Sent Wednesday, October 28, 202622 picks
Friday is the warm one: 42 at 7am, then sunny and up to 78 by 4. That's summer weather for the end of October, so it's the day for anything outside.
Saturday, Halloween, turns cloudy but stays dry: 50 at 7am and up to 66 in the afternoon. The chance of rain stays under 10% until after midnight.
Sunday is wet. Showers are likely from about 7am to noon (55%), ease off a little in the afternoon, then come back after 7pm (70%). A high of 60. Plan on indoor stuff, and bring a rain jacket for anything outside.
Nights: Friday is 66 at 8pm and 60 at 10pm, so a light jacket does it. Halloween night is dry and cloudy, 61 at 8pm and 57 at 10pm. Clocks fall back an hour at 2am Sunday.
Hour by hour, Friday morning to Sunday night
Night Temperature Chance of rain
National Weather Service hourly forecast for Asheville, as of Wednesday morning, Oct 28.
High 78°, no rain
High 66°, 7% chance of rain
High 60°, 70% chance of rain
A few of my favorites from the Halloween guide. Everything else spooky this weekend is in the full Halloween guide.
The Montford Park Players' outdoor stage turns into a haunted high school. Groups of 15 walk through 13 gory scenes for about an hour. It sells out every year, and as of last week Saturday had the most open times, with openings every night after 9.
Modelface Comedy hosts a ghost-story swap at the distillery on Fairview Road. Tell a haint tale or a family legend and your next drink is on them, or just sit and listen. It's seated, so get there at 8:30.
The two guys behind Old Gods of Appalachia, the mountain folk horror podcast, throw a Halloween prom at Eulogy: DJ Poltergeist, fog and candlelight, and prom royalty crowned at the end. Dress formal or full gothic.
Chemist's cocktail lounge turns into an old movie house, with 1920s to '40s monster movies on the walls, Dracula and Frankenstein rooms, live jazz, then a vinyl DJ. The costume prizes are real: $150 for the best group.
These won't come around again this year.
One of the best-known piano quartets in the world, from Germany, on the Asheville Chamber Music Series: Mahler's Piano Quartet, Mozart's in E-flat and Dvořák's second. It's in a church on Haywood Road, and it's done by 9:30.
Western North Carolina photographers show work with the names and backstory taken away, figurative to abstract, so you're left with just the picture. The Halloween opening has a spooky photo booth. It's up through Nov 28, so this is the first look.
For the tour's second year, the neighbors behind Sunny Point open their porches and yards to 16 local artists, with live music and a coffee truck. Grab a map at any porch, and park free at Rainbow Community School off Pennsylvania Ave. Rain is likely Sunday, so check before you go.
William D. Caballero filmed his Puerto Rican family for 20 years, then he and his mother made animations to bring the ones they lost back to life. It's 86 minutes, then a talk with Caballero. A good one for a rainy Sunday.
Swing, cake and a 60th birthday
Russ Wilson and His Famous Orchestra play his 14th annual birthday party in Highland's Event Center, and this one's his 60th: swing from the '30s and '40s by Krupa, Glenn Miller, Ellington, Chick Webb and Goodman, with Wendy Jones singing and Meschiya Lake and Justin Ray sitting in. There's cake. Done by 9:30, so it's an easy Sunday night.
ReString Appalachia started after Helene to get free instruments back to musicians who lost theirs, and it's given away more than 1,000. Now it has a home on Main Street in Marshall: a music shop with instruments, strings and repairs, plus a 50-seat room for jams and workshops. The opening has a ribbon cutting, live music, a costume contest with prizes, a puppet show, a crankie story and free membership sign-ups.
Elizabeth McCain tells queer Southern stories of love, loss and liberation, with music by 2Chix. Two hours at the bar on Broadway, a good way to end a rainy Sunday.
Sorted by why you'd go, not by genre. Each one has something going on right now that makes this the week to see them.
Real momentum right now. Catch them in a small room while you can.
Hendersonville's hyperpop kid, playing for the mountains
Ash Gutierrez grew up in Hendersonville and blew up making hyperpop in his bedroom in 2020. This one's a charity show for Conserving Carolina, the land trust that looks after the mountains and streams around Hendersonville. dupontpavilion and auwbe open, so plan on being out around 11.
Oregon jazz duo with a new record
A jazz duo from Eugene, Oregon, on tour with Papa's Boat, an album inspired by a photo of their grandfather. They made it in London with Malcolm Catto, and it pulls in indie, pop, rap and bossa nova, with Marcos Valle as a guest. Alex Amen, just signed to ATO, opens. Out by about 10:45.
Small followings that play them on repeat. Worth it even if it's not your usual thing.
Asheville songwriter in a church-turned-listening room
An Asheville songwriter and producer whose latest record, Losin', runs on stories about his longtime neighbor and landlord, Gary King. Styrofoam Winos open, in AyurPrana's room built inside an old church on Haywood Road. Done by about 9:30, so eat first in West Asheville.
Nashville harmony folk, fully seated
A Nashville trio, Isaac Horn, Lincoln Mick and Bailey Warren, mixing folk, progressive bluegrass and choir-style harmony, out on the Make It Out Alive tour. Addison Agen, runner-up on season 13 of The Voice, is on the bill. It's fully seated, and you're out by about 10:45.
Telluride's band contest winners
A bluegrass band from Grand Haven, Michigan, that won the Telluride band contest and IBMA's Momentum Band of the Year in 2022. It's an evening with them on Pisgah's indoor Taproom Stage, so no opener. Out by about 10:30.
Swannanoa slide guitar, album release
Reed Turchi grew up in Swannanoa and plays slide guitar he calls kudzu boogie. This is the patio release show for Road Ends in Water, a record he made in a basement in 2010, now remixed and remastered, with Luther Dickinson on three songs. Done by about 7, in time for dinner and costumes.
Ten years or more, with the track record to prove it.
Jurassic 5's DJ on Halloween
The DJ from Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli brings his Disco Is Dead set to Third Room on Halloween, with Blockhead, the New York producer known for his work with Aesop Rock, on the bill. A 9pm start with two DJs, so it's a late one, and the clocks fall back at 2.
The spice shop in the Grove Arcade celebrates the Festival of Lights with free samples from Desi-owned brands, including Kartik from Doosra in person, and Botiwalla is there with street food bites and chai. Their 7oz tins are buy one, get one half off during the party.
More than 30 fermenters, farmers and potters set up at Olivette Farm, with free demos on jun, kimchi, sourdough, cheese and mead, farm tours and live music. Bring a cooler for the jars you take home. It's outside and showers are likely Sunday, so bring a rain jacket.
The last color report said Asheville itself should peak the last week of October, so this is it, with street trees in town coloring first. Up on the Parkway, Bent Creek Gap at milepost 400 had its first golds and oranges last week, and Craggy Gardens is past peak but still a good spot to look down on it. Go Friday if you can; Sunday's rain may bring some leaves down. The Parkway is still closed from NC 80 to Mount Mitchell.
Feed, brush and take pictures with the farm's shaggy highland cows, then sit down to a highland-cow afternoon tea. It's about an hour southeast of town in Rutherfordton, and Saturday is dry. By appointment, so book ahead, and get there no more than 15 minutes early.