The best of what's happening this weekend in Asheville
Sent Thursday, September 24, 202625 picks
Three dry days with highs in the mid 70s. Friday starts cloudy, then it's clear the rest of the weekend. It's about 60 at 10pm and drops into the 40s by dawn Saturday and Sunday, so bring a layer for late shows and early hikes.
Hour by hour, Friday morning to Sunday night
Night Temperature Chance of rain
Rebuilt from what actually happened at the Asheville airport (National Weather Service observations), since last Thursday's forecast isn't archived.
High 74°, no rain
High 76°, no rain
These won't come around again this year.
Pride runs two days this year. Friday night is adults only, with a market in the park and a Spectacle show at Revival with DJ Wreckno and drag performers. Saturday is the free festival with 200-plus booths. The main stage opens with the Asheville Gay Men's Chorus at noon and ends with the Legendary Drag Show at 5:20.
Helene left a waterline nearly 11 feet up Local Cloth's studio walls. Now a line of community-made fiber art runs around the room at that exact height, one 2 by 6 inch strip at a time. It's two years to the day, and you can still add a strip.
Holy Trinity has run this since 1986, and the yia-yias are still cooking. Get the Grecian chicken or pastichio platters inside, gyros off the outdoor grill, and loukoumades with Greek coffee. Church tours run at noon, 3 and 6. No pets, and satellite parking is a 15-minute walk.
The first year of this one. Cane Creek opens its Fletcher headquarters to 20-plus independent frame builders and parts makers, with a mountain bike ride and a gravel ride Saturday, a cyclocross race Sunday, factory tours, food trucks and Burial beer. There's a kickoff ride Friday at 5.
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.
Dan Auerbach's new rock find
Boston's Fai Laci turned two bedroom-recorded EPs into more than 15 million streams, then signed with Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound. Auerbach produced the debut album, Elephant in the Room, which came out in June. A small-room chance before the bigger rooms.
Edie Brickell's new band, release night
Edie Brickell's new band puts out its debut album the same day as this show. She and drummer Matt Chamberlain reconnected on Paul Simon's recent tour, then cut the record with Kaveh Rastegar and Mason Stoops in six days of studio jamming. It's a short fall run that includes Austin City Limits.
Small followings that play them on repeat. Worth it even if it's not your usual thing.
A cult favorite plays the hits
Jurado has been making quiet, strange, beautiful folk records out of Seattle since 1995, and this tour is billed "All hits & no misses," so expect a set pulled from the whole catalog. The people who love him really love him. It's standing room only.
Banjo, tape loops and drone
Three sets of slow, textured music at the museum downtown. Durham's Nathan Bowles plays clawhammer banjo against homemade tape loops and old keyboards, and he put out a new solo record, Seven Lefts, in February. Guitarist Corey Parlamento and the string-and-synth duo Lunar Creature fill out the night.
Riverside ragtime, bring a chair
An Atlanta band playing 1920s-style ragtime with trumpet, clarinet and trombone, outside by the river on a clear Sunday. Only about 6,000 people follow them on Last.fm, but each one has played them around 20 times. It's BYOB, so bring a chair and a cooler.
London synth-punk in a record store
The one-man project of Ukraine-born, London-based Theo Zhykharyev: bouncy bass, fizzy synths and catchy, sad hooks. His second album, Bridge of Sacrifice, came out in March, and this is one stop on a U.S. run, with Cheeks and Pollute opening.
Ten years or more, with the track record to prove it.
Warren Haynes brings the Mule home
Asheville-born Warren Haynes, who started the Christmas Jam here in 1988, brings Gov't Mule back for a co-headline with Ziggy Marley, the first time the two have toured together. It's outdoors with an early start on a clear, 70-degree evening. Lawn chairs rent on site, and blankets up to 3 by 5 feet are allowed.
Three headliners on one lawn
Three headline-size acts for one ticket. Houndmouth, the Indiana band behind "Sedona," put out a new album, Lordy, in July. Molly Tuttle has two Best Bluegrass Album Grammys, and Daniel Donato is in the middle of a 30-plus-date fall tour.
Helene, two years later
Two years after Helene, Rising Appalachia plays Pisgah's outdoor stage twice: Saturday night with Street Creature Puppet Collective, and a Sunday afternoon matinee billed as family friendly. Their new album comes out Oct 2, so expect new songs. Pisgah says Saturday tickets are online only, none at the gate.
Old 97's frontman, under $15
The Old 97's singer plays a small South Slope room, and the night raises money for Asheville Music Professionals. He put out his tenth solo album last fall and a new single, "Wasted Time," this month. Jeff Santiago and Claire Whall open.
Three days of blues in one room
The blues festival is one seated room this year, about 200 reserved seats plus standing. Saturday's big name is Selwyn Birchwood, who won the International Blues Challenge and put out a new Alligator album in March. Sunday closes with Southern Avenue, the Memphis soul band with a Grammy nomination for their latest. Sunday standing room is $20.
Saturday is Highland's Oktoberfest party in the Meadow, with Lagerhosen from 1 to 4, Wilson Springs Hotel from 5 to 8, and seven food trucks. A dollar from every pour of Clawhammer Oktoberfest goes to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. Friday's new beer dinner is a Bavarian buffet from Taylor Montgomery of Montgomery Sky Farm, with a pretzel, a stein and your first half liter.
The Grove Park Inn throws its F. Scott Fitzgerald weekend the weekend after his birthday. Friday's social is a buffet, unlimited gin cocktails, party games and a jazz band, and Twenties dress is encouraged. The rest of the weekend has Fitzgerald Room tours, a book signing and fireside s'mores each night.
The first golds and oranges are showing around Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountain Crest Trail. Graveyard Fields is still mostly green, which makes it a good week for the Second Falls and Upper Falls trail before the leaf crowds show up. The Parkway is open north past Craggy Gardens to Mount Mitchell State Park and south through Graveyard Fields and Black Balsam. The Craggy Gardens picnic area is closed.
The second RISE sets up on the French Broad with casting and fly-tying contests, a guide expo, live music, an artist market and a river-themed flash tattoo studio. Raffle money goes to RiverLink. This year's theme, RISE Together, marks two years since Helene.
The Cradle waives admission for National Public Lands Day, so the exhibit hall, the film and seven buildings from the Biltmore Forest School, the country's first forestry school, are free. There are over 3 miles of paved trails.
Painter Chrys Corn Goodman and printmaker Maryana Rivera both had work in the River Arts District when Helene hit. This show is what they've made since, and both will be at the opening. It runs through Oct 25.
The museum's new architecture and design show hangs a floating geodesic dome modeled on Buckminster Fuller's 1949 dome at the college. There's a rebuilt student study room and work by Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa and Karen Karnes next to newer pieces by Olafur Eliasson. It runs through Jan 9.
More than 75 small-press makers selling zines, comics, chapbooks and art books, plus risograph printing demos and a table where you can make your own zine.
Downtown's Oktoberfest moves to Coxe Avenue this year, with 20-plus breweries, cideries, wineries and distilleries. The Prost Pass gets you a tasting glass and samples, and it's $10 more at the gate.
The October weekend at Lake Eden is back, run by the LEAF founder, with the Grey Eagle booking the music, plus 20-plus hours of contra and square dancing and lake time. It's capped at around 2,000 people. Kids 10 and under are free.