Archive for August, 2010
Woo hoo! It’s Goombay Festival time. Can you hear the drumming, can you hear the music, can you see the flash of bright colored clothes and headdresses? Then you are in the right place. Lots and lots of food, music, dancing in the streets! It’s Goombay time. Another one of Asheville activities to partake in. My this city knows how to pahty. Dah dah dah dah lah. hey!
It’s a festival of African Americans and the Carribean cultures all rolled together into one spicey meatball. Souvenirs are authentic from the country of origin, not a chinese replica. For just one day, you can feel you are in Africa or the Carribean. Take your choice, or both! And come pahty mahn.
The Lexington Ave Arts and Fun Festival is planned for 11 to 9 on September 5, 2010. It’s a fund raiser for Arts2People, a non-profit promoting local arts. There are more than 30 acts and it’s FREE. Did I get that right? Yep, FREE!!! Another one of Asheville’s incredible events of entertainment that are free. I love it!! The official musical acts will be joined by the buskers and other street performers who always add some unpredictable flair to the festival’s footprint. Included in all that are; 80 art vendors, local food and beer, kid’s area, and bike jousting.
This event feels like a huge community block party and when you stay at your Asheville vacation rental cabin you will feel like it’s your block too. You will fall right into the festivities and it will feel like home. You will be able to go back and forth from home to festival with ease, as it’s so close to downtown. Learn more at www.lexfestasheville.com.
Oh boy, the Leicester Artist’s Studio Tour is coming up this weekend. It’s scheduled for the 21st and 22nd of August. The farm has been a hustling and a bustling getting ready for the event. Sharon will be showing her jewelry and jewelry studio to the public. There will also be lots of mohair and llama fleece on sale and a tour of the rental cabin is certainly in order, with treats to feed the llamas and goats. Food and drinks will also be served. Sounds like a real event at Cabin Cove Farm.
I’m sure everyone in the group is getting ready as well. There are 22 artists that participate. You can see the art that can be found in the studios at Wildberry Lodge where you can also obtain a map to help you navigate from studio to studio. Hope to see you there!
This weekend at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center, you will experience the celebration of the best of food and wine. On August 14th and 15th you can enjoy a glass of wine while you taste what the restaurants and the food producers in the area have to offer. There will be more than 75 wineries, restaurants and food producers offering their wares. Featured will be the Chef’s Challenge final, won by Biltmore chefs Rick Boyer, David Ryba and Alicia Barger.
Stay at an Asheville rental cabin while you visit from festival to festival. So much to do and see.
Asheville’s French Broad River front has been going through a revitalization for years now. So many wonderful things are along the river. The folks in charge of keeping this revitalization up and happening is RiverLink. Each year they put on a Festival in the French Broad River Park. It’s a great park with a doggie park attached to it. Lots of festivals, barbeques, impromptu music jams happen in this park all year. Each year in August around the middle of the month, this festival happens to benefit RiverLink. This year it’s Saturday August 14th.
Take a vacation and stay in an Asheville pet friendly cabin to take in all these great festivals going on this weekend. For the French Broad RiverFest pack a picnic and sit along the river bank and watch the canoes, rafts, duckies go by.
Sourwood Honey here in Western North Carolina is like chocolate is to the town of Hershey – or should be if they exist. We pride ourselves on our sourwood honey, and if you’ve never had any, you can’t imagine the incredible divine taste. It is by far my favorite honey. There are sourwood festivals all over Western North Carolina and Georgia, but on August 14 and 15th the town of Black Mountain is having their 33rd annual Sourwood Festival. Unlike last year when there was no honey to be found, this year is flowing with it. Whew, thank goodness. The thought of sourwood honey going extinct is too painful to think of. You have to get there early because as soon as people hear there are jars to sell they flock from everywhere. Booths sell out early. The disappointment of having none last year will have people running to get it this year.
Besides the honey, there are 200 vendors, live music, festival food and lots of folks. It’s quite a celebration. It’s only about 30 min from Asheville. Rent an Asheville cabin and get to enjoy the day in Black Mountain while you are vacationing.
I love how the employees at Biltmore Estate make you feel. The whole theme of the place is to help you feel like a guest of the Estate, just like when George and Edith Vanderbilt lived in it. Each one of the employees must be trained to keep with that theme. When we visit, we are all guests and we are treated as guests.
You can get some great Biltmore tickets on your Asheville vacation. The only way to get these tickets is to stay at a “partner” cabin, one that sells Biltmore Estate tickets as an agent. These are two day tickets so that you can come and go as you’d like during those two days. It’s as if you are staying at a cabin of the Estate off the Estate.
Asheville, being such an artist’s mecca is good cause to visit the area. Not only can you find wonderful artistry in all the shops, galleries, streets, etc, but artists in different areas of the city will invite the public into their studios on an art tour on a scheduled weekend. It’s great fun to talk to the artist in person and to see where the artist works, to see the tools and how they put it all together.
Leicester is a small community right on the NorthWest edge of Asheville NC. It’s only 15 minutes from downtown. Leicester Artists are having their tour on August 21-22. Stay at an Artist’s farm right in Leicester while the event is going on. Now that sounds like fun. Just jump in your car and go here, then there, then go back to your Asheville rental cabin, feed the dog, let the dog out, then go back out again to another studio. You can do this all weekend long and have a wonderful experience. You’ll feel like you are part of the whole event.
What I like about Biltmore Estate currently is the focus on the Estate being someone’s home. The new group that’s running the estate now, the next generation of ascendants, reinstall that concept more and more as the home and grounds are updated. You hear it on the tapes when you visit the home, you hear it at Antler Village in the museum, you are reminded of it everywhere you go on the grounds. This last addition has really touched my heart. It’s a sculpture of George and Edith’s daughter, Cornelia, playing with her beloved St. Bernard.
You can see this sculpture at Antler Village on your visit to Biltmore Estate on your Asheville vacation. Get your Biltmore Estate tickets from the folks you will be renting your vacation cabin from, and not only are they discounted but they are two day tickets. You can come and go on the grounds for a full two days.
You’ve heard mention of Wedge Brewery on this blog lots of times. Well, here you have it again. A free oldies but goodies is shown every Saturday night. The schedule is:
August 14 Down By Law
- Aug 21 The Maltese Falcon
- Aug 28 Brazil
Leave your Asheville vacation cabin about 30 min before dark and head out to the River Arts District. Go left at the turnaround and the Wedge Building is right there on your right. Simply walk around to the back of the building, or go around the block and park in the back, before you cross the tracks.