4th of July Event: Second Annual Carnavalito Music Festival in Asheville

July 3-4   Second Annual Carnavalito Music Festival      Held at the Pisgah Brewing Company Outdoor stage, surrounded by the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. Toubab Krewe will host and headline this 2-day celebration of Independence Day.

The Lineup: July 3rd - Toubab Krewe with Gates opening at 8:00 PM and the show starting at 9:00 PM. July 4th - Toubab Krewe, Sol Driven Train, The Broadcast, DJ Camero and Chompin’ At The Bit (Indoor late night show 11 PM). Gates open at 2:00 PM with the show beginning at 3:00 PM.

Final Asheville Downtown After 5 for the Season

September 21    Downtown After 5  The Asheville Downtown Association brings together some of the best musicians in the area and throughout the Southeast. This is the final concert in the popular summer season event. The Black Lillies following local opener The Buchanan Boys will perform. 

Refreshments are readily available including local brews from Highland Brewing Company, Pisgah Brewing, Asheville Brewing Company and French Broad Brewing Company. Plus, regional favorites Sierra Nevada, SweetWater Brewing and Magic Hat Brewing as well as national brands from Budweiser and Empire Distributing will be on tap. Wine and water are also available.  

Downtown After 5 features a solar-powered stage, complimentary bike corral, compostable food and beverage containers, and staffed recycling and compost bins. Since implementing its greening initiative, the event has reduced the number of bags headed to the landfill to just a handful.

Labor Day Festival continues in Canton

August 30 - September 3 in CANTON (just west of Asheville)   Labor Day Weekend Celebration   Enjoy the charms of a small town holiday weekend with live entertainment, art and crafters, food vendors and an old fashioned car show.

Canton celebrates its 106th Labor Day today form 10 AM until...The Labor Day Parade begins at 3:30 PM in Downtown Canton. Special Guest Chase Price performs from 7 PM through 9 PM. The event takes place at the Canton Recreation Park.

Shindig on the Green this Saturday

August 18  Shindig on the Green     Held outdoors at Pack Square Park in the heart of downtown Asheville, this FREE event  was voted the #1 Local Outdoor Concert in the Mountain Xpress "Best of WNC" survey for four years. Bring your instruments, your lawn chair or blanket, family and friends and join the fun eight summer Saturdays.

Get more Asheville events and attractions on the Asheville NC Visitor Guide.

Biltmore Concert Series continues tonight with Peter Frampton

August 11   Biltmore Concert Series   Award-winning musicians perform on the South Terrace and on Biltmore's newest event venue - Diana at Biltmore, an intimate setting on the vista overlooking Biltmore House. This Concert: Peter Frampton and Grin and Bear it.

Get more information about the Biltmore Concert Series and other Asheville events on the Asheville NC Visitor Guide.

Live Mountain Music this Saturday Night at Shindig on the Green

August 11   Shindig on the Green  Held outdoors at Pack Square Park in the heart of downtown Asheville, this FREE event was voted the #1 Local Outdoor Concert in the Mountain Xpress "Best of WNC" survey for four years. Bring your instruments, your lawn chair or blanket, family and friends and join the fun eight summer Saturdays.

Celebrate the French Broad River at Riverfest

August 11, 1 PM - 7 PM  RiverFest 2012   Celebrate the French Broad River with an exciting lineup of music with Asheville's own Nikki Talley leading off the afternoon, followed by Mountain Feist, and RiverFest 2012 headliner The Galen Kipar Project. There will also be kids activities, food, beer, crafts, and of course, the Anything That Floats Parade of rafts.

Anything That Floats Parade Teams of adults and/or youths build anything that floats without a motor with creativity, innovation and zaniness are encouraged. Rafts can represent a business, organization, group, or any personal theme. The parade begins at Hominy Creek Park and finishes at Jean Webb Park. The home-made crafts will be competing for the titles of Most Creative, Green Machine, Ugliest, Funniest, and Most Unique Design.

Get more information about the French Broad River and Asheville attractions on the Asheville NC Visitor Guide

85th Annual Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville

August 2-4   85th Annual Mountain Dance and Folk Festival  The nation's longest running folk festival, the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival showcases the top talent in traditional mountain music and dance during a three-evening festival at the wonderfully intimate Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place in Asheville NC.  Come enjoy performances by hundreds of the Southern Appalachians' best traditional mountain musicians and dancers and celebrate the treasured cultural heritage of Western North Carolina.

Since 1928, mountain fiddlers, banjo pickers, dulcimer sweepers, dancers, balladeers and others have come to enjoy themselves “along about sundown” the first weekend in August at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. At the  2012 Festival,  performers  will take to the stage for the 85th time in downtown Asheville at 7 PM each evening.

Tickets are for sale on-line before the event.

Asheville's Bele Chere Festival a Top Southeast Street Festival

July 27-29   Bele Chere Festival   This lively Asheville weekend event is the largest free outdoor street festival in the Southeast. The three-day festival on the streets of Downtown Asheville features live, original music all day and night for 200,000 festival-goers.

Bele Chere means "beautiful living" and comes from an ancient Scottish dialect. Bele Chere offers the unique opportunity to see, taste and hear some of the region's finest art, cuisine and music.

Visual arts at the festival are displayed at the Art Park as well as throughout the Festival grounds.  The Arts Park features some of the best artists of Bele Chere, exhibiting jewelry, photography, pottery, woodwork, paintings, and metalwork. All items sold in the Arts Park are handmade. Visit the selected artists in the Drhumor and Asheville Savings Bank lots on Patton Avenue between Church Street and Lexington Avenue.

This year's musical line-up includes Antique Firearms, an indie rock band;  ArtOfficial, eschewing the simple magic of beat machines and samples for the irreplaceable warmth of organic instrumentation, and a meticulous care for crafting music with soul;  Baby Rattlesnakes, equal parts soulful jazz, appalachian folk, and catchy pop;  Balsalm Range, a blend of jazz - bluegrass - country and gospel;  and dozens of other original and renowned musicians.

Food and Beverages at the Festival go WAY beyond the usual over-warmed wieners. Experience Foodtopia at the Taste of Asheville in Pack Square. The Taste of Asheville features local restaurants, showcasing a sampling of some of the best cuisine in Asheville, from The Corner Kitchen and the Lobster Trap to Ultimate Ice Cream and Glam Ham Pork Rinds. Pritchard Park Food Court Vendors offer both traditional festival fare along with taste treats from the Amish Baking Co., Party in a Pita, Sherri's Crab Cakes, Steak Boys Inc., Tropical Delights and dozens more.  Beverage booths are located throughout the festival for a pause to refresh with water, soft drinks, beer and wine as well as microbrews from most of Asheville's acclaimed craft brewers.

Additional Bele Chere Festival activities include: The Purina Air Dogs;  The Kids area with a a mix of crafts, rides, and performances;  Easel Rider - Asheville’s Mobile Art Lab;  Nonprofit Booths such as Hats for Humanity;  KISS Country Karaoke to sing your favorite country song; The 33rd Bele Chere 5K hosted by the Asheville Track Club;  Asheville's Urban Trail and Public Art.

Shindig on the Green begins 2012 season this weekend

June 30    Shindig on the Green    Held outdoors at Pack Square Park in the heart of downtown Asheville, this FREE event  was voted the #1 Local Outdoor Concert in the Mountain Xpress "Best of WNC" survey for four years. Bring your instruments, your lawn chair or blanket, family and friends and join the fun eight summer Saturdays.

River Music Concert Series begins this weekend

June 29, 5 PM, 144 Riverside Drive at the RiverLInk Sculpture and Performance Plaza in the River Arts District.   River Music  - Dance under the stars next to the beautiful French Broad River at Asheville's new summer concert series hosted by New Belgium Brewing and RiverLink. 

There will be New Belgium beer, a variety of good eats provided by your favorite Asheville food trucks and the waters of the beautiful French Broad flowing right by the stage. Best of all, these events are FREE to the public. Bring your lawn chair and enjoy the view of the French Broad River at RiverMUSIC!

2012 River Music Concert Schedule:

June 29: From Brooklyn, NY, the 10-piece styling of Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds, with special guests The Krektones and the Mad Tea Party.

July 13: Bluegrass on the river with Sanctum Sully and special guests Bobby Miller & The Virginia Daredevils.

August 3: An evening with The 42nd Street Jazz Band.

August 24: Sirius B. with special guests The Blood Gypsies.

September 14: Purveyors of the funk, Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band with special guests The Fritz.

Asheville Hosts Community Unity Concert

June 29, 2 PM - 10 PM    Community Unity One Love Concert  in Pack Square in downtown Asheville NC.  The theme of the event a is message of Life Appreciation and promotion of Unity and Love between all people.  The musical line-up includes The Upliftas, Chuck Beattie, Jonathan Santos, Hope Griffin, De Ja Fuze and Laura Reed featuring Shannon Sanders.

The First Annual Green Swan Fest Today at Warren Wilson College

June 2, 11 AM - 9 PM at Warren Wilson College, 701 Warren Wilson Road in Swannanoa, NC. The Green Swan Fest is  a full day of music with local and national performers on the main stage. There's something for the entire family with both children's events and environmental activities, plus raffles for great door prizes, local food trucks and micro-brews.

The event celebrates and encourages the work of Asheville GreenWorks, a local environmental non-profit, working diligently for 38 years to "clean & green" Buncombe County.

Asheville Summer Program "Homegrown in Pritchard Park" begins this week

May 31  Homegrown in Pritchard Park Presented by 98.1 the River, Pritchard Park will host local singer-song writers all summer long. Stroll through the park on Thursday evenings this summer and enjoy local talent, the beautiful weather and some great fun. The concert series is offered FREE from Memorial Day, May 31st, through Labor Day, September 6. Events are weather permitting.

Today's Featured Event: 9th Annual Monford Music and Arts Festival

May 19  - Rain or Shine, Head for the 9th Annual Monford Music and Arts Festival  today in downtwon Asheville NC. This is the largest one-day FREE music and arts festival in WNC. The event is held on two streets- Montford and Soco- with over 100 vendors of art, crafts, plants and food.

Two stages offer non stop entertainment from 20 groups and a children’s area. Located down from Asheville Visitors Center in Historic Montford with on street parking and bike corral.

Find additional local information on the Asheville NC Visitor Guide.

Asheville's Downtown After 5 This Friday

May 18   Downtown After 5   Free live music entertainment in downtown Asheville every third Friday, May through September, with the goal of encouraging locals and visitors to enjoy downtown Asheville and support local businesses and entertainers. Location on North Lexington Avenue (between Hiawassee and the I-240 overpass). Food and beer vendors available.

Get more Asheville information on the Asheville NC Visitor Guide