTOWN FOREVER

Having witnessed The Nightmare Before Christmas’ appeal close-up for so long, Thompson isn’t surprised that it remains popular today.

“There’s nothing about the film that seems tied to any particular time. New generations can be introduced to it now, and it will affect them just as strongly as it affected original audiences,” he says. “The animation is brilliant, the songs are great, the voice actors are the cream of the crop — it’s just a wonderful film.”

After mining the hearts and minds of the film’s characters, Shepherd has a different take on what keeps bringing viewers back.

“Jack’s yearning for something more is a universal feeling. It’s one reason why the film feels so fresh and relevant even 30 years later,” Shepherd says. “We’re all searching for new worlds beyond ourselves — and we all want to return home changed for the better by what we’ve learned.”

As for the cosmic symmetry that has pulled both authors to call Asheville home, Thompson calls it “a nice coincidence” and Shepherd “a stroke of luck.” But on second thought, Shepherd wonders if additional forces may have been at work.

“After all,” she says, “Asheville is so rich in both literary history and ghostly legends that it draws all kinds of creatives with wild imaginations.” X

SCREEN TO PAGE: The author of numerous macabre fantasy stories, Megan Shepherd was a natural fit to write the novelization of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Author photo by Jenni Chandler

GREETINGS: Frank Thompson’s Nightmare Before Christmas book has led to such neat opportunities over the years as meeting voice cast members Catherine O’Hara, left, and Glenn Shadix, right. Photo courtesy of Thompson

Everything at once

An artist’s journey between the business world and the creative sector

BY ARNOLD WENGROW

If you visit Layton Hower’s LinkedIn page, you’d find someone well-established in the world of business: for the past five years, he’s served as vice president of finance and operations at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce; before that, he was the chief financial officer at United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County.

But if you were to conduct a general online search, you’d soon discover Hower’s also a professional painter with over 20 years’ experience creating chromatic abstract works.

So, what answer does Hower give when asked, “What do you do?”

“I think about that all the time,” he says. “Depending on the situation, I will lead with ’I’m an artist’ as much as ‘I work at the chamber.’ They’re not in that order all the time. There’s not a hierarchy.”

A graduate of Davidson College, Hower earned his degree in fine and studio arts in 2003. Though no stranger to showing his work throughout the country, his latest exhibit, Everything Is Endlessly Vast, marks his debut in Asheville. The show will open Friday, Aug. 25, at Pink Dog Gallery in the River Arts District.

ART AND BUSINESS

“People contain multitudes,” Hower says, in discussing his professional and artistic lives. “My experience having multiple interests is pretty common, but maybe it’s expressing itself in a more pronounced way than it does with other people.”

Hower’s introduction to the business world came while he and his wife, Michele Torino, lived in New York City. For four years, he worked as an assistant to the chief financial officer at Cunningham Dance Foundation. This on-the-job training in management and accounting ultimately led Hower to his next gig, the director of finance and human resources for the Baryshnikov Arts Center.

When the couple were expecting their second child, they decided to move to Asheville “for all the familiar reasons,” says Hower: natural beau-

ty, artistic culture and to be closer to his family in Virginia.

Despite his experiences in New York, Hower believes his art training was just as valuable in preparing him for his position at the chamber.

“Learning to paint was a very rigorous activity,” he says. “It’s about planning — it’s thinking about the unlimited amount of things that could happen and then making decisions from there. Accounting doesn’t use all of the things that painting does, but it’s based on organization. It’s like project management. To me, it doesn’t seem like they’re totally different.”

AN UNEXPECTED CONNECTION

Hower’s two worlds collided in 2022, when local artist Joseph Pearson, who has a studio at Pink Dog Creative, telephoned the cham-

ber. He wanted to donate his portrait of Matthew Bacoate, a former chamber employee and an Asheville civil rights pioneer, to the organization. Pearson was directed to Hower.

“When he invited me into his office,” Pearson says, “I noticed a well-crafted painting on his wall and commented about the quality of the work.”

Hower noted the piece was an original. Impressed, Pearson asked if he was showing his work anywhere. Hower was not.

“He seemed a bit shy about putting himself out there,” Pearson says. “I totally get that.”

Pearson suggested Hower reach out to Hedy Fischer, co-owner of Pink Dog Creative. To Pearson’s delight, the two eventually connected. “Lo and behold, it was a pleasant surprise to learn that he would be showing there,” Pearson says. “The public will be in for a real treat.”

Fischer agrees. “When I looked at Layton’s sumptuous acrylic abstract paintings, I knew he would be a good choice for us,” she says.

‘ROLLICKING FOOD FIGHT’

Whereas Fischer calls Hower’s paintings “sumptuous,” Wesley Pulkka , an art critic for the Albuquerque Journal , described them as “lusciously gorgeous,” in his 2005 review of the artist’s first solo exhibit. “They are knock-down, dragout, heavy-duty, pedal-to-the-metal, knee-deep in acrylic,” Pulkka wrote. “There is no fear of paint in this artist. He applies layer upon layer of intense color until the surface looks like the aftermath of a rollicking food fight.”

For his Asheville debut, Hower chose 15 paintings created in the past five years. “The scenes we see, our routines, dusty objects at our places of work or home, all of it, is an incomprehensible mix of time, energy, feeling,” he says, in describing the show’s title.

If the “rollicking food fight” of his earlier works recall the splatters of Jackson Pollock held in place with the flowing, fragmented forms of Willem de Kooning, these recent works are more architectural. Sharp geometric shapes emerge from hotly colored tectonic plates of magma.

After laying down the geometric shapes with thin paint applied by brush, Hower then turns exclusively to palette knives, adding layer after layer of paints with varying viscosities.

“My work is all additive,” Hower says. “The layers are applied with different kinetic impact. I may use nine different kinds of palette knives with different grips. Each one gives different results.”

RIGHT BRAIN, LEFT BRAIN

In reflecting on his two careers, Hower posits: “Our culture doesn’t like complexity or ambiguity. Our culture rushes to the concept of right brain and left brain.”

As a person existing in both the creative and business worlds, he takes issue with the notion.

“That’s a caricature,” he continues. “That would only exist if you truly did not have a right brain, or you truly didn’t have a left brain.”

With his upcoming exhibit, Everything Is Endlessly Vast, audiences will see an artist with both sides of his brain working in synergy.

For more information, visit avl.mx/cwv.

ENDLESSLY VAST: Layton Hower poses in front of his painting “A Looking Stone.” The work is one of 15 pieces he’ll be showing at his upcoming exhibit, Everything Is Endlessly Vast. Photo by Michele Torino.

by Edwin Arnaudin | earnaudin@mountainx.com

Insiders assess the local art scene

Dahmit Janet is a Weavervilllebased drag performer and a member of the Beer City Sisters.

Xpress: Is there an upcoming drag event happening in Asheville that you’re looking forward to seeing?

Janet: “Alexis Drag Race: A Fundraiser for Our VOICE” on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 2 p.m. at Green Man Brewery. Asheville Drag Brunch always puts on a great show with lots of laughs and great drag. It’s a good place to see some of the best performers in town, and this show is a fundraiser for a truly great organization that helps local people. It’s on a Sunday afternoon, which makes it easy to attend for those that have a hard time making it to late-night shows.

Outside of drag, what other upcoming local arts happening intrigues you?

I’m excited about AshevilleCon on Saturday, Sept. 23, at the Holiday Inn. I love going and seeing the costumes that people make for events like these — and there’s video game competitions! If there’s any Super NES contests, then I may have a chance. Plus, the vendors at events like this always have lots of cool merch and swag. I always like events that feature a chance to get to know and interact with people.

What current project are you working on that you’re especially excited about?

We’re involved with the Blue Ridge Pride Festival coming to Pack Square on Saturday, Sept. 30, and plan to perform during the main show that afternoon/evening. The

show will feature some of the most talented performers in Asheville and will certainly be something not to be missed. In addition, the festival itself will showcase Asheville’s LGBTQ+ scene as always. The Beer City Sisters will have a booth, so come by and say hello to us, pick up a candle featuring your favorite Sister and get a glitter blessing if you would like. The Blue Ridge Pride Festival is one of my favorite days of the year — seeing the joy in all those there always makes my heart happy.

Micah Mackenzie is an Ashevillebased photographer.

Xpress: Is there an upcoming photography event happening in Asheville that you’re looking forward to seeing?

Mackenzie: I would highly recommend looking into Cat FordCoates, who works out of Atelier Unforgettable. She is killing it with The Portrait Masters and [Phoenixbased photographer] Sue Bryce. I’m a big fan of her journey.

Outside of photography, what other upcoming local arts happening intrigues you?

I’m looking forward to the LEAF Global Arts Festival, Thursday, Oct. 19-Sunday, Oct. 22, at Lake Eden in Black Mountain. It’s always a good time with friends, family and new acquaintances.

What current project are you working on that you’re especially excited about?

Hailing from Sumter, S.C., I felt a deep connection to the struggles and triumphs of my community, which drove me to embark on a transformative journey to Cuba in July. There, the rhythms of salsa seemed to echo the beats of my Southern roots, pulsating through the vibrant streets of Havana. My camera revealed faces etched with wisdom beyond their years — faces that mirrored the unbreakable strength I had witnessed back home. With each photograph, I unveiled Cuba’s enduring spirit, capturing threads of hope and determination that seemed woven into the fabric of time itself.

It was in Cuba’s stories that I discovered a striking resemblance

to the narratives of the American South — communities shaped by resilience in the face of adversity. Through my lens, I traced common threads of kinship and shared cultural identity that united these seemingly distant worlds, erasing geographical boundaries with each captured moment.

In the warm embraces of the Cuban people, I found the heartbeat of a nation refusing to bow down to challenges, much like the unwavering spirit of the Southern communities I cherished. Upon returning, I channeled my experiences into a tale I titled “Threads of Unity,” which evolved into a celebration of the human spirit’s tenacity, a tribute to the enduring power of culture and a reminder of the shared hope that unites us all.

Bands: Ashley Heath, Firecracker Jazz Band, DJ Lil Meow Meow

Dahmit Janet. Photo by Alex Benavides-Nazario

Micah Mackenzie. Photo courtesy of the artist

Julie Armbruster is an Ashevillebased painter and illustrator who works in the River Arts District.

Xpress: Is there an upcoming visual art event happening in Asheville that you’re looking forward to seeing?

I am looking forward to the opening of Lore, a group show at Revolve Gallery for the month of September. There’s an opening reception Friday, Sept. 8, 6-8 p.m., and an artist talk Wednesday, Sept. 20, same time. This is the second show in an ongoing series responding to some of the magical stories that come from Western North Carolina. This show has a special focus on the blue ghost fireflies and will include a tremendous group of female artists. It’s curated

by Jessica C. White of Heroes & Criminals Press.

Outside of visual art, what other upcoming local arts happening intrigues you?

Well, to be honest, I don’t get out too much. Between studio work and parenting, my plate is pretty full. But I would love to see local songstress Dulci Ellenberger sing. She’s so talented! I hope to see her soon.

What current project are you working on that you’re especially excited about?

I am excited about the Lore show and have a 1-by-7-foot-long panel that I’m working on. It’s so dreamy and dark! I love it. I haven’t done many night scenes, so it is a fun challenge. X

George Awad is an Asheville-based comedian, writer and actor.

Xpress: Is there an upcoming comedy event happening in Asheville that you’re looking forward to seeing?

The Splatter Play is the debut production by Asheville’s resident theater lighting master, Abby Auman. This play’s got it all: childhood homes, evil laboratories, creepy crawlies, overpriced real estate and overeager real estate agents. Sound like a certain mountain town? This comedy/horror romp will be filled with copious amounts of audience-soaking blood. Think Kill Bill but with substantially less martial arts. It opens Friday, Oct. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at The Magnetic Theatre.

What other upcoming local arts happening intrigues you?

I couldn’t be more excited to see the next installment of Enter the Garden on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. So much more than a show, Katie Leigh, Chris Evans and crew produce an unparalleled visual and audio experience featuring some of the best local and national pole and burlesque dancers. Their other two shows blew me away. Yep, I don’t think a higher level of excitement is possible!

What current project are you working on that you’re especially excited about?

Double Dip Productions, a production company I started with Paul Dixon, is co-producing Blind Date Live!, our monthly dating and comedy show, which is moving to The Grey Eagle starting Friday, Aug. 25. Real Asheville singles get to transcend dating app purgatory by having their first blind date on stage in front of an approving and/or disapproving audience. Fun! X

George Awad. Photo by Nicole McConville

Julie Armbruster. Photo by Sarah Tew Photography

What’s new in food

Asheville launches revamped Edibles Map

The Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council and local nonprofit Bountiful Cities, in conjunction with the City of Asheville, have launched the Asheville Edibles Map as an interactive, free public resource.

“We want everyone in Asheville to know that we have edible forests, community gardens, fruit and nut trees, and other edible plants growing on public land,” says Kate Justen, Bountiful Cities program director. “And that it is OK for them to eat some and leave some to share.”

Originally launched in 2018 by the ABFPC and Asheville’s Sustainability Department , the Asheville Edibles Map began as an inventory project in collaboration with UNC Asheville students and various community groups familiar with Asheville’s natural bounty. That database of edible plant locations has now been upgraded and optimized through the urban agriculture expertise of Bountiful Cities.

The relaunched map is easy to navigate online, with locations of edible perennials such as apples, black cherries and walnuts overlaying a map of the city. “This map could be a great resource for residents who are experiencing food insecurity,” says Justen. “There is also a potential health benefit for all of us, as many

people do not get their recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables.”

The relaunch highlights community contributions. For example, if someone with an apple tree in the front yard can’t keep up with the number of apples produced, they can add that tree to the map via an information form and offer apples to those in need. By encouraging local engagement, the project is poised to become more dynamic and expansive over time as neighbors share information and build a more sustainable, communal food ecosystem.

“It is really important for all of us to have access to fresh food, and we do not all have the option to grow it ourselves,” says Justen. “Working with community partners like the Office of Sustainability and supporting community-led food security projects in and around Asheville is at the heart of what Bountiful Cities does: growing food and building community.”

To explore the Asheville Edibles Map, visit avl.mx/cxh. To contribute new sites or information to the map, fill out the form at avl.mx/cxi.

Think outside the tin

Botanist & Barrel will collaborate with Fonta Flora Brewery to host an

event celebrating tinned seafood on Thursday, Aug. 24, 6-8 p.m.

“Tinned seafood is having a renaissance and deserves to be in the spotlight,” says Lyndon Smith, Botanist & Barrel partner and cellarman. “It’s healthy, convenient and sustainable, not to mention it pairs beautifully with dry ciders and wine.”

Guests can expect a three-course small-bites tasting menu that illustrates the wide spectrum of flavors achieved through quality tinned seafood. While details on the menu are being kept secret, Smith hints at one dish designed as a play on a classic seafood roll topped with potato chips and fresh herbs.

Two ciders/wines and two beers will accompany the meal, including Pocket Lunch, a Belgium-style Kolsch with coriander, elderflower and citrus brewed in collaboration between Fonta Flora and Botanist & Barrel specifically for this event. One for the Fishes, a wine/cider hybrid made from oxidized 2019 Traminette and barrel-aged cider, will also make its debut. Bottles and cans of the new beverages and tins of seafood will be available for purchase.

“I hope guests are blown away by what tinned seafood can be, have fun with the pairings, try something new and feel confident to try out some of these dishes at home for themselves,” says Amie Fields, Botanist & Barrel partner and sales director. “Who isn’t looking for a quick, delicious meal that feels luxurious and fancy but took you no time to prepare?”

Botanist & Barrel is at 32 Broadway, Suite 110. Visit avl.mx/cxc for tickets ($65 per person) and additional information.

Feel the breeze

If the silky smooth grooves of Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers and Michael McDonald are your jam, then you are in luck: Asheville Sport & Social Club and Devil’s Foot Beverage will host the Summer Breeze Games, a yacht rock-inspired event setting sail Saturday, Aug. 26, 1-5 p.m., at The Mule.

Sixteen teams of four to five players each will compete in water balloon tosses, sea legs relays, limbo and more classic summer yard games to win various prize packages, including a Navitat zipline experience and Oskar Blues Brewery tour. Competitors are encouraged to blow through the jasmine in their minds and dress as yacht rock-ridiculous as possible. Think flowy Hawaiian shirts, aviator sunglasses and topsiders. Prizes will be awarded for Best Team Name and Best Dressed to Impress.

Oskar Blues will be featured with a full tap takeover at the event, and representatives will offer beverage samples and running giveaways. Other drink options include boilermaker specials made with George Dickel Whisky and a cucumber mint vodka cocktail made with Devil’s Foot Sparkling Lemonade. Smokeshow BBQ will be serving up smoked meats and veggies all day.

EDIBLE ARRANGEMENT: Kelly Applegate of Bountiful Cities volunteers at Dr. George Washington Carver Edible Park, one of many edible plant locations featured in the updated Asheville Edibles Map. Photo courtesy Helen Lindberg

The Mule is at 131 Sweeten Creek Road, Suite 10. Admission and team registration are free. Visit avl.mx/cxd for information and registration.

The Whale makes big splash

The Whale has been recognized by USA Today as one of the top beer bars in the country.

This prestigious nomination was made possible by a panel of industry experts, including award-winning journalist Dennis Malcolm “Ale” Sharpton, American Homebrewers Association Executive Director Julia Herz and CEO of Beer Kulture Latiesha Cook, as part of the 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.

Editors from 10Best then narrowed nominees down to a list of 20 before opening a four-week voting period to readers and fans to determine a top 10. Once the dust had settled, The Whale finished sixth on the list of top 10 beer bars in the U.S.

“It’s a huge honor to even make this list, let alone join so many worldclass establishments,” says Jesse Van Note, co-owner of The Whale, in a news release announcing the recognition. “Thank you to our amazing customers for their votes. It means the world to us. Prost!”

The Whale is at 507 Haywood Road No. 10, West Asheville, and 2 Beverly Road, East Asheville. Visit avl.mx/bp0 to learn more.

New Table dressing

Chef Jacob Sessoms, a two-time James Beard Award nominee, has launched a new menu at Table with flavors to evoke the feelings of summer.

Each season dictates the makeup of Table’s ever-changing menu, with respect for the flavors of the Southeast and relationships with local farmers and purveyors. The latest offering pays homage to summer with several small plate dishes like summer squash carpaccio with hazelnuts, pecorino with premium olive oil and foraged chanterelle mushrooms with chilled corn soup, as well as larger dishes showcasing North Carolina triggerfish, whole roasted shrimp and pork schnitzel.

Table Asheville is at 18 N. Lexington Ave. Visit avl.mx/9kh for a full menu and additional information.

Posana welcomes new chef

Posana has announced David Van Tassel as the restaurant’s new chef de

cuisine. A news release introducing the new Posana chef notes that his innovative approach and passion for local, seasonal ingredients “promise to elevate Posana’s dining experience to new heights.” Van Tassel joins a team of culinary professionals at Posana, known for using unprocessed, sustainable ingredients from over 64 different local purveyors and farmers.

In addition to the new chef, Posana has introduced a Tuesday Patio Hour from 3-6 p.m. on the restaurant’s outdoor patio. This new weekly occurrence is a tribute to summer and will feature drink specials and a menu of appetizers from Van Tassel designed specifically to pair with cocktails and wine on a bright, sunny day.

Posana is at 1 Biltmore Ave. Visit avl.mx/cxj for additional information.

Food Waste Solutions Summit

Food Waste Solutions WNC has announced the registration opening for the third WNC Food Waste Solutions Summit, to be held Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center.

This summit, priced on a sliding scale, serves as a regional meeting to address mounting food waste issues in our communities, expand networks and inspire inventive solutions. The program will highlight four tracks: public policy solutions, food justice and equity, food waste and climate change, and business and funding opportunities.

Visit avl.mx/cxk for registration.

NC Apple Festival applications open

The 77th North Carolina Apple Festival is gearing up for its annual Labor Day weekend celebration in Hendersonville with the announcement of Evelyn Uhrlasse as the 2023 King Apple Parade Grand Marshal.

Uhrlasse has served on the N.C. Apple Festival’s board as recording secretary since 1999. “The Apple Festival is such a positive part of my life in Hendersonville, and I continue to be impressed and inspired by others on the board and committees that work quietly and diligently all year,” says Uhrlasse in a news release.

Parade applications are available now through Monday, Aug. 28, across several categories, including commercial and nonprofit entries. Professional floats are also available to lease.

Visit avl.mx/cxl for applications and information.

— Blake Becker  X

ARTS & CULTURE ROUNDUP

Around Town

Celebrating East End/Valley Street’s past, present and future

A parade with majorettes, stilt walkers and a marching band will kick off the 2023 East End/Valley Street Community Heritage Festival at 10 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 26. The fourth annual family-friendly event celebrates the heritage of Asheville’s oldest Black neighborhood.

This year’s theme is Heritage: Past, Present, Future. The parade will begin where Alexander Drive meets Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and will end at the festival site, Martin Luther King Jr. Park. The festival will feature live music, vendors and food trucks until 10 p.m.

The East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association created the event as a way to preserve, remember and unite the community, says Renée White, who has served as association president for 10 years. “Many Black residents were moved from the area during urban renewal, and families were no longer able to call the community home. This caused a divide in the community, and the feeling of family was lost,” she says. “When I grew up there, we were all one big family.”

She says the festival draws people from all surrounding counties to gather in East End. “People are able to meet, greet, share stories and celebrate a legacy neighborhood. Future generations get to experience and learn about the history, and elders get to share stories and educate people on what it felt like to live in an area that had thriving Black businesses, churches and schools.”

The parade lineup includes the Majorette Dolls of Asheville, a debutante queen and her court, local nonprofit My Daddy Taught Me That, Drums Up Guns Down and more. A variety of food truck vendors will sell treats such as Jamaican cuisine, cupcakes and ice cream. A bounce house, face painting, balloon twister and bubbles will be offered for children until 7 p.m.

The live music schedule is as follows: Asheville Second Line Band (11:30 a.m-12:30 p.m.), Gospel Sensations (12:45-2 p.m.), Lyric Band (2:15-3:30 p.m.), Sweet Dreams Band (3:45-5 p.m.), Updates and Recognitions (5-6 p.m.), Free Flow Band (6-7:45 p.m.) and Uptown Swagga Band (8-10 p.m.).

The festival will also include a special birthday celebration in honor

of the neighborhood’s oldest living resident, Lottie Mae Poole — who is 100 years old and still goes out to vote at her local precinct each election. Alcohol and pets are prohibited at the festival.

Martin Luther King Jr. Park is at 50 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. For more information, visit avl.mx/bw4.

Sounds of home

Hendersonville Theatre’s Hometown Sound music series will feature local bluegrass acts Buncombe Turnpike and Holler Choir on Saturday, Aug. 26, at 7:30 p.m.

Lead singer and upright bass player Tom Godleski started Buncombe Turnpike in 1997. The band’s music ranges from traditional and contemporary bluegrass to gospel and originals. Other band members are Korey Warren on guitar, mandolin and vocals; David Hyatt on guitar, mandolin and vocals; George Buckner on banjo; and Don Lewis on fiddle, mandolin and vocals.

Asheville-based Holler Choir, led by Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Michael Ashworth of Steep Canyon Rangers, is a string band with members Clint Roberts on guitar and vocals, Helena Rose on banjo and vocals, Norbert McGettigan on bass and vocals and Bridger Dunnagan on fiddle — as well as a rotating cast of additional talent. The band debuted a fulllength record in 2022, Songs Before They Write Themselves, produced by Jason Richmond and mastered by Kim Rosen. Concessions and a cash bar will be available.

Hendersonville Theatre is at 229 S. Washington St., Hendersonville. For tickets or more information visit avl.mx/cxm.

Symphony season

The third annual Symphony in the Park will mark the beginning of the Asheville Symphony’s 2023-24 season on Sunday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m., in Pack Square Park. The free concert, which has attracted over 7,000 attendees in past years, will be led by symphony Music Director Darko Butorac and will feature selections from classic

movie scores by Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, James Horner and more.

This will be the first season to take place outside the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium since 1975. The relocation was required due to the auditorium’s 52-year-old HVAC system challenges.

Concerts will instead be held at various locations around the city — including churches, breweries, the Asheville Masonic Temple and music venues such as The Orange Peel. A show featuring the music of Star Wars, held in conjunction with Beer City Comic Con, will take place on Salvage Station’s outdoor stage by the French Broad River on Saturday, Oct. 1. This season also brings the debut of the Asheville Symphony Artist Residency — which will celebrate one instrument and explore its impact on the musical world, in collaboration with a world-renowned artist.

“Featuring Brahms, Copland and Mahler alongside heavy metal, folk and klezmer, and representing everything from Star Wars to soul to immersive projection art ... this year is going to be truly wild,” says Asheville Symphony Executive Director Daniel Crupi in a press release. “Our goal is to make the Asheville Symphony resonate with everyone in our community. Our 2023-2024 season takes us one step closer to that goal.”

Pack Square Park is at 80 Court Plaza. For more information, visit avl.mx/b3a.

Historic hikes

Learn more about community history through graveyards and associated sites with the Asheville History Museum’s popular Hike with

1st NC Restaurant to have Brewers & Distillers permits

CURRENTLY FEATURING 14 DIFFERENT BEERS & 8 DIFFERENT SPIRITS

a Historian Cemetery Series, starting Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 10 a.m. The hikes will be led by Trevor Freeman, museum public program director, who says he organized the series to “humanize history.”

“While I know many enjoy the sort of macabre and ’spooky’ elements of cemeteries and graveyards, I have seen that people also genuinely enjoy the stories of average people who often left only a headstone as a marker to their life — if even that much,” says Freeman. “There are fascinating patterns that emerge in cemeteries and also perhaps a more tangible connection to the past than one might find in a book or an archive.”

The first hike will be to Brittain Church Cemetery and Biggerstaff Hanging Site, near Rutherfordton. The church, founded in 1768, was the first established congregation in the Western North Carolina foothills. Graves include those of Revolutionary War veterans and some of the oldest settler burials in the region. Biggerstaff Farm, a few miles away, was the site where nine British Loyalists were hanged in 1780.

On Wednesday, Sept. 6, at 10 a.m., Freeman will lead a group to the Ashworth Family Cemetery and Sherrill’s Inn. John and Nancy Ashworth, among the first white settlers in the Fairview area, were also some of the first enslavers in the area. In her later years, Nancy was also rumored to be a “granny woman,” or plant healer. The hike will feature a discussion of the spread of slavery into the mountains and the Appalachian mythology of plant healers. (This event is sold out; however, a waitlist option is available at registration.)

The last hike will explore Quaker Meadows, just outside Morganton, which was one of the first plantations established in the WNC foothills on the eve of the American Revolutionary War. A guide from Historic Burke Foundation will share stories of the cemetery, which contains the graves of prominent early settlers and political leaders. Attendees will also have the option to tour the nearby gravesite of Frances “Frankie” Silver, the first woman executed for murder in North Carolina, whose notorious trial and death are the subject of local lore.

Tickets are $10 for museum members and $15 for nonmembers. No-cost, community-funded tickets are also available. Tour research notes and recaps will be posted on the museum’s website following each event.

For more information, visit avl.mx/cxn.

— Andy Hall  X

MOVIE REVIEWS

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER: This adaptation of the seafaring chapter of Dracula is high on atmosphere and low on substance. Grade: C-minus — Edwin Arnaudin

Dry aged boneless ribeyes, tomahawk ribeyes & fillet mignon available on the menu or for retail sale.

Daily Specials

Mon: BOGO Meatloaf and Others

Tue: Taco Tuesday (Brisket Nachos & Tacos: Brisket, Pork Belly, Chicken or Shrimp)

Wed: Wine bottles 1/2 price

Thu: All you can eat mussels

Open for Lunch!

Hours: 11:30 - 10pm daily (8pm on Sunday)

868 Merrimon Ave, AVL ryeknotco.com

BLOCK PARTY: This year’s East End/Valley Street Heritage Festival will include a birthday celebration for the neighborhood’s longest-living resident, Lottie Mae Poole, center, who is pictured with her daughter, Victoria Poole, right, and her great-granddaughter, Kenzie Robinson. Photo by Vera Williams

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

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23

12 BONES BREWERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

27 CLUB

I'm a Barbie Gore Dance Party, 10pm

ALLEY CAT AVL

Karaoke Dance Party, 8pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

Stand-Up Comedy Open Mic, 8pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING Jay Brown (roots, blues, jazz), 6pm

FLEETWOOD'S 80's Night, 8pm

FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY Bluegrass Jam w/The Saylor Brothers, 6:30pm

HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Songwriter Series w/ Matt Smith, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Old Time Jam, 5pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

FBVMA: Mountain Music Jam, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Latin Night w/DJ Mtn Vibez, 8:30pm

SHILOH & GAINES Trivia Night, 7pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA Poetry Open Mic, 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS Ladrones w/Nerve Endings & On the Block (punk, hardcore), 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE Cole Ritter & The Night Owls w/Vaden Landers (country, rock, folk), 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

Jai Wolf w/Devault (indie, dance, electronic), 8pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

Irish Music Circle, 7pm

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24

AMAZING PUBCYCLE

The Office Trivia Night, 6pm

BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE

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

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Ryan Furstenberg (indie, folk), 6pm

CROW & QUILL Firecracker Jazz Band, 8pm

DIFFERENT WRLD SALES (indie-rock, pop, dream-pop), 9pm

FLEETWOOD'S The Sleeveens (garage, punk), 9pm

FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY

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

HIGHLAND BREWING

DOWNTOWN

TAPROOM Not Rocket Science Trivia, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich, 7:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Dave Desmelik (alt-country, folk, Americana), 7pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING WEST

Random Animals & Soulpax (indie, soul, R&B), 8pm

OUTSIDER BREWING

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Brushfire Stankgrass (bluegrass), 6:30pm

SALVAGE STATION

The Menzingers w/ Prince Daddy & the Hyena & Mercy Union (punk, rock), 7pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Karaoke Night, 8pm

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING CO.

Becky Robinson, 7pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Stand Up Comedy for Your Health, 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Thirdface w/Loss of Consciousness (hardcore, punk), 8pm

THE DFR LOUNGE

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

THE GREY EAGLE

• Will Overman (country, Americana), 5:30pm

• Canaan Cox (blues, country, pop), 8pm

THE ODD Zillicoah, Blissful Thoughts & Hit Dogs (rock), 9pm

THE ROOT BAR

Kendra & Friends (multiple genres), 6pm

THE STATION BLACK MOUNTAIN Mr Jimmy (blues), 5pm

URBAN ORCHARD Trivia Thursday, 7pm

WNC OUTDOOR COLLECTIVE Trivia, 6:30pm

WRONG WAY

CAMPGROUND Don't Tell Comedy: West Asheville, 7pm

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR

Mr Jimmy's Friday Night Blues, 8pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

Phaele, Foxtail, CuddleFish, & NiceLady (electronic, dance), 9pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Billy Presnell (folk, Americana), 6pm

INDIE SONIC FLOWER: On Saturday, Aug. 26, at 5 p.m., Deaf Andrews will play The Meadow at Highland Brewing Co. This modern indie pop group aims to capture the human element and channel the essence of rock ’n’ roll. Photo by Logan Daugherty

BOTANIST & BARREL

TASTING BAR + BOTTLE SHOP

Doss Church & the Unholy Noise (soul, Americana), 6:30pm

CATAWBA BREWING

CO. SOUTH SLOPE

ASHEVILLE

• Comedy at Catawba: Ali Clayton, 7pm

• Comedy at Catawba: Gilbert Lawand, 9:30pm

CORK & KEG

3 Cool Cats (rock'n'roll), 8pm

CROW & QUILL

Meschiya Lake’s Nola Sextet (jazz), 8pm

DIFFERENT WRLD

Pink Mercury & Sender (jazz, indie, ambient), 8pm

FLEETWOOD'S

The Welcoming, Occult Fracture & Bellizia (indie, punk), 9pm

GINGER'S REVENGE

CRAFT BREWERY & TASTING ROOM

Harry Potter Tri-Wizard Trivia Tournament, 7pm

GINGER'S REVENGE

SOUTH SLOPE

LOUNGE

Modelface Comedy

Presents: JORTS, 9:30pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

DOWNTOWN TAPROOM

Blushin’ Roulettes (folk), 7pm

JACK OF THE WOOD

PUB

The Jackson Grimm Band (Appalachian, Americana, country), 9pm

LA TAPA LOUNGE

Open Mic Night w/ Hamza, 8pm

NOBLE CIDER & MEAD TAPROOM

AND PRODUCTION

FACILITY

Crisp Comedy, 8pm

NEW BELGIUM BREWING CO.

What’s In The Box?, 7pm

OKLAWAHA

BREWING CO.

Carolina Drifters (alt-country, Southern-rock), 8pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC

HALL

GrudaTree (psych-soul), 10pm

ONE WORLD BREWING

5J Barrow Friday Nights (folk), 8pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Mood Ring w/Amelia

Doll (R&B, bossa nova, hip-hop), 6pm

RABBIT RABBIT

Silent Disco: Video DJ/ Mashup Night, 9pm

SALVAGE STATION

Umphrey's McGee w/ Daniel Donato (funk, rock, cosmic-country, 5pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Roots & Dore (blues, soul, roots), 9pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Lo Wolf & Connie

Page Henshaw (pop, country), 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Quiet Hollers w/Lacey

Guthrie & Gold Light (folk, indie, Americana), 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE

• Fo Daniels (rock'n'roll), 5pm

• Blind Date Live, 8pm

THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

The Feels (soul, funk, R&B), 7pm

THE ODD

Asheville After Dark

Presents: Perversions (adult & kink-friendly), 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

Shrek Rave, 8pm

THE OUTPOST

Santiago y Los Gatos (indie-rock, sou), 7pm

WXYZ BAR AT ALOFT

Blaze the City (country, blues, rock), 7pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK

MOUNTAIN

Michael Reno Harrell & Josh Goforth (country, Americana, folk), 8pm

PLĒB URBAN WINERY

Slice of Life Comedy

Standup, 7pm

SATURDAY,

AUGUST 26

ALLEY CAT AVL

Karaoke Dance Party, 8pm

ASHEVILLE CLUB

Mr Jimmy (blues), 7pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR

Vince Junior Band (soul, Appalachian, blues), 8pm

B-SIDES LOFT

Jose Vera (house, techno), 8pm

BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE

Dinah's Daydream (jazz), 5:30pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Jack Miller Duo (acoustic), 6pm

CATAWBA BREWING

CO. SOUTH SLOPE

ASHEVILLE

Muddy Guthrie (Americana, rock, blues), 7pm

CORK & KEG

The Old Chevrolet Set (country), 8pm

CROW & QUILL

Doc Docherty (magic), 8pm

DSSOLVR

Nüthing Matters: Nu Metal Night, 7pm

FLEETWOOD'S

Cyberdelics, Bombay

Gasoline & Kruiser (rock'n'roll, punk), 9am

GINGER'S REVENGE

Don't Tell Comedy: River Arts District, 8pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

The Knotty G's (Americana), 9pm

LA TAPA LOUNGE

Karaoke Night, 9pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

High Flying Criminals (funk, soul), 8pm

ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

Frute (psych-funk), 10pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Lloyd’s Rocksteady

Revue (rock, reggae, Ska), 8:30pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

Phuncle Sam (Grateful Dead Tribute), 6pm

RABBIT RABBIT

• Kid Hop Hooray (dance party), 10:30am

• Silent Disco: Outkast Dance Party, 9pm

SALVAGE STATION

Umphrey's McGee w/ Butcher Brown (funk, rock, cosmic-country, 5pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Nick Mac & The Noise (Southern-rock, country), 9pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA Polly Panic (rock), 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Certain Lives w/Naturalblkinvention, Corpse Dust, Splash Blade & Patti Synth (techno, noise, experimental), 8pm

THE BURGER BAR Best Worst Karaoke, 9pm

THE DFR LOUNGE

Caged Affair (pop, punk, rock), 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE

• Patio: Dissimilar South (folk, indie-rock), 5pm

• Maiden Voyage w/ Nova Omega (Iron Maiden tribute), 8pm

THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

Deaf Andrews (indie, pop, rock), 6pm

THE ODD

Party Foul Drag: Saturday Night Tease, 8pm

THE ORANGE PEEL

The Broken Hearts (Tom Petty tribute), 8pm

THE RAD BREW CO.

Kate Bryant (roots), 6pm

WXYZ BAR AT ALOFT

• Livin’ on the Ledge

Series w/Phantom Pantone, 2pm

• Asheville AV Club, 7pm

SUNDAY,

AUGUST 27

27 CLUB

Leaving Echoes, Red Zephyr, Puppy & The Dogs (alternative, indierock, psychedelic), 8pm

B-SIDES LOFT Hip Hop Religion, 8pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Dark City Kings (garagerock, country, pop), 2pm

BOTANIST & BARREL TASTING BAR + BOTTLE SHOP

Belly Dancing & Bubbles, 6pm

DIFFERENT WRLD

B!tch, R U Okay?, 7pm

FLEETWOOD'S

Something Wicked this Way Comes, 7:30pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

Reggae Sunday w/ Chalwa, 3pm

GINGER'S REVENGE

SOUTH SLOPE LOUNGE Modelface Comedy presents: Brad Wenzel, 5:30pm

HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

Sunset Salsa on the Rooftop, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

• Bluegrass Brunch, 1pm

• Traditional Irish Jam, 3:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Finkelstien 3 (bluegrass), 3pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Sunday Jazz Jam, 1:30pm

PISGAH BREWING

CO. Pisgah Sunday Jam, 6:30pm

POINT LOOKOUT VINEYARDS

Jim Quick & Coastline, 6pm

S & W MARKET

Mr Jimmy (blues), 1pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Punk Brunch, 10am

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Aaron Woody Wood (Appalachia, soul, Americana), 7pm

TACO BOY WEST ASHEVILLE

Daytime Disco Sundays, 10am

THE GREY EAGLE

Chris McGinnis & Mamaw's Angels (folk), 8pm

THE MEADOW AT HIGHLAND BREWING CO.

Lady

TUESDAY, AUGUST 29

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

OKLAWAHA

BREWING CO.

Team Trivia, 7pm

ONE WORLD

BREWING WEST

The Grateful Family

Band Tuesdays (Grateful Dead tribute), 6pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Songwriters Night, 7pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Weekly Open Jam

hosted by Chris Cooper & Friends, 6:30pm

THE BURGER BAR

C U Next Tuesday Trivia, 9pm

THE ODD

Open Mic Comedy, 8pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

White Horse Open Mic, 7pm

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30

12 BONES BREWERY

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

ALLEY CAT AVL

Karaoke Dance Party, 8pm

ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL

Stand-Up Comedy

Open Mic, 8pm

BLACK MOUNTAIN

BREWING

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

DIFFERENT WRLD

Queer Comedy Party w/Model Face Comedy, 7pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

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

HIGHLAND BREWING

CO.

Songwriter Series w/ Matt Smith, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Old Time Jam, 5pm

OKLAWAHA

BREWING CO.

FBVMA: Mountain

Music Jam, 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

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

SHILOH & GAINES

Trivia Night, 7pm

SOVEREIGN KAVA

Poetry Open Mic, 8pm

STATIC AGE RECORDS

Cardiel w/Axxa & Abraxas (rock, heavy dub, surf), 8pm

THE GREY EAGLE

JP Harris w/Eliza Thorn (country, jazz, blues), 8pm

WHITE HORSE BLACK

MOUNTAIN

Irish Music Circle, 7pm

WICKED WEED BREWING

Kipper's Totally Rad Trivia, 6pm

THURSDAY, AUGUST 31

AMAZING PUBCYCLE

The Office Trivia Night, 6pm

ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR

Travelling Pilsburys (acoustic), 8pm

BATTERY PARK BOOK

EXCHANGE

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

BLACK MOUNTAIN BREWING

Chris Jamison (Americana, folk), 6pm

CROW & QUILL

Para Gozar (Cuban, jazz), 8pm

FRENCH BROAD

RIVER BREWERY

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

HIGHLAND BREWING

DOWNTOWN

TAPROOM

Not Rocket Science Trivia, 6pm

JACK OF THE WOOD PUB

Bluegrass Jam w/Drew Matulich, 7:30pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO.

Color Machine (folk, rock), 7pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST

Bald Mountain Boys (Appalachian, newgrass, old-time), 8pm

OUTSIDER BREWING

Robert's Totally Rad Trivia, 7pm

PISGAH BREWING CO.

The Mug Band (roots, rock, blues), 6:30pm

SALVAGE STATION

Taylor Swift Laser Dance Party, 8pm

SHILOH & GAINES

Karaoke Night, 8pm

THE DFR LOUNGE

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

THE GREY EAGLE

• Modelface Comedy

Presents: David Gborie, 7pm

• Tu-Ner w/Trey Gunn, Pat Mastelotto & Markus Reuter (rock, jazz, funk), 9:30pm

THE MULE

Beam Me Up, Asheville!, 6:30pm

THE ODD

Feed (metal, punk), 8pm

THE OUTPOST

Captain Midnight Band (rock'n'roll, R&B, funk), 7pm

THE ROOT BAR

Kendra & Friends (multiple genres), 6pm

THE STATION BLACK

MOUNTAIN

Mr Jimmy (blues), 5pm

URBAN ORCHARD

Trivia Thursday, 7pm

WNC OUTDOOR

COLLECTIVE Trivia, 6:30pm

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): None of the books

I’ve written has appeared on the New York Times best-seller list. Even if my future books do well, I will never catch up with Aries writer James Patterson, who has had 260 books on the prestigious list. My sales will never rival his, either. He has earned over $800 million from the 425 million copies his readers have bought. While I don’t expect you Rams to ever boost your income to Patterson’s level, either, I suspect the next nine months will bring you unprecedented opportunities to improve your financial situation. For best results, edge your way toward doing more of what you love to do.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Addressing a lover, D. H. Lawrence said that “having you near me” meant that he would “never cease to be filled with newness.” That is a sensational compliment! I wish all of us could have such an influence in our lives: a prod that helps arouse endless novelty. Here’s the good news, Taurus: I suspect you may soon be blessed with a lively source of such stimulation, at least temporarily. Are you ready and eager to welcome an influx of freshness?

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Humans have been drinking beer for at least 13,000 years and eating bread for 14,500. We’ve enjoyed cheese for 7,500 years and popcorn for 6,500. Chances are good that at least some of these four are comfort foods for you. In the coming weeks, I suggest you get an ample share of them or any other delicious nourishments that make you feel well-grounded and deep-rooted. You need to give extra care to stabilizing your foundations. You have a mandate to cultivate security, stability and constancy. Here’s your homework: Identify three things you can do to make you feel utterly at home in the world.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): On Instagram, I posted a favorite quote from poet Muriel Rukeyser: “The world is made of stories, not atoms.” I added my own thought: “You are made of stories, too.” A reader didn’t like this meme. He said it was “a nightmare for us anti-social people.” I asked him why. He said, “Because stories only happen in a social setting. To tell or hear a story is to be in a social interaction. If you’re not inclined towards such activities, it’s oppressive.” Here’s how I replied: “That’s not true for me. Many of my stories happen while I’m alone with my inner world. My nightly dreams are some of my favorite stories.” Anyway, Cancerian, I’m offering this exchange to you now because you are in a story-rich phase of your life. The tales coming your way, whether they occur in social settings or in the privacy of your own fantasies, will be extra interesting, educational, and motivational. Gather them in with gusto! Celebrate them!

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Author Arthur Conan Doyle said, “It has long been my axiom that the little things are infinitely the most important.” Spiritual teacher John Kabat-Zinn muses, “The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.” Here’s author Robert Brault’s advice: “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Ancient Chinese sage Lao-Tzu provides a further nuance: “To know you have enough is to be rich.” Let’s add one more clue, from author Alice Walker: “I try to teach my heart to want nothing it can’t have.”

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “I don’t believe that in order to be interesting or meaningful, a relationship has to work out — in fiction or in real life.” So says Virgo novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, and I agree. Just because a romantic bond didn’t last forever doesn’t mean it was a waste of energy. An intimate connection you once enjoyed but then broke off might have taught you lessons that are crucial to your destiny. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to acknowledge and celebrate these past experiences of togetherness. Interpret them not as failures but as gifts.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The amount of rubbish produced by the modern world is staggering: over 2 billion tons per year. To get a sense of how much that is, imagine a convoy of fully loaded garbage trucks circling the earth 24 times. You and I can diminish our contributions to this mess, though we must overcome the temptation to think our personal efforts will be futile. Can we really help save the world by buying secondhand goods, shopping at farmer’s markets, and curbing our use of paper? Maybe a little. And here’s the bonus: We enhance our mental health by reducing the waste we engender. Doing so gives us a more graceful and congenial relationship with life. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to meditate and act on this beautiful truth.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I hope that in the coming weeks, you will wash more dishes, do more laundry, and scrub more floors than you ever have before. Clean the bathrooms with extra fervor, too. Scour the oven and refrigerator. Make your bed with extreme precision. Got all that, Scorpio? JUST KIDDING! Everything I just said was a lie. Now here’s my authentic message: Avoid grunt work. Be as loose and playful and spontaneous as you have ever been. Seek record-breaking levels of fun and amusement. Experiment with the high arts of brilliant joy and profound pleasure.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Dear Sagittarius the Archer: To be successful in the coming weeks, you don’t have to hit the exact center of the bull’s-eye every time — or even anytime. Merely shooting your arrows so they land somewhere inside the fourth or third concentric rings will be a very positive development. Same is true if you are engaged in a situation with metaphorical resemblances to a game of horseshoes. Even if you don’t throw any ringers at all, just getting close could be enough to win the match. This is one time in your life when perfection isn’t necessary to win.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I suspect you are about to escape the stuffy labyrinth. There may be a short adjustment period, but soon you will be running half-wild in a liberated zone where you won’t have to dilute and censor yourself. I am not implying that your exile in the enclosed space was purely oppressive. Not at all. You learned some cool magic in there, and it will serve you well in your expansive new setting. Here’s your homework assignment: Identify three ways you will take advantage of your additional freedom.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Though my mother is a practical, sensible person with few mystical propensities, she sometimes talks about a supernatural vision she had. Her mother, my grandmother, had been disabled by a massive stroke. It left her barely able to do more than laugh and move her left arm. But months later, on the morning after grandma died, her spirit showed up in a pink ballerina dress doing ecstatic pirouettes next to my mother’s bed. My mom saw it as a communication about how joyful she was to be free of her wounded body. I mention this gift of grace because I suspect you will have at least one comparable experience in the coming weeks. Be alert for messages from your departed ancestors.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Those who know the truth are not equal to those who love it,” said the ancient Chinese sage Confucius. Amen! Seeking to understand reality with cold, unfeeling rationality is at best boring and at worst destructive. I go so far as to say that it’s impossible to deeply comprehend anything or anyone unless we love them. Really! I’m not exaggerating or being poetical. In my philosophy, our quest to be awake and see truly requires us to summon an abundance of affectionate attention. I nominate you to be the champion practitioner of this approach to intelligence, Pisces. It’s your birthright! And I hope you turn it up full blast in the coming weeks.

Want to advertise in Marketplace? 828-251-1333 advertise@mountainx.com • mountainx.com/classifieds

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REAL ESTATE HOMES FOR SALE

HOME FOR SALE Home for sale in Shelby, NC. 3 Bdrm 2 Bth. Located close to Highway 74. Contact Ben Henry at 281-222-3091

EMPLOYMENT

GENERAL

WANT TO BE A PET STYLIST? WE WILL TRAIN YOU! Shampoodles Salon is hiring for our Bather/Groomer's Assistant position. If you have the desire to learn how to groom, this is an amazing opportunity as you will be paid to learn! shampoodlessalon@gmail. com 828-707-4620

DRIVERS/ DELIVERY

PART-TIME SHUTTLE BUS DRIVER WANTED For Cullowhee area. CDL with passenger endorsement required. Contact Sheryl 636-698-5780 or email sfergygws@yahoo.com

SERVICES

AUDIO/VIDEO

DISH TV SPECIAL $64.99 for 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet. Free installation, Smart HD DVR Included, Free Voice Remote. Some restrictions apply. Promo Expires 1/21/23. 1-866-566-1815. (AAN CAN)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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THERAPY USERS Discover oxygen therapy that moves with you with Inogen Portable Oxygen Concentrators. Free information kit. Call 866-859-0894

BATH & SHOWER UPDATES In as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months!  Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available. Call: 855-754-0675 . (AAN CAN)

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FIND SENIOR LIVING My Caring Plan has helped thousands of families find senior living. Our trusted, local advisors help find solutions to your unique needs at no cost to you. Call 866-386-9005 . (AAN CAN)

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NEVER CLEAN YOUR GUTTERS AGAIN Affordable, professionally installed gutter guards protect your gutters and home from debris and leaves forever! For a FREE quote call: 844-947-1470 . (AAN CAN)

PUBLIC SALE OF VEHICLE

TO SATISFY A LIEN:

2009 Subaru lien against Andrew Amado Abrazado for $5,805.00. To satisfy a lien: 2014 Mitsubishi lien against Dipalben Prashant Patel and Vijaykumar H. Patel for 4,735.00. To satisfy a lien: 2014 Subaru lien against Holly Rebecca Sutter, Amy Elaine Davis and JPMorgan Chase Band, NA. for $5,215.00. Auto Safe Towing Inc., 474 ½ N. Louisiana Ave., Asheville NC 28806. 828-236-1131

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MIND, BODY, SPIRIT

COUNSELING

SERVICES

ASTRO-COUNSELING

Licensed counselor and accredited professional astrologer uses your chart when counseling for additional insight into yourself, your relationships and life directions. Stellar Counseling Services. Christy Gunther, MA, LCMHC. (828) 258-3229

AUTOMOTIVE

TRUCKS/ VANS/ SUVS FOR SALE

2003 SUBARU BAJA

4-DOOR UTILITY VEHICLE 212,700 miles, $5000 Firm; AWD, 5-Speed, Manual; Good Condition; In Sylva NC; 25,000 miles driven since 2016 ($3,400+ of renewal work under hood). Call or email for details. kwilbranham@gmail.com 828-321-4913

ACROSS

56 Yes, to Yves

58 Roll with it!

8 Can’t-miss

9 Not even

10 Creator of a spread

11 Winning feat achieved twice by the Green Bay Packers (1929-31, 1965-67)

12 Breaks down

38 Be forlorn

39 Prominent instrument in “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”

41 Like a cutie patootie

47 Karaoke participant

50 A goner

51 Pioneer in calculus notation

52 Humdinger

65 What some butterfly wings appear to have

15 Respect

18 Rummage (around)

23 Lead-in to country or rock

44 Record label for Diana Ross and Elvis Presley

45 Hazards

46 Neuron fiber

53 Pulitzer winner Bellow

55 Demi-___ (ballet move)

59 United

60 Modern love?

1 Ruler of a mythological underworld

2 A court may be in the middle of one

3 Look of a room

4 Big ___ (serious favor)

5 “Sorry, not sorry!”

6 Morph into

25 2006 animated film that really should have starred Adam Driver and Parker Posey?

27 Not good

29 Defend the hive, in a way

30 Tips

31 One getting pwned, often

32 Classic melodramatic cry

33 “Seriously!”

37 Kind of mark