With summer right around the corner, the weather isn’t the only thing heating up in Asheville: festival season is about to kick into high gear. Downtown Asheville boasts a range of festivals to fit just about every interest – and Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty, an ardent supporter of cultural events that create community, is sponsoring three of the biggest.
Xpand Fest
The inaugural outdoor event for Asheville-based arts non-profit Xpand Your Vision, Xpand Fest comes to the South Slope June 10. The free street festival, stretching along Banks and Buxton Ave., will feature a variety of vendors, artist booths, live music and other performances. Musical guests include The Broadcast, The Secret B Sides, and Supatight; the local food vendors and special festival brew provided by Bhramari Brewhouse will keep attendees sated. Xpand Fest highlights music and arts as an innovative tool toward inclusive development and believes the arts are a powerful platform for social change. Xpand Fest will include information on the Sustainable Development Goals created at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit and will highlight local organizations that are making conscious business decisions to better our community. http://xyvision.org/xpand-fest
Shindig on the Green
Celebrating the toe-tapping music and dance traditions of Southern Appalachia, Shindig on the Green kicks off its 51st season July 1 on Roger McGuire Green at Pack Square in downtown Asheville. Drawing scores of locals and visitors alike, the free event, which will run most Saturdays until Sept. 2, features a stage show and informal jam sessions around the park from 7-10 p.m. With concessions available from Okie Dokies Smokehouse and The Hop Ice Cream Café, you can bring your blanket or lawn chair and make an evening of it, listening to long-standing house band The Stoney Creek Boys and other bluegrass and old-time string bands, and watching cloggers from around Western North Carolina.
LEAF Downtown AVL
photo credit: K2 Media
Celebrating local community, this popular family-friendly festival brings Downtown Asheville’s Pack Square alive on Aug. 4 and 5 with three stages featuring a dynamic range of national, regional and local talent. LEAF Downtown, a free event in its third year, starts early afternoon Friday, and on Saturday kicks off at 9 a.m with an all-ages LEAF Art Dash 5K. Festival-goers can enjoy eats from local food trucks while engaging with family and friends and tuning into a rich range of music including old-time, folk, hip hop, Americana, blues, and deep Appalachian. Rounding out the fun are Easel Rider (Asheville’s Mobile Art Lab), costume tents, roaming kids’ artists, puppets, jugglers,face-painting, parades and circus arts. Enrichment activities, cultural exchanges, and civic engagement will also take place at the Voices of Asheville Tent through a series of collaborative community alliances. Festivities wind down when the park closes at 10 p.m.
For more information about our area, or about real estate in Asheville, contact Mike Figura at (828) 337-8190, or email him at Mike@MyMosaicRealty.com
