Field Guide to Asheville (2023-2024)

Welcome To Asheville The Land of the Sky!

Asheville is as welcoming as it is bountiful and eclectic. Geography has shaped us deeply. The isolated hollers of Western North Carolina have since the 19th century offered an escape from America’s sweltering metropolises, entrenched politics and hyperindustrial aspirations.

When the railroad finally made it up the mountain in the 1880s, it brought thousands of newcomers to the area: the hopeful, the curious, the ailing and the adventurous. In the 1890s, hundreds of crafters and artists also arrived with tools in hand to work on George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate. The Land of the Sky has been a destination ever since.

What has evolved is a town with far more than the typical share of unique and colorful characters. The mountain air you’re breathing and rugged landscape around you has crafted our independent outlook and can-do attitude. We are a community where almost everyone has a point of view, big ideas and a drive to make things happen.

Today, we’ve got plenty to offer residents and tourists alike: mountain streams and trails; breweries, eateries and a vibrant music scene; a long history of mountain crafts; a wide array of healing modalities; and bewitching stores with beguiling names. There’s lots to discover, and this is a guide to where to start.

Publisher: Jeff Fobes Guide Manager & Editor: Mark Murphy

Writers: Able Allen, Edwin Arnaudin, Thomas Calder, Jeff Fobes, Andy Hall, Justin McGuire, Mark Murphy, Greg Parlier, Tracy Rose, Gina Smith, Jessica Wakeman

Guide Design: Scott Southwick Designers: Tina Gaafary, Scott Southwick

Photo Coordinators: Jeff Fobes, Susan Hutchinson, Mark Murphy

Photographers: community members, local businesses and visitors (see individual photo credits) Copy Editor: Tracy Rose

Advertising Manager: Susan Hutchinson

Ad Sales: Sara Brecht, Vicki Catalano, Scott Mermel, Jamie Knox

Front Office/Accounting: Hinton Edgerton, Amie Fowler, Mark Murphy

Distribution: Susan Hutchinson, Cindy Kunst and a fantastic team of devoted drivers Cover Design: Scott Southwick, featuring bronze statue “Appalachian Stage” by Gary Alsum

The Asheville Field Guide is published annually by Mountain Xpress P.O. Box 144 Asheville, NC 28802 828.251.1333

© 2023 Mountain Xpress. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without expressed permission of Mountain Xpress.

We have taken great care to ensure the accuracy of information contained this guide. However, we are human and businesses change their services from time to time. Please check websites and businesses prior to making plans.

Photo courtesy of Asheville Wellness Tours @ashevillewellnesstours

THINGS TO KNOW FAQs

WEATHER?

The old saying in the area goes: “If you don’t like the weather in the mountains, wait 15 minutes.” Asheville’s higher elevation (2,000-2,500 feet above sea level, with nearby mountain peaks topping 6,500 feet) affects our daily temperatures, resulting in cooler days and nights than in eastern parts of North Carolina and adjacent states. Our hottest month is typically July with highs often in the mid-80s, with low humidity thanks to the elevation, and temperatures will regularly dip to the 50s and 60s at night. The coldest time is January, when it gets down to the teens and 20s at night and usually is above freezing in the daytime.

Pack a rain jacket and a water bottle, because WNC is also home to some of the wettest and driest places in North Carolina. Some of our temperate forests average 80-plus inches of rain each year, feeding waterfalls and nurturing lush greenery. Meanwhile, downtown Asheville usually doesn’t exceed 40 inches in a year, and along with other parts of the French Broad River Basin, is one of the driest places in the state.

BEST TIME OF YEAR TO VISIT?

There’s no bad time, but it depends on what a visitor is seeking. Peak hotel occupancy is in October for the fall color season, which, thanks to our biodiversity and elevation range, is one of the most colorful and longest in the country. Fall comes earlier at higher elevations. The first hints typically arrive in September, with the peak color explosion the last two weeks of October and fading out in early November. Hotel rates rise with the color. If you’re looking for a less pricey and less crowded getaway, December-March offers the best bets. Also consider the spring bloom season in April, which packs its own color punch. Check out our guide’s Festivals section, because events take place year-round.

WHERE CAN I PARK?

Downtown Asheville, where demand for parking is greatest, has thousands of parking spaces, consisting of on-street parking (mostly metered, some free), surface lots and garages (or decks). But it can feel like there are hardly any spots at all in the busiest months and on weekends. Parking can also be challenging in West Asheville and Biltmore Village.

• For a map of downtown deck locations, pricing info and links to a mobile-phone app that lets you know where the vacancies are, visit Buncombe County government’s webpage at avl.mx/6si, or the city of Asheville’s page at avl.mx/b8t

• Street meters must be fed via coin, credit card or PassportParking Mobile Pay between 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Saturday ($1.50/ hour). Metered parking is free after 6 p.m., as well as on Sundays and holidays.

• Most meters and all garages accept credit cards.

• Public and private surface-lot rates vary (typically $1.50/hour or $3 per session).

• City parking decks are free for the first hour and $2 each subsequent hour or portion thereof.

• County decks are $2 for the first hour and $1 for each additional hour.

• Visit the city of Asheville’s Parking Services website at avl.mx/clb for lots of additional info, including how to pay fines and recover a towed vehicle.

WHERE CAN I FIND A PUBLIC RESTROOM?

Public washrooms, post-pandemic, are unfortunately hard to find. You may try your luck at public buildings like libraries or indoor shopping centers. Otherwise, your best bet is to tack your bathroom stop onto a meal or shopping outing.

THINGS TO KNOW

WHERE AND WHEN CAN I BUY BEER, CIDER, WINE & LIQUOR?

Packaged liquor is sold only in state-run ABC stores, MondaySaturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (Some stores have different hours.) Beer, cider and wine are sold in grocery, convenience, bottle and big-box stores (but not before 10 a.m. Sundays in the city). Closing time for alcohol sales is 2 a.m. (that goes for grocery stores, too.) Restaurant, bar and brewery customers may buy two beers, ciders or glasses of wine at one time, but only one mixed drink. Distilleries may sell mixed drinks and bottles of liquor on premises, but only their own products, and in limited quantity.

WHAT ARE N.C.’S LAWS REGARDING TOBACCO, VAPING AND MARIJUANA?

State law prohibits smoking inside bars and restaurants. The city of Asheville has banned smoking and e-cigarettes on city buses; in city-owned parks and greenways; and in buildings owned, leased, occupied, managed and/or controlled by the city, including the Asheville Regional Airport — except in areas that have been designated for smoking or vaping. Medical and recreational marijuana use remains against the law in North Carolina whereas its hemp-based cousins, Delta 8 and 9 products, are legal and readily available. Possession of less than one-half ounce of marijuana is a misdemeanor.

WHERE IS THE VISITOR CENTER?

The main Asheville visitor center (36 Montford Ave., just north of the bridge over I-240) has friendly folks on duty to assist with questions, plus brochures and maps pertaining to area attractions. The center is located around the back of the building. The center is open MondayFriday 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

HOW DOG-FRIENDLY IS ASHEVILLE?

In our canine-captivated culture, dogs, which must be leashed by law, are everywhere — hiking trails, hardware stores, breweries, the Biltmore Estate (on the grounds, not in the house), dog parks (where they can be unleashed in certain designated, gated portions), a dog welcome center, dog-treat bakeries and dog-friendly restaurants. Festivals and special events, where dogs may be prohibited altogether due to crowd size, are typically the exception, so it’s better to leave your pampered pooch in your dog-friendly hotel or to check out one of Asheville’s doggie day care centers. Not to be overlooked, cats get their due on the Asheville Cat Weirdos Facebook page (you must be a member to view/participate), the Asheville Cat Weirdos Emergency Fund Facebook page (public) and at The American Museum of the House Cat in Sylva, about an hour’s drive west of Asheville.

IS THERE A DISCOUNT CARD/BOOK FOR AREA ATTRACTIONS AND DINING?

Go Local Asheville offers a discount card ($20, golocalasheville. com) which entitles cardholders to deals and discounts from 500plus locally owned shops and businesses, including more than 100 restaurants, food trucks and bars. The Asheville Independent Restaurant Association sells an annual Passport ($65) with BOGO deals good at 40-plus participating member restaurants; however, the 2023 passport is nearly sold out. The next, 2024 edition is due out in November.

IS ASHEVILLE ADA COMPLIANT?

Asheville aims to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but the city has to contend with older infrastructure, hilly terrain and numerous conflicting demands. There are many individual buildings and businesses with exemptions. Everyone who visits Asheville should keep in mind that downtown sidewalks are often narrow with obstacles, and some have steep inclines.

HOW DO I GET A TABLE AT ASHEVILLE’S MOST POPULAR RESTAURANTS?

Unless you reserve well in advance, odds can be slim at some of the restaurants with national renown. But here are some things to keep in mind: Try calling rather than just looking online. Weekdays are quieter. Go for an early or late lunch instead of dinner, or belly up to the bar rather than wait for a table. Also remember, Asheville has scores of less famous but amazing and unique places to eat. Pick up a copy of the Mountain Xpress Asheville Eats & Drinks directory for lots of leads.

HOW CAN I GET AROUND WITHOUT MY CAR?

Most of downtown is walkable, but hilly. To venture farther out, there are taxis, ride apps and public buses run by the city of Asheville (ART). There are various rental services for bikes and cars, and some hotels offer shuttle service. Tickets for a hop-on, hop-off trolly tour can be acquired at the Asheville visitor center. Also, Gray Line and ArtsAVL have started a free bus service connecting downtown with the River Arts District.

WHAT ARE ASHEVILLE’S SISTER CITIES?

Asheville has an active Sister Cities program with seven partners: Vladikavkaz (Russia), San Cristóbal de las Casas (Mexico), Saumur (France), Karpenisi (Greece), Valladolid (Mexico), Osogbo (Nigeria), and Dunkeld-Birnam (Scotland).

WHERE CAN I FIND A CALENDAR OF EVENTS?

There’s a lot going on in Asheville — festivals, concerts, retreats, celebrations, author appearances, sports competitions, dances, you name it. To be in the know each week, visit Mountain Xpress’ avlcalendar.com for a comprehensive listing of events of every stripe and type. And for a quick look at some of the year’s biggest events, check out the Festivals section in this guide.

ASHEVILLE-AREA

In the beginning

The Cherokee people and their ancestors inhabit the region for 10,000 years prior to the arrival of first permanent white settlers in the 1780s.

Throughout the first half of the 1800s, “drovers” from Kentucky and Tennessee boost the local economy, driving livestock through the region using a primitive pathway along the French Broad River.

1800s

1791 Buncombe County is established. The county is named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Edward Buncombe. The county seat is Morristown, which is renamed Asheville in 1795, in honor of the state’s governor, Samuel Ashe. The town is incorporated in 1797.

1820s

Turnpike is completed. The 75-mile road came up through the Saluda Gap by way of Flat Rock.

The

1828

Buncombe

1850 Stately homes begin to appear in Asheville. The county’s second brick county courthouse is also built.

1850s

1871 The first tuberculosis sanitarium in the country, The Villa, opens in Asheville. A marketing pamphlet describes the town as “The Switzerland of America.”

1870s

1860s

1860 Census records show 1,907 enslaved people in Buncombe County, with a total of 283 slave owners. The county’s total population was 12,654 with 111 free Blacks. Among slave owners, lawyer and legislator, Nicholas Washington Woodfin, topped the county’s list, holding 122 people in bondage.

“Running water, electricity, telephones, street cars and paved roads were marvels to be seen in town,” writes historian Mitzi Schaden Tessier. “[B]ut in the country, oxen still pulled the homemade plows.”

1890s

1880s

The first train pulls into Asheville, connecting the town with Salisbury and points east, marking the start of a progressive decade.

1889 A local newspaper reports that George Vanderbilt, “the young railroad millionaire,” is in the early process of acquiring land in the area.

1892 Black community leaders, Edward S. Stephens and Isaac Dickson, approach George Vanderbilt about financing the construction of the Young Men’s Institute, a place for the Biltmore Estate’s Black construction workers to meet, located on South Market and Eagle streets. The building still stands in Asheville’s former African American business district.

1910s 1920s

1912 “A man is never too old to build castles and dream dreams,” declares E.W. Grove at the opening ceremony of the Grove Park Inn.

1914 “Government buys Pisgah Forest; will welcome great National Park,” a headline from the Asheville Citizen declares. The land had been acquired from the Vanderbilt family, following George Vanderbilt’s untimely death.

1916 Six people perish in Asheville during The Great Flood of 1916. Estimated property damage is between $1 million and $3 million.

1929 Asheville native Thomas Wolfe publishes his debut novel, Look Homeward, Angel. Though a work of fiction, the book borrows much from the author’s life growing up in his mother’s boardinghouse, the Old Kentucky Home. The property is now part of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial in downtown Asheville.

1895 Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate is completed.

THINGS TO KNOW

1930s

1948 Artist Zelda Fitzgerald (wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald) is one of nine patients who die in a fire at Highland Hospital, a mental health facility that had opened in Asheville in 1904.

1940s

1950s – 1980s

Urban renewal projects launch, targeting predominately African American neighborhoods. In several cases, entire communities were razed.

Roughly 200 African American students walk out of the recently integrated Asheville High School after airing a list of grievances concerning school curriculum and the treatment of Black students.

1960s

1960 – 1975

A new approach to retail sales — malls — arrives in Asheville and within a decade and a half sucks the life out of downtown, rendering it a mercantile wasteland for nearly two decades, according to historian Nan Chase.

1994 Artists in the River Arts District host their first studio stroll. 1997 City of Asheville signs a 198year lease with the Grove Arcade Public Market Foundation. By 2002, the historic structure is reopened to the public.

1999 The drum circle gets its start at the former Vance Monument. The group relocates to Pritchard Park after complaints.

1999 For nearly 40 years, local auto racing enthusiasts went down to Amboy Road on Friday nights for an action-packed evening at “The River.” Built in 1960, the New Asheville Speedway, eventually renamed the Asheville Motor Speedway, closed in 1999.

“11 banks in W.N.C. are now closed,” the Asheville Times declares on Oct. 21, 1930. To help boost the local economy, the Vanderbilt family agrees to open the mansion as a tourist attraction.

1931 Asheville Mayor Gallatin Roberts commits suicide in response to his legal troubles in connection with the city’s financial ruin. 1935 Construction begins on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

1937 Sarah Gudger, a Buncombe County native, who claimed to be born in 1816, is interviewed in Asheville by a representative of the Federal Writer’s Project of the United States Work Projects Administration. “Old Master [William Hemphill] strop us good if we did anything he didn’t like,” she told the interviewer. “He tie your hand before your body and whup you, just like you’re a mule.”

1970s

1976 Asheville finally completes paying off its Depression-era debt, celebrating the event with a ceremonial bond burning.

1980 Asheville City Council plans to turn downtown into a mall by razing 85 downtown buildings on 17 acres, but this idea is defeated by a grassroots citizen effort.

1980s

1990s

1980– 2000

Despite Asheville’s mostly moribund entrepreneurs,downtown, philanthropists,artists,activists and community groups gradually breathe life back into the area and begin renting spaces in the River Arts District.

1983 State legislators authorize a 2% room hotel-occupancy tax and establish the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority to spend the revenue.

1988 City Councilman

Walt Boland champions the idea that Asheville’s industrial riverfront could one day be a tourist destination.

1988 Warren Haynes organizes his first Christmas Jam.

2001 The hotel-occupancy tax is raised to 4% and the Tourism Product Development Fund is established. 2009 Asheville wins Beer City USA title, tying with Portland, Ore.

2000s

2010s

2010-14 Moogfest, a multiday music, art and technology festival gets its start in Asheville. 2015 The hotel-occupancy tax is raised to 6%.

2020 The Vance Monument was removed from Pack Square. The obelisk commemorated Zebulon Vance — a Confederate colonel, NC governor, slaveholder and white supremacist.

2020s

Photos courtesy of Buncombe County Special Collections; Photo courtesy of the Pressley family; photo of Warren Haynes by Nick King; beer photo courtesy of N.C. Division of Tourism; Moogfest photo by David Simchock; Vance Monument photo by Virginia Daffron

THINGS TO DO

Tours

One of the best ways to explore Asheville is to take a tour led by someone in the know. Your point of entry can be history, the arts, beer, food, culture, lifestyle or even humor. The options are many and diverse. What else would you expect for Asheville?

ARTS TOURS

• Asheville Art Experience

• Asheville Art Studio Tours

• Appalachian Mural Trail (Asheville is featured in this multistate self-guided tour)

• Asheville Photo Tours

• AVL Literary Tour

• Art Connections

• Mountain Mural Tours

• Asheville Art Museum tours

BARS & BREWERIES TOURS

• Amazing Pubcycle Tours

• Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours

• Asheville Brewery Tours (walking and mobile tours)

• Asheville Brews Crews

• Beer City Brewery Tours

• Party Bus Brewery Crawl

• City Brew Tours

• And ... some individual breweries offer tours of their own facilities

FOOD & COFFEE TOURS

• Asheville Coffee Tours

• Asheville Food Tours

• Eating Asheville Tours

• No Taste Like Home Foraging Tours

• Taste Carolina Gourmet Tours

Photo by Tangie Nadimi @ tangienadimi

HISTORY TOURS

• Asheville by Foot Walking Tours

• Asheville Music History Walking Tour

• Asheville’s Urban Trail (self-guided downtown walking tour)

• Black Churches of WNC barrierbreakerspilgrimage.org

• BREW-ed Brewery and History Walking Tours

• Gray Line Trolley Tours

• History at Hand (five walking tours led by Sharon Fahrer)

• Hood Huggers (Black history & art tour)

• Moving Sidewalk Segway Downtown Tour

• Shaka Street Moped Tours

OUTDOORS TOURS

• Asheville Camino Trail

• Asheville Hiking Tours

• Asheville Adventures

• Asheville Wellness Tours (yoga, hikes, massage & tarot)

• Blue Ridge Hiking Co.

• Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventures

• Pisgah Climbing and Outdoor Guides

• Walk with Me Tours

VARIOUS & HUMOR TOURS

• Asheville Terrors (walking ghost tours)

• Downtown Asheville LGBTQ+ Walking Tour

• LaZoom (comedic approaches to history, ghosts, beer, etc.)

• Leapfrog Tours (a dozen different categories)

• Haunted Asheville (walking ghost tours)

EATS & DRINKS

THINGS TO DO

If anyone has ever told you to get lost, you’ve come to the right place. The Blue Ridge Mountain town of Asheville (elevation 2,200 feet) is nestled between Pisgah and Nantahala national forests, which together encompass 1,631 square miles to “get lost in.” That’s not including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, another 800 square miles of natural wonder, just an hour to the west. Add in various preserves, recreational forests and public parks, and you’ve got a lot of nature to lose yourself in, whether you are looking to spend hours, days, weeks or the rest of your life exploring.

AN AFTERNOON IN THE PARK

Within a 15-minute drive of downtown Asheville, there are plenty of options to stretch legs and enjoy fresh air.

Without even having to drive, one opportunity to get moving and see the sites is Asheville’s Urban Trail — a relaxed twohour hike around historic downtown following a path of 30 trail stations.

Photo courtesy of Navitat @ navitat

For a lovely urban walk through meadows and forest, akin to a central park, check out the Botanical Gardens at Asheville, located on the property of UNC Asheville, where you will find 10 acres dedicated to the study and promotion of native plants and habitats of the Southern Appalachians. For similar beauty in an urban setting, try the N.C. Arboretum or walk the RAD greenways along the French Broad River.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is eminently accessible for those looking for views without the hike. As long as you have a vehicle, hundreds of miles of curvy bliss awaits with scenic overlooks every few miles. To the north, find Craggy Gardens and Mount Mitchell, America’s highest peak east of the Mississippi. To the south, make your way to Mount Pisgah and the Qualla Boundary (Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian lands), adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

ALL DAY TO ENJOY

In search of an Instagram-worthy view? Maybe the most casual go-to spot just outside of town is Craggy Gardens, a dramatic, rhododendron-laced, 1.4-mile round-trip hike that leads to a stunning panoramic view of the Pisgah mountain range. Another nearby and well-traveled path is Catawba Falls: a gentle 2.7-mile round-trip trail that rewards visitors with a towering, mossy waterfall. The treeless and expansive views of Black Balsam Knob are another bucket-list hike for both locals and visitors.

THINGS TO DO

Slightly farther afield is DuPont State Recreational Forest, a hiking and mountain biking gem complete with waterfalls, remote lakes, mountain views and miles of singletrack just outside the quaint but adventurous mountain town of Brevard.

To the east lies a rugged spectacle often referred to as the “Grand Canyon of the East,” Linville Gorge. The Linville River slices through dramatic quartz outcroppings and a rare ecosystem from its headwaters on iconic Grandfather Mountain, to create a 12-mile long gorge that shares jaw-dropping views in both directions before flowing into Lake James near Marion. If you’re willing to traverse the steep climbs and precipitous ridges, you’ll find up to 3,000-foot drops to the wilderness river and everything from rare salamanders and frogs to migratory birds riding thermals over the gorge.

Choose your own adventure on a trip to the summit of the 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. Limit your exertion with a drive to within a mile of the peak, or start at Mount Mitchell Trailhead for a 3,600-foot climb in 5.5 miles. As usual, the harder path provides a bigger payoff, with idyllic grassy balds, rushing streams and at least four varieties of forest, including native Fraser firs and old-growth spruce.

Photo courtesy of Hartwell Carson @ mtntrue

OUTSIDE

Best of WNC 2022-23 Awards

From the annual Mountain Xpress readers’ poll Outdoors

DAY HIKE TRAIL

1 Black Balsam Knob

2 The North Carolina Arboretum Trails

3 Craggy Gardens

EASY HIKE TRAIL (FOR KIDS, ELDERS, LIMITED MOBILITY)

1 The North Carolina Arboretum Trails

2 Catawba Falls

3 Craggy Gardens Trail

PLACE TO RELAX ON THE WATER

1 French Broad River

2 Lake James

3 Lake Lure

WALK - IN OR NEAR ASHEVILLE

1 The North Carolina Arboretum Trails

2 Beaver Lake

3 Greenways along the French Broad River

PICNIC SPOT

1 Craggy Gardens

2 Blue Ridge Parkway

3 Biltmore Estate

CANOPY TOUR/ZIP LINE

1 Navitat Canopy Adventures

2 Asheville Treetops Adventure Park (Adventure Center of Asheville)

3 The Gorge Zipline

RAFTING COMPANY

1 Zen Tubing

2 Nantahala Outdoor Center

3 French Broad Adventures

OUTDOOR GEAR AND APPAREL SHOP

1 Second Gear

2 REI Co-op

3 Black Dome Mountain Sports

BACKPACKING TRAIL/ OVERNIGHT HIKE

1 Art Loeb Trail

2 Appalachian Trail from Hot Springs to Max Patch

3 Black Balsam Knob

To explore all the Best of WNC reader survey results, pick up a copy of the Definitive Guide to the Best of WNC, widely available at hotels, local businesses and in Mountain Xpress racks and boxes.

THINGS TO DO

GET LOST

The most popular trails often overflow on busy weekends, so you might be wise to seek solitude a little farther from town. Consider the streamside Haywood Gap Trail in the Middle Prong Wilderness.

Alternatively, more than 6,300 acres of public backcountry lie in the Panthertown Valley in Nantahala National Forest, complete with pristine pools at the base of waterfalls, sandy riverbanks, and unadulterated views of wilderness mountain slopes.

Explore trails off the paved thoroughfares deep in Pisgah National Forest by picking up a locally made trail map from Pisgah Map Co. at any nearby outdoors store and find your own way.

Of course there’s the longest hiking-only footpath in the world just down the road. Pick up the Appalachian Trail as it heads into America’s most-visited national park in 2022, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Or simply enjoy a true hiker’s enclave, where the AT passes through downtown Hot Springs, just an hour north of Asheville.

WHAT TO DO

On the water:

• Tubing – Hot spots to check out include the French Broad and Green rivers, or Deep Creek near Bryson City.

• Rafting – The French Broad, Nantahala, Nolichucky, Pigeon, Tuckaseegee and Chattooga rivers are all nearby and offer whitewater opportunities.

• Bellyaking (WNC is the birthplace of this sweet laydown paddling apparatus).

Photo courtesy of Joshua Niven

• Swimming – During the steamy months, a few go-to swimming holes include Hooker Falls in DuPont, Sliding Rock off the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Midnight Hole in the GSM National Park.

• Fishing – Lakes Powhatan and Julian are popular spots for boat fishing or from the bank. For fly fishing, it’s hard to beat the Davidson River in the Pisgah National Forest.

With any water activities, plan to spend all day, and if you don’t have your own equipment, as well as lots of experience, definitely avail yourself of the expert water-tour companies in the region.

On wheels:

• Mountain biking – nearby, Bent Creek is a perennial favorite along, as is Kolo Bike Park. Farther afield, try Tsali or Dupont State recreational forests’ single tracks.

• Road cycling – the curves on local roadways make cycling fun, but visibility can be poor. For the adventurous, try a climb up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Craggy Gardens.

• Driving – The Blue Ridge Parkway is the nation’s preeminent roadway. Take it slow and enjoy frequent overlooks worthy of a selfie or five.

On the wind:

• Zip lining – several options within an hour’s drive.

• Helicopter tours – over the city or the countryside.

• Skydiving or hang gliding – the closest facilities are a couple of hours away, but one can see a lot from so high.

On your own two feet:

• Rock climbing – indoor climbing gyms are a great start, but for the natural rock, try Hawksbill Mountain (Linville Gorge) or Rumbling Bald (Chimney Rock State Park).

• Skiing – In winter months there are several nearby slopes with reasonably priced rentals and approachable lifts at Cataloochee and Wolf Ridge ski resorts

KNOW ASHEVILLE Local LIKE A

Shopping

Even if you think you’ve seen it all, Asheville is likely to awaken your sense of wonder. You’ll find makers, crafters and artists, importers, designers and passionate devotees here — where “shop local” is the mantra and independent entrepreneurship is a way of life.

You’ll also find nationally known outlets. But take note: Even our malls are peppered with local, independent shops.

When considering how best to channel your inner shopper, consider these approaches:

• By neighborhood or area: Check out downtown Asheville, West Asheville (especially Haywood Road), Biltmore Village, River Arts District, Biltmore Park Town Square — or explore neighboring towns like Black Mountain and Weaverville.

• By special interest: Consider your personal passions and do an online search to see what Asheville has to offer. Whether you’re a musician or crafter, outdoor enthusiast, clotheshorse, gardener or vegan, Asheville has one or more specialty shops to draw you in. If you’re looking for the right record or comic book or the latest shoe style, hard-to-find book or the perfect gift for an eccentric friend, chances are good you’ll discover it here.

Photo courtesy of the North Asheville Tailgate Market @ northashevilletailgatemarket

Best of WNC

2022-23 Awards

From the annual Mountain Xpress readers’ poll Shopping

STORE THAT BEST REPRESENTS THE SPIRIT OF ASHEVILLE

1 Mast General Store

2 L.O.F.T. (Lost Objects Found Treasures)

3 Instant Karma CLOTHING: USED OR VINTAGE (FOR-PROFIT STORE)

1 Reciprocity

2 Honeypot Vintage

3 Hip Replacements

ASHEVILLE-STYLE CLOTHES

1 Elementality

2 Hip Replacements

SHOE STORE

1 Tops for Shoes

2 Discount Shoes of Asheville

3 GB Shoes

JEWELRY STORE

1 Spicer Greene Jewelers

2 Elementality

3 Fox & Beaux

ANTIQUE STORE

1 Antique Tobacco Barn

2 The Regeneration Station

3 Sweeten Creek Antiques & Collectibles

BOOKSTORE - USED

1 Mr. K’s Used Books, Music & More

2 Downtown Books & News

3 Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar

RECORD/CD STORE

1 Harvest Records

2 Static Age Records

3 Mr. K’s Used Books, Music & More

GIFT SHOP

1 Whist

2 L.O.F.T. (Lost Objects Found Treasures)

3 Southern Highlands Craft Guild

HEALTH FOOD STORE

1 Earth Fare

2 Whole Foods Market

3 French Broad Food Co-op

To explore all the Best of WNC reader survey results, pick up a copy of the Definitive Guide to the Best of WNC, widely available at hotels, local businesses and in Mountain Xpress racks and boxes.

THINGS TO DO

• By thrift, vintage, antique and upcycled: You’ll find treasures, steals and great deals. Intrepid bargain hunters can find unique treasures, sometimes going for a song.

• By locally owned: Shop like a local. Pick up a Go Local Directory and check out its more than 500 listings of locally owned businesses. The 2023 red-white-and-black directory is available in selected stores and many downtown Mountain Xpress newspaper boxes. Or ask your hotel or B&B host where you can find one. You also can get the full directory by downloading the Go Local Asheville app. When you shop local, you help preserve the town’s unique culture. Consider buying a Go Local card, which entitles you to special discounts. You’ll be shopping like a local while you save a lot of money. Check out ashevillegrown.com.

• By emporium stores with mini-galleries and booths, such as Regeneration Station, Woolworth Walk, Screen Door, Kress Emporium, Asheville Emporium and Antique Tobacco Barn.

• By special event: Check area calendars for local events, such as The Big Crafty, Southern Highland Craft Guild fairs, studio strolls, farmers markets and the annual Get in Gear Festival.

Boutique

THINGS TO DO

• By locally made goods: Asheville’s cottage industries and farms produce a wide range of goods. These “crafted production centers” are part of a new movement that’s bypassing overseas sweatshops to offer quality over quantity in the following areas:

• Clothing, including fashion lines, T-shirts, regionally produced yarn and cloth.

• Food, including bread, meats, cheeses, jerky, jams and condiments, kombucha and sodas.

• Jewelry.

• Furniture, glassware, pottery and home décor items like art prints, wall weavings and baskets.

• Soaps, herbal tinctures, CBD products, perfumes and cosmetics.

• Camping gear, hammocks, kayaks, hiking packs.

• Bicycles.

• Musical instruments, including synthesizers, banjos, dulcimers and drums.

• Vinyl records and CDs.

• Crafts, including tchotchkes and holiday ornaments.

• Leather goods, including shoes.

• Pet supplies, including homemade pet treats.

• Kids stuff, including clothing, dolls and toys.

Happy shopping! Asheville is a place of discovery.

Grove Arcade

Photo by Tina Gaafary

Arts & Crafts

Working artists have been setting up shop in Asheville and calling it home for more than a century. As a result, the area has come to be recognized as a national center for arts and crafts. To see a lot of local crafts try these hot spots:

• Kress Emporium and Woolworth Walk are each packed with booths presenting the works of different artists. You’ll find everything from a new mug to yard installations in these downtown spaces.

• The River Arts District is home to more than 200 artists with working studios in 23 former industrial buildings. Treat yourself and loved ones to some of the best paintings and pottery Asheville has to offer.

• The Refinery AVL Creator Space comprises over 20 resident artists and exhibitions in three galleries. Photography, jewelry, ceramics, tattoos and even hair art coexist within its walls.

• The Folk Art Center houses a historical archive of regional craft and maintains a rotating set of exhibits and demonstrations. Offerings typically include handcrafted furniture, musical instruments and the work of fiber artists.

Photo courtesy of Gabriel Kline @ odysseyclayworks

ARTS & CRAFTS

• The Center for Craft contains two galleries featuring a range of mediums, plus the National Craft Innovation Hub.

• North Carolina Glass Center, Lexington Glassworks, The Village Potters and the Odyssey ClayWorks offer classes, demos and open galleries.

• Or, if you catch the right weekend and want to go for a drive through the country, various nearby locales host self-guided craft studio tours (Weaverville Art Safari, Leicester Studio Tour and Kenilworth Artists Association Studio Tour among them). Or take a daytrip to Penland School of Crafts or John C. Campbell Folk School; both are nationally renowned institutions located within a couple of hours’ drive of Asheville.

Museums THINGS TO DO

If you’re visiting Asheville, certain museums and historical sites are hard to miss: The Asheville Art Museum and the Center for Craft completed multimillion-dollar makeovers in recent years and are reveling in their prestige; meanwhile, the Biltmore Estate and Asheville Museum of Science are anything but hidden.

Other locations require a little digging, though. If you want to go small, niche or quirky, and your passion is pinball, radios, antique cars, Moog synthesizers or cats, we’ve got a museum for you.

Unless specified otherwise, the following sites are located in Asheville.

HOUSE MUSEUMS

• Smith-McDowell House Museum: Built in 1840, the home is believed to be the oldest surviving house in Asheville and the oldest brick structure in Buncombe County. Closed for renovations until summer 2023.

• Thomas Wolfe Memorial: Tour the childhood home of writer Thomas Wolfe and learn how the property inspired his scandalous 1929 novel, Look Homeward, Angel

• Vance Birthplace: Located in Weaverville, the tour focuses on what pioneer life was like for both free and enslaved people in Western North Carolina.

INSTRUMENTS AND SOUND

• The Asheville Radio Museum: This small museum has an impressive collection of radio equipment, advertisements and other memorabilia. Hours vary.

• LEAF Cultural Arts center: The multicultural, interactive, familyfriendly center offers sights and sounds from around the globe, as well as local crafts.

• The Moogseum: This interactive museum celebrates Robert “Bob” Moog’s legacy and the science of sound.

HISTORY CENTERS

• Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center: Learn the history and legacy of Black Mountain College, a freewheeling, multidisciplinary hub of artistic innovation that operated from 1933-57.

Photo courtesy of Gary Charles @ toashevilleandbeyond

• Southern Highland Craft Guild Folk Art Center: Situated at milepost 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the center features over 900 makers.

• Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center: Located in Black Mountain, the nonprofit offers permanent and temporary exhibits about the history of Buncombe County.

• YMI Cultural Center: Opened in 1893, the center is located in the heart of Asheville’s former African American business district. Today the site offers cultural, economic and leadership development activities. Prior to visiting, check its site for hours and upcoming events.

• Presbyterian Heritage Center: Located in Montreat, the center launched in 2008. Its collection, preserved records and materials include all Presbyterian and Reformed Church denominations.

• Buncombe County Special Collections: Located on the lower level of Pack Memorial Library in downtown Asheville, BCSC specializes in the social, cultural and natural history of Asheville, Buncombe County and Western North Carolina.

• Dry Ridge Historical Museum: Located just south of downtown Weaverville, the museum emphasizes collecting, preserving and sharing the history of Weaverville, Reems Creek and Flat Creek townships.

TRANSPORTATION MUSEUMS

• Estes-Winn Antique Car Museum: See rare automobiles like the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. The museum is closed January-March.

• Western North Carolina Air Museum: Located in Hendersonville, the site offers a unique collection celebrating the Golden Age of Aviation, 1918-39. Limited hours. Closed December-February.

ECCENTRIC SPOTS

• American Museum of the House Cat: Located in Sylva, this quirky museum features a collection of house cat memorabilia — from vintage advertisements to a mummified feline.

• Asheville Pinball Museum: Pay to play 80-plus classic pinball and video games.

Live Music

While Asheville attracts many national and international touring acts to its larger venues, there’s a wealth of local talent playing in small rooms scattered throughout the city every night of the week. Make no mistake, music aficionados are at home in Asheville.

As you’re getting to know the city, we encourage you to explore beyond your sonic comfort zone: A new favorite artist is likely just around the corner.

Consider organizing your musical odyssey around one of the following:

• Music genres — You’ll find experimental, hip-hop, jazz, funk, soul, blues, electronic, singer-songwriter, world music plus others. And, yes, there’s plenty of Americana and bluegrass, too.

• Music venues — Many of these are situated in downtown and West Asheville. They range from raging nightclubs to quiet listening rooms. There are also plenty of open-mic and jamsession opportunities.

• Buskers, buskers everywhere — They play for tips on bustling downtown streets.

• Outdoors and by the river — WNC’s ample fair weather lends itself to music al fresco. Depending on the season, you’ll find many outdoor concerts, from festivals to porch shows. And being Beer City, many of our breweries feature concerts on their own outdoor stages.

Photo by Jessica Wakeman

Performing Arts

Plenty of nationally touring acts make their way to the Asheville area — but don’t overlook Asheville’s distinct gems: Our local talent regularly fills stages (and nontraditional spaces) with a remarkable variety of engaging performances and sometimes boundary-pushing productions.

From drama and comedy to fringe and circus arts, you’ll find lots to explore.

• From the outdoor productions of Montford Park Players to the black box works at Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective, over a dozen local theater companies keep area stages active all year long.

• Homegrown dance troupes present modern, ballet, butoh and edgy acts. And don’t forget about Shindig on the Green, which brings clogging and traditional dance to Pack Square Park each summer.

• Spoken-word and literary offerings fill bookstores, club stages, listening rooms and, in the case of Punch Bucket Lit at Cellarest Beer Project, breweries.

• Arthouse film theaters led by the Fine Arts Theatre and Grail Moviehouse give cinephiles options that, in tandem with the handful of chain cinemas, make Asheville a Top 20 U.S. market.

Photo courtesy of the Asheville Fringe Festival @ avlfringefest

THINGS TO DO

Other Entertainment

Still looking for more excitement? Here are a few ideas that may pique your interest.

• Burlesque and performance art — You may not be able to set your watch by these, but such unorthodox performances crop up frequently enough to hold a place in many Ashevillleans’ hearts.

• Drag shows — O.Henry’s, Asheville’s oldest gay bar, features weekly performances by drag queens and kings. Other events, including drag brunches, are held frequently around town.

• Theater — Asheville is host to stages big and small that are busy yearlong. Summer schedules are particularly packed with the addition of outdoor performances. Stellar performances of Broadway musicals, world premiers, creative reimaginings and more await.

• Dance — For those who want to get in on the act, there are numerous opportunities to cut a rug and get a good workout with salsa, swing, contra and more. Some events feature live music and lessons at the beginning.

Photo courtesy of the Asheville Fringe Festival @ avlfringefest

• Trivia nights — Trivia teams gather at a number of area bars and taprooms for weekly competitions.

• Puppet, poetry and story slams — You can observe or participate.

• Sports — Asheville’s Minor League Baseball team, the Tourists, hosts 70-plus home games between April and September. Over at UNC Asheville, the Asheville City Soccer Club offers up preprofessional-level excitement with men’s and women’s teams. The city hosts the Southern Conference men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments in March, is home to a women’s flat track roller derby team and is a repeat host for Fed Cup tennis matches.

Wellness & Healing

Where else can you see a world-class cardiologist at the crack of dawn, indulge in a color-light wrap with aura imaging midmorning, take a hike in the mountains with a yoga instructor in the afternoon and then chill out surrounded by 15 tons of salt in the evening?

For centuries, the Cherokee Indians considered nearby Hot Springs, just 40 minutes from Asheville, a healing place. Asheville’s renown as a wellness destination grew in the 1870s, when publicity about its climate and fresh mountain air began to draw people seeking treatment for tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases. In 1871, the country’s first sanitarium, The Villa, was established in what is now the Kenilworth neighborhood. With the arrival of the railroad in 1880, thousands of health-seekers flocked to the city. Boardinghouses catered to visitors who reclined on sleeping porches to take “the cure.” Doctors at the beginning of the 20th century proclaimed the Asheville plateau as the great sanitarium of the eastern United States, helping to establish the town as a health care mecca.

Today, the local health care industry continues to thrive, having posted 14% growth in jobs between 2010-15, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. In 2021, health services ranked as the

Photo courtesy of The Omni Grove Park Inn @ omnigrovepark

fourth-largest job sector, surpassed only by office/admin, food prep and service, and sales.

WNC is also home to an impressive variety of services, whether you come to attune your galactic Earth coordinates with the synchronicities of your soul signature, to breathe the “clean” mountain air (unless it’s a Code Yellow Day), to undergo any number of alternative medical treatments offered in Asheville or to take advantage of our ever-expanding conventional, awardwinning medical infrastructure.

A wide variety of acupuncture and massage styles are available from local practitioners. For a more far-out experience, try the sensory deprivation tank at Still Point Wellness. Yoga is available at traditional walk-in classes, in a hot room, or offered aerialstyle or as part of a hiking tour. In addition to health centers like

the YMCA, YWCA and the Jewish Community Center, we’re also home to a thriving CrossFit community, dance classes ranging from pole fitness to line dancing, climbing walls and several spin studios, among other boutique fitness destinations. If your wellness interests transcend the traditional, then consider your chakras — we have an abundance of reiki healers and holistic practitioners. There’s also forest bathing with the OM Sanctuary, tarot readings at Raven and Crone or the monthly community fire with Sacred Fire Asheville. Or find your cannabidiol fix — CBD, that is — at a multitude of dispensaries, grocery stores and boutiques. In 2022, our readers selected Franny’s Farmacy as the best place to buy CBD products and the best place to snag locally made CBD treats.

WELLNESS ADVENTURES

The mountains — their sheer age, solitude, silence and vistas — offer their healing energies and perspectives. In town, healing propensities and modalities abound. Whether you want a simple pick-me-up, an entree into an entirely new way of being or simply an hour of silence, there is something for you, including yoga studios, day spas, purveyors of herbs, books and supplies, schools and clinics, and meditation centers.

Kids Central

Ready to explore Asheville with the kids? Luckily, options abound to keep everyone engaged and entertained for your entire stay.

GETTING ACTIVE

There are plenty of opportunities to get the kids outside and have some fun — whether they’re the adventurous sort or take a mellower approach to outdoor activities.

The intrepid may be intrigued by our nearby zip lines: in town, Adventure Center of Asheville offers fun for younger kids (ages 4-10) through adults, while Navitat Canopy Adventures in nearby Barnardsville offers tours for participants age 5 through adults who meet the weight requirements.

Asheville boasts several guided climbing adventures, as well as climbing gyms: in downtown Asheville, on Amboy Road at the French Broad River and in Fletcher.

If you have a skateboarder in tow, you may want to check out the River Arts District’s two skate parks. Asheville Skate Park, a public outdoor skate park near downtown, is scheduled to reopen in August 2023 after renovations. Other public skate parks can be found in nearby Black Mountain, Hendersonville, Brevard and Waynesville. And if roller skating is your child’s thing, Waynesville also offers a roller skating rink at Smoky Mountain Sk8way.

PLAYGROUNDS GALORE

You’ll find playgrounds in town and the surrounding area, although some spots offer more elaborate structures than others:

• Arden’s Jake Rusher Park and Lake Julian Park

• Asheville’s Temple Avery Montford Center Playground

• Enka’s Buncombe County Sports Park

• Montreat’s Robert Lake Park

Photo courtesy of Flat Rock Playhouse @ frplayhouse

KIDS CENTRAL

• Swannanoa’s Charles D. Owen Park

• Weaverville’s Lake Louise Park

• West Asheville’s Carrier Park

• In Woodfin, Avery’s Little Corner playground at Roy Pope Memorial Park

HIKING, WATER FUN AND MORE

In the warmer months, water fun can include dashing through the fountains at the public Splasheville in downtown, a thrilling ride down the Sliding Rock natural rock slide in nearby Pisgah National Forest or a dip in the area’s public swimming pools. More info on playgrounds and pools can be found on the Asheville Parks and Recreation and Buncombe County Recreation Services websites.

HOW TO FIND WHATEVER YOU NEED Asheville While in

THINGS TO DO

The Blue Ridge Parkway’s Asheville Visitor Center TRACK Trail (milepost 384) offers a hiking trail aimed at kids. It’s part of the Kids in Parks program (kidsinparks.com), which includes info, maps and incentives to get children excited about outdoor recreation. See the Get Outside section in this guide for more ideas.

For biking enthusiasts, the Kolo Bike Park at the Adventure Center of Asheville offers options for kids as young as 3 who can ride a bike. In Fletcher, the Riveter also features a bike park.

If the kids are hankering for a round of mini-golf, the Asheville area has you covered, too, with two outdoor venues to choose from: Lakeview Putt and Play and Tropical Gardens Mini Golf.

The WNC Nature Center also gets high marks from Mountain Xpress readers as a place for outdoor fun.

Depending on the season, your children also may be able to visit a local farm, pick berries or apples at a U-pick establishment or challenge their sense of direction at a local corn maze. See the agritourism section in this guide for more ideas.

THE GREAT INDOORS

The Asheville area also has plenty of indoor options for fun as well, including the Launch trampoline park in Arden, two bowling alleys, the Mountain Play Lodge indoor play center in Arden, pinball at the Asheville Pinball Museum and a board game café, both downtown.

Kids who get jazzed about science will likely be interested in the Asheville Museum of Science downtown, a regular winner of best Museum for Kids as voted by Mountain Xpress readers.

Meanwhile, art lovers might enjoy the hands-on activities offered at the Asheville Art Museum or a paint-your-own pottery session at local studios Claying Around or Fired Up! Creative Lounge.

If you’re looking for some adults-only time in the evenings, many local organizations host regular parents’ nights out at settings ranging from gyms to martial arts studios and more.

PLAYING AND CHILLING

This being Beer City USA, you might want to bring your kids along to a family-friendly brewery or similar locale. Options include Asheville Pizza & Brewing, which houses a movie theater at its North Asheville location; Creekside Taphouse in East Asheville, featuring its own playground area; Whistle Hop Brewing Co. in Fairview, with its caboose taproom and outdoor games; along with Highland Brewing, New Belgium Brewing and New Origin Brewing with kid-friendly outdoor spaces.

Two arcades, The Retrocade in West Asheville and Level 256 on the South Slope, accommodate kids until switching to adults-only hours in the evening.

And for family-friendly dining spots, be sure to check out the Ashevillearea Eats & Drinks Guide, along with our Best of WNC guide.

To explore all the Best of WNC reader survey results, pick up a copy of the Definitive Guide to the Best of WNC,

Photo by AE Silver @ a.e.silver

Agritourism

Western North Carolina’s small, family-owned farms are well known as a cornerstone of Asheville’s celebrated farm-to-table food scene. But increasingly, many of them also incorporate agritourism into their business models, welcoming guests to the farm for tours, events, U-pick adventures, educational offerings and overnight stays.

Whether it’s picking a bouquet of dahlias fresh from the field, sipping a glass of wine right in the vineyard, socializing with farm animals, shopping at a farm stand or diving into a handson cheese-making class, visitors can enjoy the great outdoors, experience mountain foodways and support local farms through outings, daytrips and multiday excursions.

FOOD FROM THE SOURCE

WNC farms offer products and activities to suit any taste, interest or energy level. Farm stand foragers can discover treasures like honey and eggs (chicken, duck or quail) alongside baskets of heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, beans and squash. With many local growers focusing on specialty crops, those usual veggie suspects often share the spotlight with medicinal and culinary herbs, ginger, mushrooms, garlic, hops and even rice. If fruit is on the shopping list, a scenic drive to a local farm could yield anything from blueberries and melons to peaches and Asian pears.

Rather pick it yourself? Just grab a basket and head out to any number of operations that open their fields to visitors. Henderson County — about a 40-minute drive from Asheville — is the top apple-growing county in North Carolina with numerous U-pick apple farms and farm stands featuring everything from fresh apple cider to warm doughnuts. Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries are also plentiful U-pick options near Asheville as are all kinds of flowers.

Photo courtesy of Asheville Wellness Tours @ ashevillewellnesstours

HANDS-ON FARM FUN

Dairy farms and creameries — both goat and cow varieties — provide opportunities to sample and buy high-quality, farmfresh milk, cheeses, yogurts and ice cream right at the source as well as interact with cute farm critters. Likewise, many local meat and fiber farms have shops and offer tours that allow visitors to engage with everything from pigs and sheep to rabbits, bison and African watusi cattle.

Children will find plenty to do at local farms, some of which cater to youngsters with play areas, trails, hands-on classes and animal petting zones. Adults seeking a more relaxing experience can opt to visit one of many vineyards and wineries or on-farm breweries within an hour’s drive of Asheville. And an ongoing variety of outdoor, farm-based pop-up dinners, seasonal festivals and other events provide opportunities for the whole family to have fun on the farm.

Hit the trail

Want to choose your own Asheville farm adventure? Check out these designated agricultural trails and areas:

• Farm Heritage Trail — This self-guided scenic driving route through rural northwest Buncombe County features opportunities for stops at familyowned vegetable farms, wineries, herb nurseries, a bison farm and more. farmheritagetrail.org

• Tryon Foothills Wine Country — The area around Columbus and Tryon (about an hour southeast of Asheville) is a designated American Viticultural Area and home to several vineyards and wineries, which can be visited on one’s own or through local organized tour companies.

• WNC Cheese Trail — A cooperative effort to promote WNC cheese makers, the WNC Cheese Trail provides a map and information on area creameries and their agritourism offerings as well as details on cheese-related events, including the annual Carolina Mountain Cheese Fest. wnccheesetrail.org

Find a farm

Use these two resources to locate farms in the Asheville area:

• ASAP Local Food Guide (and Farm Tour every September): asapconnections.org/find-local-food/local-food-guide

• Visit NC Farms app: visitncfarmstoday.com

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHTS

West Asheville

Reminiscent of how downtown Asheville felt 20 years ago and simmering with an easygoing yet somehow hip attitude, visitors will enjoy discovering the neighborhood’s funky shops and tasty delights down the length of Haywood Road.

Biltmore Village

If your favorite park were also a historic shopping district where even quick-service restaurants have Tudor-style architecture, you’d be right at home in this southern outpost of Asheville’s central business district.

Photo by 180 Degree Photography @ overasheville

Photo by Morito Suzuki @ mo_suzuki

Biltmore Town Square Park

Three hundred acres of stately homes and lovely streets to enjoy beneath a shady tree canopy — just a stroll north of downtown.

Photo by Cindy Kunst

Photo by 180 Degree Photography @ overasheville

A hop, skip and a jump from the airport, this upscale planned village is on target for those seeking a walkable shopping experience with a local flair, away from the crowds of downtown.

River Arts District

The River Arts District (aka the RAD) is a creative destination that will leave an impression long after you’ve departed. A sprawling network of some 270 working artists in 26 buildings, this old industrial area from the 1880s has undergone huge changes over the last 30 years.

INDUSTRIAL ORIGINS

What you see overlooking the French Broad River is a far cry from what it once was. A popular trade route since the early 19th century, the area grew when the railways and accompanying industry made their way here in 1879. By the early 1900s the RAD was home to about two dozen factories that produced textiles, grain and other goods. Western North Carolina’s historic 1916 flood led to the closure of many of these businesses, while others relocated to higher grounds. From the late 1970s onwards, artists and investors began to acquire many of the abandoned buildings, transforming them into affordable art spaces.

Over the last half century, the area has continued to evolve. While hundreds of artists still call the RAD home, the growing number of food and beverage venues, as well as event spaces, movie theaters and other retail operations are making their mark on the scene.

GETTING THERE & AROUND

The RAD is ideally placed — a mile west of downtown, it’s an easily accessible area, by car, bike or bus.

Recent improvements have added sidewalks, new roads, 2 miles of beautiful greenway, bike lanes, extra parking and over 3,000 trees. It’s a wanderer’s paradise where you can stroll from one studio to the next, observing artists working in various mediums, or nosing through huge art and antique warehouses.

“Thanks to the greenways, visitors can walk throughout the RAD, to see probably every kind of art imaginable — paintings in every style and medium; glass, photography, clay and ceramics, metal

Photo by Cindy Kunst

NEIGHBORHOODS & SMALL TOWNS

sculpture, woodworking, printmaking and more,” says Julie Bell, president of the River Arts District Association.

The area is divided into four hubs, each offering a self-contained experience that includes a mix of studios, galleries, breweries (don’t forget — we’re in Asheville), fine dining, Barack Obamaapproved barbecue, independent cinemas, music venues, murals and more.

BEYOND CRAFTS

The RAD isn’t just for local arts — you’ll also find vintage clothing stores, furniture and textile merchants and gently-used adventure-gear purveyors. Speaking of adventure, there’s plenty for the outdoor enthusiast in the RAD, including bike trails, rock climbing and skate parks, as well as tubing and kayaking options. If you’re looking to get hands-on, many studios offer classes such as glass-blowing, painting, enamel-charm-making and marbling.

WHAT’S ON

April-December, visitors can take part in Second Saturday, where studios organize craft demos and host live music. In November, the annual Studio Stroll features a weekend-long block party. If you’re hoping to connect with a specific artist, be sure to check their schedule before visiting.

PHOTO FINISH

Thanks to incredible, decades-long work by the local conservation group RiverLink, the banks of the French Broad River are now an Instagrammer’s delight. Grab a taco, kick back with a beer and relax by the river at one of the area’s bars.

Some of the best murals and graffiti in Asheville can be found in the RAD. Be sure to take photos of your favorites, as chances are they will be painted over before your next visit.

Black Mountain

Just 15 miles east of Asheville, Black Mountain is a must-visit for its thriving, walkable downtown, wealth of food and drink options and breathtaking views of the Black Mountains — the tallest range in the Eastern U.S.

The area is tied to the historic Black Mountain College, a pioneering liberal arts institution that attracted avant-garde students, some of the 20th century‘s most influential artists, such as Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham and Buckminster Fuller. A museum and arts center (in downtown Asheville) commemorates the college, while the campus itself is now part of Lake Eden Events & Lodging, just outside Black Mountain. The Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center, on West State Street, is ideal for those eager to learn more about area history.

OUT & ABOUT

There are many great hiking trails close to Black Mountain. The 9-mile Graybeard Trail takes you by a spectacular waterfall; the less strenuous Lookout Trail offers views of the Montreat Valley. You’ll also find a dozen interconnected greenways in and around town, most of them paved.

Live music is a staple in Black Mountain, and you’ll find something on many days of the week. The annual Sourwood Festival in August celebrates local bees and features hundreds of vendors and carnival rides, with events all day and into the evening.

A wonderfully walkable downtown opens its doors to visitors all year long. Browse dozens of specialty shops filled with locally made crafts, jewelry, artwork, yarn and more. The legacy of Black Mountain College lives on in the town’s artists, including its painters, photographers, sculptors and potters.

Photo by 180 Degree Photography @ overasheville

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHTS

BLACK MOUNTAIN (CONTINUED)

In need of refreshment? Some of the best restaurants in Western North Carolina are in Black Mountain. Whether you’re looking for a casual bite to eat or have specific dietary needs, there’s much within easy reach here. Outdoor dining abounds, so when the weather is fair, be sure to consider dining alfresco. Enjoy a sweet treat, such as locally made ice cream and cupcakes, while kicking back on one of the many hand-painted rocking chairs scattered throughout town. Of course, it wouldn’t be WNC without great beer and cider, and there’s plenty of both to quench your thirst in Black Mountain.

The town also rolls out the welcome mat for visitors’ best friends: Many businesses leave dog bowls and treats outside, and most restaurants and bars welcome four-legged companions.

Close to downtown, the picturesque 16-acre Lake Tomahawk Park offers a lakeside trail, pool, picnic tables, playground and fishing pier, though adults will need a valid N.C. fishing license.

Dubbed “The best cultural Mix and Match Festival in the nation” by The Washington Post, the semiannual four-day LEAF Festival presents a coming-together of music, arts, food and outdoor adventures that has been taking place since 1995 at the site of the former Black Mountain College.

Weaverville

Weaverville (population 4,500) is historically a farming community, and its emphasis on all things local still runs strong. Like other towns in the region, Weaverville is charming, unique and exceptionally dog-friendly — boasting even a dog bar.

Start the day off right in one of downtown’s very popular and laid-back coffee shops — which will prepare you to explore on foot the antique, arts and crafts stores that feature local pottery, jewelry, handmade wooden furniture and paintings by Weaverville artists. The town’s annual Art in Autumn Festival and semiannual Art Safari tours are testaments to the area’s dedication to local crafts. The Christmas Candlelight Stroll is a must if you’re visiting in December.

A mile or so south of downtown is the lovely Lake Louise Park, which features a walking trail around its lake and plenty of picnic benches. If you want to make a day of it, fishing is permitted with a valid N.C. permit. Sited above the lake, you’ll find the Dry Ridge Historical Museum, with exhibits about Weaverville, Reems Creek and Flat Creek townships.

Weaverville’s other park, Main Street Nature Park in downtown, encompasses 10 acres of nature habitats and walking trails.

Weaverville offers plenty of options for eating, including great pizza, Greek, Italian and Mediterranean options, sushi and more. You’ll also find three microbreweries in walking distance of each other.

Photo by Cindy Kunst

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHTS

LGBTQIA+

It’s official: Asheville is LGBTQIA+-friendly — and has been for decades.

• In 2010, Asheville was ranked by The Advocate as one of America’s top 15 gayest cities.

• In 2013, Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger made national news by accepting gay marriage applications, despite North Carolina’s constitutional ban on gay marriage. The ban was later overturned by a U.S. District Court decision.

• In 2015, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer penned an open invitation, welcoming LGBTQIA+ visitors.

• Openly lesbian Tammy Hooper became Asheville’s first female police chief in 2015.

• Buncombe County voters elected their first openly lesbian county commissioner in 2016, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara.

• Asheville City Council unanimously voted in 2016 to call for the repeal of North Carolina’s controversial “bathroom bill,” HB2.

• The city was ranked one of the 20 best places for LGBTQIA+ retirement in 2019 by senioradvice.com.

• In 2021, Asheville City Council unanimously adopted a nondiscrimination ordinance prohibiting discriminatory practices in private and public employment.

Asheville is an incredibly welcoming and diverse city — ‘y’all means all’ is a much-loved slogan here. Because of Asheville’s laid-back nature, a ‘gayborhood’ never developed; rather, the vast majority of businesses are allies and active participants in creating a safe environment for all.

Photo courtesy of Sheryl Mann

CULTURE

Don’t be surprised to find Progress Pride flags outside craft breweries and local art stores, lesbian nights in dive bars, and murals featuring Dolly and RuPaul. There’s a place for everyone in Asheville, and chances are, there’s an event too.

DRAG SHOWS

There are plenty of drag shows, brunches and nights on most days of the week around town. Their locations change frequently, so be sure to keep an eye on listings for up-to-date info.

PRIDE FESTIVAL

The annual Blue Ridge Pride Festival, taking place at the end of September, is the largest festival in Pack Square — in 2022, there were over 200 stands and 10,000-plus participants. There are also lots of parties and events during the weeks before and after the parade.

blueridgepride.org hosts a substantial database of local advocacy and social groups. You’ll find events every night of the week.

ENTERTAINMENT & SHOPPING

• O.henry’s The oldest gay bar in North Carolina, established 1976.

• The Underground An industrial dance bar in the back of O.henry’s.

• Banks Ave Bar A gay-owned, all-inclusive bar with drinks specials, drag shows and events.

• Grove House Entertainment Complex Houses three venues: Club Eleven, Scandals Nightclub and Boiler Room.

• Alley Cat Social Club A late-night club with occasional events.

• The Odd A queer-friendly bar with regular drag shows and events.

• Desoto Lounge A friendly dive bar with a lesbian night on the last Wednesday of the month.

BLUERIDGEPRIDE.ORG

• PRIDE PORTAL Connect, inform, and support our community

• GENERATION PLUS Empowering programs for LGBTQ+ 55+

• ORAL HISTORY Preserving our stories, our way

• COMMUNITY PARTNER FUND Supporting our nonprofit organizations

• BUSINESS ALLIANCE Fostering equity, inclusions & economic prosperity

• VOLUNTEER Get involved with your LGBTQ+ community

• COMMUNITY EVENTS Creating & partnering for the LGBTQ+ community

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHTS

• The Getaway River Bar LGBTQIA+-friendly bar with regular events; owner Charlie Hodge’s other venture, the Asheville Beauty Academy, is for late-night revelers.

• Emote A queer art and secondhand store.

• Firestorm Books A collectively-owned radical bookstore and community events space.

• Malaprop’s Asheville’s go-to bookstore with a large curated selection of gay and lesbian literature.

ORGANIZATIONS & LISTINGS:

• The Campaign for Southern Equality is headquartered in Asheville.

• Blue Ridge Pride Promotes equality, safety, and quality of life in WNC, hosts community events including the annual pride festival.

• butchOUT A nonprofit raising funds for the LGBTQ community; hosts monthly tea dances at Banks Ave.

• Tranzmission Advocacy and support for nonbinary, transgender and gender-nonconforming people.

• YouthOUTright.org Youth advocacy and leadership for LGBTQIA+ youths.

• Sylva Pride An inclusive group with an annual pride parade in the town of Sylva.

• Ashevilledragbrunch.com Asheville’s oldest drag brunch taking place at multiple locations.

African American

The roots of African Americans in Asheville are as deep as the city itself. The imprint of community leaders can be seen everywhere — from the buildings designed and built by master mason James Vester Miller, to the Burton Street Community in West Asheville established by Edward Walton (E.W.) Pearson Sr.

GEORGE VANDERBILT AND THE SHILOH COMMUNITY

One of the oldest Black communities in Asheville is Shiloh in South Asheville. Known locally as New Shiloh, this community was originally just north of the Biltmore Estate. When George Vanderbilt bought the lands to build his home, he also purchased the area of Old Shiloh from the residents — with the provision that their church, AME Zion, and its ancestral graves be relocated to what is now 95 Shiloh Road. Many worked at Biltmore Forest and Estate.

BLACK WALL STREET AVL

While urban renewal had a hugely negative impact on the African American population of Asheville, in recent years, the city has experienced a resurgence in Black entrepreneurship. In March 2020, J. Hackett and Bruce Waller opened Grind AVL, the city’s first Black-owned coffee shop, in the River Arts District.

The duo also spearheaded the founding of Black Wall Street AVL, which in late 2021 established itself at 8 River Arts Place. Now a coalition of over 100 Black-led businesses, BWS AVL hosts regular events such as Sunday Brunch.

Photo by Cindy Kunst

AFRICAN AMERICAN (CONTINUED)

“I want people to see the diversity and the culture,” says Bruce Waller. “I want them to see the music, comedy, networking parties, all the different things we’re already doing.”

THE BLOCK

The area just south of Pack Square in downtown Asheville, including Eagle and Market streets, was once known as The Block — a buzzing hub of the African American community. The YMI Cultural Center continues to be an important focal point, with events, art exhibitions and classes. The YMI was financed with a loan from George Vanderbilt and built on the recommendation of Isaac Dickson and Edward S. Stephens, two local African American leaders.

Speaking to Xpress reporter Edwin Arnaudin in July 2021, YMI Executive Director Dewana Little explained the area’s importance: “What made it The Block was it being a safe zone for Black people. Historically, it’s one of the only areas outside of Southside where Black people have been able to really grow businesses in downtown Asheville.”

Pack Memorial Library has a special collection called Twilight of a Neighborhood, which includes over 500 photographs of Asheville’s East End, the city’s oldest and most significant African American neighborhood, taken by Andrea Clarke before urban renewal.

RABBIT’S MOTEL

South of downtown, Rabbit’s Motel was one of the finest tourist courts in the segregation-era South. It was a popular stop for chitlin’ circuit bands, Black sports figures and other travelers who enjoyed the hospitality of owner Fred “Rabbit” Simpson (so named because he could run fast!). It continued to operate as a café until 2003.

HOT BUNS & TASTY MEAT

Area residents Claude Coleman Jr. (longtime drummer for rock band Ween) and Brett Spivey (multi-instrumentalist and artist) have been restoring the historic property, which now operates as rehearsal studios. They plan to open a restaurant there soon.

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

• TheUrbanNews.com Multicultural news and events listings.

• GRINDFest A block-party-style festival every Memorial Day weekend celebrating Black Asheville.

• Goombay Festival Held every September in The Block, a weekendlong annual celebration of African Caribbean culture.

• Juneteenth The city hosts a weeklong celebration of Juneteenth, organized by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville & Buncombe County.

• Black Wall Street AVL A hub for Black-owned and -led businesses.

• YMI Cultural Centre An historic, community-owned building with regular exhibitions and events.

• SoundSpace@Rabbit’s A refurbished tourist court now used as rehearsal studios, soon to host a restaurant.

• Peace Gardens & Market Community gardens in the historic Burton Street area, open to the public yearround.

Jewish

Asheville’s Jewish community origins are tied to the city’s rapid expansion, when the railroad connected our mountain hideaway to the wider world in the 1880s. An 1890 Asheville city directory details many prominent Jewish-owned businesses, several of which left a lasting impression well into the 20th century. It’s estimated that over 435 Jewish businesses have been in operation in downtown Asheville, 1880-1990.

ASHEVILLE TODAY

The first congregation in Asheville, Congregation Beth HaTephila, was established in 1892 and moved to its current home on North Liberty Street in 1949. An extensive renovation in 2012 is what visitors see today. A separate congregation, Congregation Beth Israel, was affiliated with Conservative Judaism until 2014, when it broke away in order to be more inclusive of non-Jewish spouses as well as same-sex couples.

Today Asheville’s Jewish community is diverse and deep. The Asheville Jewish Community Center, completely rebuilt in 1994, houses a members-only year-round aquatic center and Olympicsized pool with retractable roof. The center runs a busy program of social events, including brunches, film discussion nights, winter- and spring-break camps, hiking trips, trivia nights and more. The annual Falafel 5K takes place every April and in 2023, added a splash-anddash element.

The Center for Jewish Studies at UNC Asheville hosts regular cultural and academic programming. There are six buildings and a track on the UNCA campus named after Jewish benefactors.

SHINING A LIGHT ON THE PAST

Historians Jan Schochet and Sharon Fahrer have written two books discussing previously unreported aspects of Jewish life in the Asheville area: The Man Who Lived on Main Street: Stories by and

Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Center @ ashevillejcc

About Sol Schulman, which explores the life of the community figure who ran a business in Sylva for 70 years; and The Family Store: A History of Jewish Businesses in Downtown Asheville from 1880-1990.

“The coming of the railroad made Asheville more easily accessible for the first time,” says Sharon Fahrer. “Like others Jewish people came for economic opportunity. The Jewish community has contributed to the culture of Asheville well beyond the proportion of their numbers.”

Fahrer continues to work in the community with the History@Hand initiative, where she offers walking tours of major areas of Asheville, such as Montford and Biltmore Village. She has also curated over 40 interpretive panels dotted throughout the city, several of which cover Jewish history.

FOR MORE INFO

History-at-hand.com is Sharon Fahrer’s resource on the history of the Jewish community in Asheville, as well as walking tours and books.

Congregation Beth HaTephila A more than 130-year-old inclusive congregation in Asheville.

Asheville Jewish Community Center An integrative center with cultural programs, kids camps, youth activities and a membersonly year-round pool with an outdoor pavilion, kiddie pool and splash pad.

Festivals & Expos Downtown After 5

No matter what month you get here, you can take part in Asheville’s eclectic spirit of celebration. Below is a sampling of what to expect every season.

For a complete look at what’s happening when you’re here, consult Mountain Xpress’ online calendar of events at avlcalendar.com, the area’s most comprehensive guide to what’s going on in Asheville — from town hall to music hall.

WINTER

DECEMBER

• Festival of Lights

Lake Julian Park and Marina

• Winter Lights

N.C. Arboretum

• Christmas at Connemara

Carl Sandburg Home NHS

• The Big Crafty

Harrah’s Cherokee Center

• Christmas at Biltmore

Biltmore Estate

• Warren Haynes Presents

Christmas Jam

Harrah’s Cherokee Center

• Victorian Christmas

Smith-McDowell House

• National Gingerbread House Competition

Omni Grove Park Inn

JANUARY

• Pop Legends Weekend

Omni Grove Park Inn

• Asheville Fringe Arts Festival

Downtown Asheville

• Asheville Restaurant Week

Various locations

FEBRUARY

• Asheville Designer Toy Expo Location varies

• Arts & Crafts Conference

Omni Grove Park Inn

• Asheville Mardis Gras

Downtown Asheville

• Rock & Roll Weekend

Omni Grove Park Inn

• Bluegrass First Class

Crowne Plaza Resort

• Asheville Celtic Festival

WNC Agricultural Center

Photo courtesy of Jim Donohoo Photography

FESTIVALS & EXPOS

SPRING

MARCH

• Comedy Classic Weekend

Omni Grove Park Inn

• Southern Conference

Basketball Tournament

Harrah’s Cherokee Center

• Organic Growers Conference

Mars Hill University

• Celebrate Zelda (Fitzgerald)

Various locations

• Asheville Amadeus Festival

Downtown Asheville

• NC Ginseng Association

Gathering & Auction

Warren Wilson College

• Fringe Arts Festival

Location varies

• Taste of Asheville

Asheville

APRIL

• Weaverville Art Safari

Studio Tour

Weaverville area

• Asheville Wordfest

Downtown Asheville

• Asheville Orchid Festival

The North Carolina Arboretum

• Fiddles & Folklife

Warren Wilson College

• Mini Maker Faire

Kimmel Arena, UNCA

• Asheville Hemp Fest

Pack Square Park

• Asheville Bread Festival

Various locations

• Weaverville Art Safari

Spring Studio Tour

Weaverville area

• Easter Hat Parade

Dillsboro

MAY

• Waynesville Ramp Festival

American Legion

• LEAF Spring Festival

Black Mountain

• Asheville Beer Week

Various locations

• Fiber Weekend

Folk Art Center

• RAD Studio Tours

River Arts District

• GRINDfest

River Arts District

• Asheville Spring Herb Festival

WNC Agricultural Center

• ABS Fest

Asheville

Photo courtesy of James DeStio Photography

Asheville Mardis Gras

SUMMER

JUNE

• White Squirrel Festival

Downtown Brevard

• Bonsai as Fine Art

The North Carolina Arboretum

• Hola Asheville Festival

Pack Square Park

• Asheville Honey Festival

Salvage Station

• Juneteenth Celebration

Various locations

JULY

• Big Crafty

Pack Square Park

• Folkmoot International

Dance & Culture Festival

Waynesville

• Shindig on the Green

Pack Square Park

• Southern Highland Craft

Guild Fair

Harrah’s Cherokee Center

• Love Shine Play Festival

Downtown Asheville

AUGUST

• AVL Fest

Various venues

• Mermaid Parade and Festival Marshall

East End Valley Street Community Heritage Festival

• Sourwood Festival

Black Mountain

• Cherokee World Games

Cherokee Tribal Fairgrounds

• East End Valley Street

Community Heritage Festival

Martin Luther King Jr. Park

• LEAF Downtown Pack Square Park

• Mountain Dance and Folk Festival

UNC Asheville

• Come to Leicester

Studio Tour

Various studios

FALL

SEPTEMBER

• Asheville Greek Festival

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church

• N.C. Mountain State Fair

WNC Agricultural Center

• Chow Chow Food and Culture Festival

Pack Square Park

• Blue Ridge Pride

Pack Square Park

• Goombay Festival

Downtown Asheville

• North Carolina

Apple Festival

Downtown Hendersonville

Photo courtesy of East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association @ eastendvalleystreet

FESTIVALS & EXPOS

• ASAP Farm Tour

Various local farms

• Earl Scruggs Festival

Tryon International Equestrian

Center

OCTOBER

• Carolina Cheese Fest

Oak and Grist Distilling Co.

• Asheville Oktoberfest

Downtown Asheville

• Tour de Fat

New Belgium Brewery

• VeganFest

Pack Square Park

• Bascom Lamar Lunsford

Festival

Mars Hill University

• NC Ceramic Arts Festival

Downtown Asheville

• LEAF Fall Festival

Black Mountain

• Ciderfest

Carrier Park

• Craft Fair of the Southern

Highlands

Harrah’s Cherokee Center

• Beaverdam Studio Tour

Various locations

• Apple Harvest Festival

Waynesville

NOVEMBER

• Asheville Holiday Parade

Downtown Asheville

• Weaverville Art Safari Fall

Studio Tour

Weaverville area

• River Arts District Studio

Stroll

River Arts District

• Asheville Tattoo Arts

Convention

Harrah’s Cherokee Center

• Picklepalooza

Blue Ghost Brewing

Eats

Whether you eat to live or live to eat, Asheville is a city like no other when it comes to food and drink. Sure, it delivers the goods with a smorgasbord of nationally acclaimed restaurants, a thriving community of growers and makers and the second-highest number of craft breweries per capita in the nation. But Asheville also takes things up a notch, leveraging its quirky and creative culture to make dining and imbibing an adventure. This is the city for:

BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS

Fancy imbibing a craft cocktail or local brew against a panoramic view of the Western North Carolina mountains? Make your way to one of Asheville’s numerous rooftop bars, offering everything from mojitos at Hemingway’s Cuba atop the downtown Cambria Hotel to beer under the stars at East Asheville’s Highland Brewing Co.

EVENT HORIZONS

Asheville celebrates its food and drink throughout the year with a constantly changing roster of events, including food truck roundups, burger battles, mac ’n’ cheese challenges, cocktail competitions, fermentation festivals and a host of others.

The Chow Chow Food + Culture Festival, which debuted September 2019, is one of Asheville’s largest and most ambitious food festivals, featuring a mix of chefs, makers, artisans and farmers celebrating Southern Appalachian foodways and promoting food justice through a sprawling roster of dinners, workshops and other events. Taste of Asheville, hosted annually by the nonprofit Asheville Independent Restaurant Association, is a smaller-scale,

Photo by Pat Barcas

Best of WNC

2022-23 Awards

From the annual Mountain Xpress readers’ poll

Eats

RESTAURANT THAT BEST REPRESENTS THE SPIRIT OF ASHEVILLE

1 Nine Mile

2 Sunny Point Café

3 Cúrate FAVORITE RESTAURANT

1 Nine Mile

2 Cúrate

2 Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian

3 Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack

RESTAURANT IN DOWNTOWN (INCLUDING SOUTH SLOPE)

1 Buxton Hall Barbecue

1 Cúrate

2 Chestnut

3 Chai Pani RESTAURANT IN THE RIVER ARTS DISTRICT

1 12 Bones Smokehouse

1 White Duck Taco Shop

2 Vivian

3 The Bull and Beggar

RESTAURANT TO TAKE OUT-OF-TOWNERS TO

1 Cúrate

2 Nine Mile

3 Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack

PEOPLE-WATCHING RESTAURANT

1 Mellow Mushroom

2 Carmel’s Kitchen & Bar

2 Wicked Weed Brewing

3 Isa’s French Bistro

OUTDOOR DINING

1 White Duck Taco Shop

2 Hemingway’s Cuba Restaurant & Bar

2 Smoky Park Supper Club

3 Sunset Terrace

ROMANTIC DINING

1 Zambra

2 Cúrate

3 Bouchon

To explore all the Best of WNC reader survey results, pick up a copy of the Definitive Guide to the Best of WNC, widely available at hotels, local businesses and in Mountain Xpress racks and boxes.

FOOD & DRINK

one-evening affair that invites the public to sample dishes from several dozen local, independent eateries and beverage businesses. Meanwhile, food lovers who are passionate about fermentation, food preservation and resiliency flock each fall to participate in workshops and tastings at the WNC Fermenting Festival in Madison County, about 30 minutes from Asheville.

OFFBEAT PERSPECTIVES

From an upscale, wood-fired dinner in a riverfront shipping container to food trucks proffering everything from vegan burgers to lobster rolls, Asheville prides itself on offering captivatingly unconventional dining experiences. Culinary adventurers can also appreciate that the city is also the jumping- off point for exploring the area’s vibrant and innovative farming community and multitude of craft beverage and food industries through active outings that connect visitors to local makers and products.

Photo courtesy of Dobra Tea @ dobrateanc

Beer, Cider & Alcohol

The Asheville beer industry receives plenty of attention on a national scale, to the point that you may feel a bit daunted by the challenge of navigating the scene once you’re here. With nearly 30 breweries within city limits — and a handful of them operating multiple taprooms — visitors looking to get the most out of their trip should consider trying one of the following approaches:

MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME

Downtown Asheville sports seven breweries within a few blocks of each other, and you’ll find 10 more in the highly lauded South Slope brewing district just a few blocks away. And while the six breweries in West Asheville aren’t quite as close to one another, the neighborhood sights seen while walking between them are fine consolation prizes.

TOUR THE MAJOR PLAYERS

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in nearby Mills River and New Belgium Brewing Co. in Asheville’s River Arts District are warranted destinations for beer tourists from across the country. Once you’ve locked down your vacation dates, go ahead and reserve your spots for a free tour at these nationally distributed breweries’ East Coast facilities. They fill up fast.

GO ROGUE

Not into crowds? Interested in brews that are all but unavailable at downtown bars and taprooms? Weaverville, Fairview and Black Mountain are all short drives away and feature their own distinct

Photo courtesy of Carly Sutton

brewing scenes. If you want to see what the true microbreweries are up to, enlist a designated driver or ride-share service and go the extra mile — 9-to-16 miles per outing, to be precise. It’s well worth the effort.

SAMPLE LOCAL SPIRITS

Distilling is a craft intrinsic to Appalachian culture, and modern Asheville honors that heritage with a flourishing artisan spirits industry. From classic moonshine to small-batch gin, vodka and whiskeys — and even a locally sourced fernet — local distillery tasting rooms offer a broad range of experiences. Though long hampered by North Carolina’s outmoded liquor laws, recent legislation has enabled many local artisans to expand their businesses to include full cocktail bars.

SIP THE CIDERS

Whether due to personal health or a desire to try something new, odds are good that not everyone in your crew will want to stick solely to beer. Fortunately, neighboring Henderson County is an apple-growing paradise, and the dedication by area beveragemakers to utilize local ingredients has resulted in a robust cider industry. Offerings range from downtown cidery taprooms to at least one cider option at practically every Asheville brewery — including a few house-made varieties by brewers who’ve embraced the fruit.

For the dish on WNC’s independent restaurants,

breweries,

pick up a free copy of the Mountain Xpress Eats & Drinks Guide.

craft

cideries, distilleries and more

FIND THE VINES

Biltmore Winery and plēb urban winery are situated within Asheville’s city limits, yet nearly 20 more such establishments are within an hour’s drive. Much like the region’s apple industry, an increasing number of grape growers are calling Western North Carolina home.

VIEW THE VIEWS

Downtown Asheville is home to a handful of rooftop bars, many of them attached to hotels. Whatever your beverage of choice, these spots have you covered, complete with breathtaking panoramic sights of the surrounding mountains.

VISIT A BOTTLE SHOP

Asheville is home to several well-curated stores where you can stock up on your favorite beverages from the weekend and try out intriguing new options. Best of all, you can sip on a pint while browsing — and, if you get home and want some more, most of the businesses will be happy to mail you additional bottles and cans.

Best of WNC 2022-23 Awards

1

2

To explore all the Best of WNC reader survey results, pick up a copy of the Definitive Guide to the Best of WNC, widely available at hotels, local businesses and in Mountain Xpress racks and boxes.

What Could Go Wrong?

HEALTH AND INJURIES

Chipped a tooth? Rolled an ankle on WNC’s hilly terrain? Need to refill a prescription? For emergencies, always dial 911, but for daytime problems that aren’t immediately life-threatening, Buncombe County also has many urgent care clinics: Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care in the west, east and south areas of Asheville, as well as in Weaverville; Range Urgent Care in North Asheville (includes dental care) and Black Mountain; FastMed Urgent Care in South Asheville and just west of town; and Pardee urgent care south of Asheville. Pharmacies abound, including in many area grocery stores.

MISSING THINGS OR NONEMERGENCY CRIMES

For lost and stolen items, use the nonemergency number to contact the appropriate law enforcement department. In Asheville, call 828-252-1110; in Buncombe County, but outside the city, call 828-250-6670. If your luggage didn’t make it with you, you’ll find thrift and consignment stores all over town that can set you up with some awesome, budget threads to tide you over.

CAR PROBLEMS

Towing: It can save the day or ruin it. If you need a tow company, there are many local options in various parts of town, and some of them offer repairs as well. But if you discover your car missing in the central business district or Biltmore Village parking lot that has “Towing Enforced” warning signs clearly posted (which are required if a tow service may take your vehicle), you’ll need to consult those signs for the phone number to call to recover your vehicle. If it is not apparent to you why your car was towed, try calling Asheville Parking Services at 828-259-5792 or the police.

LEGAL TROUBLE

It may be fun to drive fast on curvy roads, but the fuzz doesn’t like it. Also remember this is Beer City, and where the liquor flows, the problems sometimes pool beside the fun. Whether you broke the rules or it was all a misunderstanding, you don’t have to face the system alone. Asheville is chockablock full of lawyers with various specialties, and there is a 24-hour bail-bond service a block from the jail.

Photo courtesy of the West Buncombe Fire Department

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

BEARS (AND OTHER VARMINTS)!

Seriously, WNC is wild country, but if you take some simple precautions, dangerous encounters should be rare. Look before you sit, step or reach a hand under a log or rock. Copperheads, yellow jackets and black widow spiders live here. The higher elevations harbor a shy species of rattlesnake. Many of the nonvenomous snakes can be territorial and some, like the great Northern water snake, might even give chase. Most snakes can give a nasty bite, even if not poisonous, so best to leave them alone.

Two species of skunks live here, as well as coyotes, foxes, bobcats and black bears. Generally, all of these animals are shy and will avoid human contact; small pets, however, should not be left unattended. A wild animal acting oddly or being too friendly should be avoided; rabies, though rare, is a real possibility.

Whether camping, staying at a romantic cabin or Airbnb-ing it in a quiet cove, wild animals may pay you a visit. The most common motive is food, so if you generate trash, stow it safely. One last note: the nocturnal creature eating your garbage that looks like a supersized white rat is our local marsupial, the possum. Bring in your garbage and it will pass on through.

SICK, HURT OR MISSING PET

If your pet needs medical care during regular business hours, Asheville has many vets all over town. If it’s after hours, Regional Emergency Animal Care Hospital (REACH) is open 24/7. Phone: 828-665-4399.

If your pet goes missing, contact the Buncombe County Animal Shelter at 828-250-6431 (and/or animal control at 828-250-6670); there are also several local web-based missing pet pages, including the Asheville Humane Society at ashevillehumane.org.