August 19, 2024 We welcome you and two distinct artists to Edgewood Cottage from August 19 through August 25, 10-5 daily: Brad Gates, ink and acrylic pointillist artist, and Lee Harper, oil. The artists will be hosting a free reception on Thursday, August 22 from 5-7 p.m., including music by Fin Vason.
August 16, 2024 Toe River Arts is excited to announce that this year’s Music In the Mountains Folk Festival will be on Saturday, September 14, 2024 at Homeplace Beer Company & Hog Hollow Pizza in Burnsville, North Carolina. This year’s festival honoree is local legend, Terry McKinney. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate his many contributions to our local music tradition. Terry McKinney was born in Spruce Pine and grew up in Mitchell and McDowell counties surrounded by traditional mountain music, and he has been singing and playing music most of his life.
August 15, 2024 The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce is excited to invite you to our highly anticipated “Spirit of Boone” Annual Meeting, a celebration of our community’s vibrant spirit and shared accomplishments over the past year. This event is more than just a gathering—it’s an opportunity to connect, collaborate, and contribute to the growth and prosperity of our beloved Boone community.
August 14, 2024 The Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce’s Community and Government Committee in partnership with the Town of Blowing Rock invite all residents and business owners to attend the annual State of the Town event Thursday, August 15th at 5:30 pm at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) in the Community Meeting Room. The event will be recorded for anyone who cannot attend. The link to the You Tube video can be found on the Chamber’s website www.LoveBlowingRock.com or the Town of Blowing Rock’s website www.TownofBlowingRock.com
August 14, 2024 Area widows have begun receiving much-needed support through a group known as Never Alone, which launched in Boone earlier this year. A branch of a nation-wide organization founded by a two-time widow, Rachel Faulkner Brown, Never Alone offers fellowship and a feeling of community for women who are living in a difficult and often-unexpected and misunderstood place in life. On Friday evening, Aug. 16, any woman, regardless of age, who has been thrust into the awkward state of widowhood is invited to join in the Boone-based chapter of Never Alone. The group will meet at 6 p.m. at Rhodes Motor Inn Restaurant in Boone. By Sherrie Norris
August 14, 2024 Lace up your lederhosen and don your dirndl for Sugar Mountain Resort’s 34th annual Oktoberfest celebration, Saturday & Sunday, October 12 & 13. Take in Sugar’s cool and comfortable mountain temperatures, its beautiful fall foliage, and a weekend full of festival activities from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Be sure to bring the kids because Sugar’s Oktoberfest is yodels-n-yodels of fun for the whole family. Admission, parking, and shuttle service are free of charge.
August 13, 2024 TThe vibrant community of Boone is thrilled to announce the unveiling of the highly anticipated Hellbender Mural by renowned artist Josh Johnston. This stunning piece of public art, the last in the Center For Biological Diversity’s “Endangered Species Mural Project” series, is located in the heart of downtown Boone on Howard Street. The mural celebrates the Hellbender, a long-lived giant salamander exclusively found in the eastern United States. These “living fossils” represent healthy and abundant streams across Southern Appalachia, and highlight the importance of preserving our local waterways. Like many aquatic species featured in the mural, Hellbender populations are on the decline throughout most of their range due to a combination of stressors such as habitat loss, sedimentation, pollution, and predation.
August 13, 2024 The 34th annual Blue Ridge Brutal Bike Ride will be held in Ashe County on Saturday, August 17, 2024. Hosted by the Ashe County Chamber of Commerce, the ride offers 25-, 50-, 70-, and 100-mile routes, each including scenic stretches, elevation changes, and stunning long-range views throughout Ashe. After completing one’s chosen course, riders may elect to take on the Assault on Mount Jefferson. Its 1,476-foot elevation gain within 3.4 miles makes for an unforgettable ending to an already memorable ride. In recent years, each Brutal ride has had approximately 400 participants, most of whom were visitors to the High Country
August 13, 2024 The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) will hold the seventh annual Blowing Rock Plein Air Festival from Aug. 20 through Aug. 24, 2024. The festival will culminate in the highly anticipated Show and Sale on August 24, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Held at BRAHM, the Show and Sale offers a unique opportunity to view and acquire works from more than 100 artists who have been painting the picturesque High Country Region of North Carolina. The Blowing Rock Plein Air Festival is a four-day, open enrollment plein air painting event in the area surrounding the town of Blowing Rock. The festival aims to bring painters together from around the world to paint outside in the fresh air while getting to know each other and sharing their work
August 12, 2024 It’s been two weeks since our audiences enjoyed music, dance, theatre, film and visual arts, and we are still reflecting on the incredible talent that graced our stages this year! Classical audiences and bluegrass fans alike came together when Béla Fleck performed with the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra on June 30 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Have you ever heard this performed on the banjo before? Only an artist of Béla Fleck’s caliber could do it with such virtuosity and perfection!
August 12, 2024 From August 12 through August 18 two artists, Scott Ballard, oil, and Randi Robeson, oil, will fill Edgewood Cottage with quality art from 10 – 5 p.m. daily, with a free artist reception on Thursday, August 15, from 5-7 p.m. Scott Ballard believes in original art. If you would like to consider original art in your home or are expanding your collection, this is the week to come to the Cottage because the landscape of the High Country is a wonderful muse for Scott. From the New River to Grandfather mountain and all the trails in between, the more Scott paints the more he sees nature in his brush strokes. Come see nature through Scott’s eyes.
August 9, 2024 The Town of Boone is excited to announce the annual “Doc Watson Day” celebration, honoring the legacy of one of the area’s most beloved and influential musicians. This year’s festivities will take place on Friday, August 16th, and Saturday, August 17th, featuring a variety of musical performances.
August 8, 2024 On Wednesday, August 21st The North Carolina Network for Fair, Safe and Secure Elections will host the next town hall of the 2024 election cycle in Boone, NC. This event is part of a series that will feature dozens of events across the state to address public concerns around voting in North Carolina and to strengthen civil discourse. This event will be hosted at Appalachian State University in the Parkway Ballroom at the Plemmons Student Union from 6:30-8:00 PM. It will be moderated by Retired Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr. The panel will also feature Watauga County’s Elections Director, Matt Snyder, as well as Board of Elections Member Leta Councill from Watauga County, Carolyn Bunker from Guilford County, and former member of the Watauga County Board of Elections, Four Eggers.
August 8, 2024 The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) has created an iterative digital catalog of artworks by iconic North Carolina artist Maud Gatewood. The catalog is drawn from the scholarship associated with the Museum’s current exhibition, The Hard Edge & The Soft Line: A Retrospective of Maud Gatewood, on view in the Fort, Atwell, and Rankin East Galleries from June 28, 2024 through January 5, 2025.
August 7, 2024 It’s been a busy summer down on the farm — in particular at De La Cruz Farms in Watauga County. Summer camps for youngsters of all ages and abilities have filled the calendar, as dozens of participants have enjoyed life-changing and enhancing experiences. There is rarely a dull moment at the Deep Gap location and even more excitement is on the way. The inaugural Deep Gap Derby Day, benefiting De La Cruz Farms, is coming soon and promises a unique evening of fun with live entertainment, raffles, a catered meal and a chance to hear from families whose lives have been impacted by the ministry of the farm. By Sherrie Norris
August 6, 2024 Come enjoy the work of artists you won’t want to miss starting August 5. Alysa Cantor, ceramics, and the Blue Ridge Fiber Guild are in residence from August 5 through August 11, 10-5 p.m. daily.
August 5, 2024 Milepost Music is bringing live mountain music to The Bluffs Restaurant at Doughton Park, located at milepost 241 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Laurel Springs, N.C. Free outdoor concerts will take place from 2 to 4 p.m., on the second and fourth Sundays in August. The Almost Irish Band will perform Sunday, Aug. 11. Hailing from Mount Airy, N.C., the group plays Irish and other Celtic music, as well as oldies, The Beatles, and lots of other gems from past decades.
August 1, 2024 St. Mary of the Hills Episcopal Church announces a successful 66 th Annual Blowing Rock Tour of Homes, thanks to the countless hours of volunteers from around Watauga County and beyond who donated Timeless Treasures, baked fabulous cakes, cookies and pies, drove, guided, arranged flowers, served lunches, organized, sold, and cleaned, as well as the four families who so graciously opened their lovely homes for over a thousand visitors from across North Carolina and beyond.
August 1, 2024 Another “concert with a cause” is coming to Banner Elk Presbyterian Church on Sunday, August 25, at 3 p.m. The Flood Brothers, written and performed by local talents John Thomas Oaks and Rev. Dr. Tommy Oaks, is a humorous musical revue about the Biblical story of Noah. In the show, Noah’s sons Shem and Japheth sing about their dad’s mission from God—building the Ark. The audience will enjoy the journey with laughter, original blues music and new insights. Admission is free, and donations will be collected for student scholarships at a Guatemalan church aptly named for the Ark.
July 31, 2024 Once again, Tweetsie Railroad is hosting Grammy Award-winning Riders In The Sky (a.k.a “America’s Favorite Cowboys”) for a weekend of Western music and comedy performances, August 10 and 11. “This is one music performance you don’t want to miss,” said Cathy Robbins of Tweetsie Railroad. “Riders In The Sky are very talented musicians. They bring lots of energy, laughs, and their spirit is infectious.”
July 31, 2024 The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) has been awarded a three-year grant totaling $29,950 from North Carolina’s America 250 NC initiative for a project that will celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial in 2026. America 250 NC is North Carolina’s commemoration of the United States’ 250th anniversary and is led by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR). BRAMH will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America through two of the commemorative themes, Common Ground and Gathering of Voices, established by America 250 NC.
July 29, 2024 “New York Times” best-selling author, Sharyn McCrumb, will be speaker at the High Country Writers meeting at the Watauga County Public Library, 10 a.m., Thursday, August 8. HCW meetings are co-sponsored by the library and are open to the public. Sharyn McCrumb is best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels, including the “New York Times” best sellers “The Ballad of Tom Dooley,” “The Ballad of Frankie Silver,” and “Ghost Riders,” which won the Wilma Dykeman Award for Literature from the East Tennessee Historical Society and the national Audie Award for Best Recorded Book.
July 29, 2024 July 30 – 31, 2024, Appalachian State University will host the Carolina Meat Conference (CMC) on its campus and surrounding local farms. Boone, NC is an area with a rich history of small farms, livestock farming, and self-reliance—a fitting backdrop for this significant conference. The Carolina Meat Conference is a biennial event that brings together hundreds of attendees from across the nation. Organized by NC Choices, an initiative of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) in collaboration with NC Cooperative Extension, the conference is a leading forum for sustainable agriculture, focusing specifically on local meats and cheeses.
July 29, 2024 Grandfather Mountain, the not-for-profit nature park run by the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, is hosting its annual Animal Enrichment Day on Wednesday, July 31 and invites guests to come see firsthand how Grandfather Mountain cares for its resident animals. The event, which allows visitors to watch enrichment demonstrations, talk directly with keepers and participate in family-oriented interactive games, is included with admission.
July 29, 2024 It’s a great week to visit Edgewood Cottage—daily from 10-5 but a special free artist reception on Thursday, August 1, from 5-7 p.m. as well. Jack Hamrick, oil, acrylic and ink, teamed with watercolorist JoAnn Pippin, will fill the Cottage with color, creativity and expertise you’ll want to explore.