Calendar of Events
Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
How a tarot reading works:
Your group reading will begin with an intention-setting, guided meditation. From there, each participant will enjoy a 10-15 minute personalized reading of the cards whose symbolism and possible messages will be interpreted. The cards anchor us back into larger cycles of growth, provide solace through tough times, and encourage us to stay on our path.
The central question the card is meant to address is, “What is it that I need to focus on at this moment to take the next step towards realizing my heart’s desire?” Readings can, though, focus specifically on any aspect of your life, such as your career or relationships.
During readings — whether it’s a virtual tarot reading or in-person — we turn off our phones, gather in a circle, and take a few, deep breaths to center ourselves. We then give each person a chance to ask a question and receive a reading. There are often a few tears, lots of laughs, and plenty of group discussion.
This event is fun and illuminating, offering everyone a deeper connection to everyday magic.
Tarot Reading Cost & Options:
- In-Person Readings in Asheville: we’ll come to you at your home or vacation rental, meet you in a city park, or settle in at a local tea house.
- Online Readings: connect with your crew and experience a bit of Asheville…no matter how far apart you may be!
Cost:
- Base price = $160 (includes up to 4 guests, 1hr total)
- Additional guests = $40/person (approximately 10-15 mins per person)
- 20+ guests and/or special events = please contact us.
- Hourly rates are available for larger parties with the option to work with multiple readers to optimize your time together.
- Book Now
Note that locations more than 10 miles from downtown Asheville will include an additional travel fee.
Our tarot readers can come to your home, office, or vacation rental or meet you at a city park, cozy tea house, or local café. Not in Asheville? No worries! We can also meet you online for a virtual tarot reading…no matter where in the world you may be.
Note that locations more than 10 miles from downtown Asheville include an additional travel fee at the rate of $25 for each additional 10 miles. Example: 0-10 miles included | 11-20 miles $25 | 21-30 miles $50 and so on.
Come enjoy our most popular Asheville tour!
Duration
1 hour and 30 minutes
About
Bachelorette/Bachelor Parties are not permitted on this tour. The Fender Bender Bus is bachelorette/bachelor friendly!
Historical and hysterical, The Hey Asheville tour features outrageously entertaining tour guides, outlandish comedy skits complete with special appearances and loads of Asheville information. You’ll get to see the best of downtown Asheville and the rarely seen but stunningly beautiful Montford neighborhood, not to mention the burgeoning River Arts District! You’ve never had a ride like this. It’s like a vaudeville show on wheels!
Find out what makes Asheville so unique on LaZoom’s City Comedy Tour. It’s the perfect mix of history, comedy, and entertainment. Our guides are trained professional actors working with an original script. It’s like a theatre on wheels! The tour highlights downtown Asheville, historic neighborhoods, the South Slope, and the River Arts District.
Age Restrictions
13 and up. No exceptions.
Stops
10 minute beer & bathroom break at Green Man Brewery
What’s Included
Guided tour of Asheville on a Purple Bus
Funny actors, fun bits
Actual History about Asheville
Green Man Brewery Stop
What’s Not Included
Beer/Wine (Must be purchased from LaZoom or the Brewery Stop)
Cash! You’ll want to tip the guides for changing your life for the better.
There is no better way to DISCOVER and EXPLORE Asheville! Hop-on board one of Gray Line’s nostalgic trolleys for a fully narrated day tour, highlighting the history, homes, hang-outs and hot spots of this “city of surprises.”
Tour Highlights include . . . Downtown Asheville | Montford Historic District | The Grove Park Inn and Grove Park Historic District | Thomas Wolfe District | Pack Square and Asheville Art Museum | Grove Arcade | River Arts District | Biltmore Village
Hop-On and hear the story of a city rich in architecture, history and the arts . . .
Hop-Off and experience its eclectic shops and galleries; its world class culinary and craft brew scenes.
Tour Duration: The complete tour (one loop) lasts approximately 90 to 100 minutes. There is an additional 15 minute stop at the Asheville Visitor Center. The Hop-On/Hop-Off Tour ticket is valid for TWO consecutive days.
Departure Points: Join the Hop-On/Hop-Off Tour at any of the 10 stops. If you’re driving in to join the tour, Stop 1, the Asheville Visitor Center may be your best option. The Visitor Center, located at 36 Montford Ave. just off I-240 at Exit 4C, offers free parking (on a first come-first served basis) and restrooms. The Asheville Visitor Center is the ONLY place to join the Overview Tour.
Join us for a North Carolina winery tour and celebrate a date night, bachelorette party, retirement, family, or a weekend away while sampling our favorite local beverages along the way. Our standard tour includes visits to three Asheville area vineyards. With safe and reliable transportation provided, you can sit back, relax and just have fun.
Included:
- Round trip transportation*
- Three vineyard visits
- Tastings at two of your three stops. Let’s just say that the pours at the first couple of locations are generous so we like to leave the third-stop beverage choice up to you.
- Time commitment = up to 5 hours
Want to include specific vineyards on your Asheville wine tours? If you have “must-see” wineries in mind or want to craft a full day catered to your group’s interests, we’re always happy to create a custom experience. Reach out any time!
Exhibition and Public Programming
Vera B. Williams, an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, started making pictures almost as soon as she could walk. She studied at Black Mountain College in a time where summer institutes were held with classes taught by John Cage and Merce Cunningham. Williams studied under the Bauhaus luminary Josef Albers and went on to make art for the rest of her life. At the time of her death, The New York Times wrote: “Her illustrations, known for bold colors and a style reminiscent of folk art, were praised by reviewers for their great tenderness and crackling vitality.” Despite numerous awards and recognition for her children’s books, much of her wider life and work remains unexplored. This retrospective will showcase the complete range of Williams’ life and work. It will highlight her time at Black Mountain College, her political activism, and her establishment, with Paul Williams, of an influential yet little-known artist community, in addition to her work as an author and illustrator.
Author and illustrator of 17 children’s books, including Caldecott medal winner, A Chair for My Mother, Vera B. Williams always had a passion for the arts. Williams grew up in the Bronx, NY, and in 1936, when she was nine years old, one of her paintings, called Yentas, opens a new window, was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. While Williams is widely known for her children’s books today, this exhibition’s expansive scope highlights unexplored aspects of her artistic practice and eight decades of life. From groundbreaking, powerful covers for Liberation Magazine, to Peace calendar collaborations with writer activist Grace Paley, to scenic sketches for Julian Beck and Judith Malina’s Living Theater, to hundreds of late life “Aging and Illness” cartoons sketches and doodles, Vera never sat still.
Williams arrived at Black Mountain College in 1945. While there, she embraced all aspects of living, working, and learning in the intensely creative college community. She was at BMC during a particularly fertile period, which allowed her to study with faculty members Buckminster Fuller and Josef Albers, and to participate in the famed summer sessions with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, M.C. Richards, and Robert Rauschenberg. In 1948, she graduated with Josef Albers as her advisor and sculptor Richard Lippold as her outside examiner. Forever one of the College’s shining stars, Vera graduated from BMC with just six semesters of coursework, at only twenty-one years old. She continued to visit BMC for years afterward, staying deeply involved with the artistic community that BMC incubated.
Anticipating the eventual closure of BMC, Williams, alongside her husband Paul Williams and a group of influential former BMC figures, founded The Gate Hill Cooperative Artists community located 30 miles north of NYC on the outskirts of Stony Point, NY. The Gate Hill Cooperative, also known as The Land, became an outcropping of Black Mountain College’s experimental ethos. Students and faculty including John Cage, M.C. Richards, David Tudor, Karen Karnes, David Weinrib, Stan VanDerBeek, and Patsy Lynch Wood shaped Gate Hill as founding members of the community. Vera B. Williams raised her three children at Gate Hill while continuing to make work.
The early Gate Hill era represented an especially creative phase for the BMC group. For Williams, this period saw the creation of 76 covers for Liberation Magazine, a radical, groundbreaking publication. This exhibition will feature some of Williams’ most powerful Liberation covers including a design for the June 1963 edition, which contained the first full publication of MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Williams’ activism work continued throughout her life. As president of PEN’s Children Committee and member of The War Resisters league, she created a wide range of political and educational posters and journal covers. Williams protested the war in Vietnam and nuclear proliferation while supporting women’s causes and racial equality. In 1981, Williams was arrested and spent a month in a federal prison on charges stemming from her political activism.
In her late 40’s, Williams embarked in earnest on her career as a children’s book author and illustrator, a career which garnered the NY Public Library’s recognition of A Chair for My Mother as one of the greatest 100 children’s books of all time. Infinitely curious and always a wanderer at heart, Williams’ personal life was as expansive as her art. In addition to her prolific picture making, Williams started and helped run a Summerhill-based alternative school, canoed the Yukon, and lived alone on a houseboat in Vancouver Harbor. She helped to organize and attended dozens of political demonstrations throughout her adult life.
Her books won many awards including the Caldecott Medal Honor Book for A Chair for My Mother in 1983, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award– Fiction category– for Scooter in 1994, the Jane Addams Honor for Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart in 2002, and the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature in 2009. Her books reflected her values, emphasizing love, compassion, kindness, joy, strength, individuality, and courage.
Images:
Cover of Vera B. Williams’ A Chair for My Mother, published in 1982.
Vera B. Williams, Cover for Liberation Magazine, November 1958.
We will be discussing The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. All are welcome!
|
Let’s read and discuss Braver: A Wombat’s Tale by Suzanne Selfors. Delve deep into ecology with a Tasmanian wilderness survival game. We will be making an adorable pompom wombat keychain. Refreshments will be served. Pick up a copy of your book at the Pack Juv desk or read or listen to it using the Libby app. Feel free to join us even if you don’t finish reading the whole book. We will vote on our book for next month on Thursday, April 25th. Open to 4th-6th graders. Juvenile fiction chapter books or graphic novels will be the focus of this book group. |
The Black Experience Book Club reads books by Black authors about the many facets of the Black experience. Join other book lovers to discuss this month’s pick, Womaning, by local author Meta Commerse.
Join us at Pack Memorial Library on Thursday, March 28 at 6:30 p.m. for an event featuring NYT best-selling author Jeannette Walls. Ms. Walls will talk about writing her new book, Hang the Moon, and there will be an audience Q&A and book signing! Seating for this free event is first-come, first-served. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Hang the Moon is released in paperback on March 26 and can be pre-ordered from Malaprop’s!
Jeannette Walls graduated from Barnard College and worked as a journalist in New York. Her memoir, The Glass Castle, has been a New York Times bestseller for more than eight years. She is also the author of two instant New York Times bestsellers The Silver Star and Half Broke Horses. Walls lives in Virginia with her husband, writer John Taylor.
Malaprop’s will be selling Ms. Walls’ books at this event and will be happy to order books for you. Help support literary events like this for our community by shopping local!
Thanks to Malaprop’s Bookstore / Cafe and UNC Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program for co-sponsoring this event. If you have any questions, contact Pack Library.
Sit back if you dare as we illuminate Asheville’s darkest history with astonishing stories of spirits & spies, ghosts & goblins, hauntings & hoodlums and mountain-made murder & mayhem.
Hear stories of . . .
The legendary PINK LADY at the Grove Park Inn
The GHOST of Church Street
The 1936 UNSOLVED MURDER that shook Asheville
The CHILD SPIRITS at the haunted hospital
The architect walled into his own church!
The KILLING SPREE of 1906
NAZI AGENTS based in Asheville
ARSON at hospital that claimed Zelda Fitzgerald
Come enjoy our most popular Asheville tour!
Duration
1 hour and 30 minutes
About
Bachelorette/Bachelor Parties are not permitted on this tour. The Fender Bender Bus is bachelorette/bachelor friendly!
Historical and hysterical, The Hey Asheville tour features outrageously entertaining tour guides, outlandish comedy skits complete with special appearances and loads of Asheville information. You’ll get to see the best of downtown Asheville and the rarely seen but stunningly beautiful Montford neighborhood, not to mention the burgeoning River Arts District! You’ve never had a ride like this. It’s like a vaudeville show on wheels!
Find out what makes Asheville so unique on LaZoom’s City Comedy Tour. It’s the perfect mix of history, comedy, and entertainment. Our guides are trained professional actors working with an original script. It’s like a theatre on wheels! The tour highlights downtown Asheville, historic neighborhoods, the South Slope, and the River Arts District.
Age Restrictions
13 and up. No exceptions.
Stops
10 minute beer & bathroom break at Green Man Brewery
What’s Included
Guided tour of Asheville on a Purple Bus
Funny actors, fun bits
Actual History about Asheville
Green Man Brewery Stop
What’s Not Included
Beer/Wine (Must be purchased from LaZoom or the Brewery Stop)
Cash! You’ll want to tip the guides for changing your life for the better.
There is no better way to DISCOVER and EXPLORE Asheville! Hop-on board one of Gray Line’s nostalgic trolleys for a fully narrated day tour, highlighting the history, homes, hang-outs and hot spots of this “city of surprises.”
Tour Highlights include . . . Downtown Asheville | Montford Historic District | The Grove Park Inn and Grove Park Historic District | Thomas Wolfe District | Pack Square and Asheville Art Museum | Grove Arcade | River Arts District | Biltmore Village
Hop-On and hear the story of a city rich in architecture, history and the arts . . .
Hop-Off and experience its eclectic shops and galleries; its world class culinary and craft brew scenes.
Tour Duration: The complete tour (one loop) lasts approximately 90 to 100 minutes. There is an additional 15 minute stop at the Asheville Visitor Center. The Hop-On/Hop-Off Tour ticket is valid for TWO consecutive days.
Departure Points: Join the Hop-On/Hop-Off Tour at any of the 10 stops. If you’re driving in to join the tour, Stop 1, the Asheville Visitor Center may be your best option. The Visitor Center, located at 36 Montford Ave. just off I-240 at Exit 4C, offers free parking (on a first come-first served basis) and restrooms. The Asheville Visitor Center is the ONLY place to join the Overview Tour.
How a tarot reading works:
Your group reading will begin with an intention-setting, guided meditation. From there, each participant will enjoy a 10-15 minute personalized reading of the cards whose symbolism and possible messages will be interpreted. The cards anchor us back into larger cycles of growth, provide solace through tough times, and encourage us to stay on our path.
The central question the card is meant to address is, “What is it that I need to focus on at this moment to take the next step towards realizing my heart’s desire?” Readings can, though, focus specifically on any aspect of your life, such as your career or relationships.
During readings — whether it’s a virtual tarot reading or in-person — we turn off our phones, gather in a circle, and take a few, deep breaths to center ourselves. We then give each person a chance to ask a question and receive a reading. There are often a few tears, lots of laughs, and plenty of group discussion.
This event is fun and illuminating, offering everyone a deeper connection to everyday magic.
Tarot Reading Cost & Options:
- In-Person Readings in Asheville: we’ll come to you at your home or vacation rental, meet you in a city park, or settle in at a local tea house.
- Online Readings: connect with your crew and experience a bit of Asheville…no matter how far apart you may be!
Cost:
- Base price = $160 (includes up to 4 guests, 1hr total)
- Additional guests = $40/person (approximately 10-15 mins per person)
- 20+ guests and/or special events = please contact us.
- Hourly rates are available for larger parties with the option to work with multiple readers to optimize your time together.
- Book Now
Note that locations more than 10 miles from downtown Asheville will include an additional travel fee.
Our tarot readers can come to your home, office, or vacation rental or meet you at a city park, cozy tea house, or local café. Not in Asheville? No worries! We can also meet you online for a virtual tarot reading…no matter where in the world you may be.
Note that locations more than 10 miles from downtown Asheville include an additional travel fee at the rate of $25 for each additional 10 miles. Example: 0-10 miles included | 11-20 miles $25 | 21-30 miles $50 and so on.
CUSTOMIZED TOURS:
-
A custom half day tour planned with your interests in mind. This option is approximately 3.5 hr and can be morning from 9:30-1; or afternoon from 1:30-5.
We will select 2-3 artist studio options in the Asheville or Weaverville areas based on your input and artist availability. Three studios are standard for this custom half-day option, or two glass studios work well in this time frame (due to glass demo’s taking a bit longer than other mediums).
-
A custom full day tour planned with your interests in mind. This option is a full day from 9:30a to approximately 4p.
Designed for the serious art lover! Lunch is included, and this tour allows for the possibility of visiting 4 artist studios that are 30-60 minutes away from Asheville: for example in Waynesville, Marshall, Burnsville, Penland or Spruce Pine. Many of western NC’s professional artists live in these locations, so come explore more of the region with me – your local art insider!
Tour rates per participant: New Glass Plus 1 tour $65/ea. | Custom half day $85/ea. | Custom full day $165/ea.
For custom tours, planning ahead is key. Art Connections provides tours for couples and small or medium size groups. These tours are based on your interests, your time frame, and which artists are available for a visit. I know that everyone who considers a tour has different thoughts on what they’d enjoy seeing. Maximize your visit by planning ahead with me. Having worked for over 30 years with so many of the artists in Western NC, I can accommodate participant interests and find options that are a good fit for each request.
Just use the Contact page and send in an inquiry, we’ll go from there and work out the details.
Join us for a North Carolina winery tour and celebrate a date night, bachelorette party, retirement, family, or a weekend away while sampling our favorite local beverages along the way. Our standard tour includes visits to three Asheville area vineyards. With safe and reliable transportation provided, you can sit back, relax and just have fun.
Included:
- Round trip transportation*
- Three vineyard visits
- Tastings at two of your three stops. Let’s just say that the pours at the first couple of locations are generous so we like to leave the third-stop beverage choice up to you.
- Time commitment = up to 5 hours
Want to include specific vineyards on your Asheville wine tours? If you have “must-see” wineries in mind or want to craft a full day catered to your group’s interests, we’re always happy to create a custom experience. Reach out any time!
Exhibition and Public Programming
Vera B. Williams, an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, started making pictures almost as soon as she could walk. She studied at Black Mountain College in a time where summer institutes were held with classes taught by John Cage and Merce Cunningham. Williams studied under the Bauhaus luminary Josef Albers and went on to make art for the rest of her life. At the time of her death, The New York Times wrote: “Her illustrations, known for bold colors and a style reminiscent of folk art, were praised by reviewers for their great tenderness and crackling vitality.” Despite numerous awards and recognition for her children’s books, much of her wider life and work remains unexplored. This retrospective will showcase the complete range of Williams’ life and work. It will highlight her time at Black Mountain College, her political activism, and her establishment, with Paul Williams, of an influential yet little-known artist community, in addition to her work as an author and illustrator.
Author and illustrator of 17 children’s books, including Caldecott medal winner, A Chair for My Mother, Vera B. Williams always had a passion for the arts. Williams grew up in the Bronx, NY, and in 1936, when she was nine years old, one of her paintings, called Yentas, opens a new window, was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. While Williams is widely known for her children’s books today, this exhibition’s expansive scope highlights unexplored aspects of her artistic practice and eight decades of life. From groundbreaking, powerful covers for Liberation Magazine, to Peace calendar collaborations with writer activist Grace Paley, to scenic sketches for Julian Beck and Judith Malina’s Living Theater, to hundreds of late life “Aging and Illness” cartoons sketches and doodles, Vera never sat still.
Williams arrived at Black Mountain College in 1945. While there, she embraced all aspects of living, working, and learning in the intensely creative college community. She was at BMC during a particularly fertile period, which allowed her to study with faculty members Buckminster Fuller and Josef Albers, and to participate in the famed summer sessions with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, M.C. Richards, and Robert Rauschenberg. In 1948, she graduated with Josef Albers as her advisor and sculptor Richard Lippold as her outside examiner. Forever one of the College’s shining stars, Vera graduated from BMC with just six semesters of coursework, at only twenty-one years old. She continued to visit BMC for years afterward, staying deeply involved with the artistic community that BMC incubated.
Anticipating the eventual closure of BMC, Williams, alongside her husband Paul Williams and a group of influential former BMC figures, founded The Gate Hill Cooperative Artists community located 30 miles north of NYC on the outskirts of Stony Point, NY. The Gate Hill Cooperative, also known as The Land, became an outcropping of Black Mountain College’s experimental ethos. Students and faculty including John Cage, M.C. Richards, David Tudor, Karen Karnes, David Weinrib, Stan VanDerBeek, and Patsy Lynch Wood shaped Gate Hill as founding members of the community. Vera B. Williams raised her three children at Gate Hill while continuing to make work.
The early Gate Hill era represented an especially creative phase for the BMC group. For Williams, this period saw the creation of 76 covers for Liberation Magazine, a radical, groundbreaking publication. This exhibition will feature some of Williams’ most powerful Liberation covers including a design for the June 1963 edition, which contained the first full publication of MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Williams’ activism work continued throughout her life. As president of PEN’s Children Committee and member of The War Resisters league, she created a wide range of political and educational posters and journal covers. Williams protested the war in Vietnam and nuclear proliferation while supporting women’s causes and racial equality. In 1981, Williams was arrested and spent a month in a federal prison on charges stemming from her political activism.
In her late 40’s, Williams embarked in earnest on her career as a children’s book author and illustrator, a career which garnered the NY Public Library’s recognition of A Chair for My Mother as one of the greatest 100 children’s books of all time. Infinitely curious and always a wanderer at heart, Williams’ personal life was as expansive as her art. In addition to her prolific picture making, Williams started and helped run a Summerhill-based alternative school, canoed the Yukon, and lived alone on a houseboat in Vancouver Harbor. She helped to organize and attended dozens of political demonstrations throughout her adult life.
Her books won many awards including the Caldecott Medal Honor Book for A Chair for My Mother in 1983, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award– Fiction category– for Scooter in 1994, the Jane Addams Honor for Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart in 2002, and the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature in 2009. Her books reflected her values, emphasizing love, compassion, kindness, joy, strength, individuality, and courage.
Images:
Cover of Vera B. Williams’ A Chair for My Mother, published in 1982.
Vera B. Williams, Cover for Liberation Magazine, November 1958.
Explore Beer City on the one and only Fender Bender!
Duration
3 hours
About
Visit 3 breweries in under three hours on a purple bus with a live band! Beer purchased from the LaZoom Room or at the brewery stops are allowed on the bus. This tour sells out quickly, so please book in advance. This tour is perfect for birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and any kind of get together. This tour is not great if you want to see any behind the scenes of beer making. We’re all about the fun on this tour!
Age Restrictions
21 and up. No exceptions.
What’s Included
3 Brewery Stops (30 Minutes each) Highland, New Belgium, & The Wedge at Foundation
Bottled Water
Amazing Live Music
Transportation to breweries
Charismatic Beer Host
What’s Not Included
Beer (You can buy from The LaZoom Room)
Cash! You’ll want to tip the guides for changing your life for the better.
Waitlist
If your desired time and availability is full, then please give us a call to be added to the waitlist.
Explore the dark side of Beer City on LaZoom’s Ghosted Tour!
Duration
1 hour
About
Come enjoy our most popular Asheville tour!
About
Bachelorette/Bachelor Parties are not permitted on this tour. The Fender Bender Bus is bachelorette/bachelor friendly!
Learn about Asheville’s strange, sometimes sordid past from our ghoulish guides. You’ll laugh! You’ll scream! You’ll discover mysteries and chilling tales of scandal and murder on the blood-stained streets of this picturesque town!
Ghosted runs approximately 60 minutes. Beer and wine are welcome onboard, but no open containers, and absolutely no liquor, please! All beer and wine must be purchased from the LaZoom Room. (Passengers must be at least 21 years old to drink on the bus, and must have valid ID.)
Age Restrictions
17 and up. No exceptions.
What’s Included
A bunch of bus seats
History of murders, ghosts and tragedies in the Land of the Sky
Tongue-in-cheek comedy
A live (not dead) tour guide
What’s Not Included
Bathroom breaks (It’s 60 minutes long – plan accordingly!)
Beer or Wine (Purchase at our bar, the LaZoom Room, and take on the bus)
Laughing (we’ll give you the funny, but it’s up to you to laugh)
Gratuity (guides only accept dead president currency)
Waitlist
If your desired time and availability is full, then please give us a call to be added to the waitlist.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library impacts the pre-literacy skills and school readiness of children under the age of 5 in Buncombe County. The program mails a new, free, age-appropriate book to registered children each month until they turn five years old. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates a home library of up to 60 books and instills a love of books and reading from an early age. If you have any questions about the program, please send an email to [email protected].
A national panel of educators selects the Imagination Library titles, which include: The Little Engine that Could, Last Stop on Market Street, Violet the Pilot, As an Oak Tree Grows, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Look Out Kindergarten, here I come, and many more (take a look at all the titles).
Register your child now!
Program Launch and Expansions
Literacy Together became a Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library affiliate in November 2015 with support from the Buncombe Partnership for Children. Through this program, registered children in Buncombe County receive a free book in the mail each month. Their parents also have the opportunity to attend workshops to learn how to build their children’s early literacy skills. Parents in need of literacy assistance are encouraged to receive tutoring through Literacy Together’s adult programming.
The program served 200 children during the 2015/16 fiscal year. The program expanded to serve 400 children in July 2016, and 600 in August 2017. In July 2018, capacity increased to 1,900 thanks to a special allocation in the North Carolina state budget. We’re now serving 4,600 kids in Buncombe County.
Sit back if you dare as we illuminate Asheville’s darkest history with astonishing stories of spirits & spies, ghosts & goblins, hauntings & hoodlums and mountain-made murder & mayhem.
Hear stories of . . .
The legendary PINK LADY at the Grove Park Inn
The GHOST of Church Street
The 1936 UNSOLVED MURDER that shook Asheville
The CHILD SPIRITS at the haunted hospital
The architect walled into his own church!
The KILLING SPREE of 1906
NAZI AGENTS based in Asheville
ARSON at hospital that claimed Zelda Fitzgerald
Come enjoy our most popular Asheville tour!
Duration
1 hour and 30 minutes
About
Bachelorette/Bachelor Parties are not permitted on this tour. The Fender Bender Bus is bachelorette/bachelor friendly!
Historical and hysterical, The Hey Asheville tour features outrageously entertaining tour guides, outlandish comedy skits complete with special appearances and loads of Asheville information. You’ll get to see the best of downtown Asheville and the rarely seen but stunningly beautiful Montford neighborhood, not to mention the burgeoning River Arts District! You’ve never had a ride like this. It’s like a vaudeville show on wheels!
Find out what makes Asheville so unique on LaZoom’s City Comedy Tour. It’s the perfect mix of history, comedy, and entertainment. Our guides are trained professional actors working with an original script. It’s like a theatre on wheels! The tour highlights downtown Asheville, historic neighborhoods, the South Slope, and the River Arts District.
Age Restrictions
13 and up. No exceptions.
Stops
10 minute beer & bathroom break at Green Man Brewery
What’s Included
Guided tour of Asheville on a Purple Bus
Funny actors, fun bits
Actual History about Asheville
Green Man Brewery Stop
What’s Not Included
Beer/Wine (Must be purchased from LaZoom or the Brewery Stop)
Cash! You’ll want to tip the guides for changing your life for the better.
There is no better way to DISCOVER and EXPLORE Asheville! Hop-on board one of Gray Line’s nostalgic trolleys for a fully narrated day tour, highlighting the history, homes, hang-outs and hot spots of this “city of surprises.”
Tour Highlights include . . . Downtown Asheville | Montford Historic District | The Grove Park Inn and Grove Park Historic District | Thomas Wolfe District | Pack Square and Asheville Art Museum | Grove Arcade | River Arts District | Biltmore Village
Hop-On and hear the story of a city rich in architecture, history and the arts . . .
Hop-Off and experience its eclectic shops and galleries; its world class culinary and craft brew scenes.
Tour Duration: The complete tour (one loop) lasts approximately 90 to 100 minutes. There is an additional 15 minute stop at the Asheville Visitor Center. The Hop-On/Hop-Off Tour ticket is valid for TWO consecutive days.
Departure Points: Join the Hop-On/Hop-Off Tour at any of the 10 stops. If you’re driving in to join the tour, Stop 1, the Asheville Visitor Center may be your best option. The Visitor Center, located at 36 Montford Ave. just off I-240 at Exit 4C, offers free parking (on a first come-first served basis) and restrooms. The Asheville Visitor Center is the ONLY place to join the Overview Tour.
How a tarot reading works:
Your group reading will begin with an intention-setting, guided meditation. From there, each participant will enjoy a 10-15 minute personalized reading of the cards whose symbolism and possible messages will be interpreted. The cards anchor us back into larger cycles of growth, provide solace through tough times, and encourage us to stay on our path.
The central question the card is meant to address is, “What is it that I need to focus on at this moment to take the next step towards realizing my heart’s desire?” Readings can, though, focus specifically on any aspect of your life, such as your career or relationships.
During readings — whether it’s a virtual tarot reading or in-person — we turn off our phones, gather in a circle, and take a few, deep breaths to center ourselves. We then give each person a chance to ask a question and receive a reading. There are often a few tears, lots of laughs, and plenty of group discussion.
This event is fun and illuminating, offering everyone a deeper connection to everyday magic.
Tarot Reading Cost & Options:
- In-Person Readings in Asheville: we’ll come to you at your home or vacation rental, meet you in a city park, or settle in at a local tea house.
- Online Readings: connect with your crew and experience a bit of Asheville…no matter how far apart you may be!
Cost:
- Base price = $160 (includes up to 4 guests, 1hr total)
- Additional guests = $40/person (approximately 10-15 mins per person)
- 20+ guests and/or special events = please contact us.
- Hourly rates are available for larger parties with the option to work with multiple readers to optimize your time together.
- Book Now
Note that locations more than 10 miles from downtown Asheville will include an additional travel fee.
Our tarot readers can come to your home, office, or vacation rental or meet you at a city park, cozy tea house, or local café. Not in Asheville? No worries! We can also meet you online for a virtual tarot reading…no matter where in the world you may be.
Note that locations more than 10 miles from downtown Asheville include an additional travel fee at the rate of $25 for each additional 10 miles. Example: 0-10 miles included | 11-20 miles $25 | 21-30 miles $50 and so on.
CUSTOMIZED TOURS:
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A custom half day tour planned with your interests in mind. This option is approximately 3.5 hr and can be morning from 9:30-1; or afternoon from 1:30-5.
We will select 2-3 artist studio options in the Asheville or Weaverville areas based on your input and artist availability. Three studios are standard for this custom half-day option, or two glass studios work well in this time frame (due to glass demo’s taking a bit longer than other mediums).
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A custom full day tour planned with your interests in mind. This option is a full day from 9:30a to approximately 4p.
Designed for the serious art lover! Lunch is included, and this tour allows for the possibility of visiting 4 artist studios that are 30-60 minutes away from Asheville: for example in Waynesville, Marshall, Burnsville, Penland or Spruce Pine. Many of western NC’s professional artists live in these locations, so come explore more of the region with me – your local art insider!
Tour rates per participant: New Glass Plus 1 tour $65/ea. | Custom half day $85/ea. | Custom full day $165/ea.
For custom tours, planning ahead is key. Art Connections provides tours for couples and small or medium size groups. These tours are based on your interests, your time frame, and which artists are available for a visit. I know that everyone who considers a tour has different thoughts on what they’d enjoy seeing. Maximize your visit by planning ahead with me. Having worked for over 30 years with so many of the artists in Western NC, I can accommodate participant interests and find options that are a good fit for each request.
Just use the Contact page and send in an inquiry, we’ll go from there and work out the details.
Join us for a North Carolina winery tour and celebrate a date night, bachelorette party, retirement, family, or a weekend away while sampling our favorite local beverages along the way. Our standard tour includes visits to three Asheville area vineyards. With safe and reliable transportation provided, you can sit back, relax and just have fun.
Included:
- Round trip transportation*
- Three vineyard visits
- Tastings at two of your three stops. Let’s just say that the pours at the first couple of locations are generous so we like to leave the third-stop beverage choice up to you.
- Time commitment = up to 5 hours
Want to include specific vineyards on your Asheville wine tours? If you have “must-see” wineries in mind or want to craft a full day catered to your group’s interests, we’re always happy to create a custom experience. Reach out any time!
Exhibition and Public Programming
Vera B. Williams, an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books, started making pictures almost as soon as she could walk. She studied at Black Mountain College in a time where summer institutes were held with classes taught by John Cage and Merce Cunningham. Williams studied under the Bauhaus luminary Josef Albers and went on to make art for the rest of her life. At the time of her death, The New York Times wrote: “Her illustrations, known for bold colors and a style reminiscent of folk art, were praised by reviewers for their great tenderness and crackling vitality.” Despite numerous awards and recognition for her children’s books, much of her wider life and work remains unexplored. This retrospective will showcase the complete range of Williams’ life and work. It will highlight her time at Black Mountain College, her political activism, and her establishment, with Paul Williams, of an influential yet little-known artist community, in addition to her work as an author and illustrator.
Author and illustrator of 17 children’s books, including Caldecott medal winner, A Chair for My Mother, Vera B. Williams always had a passion for the arts. Williams grew up in the Bronx, NY, and in 1936, when she was nine years old, one of her paintings, called Yentas, opens a new window, was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. While Williams is widely known for her children’s books today, this exhibition’s expansive scope highlights unexplored aspects of her artistic practice and eight decades of life. From groundbreaking, powerful covers for Liberation Magazine, to Peace calendar collaborations with writer activist Grace Paley, to scenic sketches for Julian Beck and Judith Malina’s Living Theater, to hundreds of late life “Aging and Illness” cartoons sketches and doodles, Vera never sat still.
Williams arrived at Black Mountain College in 1945. While there, she embraced all aspects of living, working, and learning in the intensely creative college community. She was at BMC during a particularly fertile period, which allowed her to study with faculty members Buckminster Fuller and Josef Albers, and to participate in the famed summer sessions with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, M.C. Richards, and Robert Rauschenberg. In 1948, she graduated with Josef Albers as her advisor and sculptor Richard Lippold as her outside examiner. Forever one of the College’s shining stars, Vera graduated from BMC with just six semesters of coursework, at only twenty-one years old. She continued to visit BMC for years afterward, staying deeply involved with the artistic community that BMC incubated.
Anticipating the eventual closure of BMC, Williams, alongside her husband Paul Williams and a group of influential former BMC figures, founded The Gate Hill Cooperative Artists community located 30 miles north of NYC on the outskirts of Stony Point, NY. The Gate Hill Cooperative, also known as The Land, became an outcropping of Black Mountain College’s experimental ethos. Students and faculty including John Cage, M.C. Richards, David Tudor, Karen Karnes, David Weinrib, Stan VanDerBeek, and Patsy Lynch Wood shaped Gate Hill as founding members of the community. Vera B. Williams raised her three children at Gate Hill while continuing to make work.
The early Gate Hill era represented an especially creative phase for the BMC group. For Williams, this period saw the creation of 76 covers for Liberation Magazine, a radical, groundbreaking publication. This exhibition will feature some of Williams’ most powerful Liberation covers including a design for the June 1963 edition, which contained the first full publication of MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Williams’ activism work continued throughout her life. As president of PEN’s Children Committee and member of The War Resisters league, she created a wide range of political and educational posters and journal covers. Williams protested the war in Vietnam and nuclear proliferation while supporting women’s causes and racial equality. In 1981, Williams was arrested and spent a month in a federal prison on charges stemming from her political activism.
In her late 40’s, Williams embarked in earnest on her career as a children’s book author and illustrator, a career which garnered the NY Public Library’s recognition of A Chair for My Mother as one of the greatest 100 children’s books of all time. Infinitely curious and always a wanderer at heart, Williams’ personal life was as expansive as her art. In addition to her prolific picture making, Williams started and helped run a Summerhill-based alternative school, canoed the Yukon, and lived alone on a houseboat in Vancouver Harbor. She helped to organize and attended dozens of political demonstrations throughout her adult life.
Her books won many awards including the Caldecott Medal Honor Book for A Chair for My Mother in 1983, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award– Fiction category– for Scooter in 1994, the Jane Addams Honor for Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart in 2002, and the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature in 2009. Her books reflected her values, emphasizing love, compassion, kindness, joy, strength, individuality, and courage.
Images:
Cover of Vera B. Williams’ A Chair for My Mother, published in 1982.
Vera B. Williams, Cover for Liberation Magazine, November 1958.
Explore Beer City on the one and only Fender Bender!
Duration
3 hours
About
Visit 3 breweries in under three hours on a purple bus with a live band! Beer purchased from the LaZoom Room or at the brewery stops are allowed on the bus. This tour sells out quickly, so please book in advance. This tour is perfect for birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and any kind of get together. This tour is not great if you want to see any behind the scenes of beer making. We’re all about the fun on this tour!
Age Restrictions
21 and up. No exceptions.
What’s Included
3 Brewery Stops (30 Minutes each) Highland, New Belgium, & The Wedge at Foundation
Bottled Water
Amazing Live Music
Transportation to breweries
Charismatic Beer Host
What’s Not Included
Beer (You can buy from The LaZoom Room)
Cash! You’ll want to tip the guides for changing your life for the better.
Explore Beer City on the one and only Fender Bender!
Duration
3 hours
About
Visit 3 breweries in under three hours on a purple bus with a live band! Beer purchased from the LaZoom Room or at the brewery stops are allowed on the bus. This tour sells out quickly, so please book in advance. This tour is perfect for birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and any kind of get together. This tour is not great if you want to see any behind the scenes of beer making. We’re all about the fun on this tour!
Age Restrictions
21 and up. No exceptions.
What’s Included
3 Brewery Stops (30 Minutes each) Highland, New Belgium, & The Wedge at Foundation
Bottled Water
Amazing Live Music
Transportation to breweries
Charismatic Beer Host
What’s Not Included
Beer (You can buy from The LaZoom Room)
Cash! You’ll want to tip the guides for changing your life for the better.
Waitlist
If your desired time and availability is full, then please give us a call to be added to the waitlist.
Explore the dark side of Beer City on LaZoom’s Ghosted Tour!
Duration
1 hour
About
Come enjoy our most popular Asheville tour!
About
Bachelorette/Bachelor Parties are not permitted on this tour. The Fender Bender Bus is bachelorette/bachelor friendly!
Learn about Asheville’s strange, sometimes sordid past from our ghoulish guides. You’ll laugh! You’ll scream! You’ll discover mysteries and chilling tales of scandal and murder on the blood-stained streets of this picturesque town!
Ghosted runs approximately 60 minutes. Beer and wine are welcome onboard, but no open containers, and absolutely no liquor, please! All beer and wine must be purchased from the LaZoom Room. (Passengers must be at least 21 years old to drink on the bus, and must have valid ID.)
Age Restrictions
17 and up. No exceptions.
What’s Included
A bunch of bus seats
History of murders, ghosts and tragedies in the Land of the Sky
Tongue-in-cheek comedy
A live (not dead) tour guide
What’s Not Included
Bathroom breaks (It’s 60 minutes long – plan accordingly!)
Beer or Wine (Purchase at our bar, the LaZoom Room, and take on the bus)
Laughing (we’ll give you the funny, but it’s up to you to laugh)
Gratuity (guides only accept dead president currency)
Waitlist
If your desired time and availability is full, then please give us a call to be added to the waitlist.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library impacts the pre-literacy skills and school readiness of children under the age of 5 in Buncombe County. The program mails a new, free, age-appropriate book to registered children each month until they turn five years old. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates a home library of up to 60 books and instills a love of books and reading from an early age. If you have any questions about the program, please send an email to [email protected].
A national panel of educators selects the Imagination Library titles, which include: The Little Engine that Could, Last Stop on Market Street, Violet the Pilot, As an Oak Tree Grows, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Look Out Kindergarten, here I come, and many more (take a look at all the titles).
Register your child now!
Program Launch and Expansions
Literacy Together became a Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library affiliate in November 2015 with support from the Buncombe Partnership for Children. Through this program, registered children in Buncombe County receive a free book in the mail each month. Their parents also have the opportunity to attend workshops to learn how to build their children’s early literacy skills. Parents in need of literacy assistance are encouraged to receive tutoring through Literacy Together’s adult programming.
The program served 200 children during the 2015/16 fiscal year. The program expanded to serve 400 children in July 2016, and 600 in August 2017. In July 2018, capacity increased to 1,900 thanks to a special allocation in the North Carolina state budget. We’re now serving 4,600 kids in Buncombe County.