Spring is in the air, which means the weekend is a perfect time to get out of the house and celebrate warmer temps + longer days. 🌱 And you’ve got plenty of choices, like the three-day Asheville Truffle Experience, Natural Born Leaders at the Orange Peel on Friday, the AVL Beer Expo + Bike Love on Saturday, and the Asheville Symphony Youth Orchestra on Sunday. Whatever you end up doing, keep us in the loop. Tag us on your social media using #avltoday. We can’t wait to see what you’re up to.
Friday
Dish: Asheville Truffle Experience | 4 – 5 p.m. | The Collider | 1 Haywood St., Ste. 401 | Free | Tickets start at $25 for a la carte experience in this weekend of prized Black Winter Truffles, but this kickoff reception (which includes apps + a complimentary beverage) is free. It’s followed by a ticketed tasting dinner at The Market Place. Tickets available here.
Arts: Welcome Penland School of Crafts Director Mia Hall | 5:30-7:30 p.m. | The Center for Craft | 67 Broadway St. | Free | Join Penland Crafts in welcoming their new director Mia Hall, a furniture design and woodworking extraordinaire.
Drink: Latte Art Throwdown + Dance Party | 6:30 – 11 p.m. | Summit Coffee | 4 Foundy St. | Free | DJ Juan Holladay (of the Secret B-Sides) provides the soundtrack to your evening of coffee slinging + sipping
Talk: PechaKucha Night | 7:30 – 9 p.m. | Grove House | 11 Grove St. | $9 | Presenters get 20 slides, and 20 seconds per slide, to talk about pretty much any topic under the sun. Like a TED Talk, but quicker. Get your tickets here.
Show:
- Natural Born Leaders with Window Cat + Evil Note Lab | 8 p.m. | The Orange Peel | $10 | Three Asheville acts feature the best in neo-soul, rock, hip hop + experimental electronic
- An Evening of Improv Comedy with the Reasonably Priced Babies | 8 p.m. | Ambrose West | 312 Haywood Rd. | $12 | A night of silliness from award-winning improv comedy troupe RPB, founded in 2011 and still going strong. Among the accolades received? Skippy Flapjack’s Happy Funtime Literature Award for Pronoun Exploration. Yep.
- The Paper Crowns | 8:30 p.m. | Salvage Station | 468 Riverside Dr. | Catch this Americana duo singing down by the river.
- The Tesla Quartet | Friday, Feb. 23 | 7-9 p.m. | Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center | 56 Broadway St. | Suggested donation of $10-20 | This Juilliard-born quartet is collaborating with the Hugo Kauder Society to perform a rarely heard composition, originally performed at Black Mountain College’s Summer Institute of 1945.
Saturday
Arts: Writing Non-Fiction Articles with Charli Kerns | 10 a.m.– 4 p.m. | The Writers’ Workshop | 387 Beaucatcher Rd. | $75 | Learn how to research, edit, + pitch stories to editors at newspapers and magazines
Shop: Urban Gypsy Traveling Trunk Show | 12 – 8 p.m. | The Cotton Mill Studios | 122 Riverside Dr. | Shop for thrifted treasures while bouncing to fresh tracks, getting your tarot read, and being “glittered.” Yes, glitter is now a verb.
Talk: Farming to Fight Climate Change | 1:30-7 p.m. | Living Web Farms | 176 Kimzey Road | Nate Kleinman of the Experimental Farm Network will share his work in agroecology, community farm efforts, and grassroots plant breeding as he explores solutions to our modern ecological dilemma.
Workshop: The Masters’ Series: Meditation | 2 – 4 p.m. | Pure Yoga Asheville | 65A Biltmore Ave. | $18 | Join instructor Carter Layfield + take a deeper dive into your meditation practice. For more experienced practitioners.
Drink: AVL Beer Expo | 2-7 p.m. | $30-60 | Asheville Masonic Temple | 80 Broadway St. | The AVL Beer Expo showcases all elements of craft beer production while providing a taste of some of Western NC’s finest beers.
Talk: Beer City Brides | 5-7 p.m. | $5 | Highland Brewing Company | 12 Old Charlotte Highway | Adrian Etheridge Photography and JCM Photography will be answering wedding photography questions and discussing what to look for in wedding vendors.
Arts:
- Rogue Gallery | 5 – 10 p.m. | Wedge at Foundation | 5 Foundy St. | $5 | Celebrate the year anniversary of fashion designer Different Wrld + their newest collection, Rogue. Dress code: all black. Food from El Querubin.
- Pasta & Puppets | 6 – 9 p.m. | 37 E. Larchmont St. | Puppet Club + Street Creature’s winter puppet slam, featuring food + herbal tea. Presentations of unfinished pieces welcome.
Cause: Bike Love | 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. | $22 GA / $65 w/ reception | Salvage Station | 468 Riverside Dr. | Asheville On Bikes’ annual fundraiser includes an auction, a raffle for a $500 voucher for the WNC Bicycle Dealers Association, and live music from Siamese Sound Club + DJ Marley Carroll. **
Show:
- Chris Young–Losing Sleep World Tour | 7:30 p.m. | $58 / $38 | Cellular Center | 87 Haywood St. | Includes special guests Kane Brown and LANCO.
- Sharon Shannon Band | 8 p.m. | Diana Wortham Theater | 18 Biltmore Ave. | $32 | Shannon, the ever-smiling button accordion player, is renowned for her lively, exuberant performances.
- BEAT LIFE w/ King Garbage, AXNT, Tin Foil Hat, & Simon Smthng | 10 p.m. | Free (donations at the door) | The best in beats music returns to downtown AVL.
Sunday
Arts: WNC Regional Scholastic Art Awards | Sunday, Feb 25 | 1:30 p.m. | Diana Wortham Theater | 18 Biltmore Ave. | The Asheville Art Museum, host of Scholastic’s regional art competition, will celebrate the creations of students across WNC. Representative Brian Turner and Councilwoman Sheneika Smith will speak at the ceremony. A reception at the Art Museum will follow.
Active: Visit a Truffle Orchard | 10 a.m. – noon | Mountain Research Station |265 Test Farm Rd., Waynesville, NC | $75 | During this fun final event for the Asheville Truffle Experience, go on a guided walk that includes a truffle dog demo.
Dish:
- French Broad Chocolate Workshop | 2 – 4 p.m. | East Fork Pottery | 82 N. Lexington Ave. | $35 | Includes a discussion of chocolate sourcing, tastings, a piece of East Fork pottery + a pack of sipping chocolate. Mmmmm.
- Vegan Chili Cook-off | 2 – 5 p.m. | Sanctuary Brewing | 147 1st Ave. East, Hendersonville | $15 to enter / $15 to taste | Music from Brother Bluebird
Talk:
- Two Hoots’ Press Presents My Mountains, My People | 3 – 4 p.m. | Malaprop’s Bookstore & Cafe | 55 Haywood St. | Free | Storyteller + folklorist John Parris’s beloved book is back in print thanks to Two Hoots’, with original text + illustrations
- Workplace Power Shit | 4 – 6 p.m. | Rosetta’s Kitchen & the Buchi Bar | 116 N. Lexington Ave. | A workshop on sexual harassment in the workplace for people in the service industry
Show:
- Asheville Symphony Youth Orchestra | 7 p.m. | Thomas Wolfe Auditorium | $7.50
- Coconut Cake | 8 p.m. | MG Road | 19 Wall St. | Shake your groove thing to Congolese independence rumba rock.
- Arish Singh | 8 p.m. | Fleetwood’s | 496 Haywood Rd. | $8 | Chicago-based comedian Singh brings his unique political + absurdist humor to the 828.
