Billy Strings announced his 2025 winter tour schedule — including six shows in Asheville — on the morning of Sept. 27, 2024.
Bonnie Leigh remembers how excited she and her partner were to see the announcement just fifteen minutes before they lost power as Helene barreled through Asheville.
“And little by little, everything started falling apart,” Leigh told AVLtoday.
Fast forward a few months when it was clear that the shows would go on and Leigh couldn’t stop thinking about how different it would be this year, compared to last year when she hosted a pre-show event at Zillicoah’s brewery to welcome her friends and fellow fans.
So Leigh got to organizing. Weeks before the show she started thinking of ways to harness not just the economic power, but the physical power of the tens of thousands of fans expected to visit Asheville over two weekends.
Along with local fans, Dave and Linda Copely, Leigh organized a cleanup at Zillicoah’s four-acre riverside property on a rainy Tuesday morning following the first weekend of shows.
“It was amazing coming down the driveway and just seeing all of the people there,” said Leigh.
More than 50 fans from across the country, as far as California, worked together to pick up trash, glass, and other debris.
The highlight of the day was when the group was finally able to dislodge a port-a-potty door that had been stuck in a tree for nearly five months, Leigh shared.
In total, Leigh organized more than half a dozen events for out-of-town fans. The group participated in river cleanups, distributed food boxes and firewood, and partnered with local non-profit BeLoved Asheville.
Leigh said she looks forward to a future where her friends can once again gather at a rebuilt Zillicoah, sipping beers around the fire after a long day of helping clean up the community that has a special place in the hearts of Billy Strings fans.
Bonus: Catch Leigh and her bluegrass band, Bear Creek String Bandits at Eulogy on Sunday, Feb. 23. Proceeds from the show will benefit Zillicoah.
