Happy Thursday, Buncombe County!
💡 Buncombe Fact: Asheville had the first streetcar in North Carolina, which made its debut on February 1, 1889, running from Pack Square down Biltmore Avenue to the train depot. By 1907 the system carried 3 million passengers a year, more than any other city in the state, until buses replaced it in 1934.
In today’s edition:
A harvest art walk in West Asheville
Oktoberfest takes over Coxe Avenue
Amanda Anne Platt, up close in Black Mountain
Fall Fest on a working college farm in Swannanoa
A pottery studio parking lot turns into a craft market
Tonight at the Grey Eagle, and Thomas Wolfe turns 126
The fiddle doctor of Fairview
Let’s get to it.
— Sean Kolina
🎨 A Harvest Art Walk in West Asheville
Friday night is the October East-West Asheville Art Walk, when small shops and studios across the neighborhood stay open late and West Asheville turns into one long gallery crawl. Lamplight Studios is the hub, and this month it goes spooky harvest with a pumpkin decorating contest with ribbon prizes, a photo booth, tarot readings and a dance performance to close the night.
Crow Rowlette plays at 7, and the stops around the neighborhood include Harvest Records, Bagatelle Books, Story Parlor, Nice Time Glass and Eikon Gallery. Start at Lamplight and let the evening wander.
📍 Where: Lamplight Studios, 2 Westwood Pl., West Asheville
📅 When: Friday, October 2nd | 5pm – 8pm
💲 Price: Free
🍻 Oktoberfest Takes Over Coxe Avenue
The Asheville Downtown Association takes over Coxe Avenue in the South Slope brewery district for Asheville Oktoberfest, with more than twenty breweries, cideries, wineries and distilleries pouring, plus oompah music and food trucks. The Prost Pass gets you a commemorative tasting glass and beer tastings from the participating breweries.
Buying the pass ahead saves ten dollars, and you have to be 21 or older to buy one.
📍 Where: Coxe Ave., South Slope
📅 When: Saturday, October 3rd | 1pm – 5pm
💲 Price: Prost Pass $25 in advance, $35 day-of | 21 and over
🎸 Amanda Anne Platt, Up Close in Black Mountain
Amanda Anne Platt is the frontwoman of Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, and Saturday she plays Amanda Anne Platt in Concert as an intimate duo with multi-instrumentalist Evan Martin. Expect a stripped-down night in a theatre setting rather than a full-band show.
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts hosts it in the Gale Jackson Theatre, which makes for an easy dinner-and-a-show night on West State Street.
📍 Where: Gale Jackson Theatre, Black Mountain Center for the Arts, 225 W. State St., Black Mountain
📅 When: Saturday, October 3rd | 7:30pm
💲 Price: $25
🌽 Fall Fest on a Working College Farm
Warren Wilson College opens its farm to the public Saturday for the Fall Fest and Center for Working Lands Showcase, part of the college's Homecoming weekend in Swannanoa. Expect autumn activities, food trucks, tours, live music, and open houses from the college's land and craft crews.
The craft crews are the part worth planning around. At past Fall Fests they have shown blacksmithing, fiber arts and fine woodworking, and the Farm School General Store has sold college-raised meat. This is the college's working land, so wear shoes that can handle a farm.
📍 Where: Warren Wilson College Farm, 159 South Ave., Swannanoa
📅 When: Saturday, October 3rd | 10am – 2pm
💲 Price: Admission not listed this year | Free at past Fall Fests
🛍 A Pottery Studio Parking Lot Turns Into a Craft Market
The sixth annual Fall Art and Craft Pop-up Market at Reems Creek Pottery brings more than twenty vendors to the studio parking lot in Weaverville, with locally made items sold by their creators. It lands at the right point in the season to start holiday shopping or just treat yourself.
The organizers say there is plenty of parking.
📍 Where: Reems Creek Pottery, 181 Reems Creek Rd., Weaverville
📅 When: Saturday, October 3rd | 10am – 3pm
💲 Price: Admission not listed by the organizer | Prices vary by vendor
Around the County
Buncombe is a lot bigger than downtown, so this is where the rest of it lives.
🌳 Tonight at the Grey Eagle. Noah Rinker plays the Music Hall with doors at 7 and the show at 8, all ages, with advance tickets at $31.25. Tickets
🌳 Thomas Wolfe turns 126 on Saturday. The Thomas Wolfe Memorial on North Market Street marks the birthday from 9 to 5 with cake and an annual used book sale, and house tours are free for North Carolina residents with a valid ID. Event page
🌳 High Five Coffee is back in Woodfin. The coffee spot relaunched September 6 in a wood-sided trailer on its Riverside Drive property, nearly four months after a May fire destroyed its building. Owner Jay Weatherly had already reopened once after Helene flooding. Read more
🌳 A 7 Brew drive-thru is headed to Weaverville. The coffee chain is taking over the former Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes and Fries spot on Northridge Commons Parkway near Walmart, with opening expected by the end of 2026. Read more
🌳 Black Mountain CERT is holding an open house. WNC's first Community Emergency Response Team, formed in 2025, meets neighbors Wednesday, October 21 from 5:30 to 6:30pm at Peri Social House, 406 West State Street. It is free and no RSVP is needed. Details
One to Know
A quick one every Thursday. Our full small business features run on Tuesdays, so think of this as the short version, and it is never paid and never sponsored.
🎸 Fiddle and Fret, Fairview
If a fiddle, banjo or guitar in your house needs work, this is a shop built for it. Danny Bishop has more than three decades of experience in high-end instrument sales, repair and trade, and Fiddle and Fret restores and repairs stringed instruments as well as buying, selling and trading them.
Appointments are required, so call ahead at 828-628-7070. The shop's motto is a good summary of the pitch: precision in repair, integrity in trade, pride in reputation.
📣 Know a business that belongs here? Hit reply with a name and we'll check them out!
Other fun notes…
😋 Weekly Appalachian inspired recipe: Sweet Potato Casserole with Sorghum — sorghum syrup and roasted peanuts stand in for the marshmallows in this Nashville chef's family recipe, a good fit for the first real fall weekend.
🎵 Who we are listening to: Josiah and the Bonnevilles - Carolina Heart (By The Tobacco Barn) — a Tennessee singer-songwriter and his band, who play the Grey Eagle on Wednesday, October 14.
💛 Local Nonprofits. Read to Succeed Asheville/Buncombe — free one-to-one tutoring for elementary students, and volunteer tutors are trained before they start.
🙏 Positive News Around the Globe: NBC and Telemundo's Clear The Shelters campaign helped 135,000 shelter pets find homes and raised $480,000 for more than 1,000 shelters. Read Article
✨ Here's to full plates, open windows and a weekend that feels a little longer than two days.
🗳️ One quick question, and it genuinely shapes what goes in here:
What is your favorite way to spend a fall Saturday in Buncombe County?
As always, we read every reply and truly appreciate hearing from you. If there’s something you’d like to see more of locally, let us know. Thanks for being part of the Buncombe County Digest community.
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