Asheville Shopping News: Compleat Naturalist STOREWIDE Winter Sale

January 30 - February 1 The Compleat Naturalist, 2 Brook Street, Historic Biltmore Village in Asheville NC - Storewide Winter Sale. Everything has been reduced: books, binoculars, telescopes, hand lenses, microscopes, clothing, gifts-- yes all of it. The store is cleaning house and getting ready for spring. Sale prices will be offered in-store as well as for phone orders.

FREE event on January 30 -  Dr. Hal Mahan: Lucy after 40 Years.  An informal evening with zoologist, Dr. Hal Mahan presentating on the fossil hominid known as Lucy, Australopithecus afarensis. Dr. Mahan, former director of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, hired physical anthropologist Dr. Donald Johanson, who discovered Lucy in Ethiopia on November 24, 1974. At the time, Mahan was leading a zoological research team at Mt. Elgon, Kenya. Johanson cabled Mahan about a significant discovery, and Mahan immediately traveled to the Lucy site. Join the Naturalist as Dr. Mahan recounts the thrill of witnessing one of the most significant scientific discoveries of our time.

The Compleat Naturalist nature store and wildlife art gallery was founded in 1992 in Historic Biltmore Village, Asheville NC, by Hal and Laura Mahan. Both are professional naturalists with extensive backgrounds in natural history museums and science education. The store carries merchandise relating to all fields of nature study: birds, botany, astronomy, entomology, geology, mineralogy, anthropology, and paleontology. In addition to the retail activities, The Compleat Naturalist offers a variety of classes and field trips.

 

Asheville Airport Hosts Record Number of Passengers in 2014

More people than ever took to the skies at AVL (Asheville Regional Airport) during 2014, airport officials announced this week. The number of passengers climbed 11.6 percent, to 756,425, in 2014 compared to 2013, when 678,023 people flew, according to recently released figures.

The previous record was set in 2010. An AVL official identified two reasons for the increase in fliers: maintaining connections to airline hubs and attracting new low-cost service to Florida.

Get a link for AVL and other local information on the Asheville NC Visitor Guide. 

Asheville Craft Brewers "Can It"

submitted by Asheville Travel Blog

During the recent Beer Can Appreciation Day (January 24) a variety of Asheville NC area brewers dispelled the old belief that any beer in a can was a poor substitute for the rich and robust brews poured from bottles and taps.

Oskar Blues Brewery, which recently opened its East Coast location in nearby Brevard, was one such operation at the forefront of craft beer canning. They started putting their Dale's Pale Ale and Mama's Little Yella Pils in aluminum back in 2002 and never looked back.

Cans offer certain advantages over the traditional bottles - quick cooling, protection against breakage and the ability to tote them to beaches and pools, among others. So it's no surprise that over the past decade, more craft brewers have hopped on board.

Cans from local brewers like Asheville Brewing Company, French Broad Brewing Company, Pisgah Brewing Company and Catawba Brewing Company are readily available both in grocery stores and some area bars. Cans from Frog Level Brewing, located in nearby Waynesville, have started showing up at local specialty shops. And big names in craft brewing like Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are arriving in Asheville with a solid canning program already in place.

And those who love Beer City beers should expect to see more cans in the future, especially as a new mobile canning operator makes waves locally. Check out this article by local beer expert Tony Kiss for more information about what's on the horizon.

And in the meantime, grab a can of your favorite beer, pop it open, and appreciate.

Get links for local Asheville Area Breweries and beer on the 

Asheville NC Visitor Guide

2015 All the Jazz Weekend at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville

January 23 - 25, 2015  Annual All That Jazz Weekend at the Omni Grove Park Inn. Another spectacular weekend of "All Things Jazz". This year Billy the Kid plays alongside Rockell Scott on Friday and Grammy Nominated Jazz Artist, Gerald Albright takes the stage on Saturday. 

This event has earned national recognition as one of the premiere jazz festivals of the Southeast. Evening and afternoon concerts in the Grand Ballroom along with fun activities and live music throughout the rest of the resort make this a weekend that will satisfy even the most discriminating jazz enthusiast. 

The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa - Renowned spa, scenic golf course, sports complex with pool, tennis, racquetball, training. Onsite restaurants, lounge, bars. A large variety of rooms and suites, varying stages of updates with some original Inn antiques.     Get current rates, availability or book online.

 

Asheville Fringe Arts Festival this Weekend

January 11 - 25, 2014 - Asheville's Fringe Art Festival  serves patrons of art from Asheville and beyond by facilitating the creation and production of avant garde work that may otherwise not find a venue. In past years the artistic mix has included actors, dancers, singers, videographers, painters and musicians, presenting a varied range of interesting work including cross-genre improvisation, Butoh dance, sketch theatre, modern dance, and multi-media performance art. 

The Fringe 2015 schedule is packed with new voices and new work by local and imported artists. All the artists have been confirmed and the Fringe organizers, through the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre, are proud to share some of the highlights for the upcoming 2015 incarnation of the Fringe.

With so many shows to choose from, it is essential to plan ahead. Most shows will be performed at least twice during the four days of the festival. The full schedule of shows is on the website and in the program guide. Tickets are available online.