The NC Division of Tourism reports an increase in Festivals, Events and special things to do in the NC mountains for 2011. If May and the Memorial Day Weekend are an indication, both the quality and quantity of mountain events offers something for everyone from sports competitions to arts and crafts to old fashioned family fun.
Enjoy the Great Outdoors and this spring's wonderful weather with mountain biking and the Assault on Mt Mitchell and Marion or Bryson City's 12 Hours of Tsali for the 7th annual Team and Solo competitions, one of the most fun and challenging races of the year. Held on the famous Tsali trail system, the race is10 miles per lap of fast flowing single track through the hills of Western North Carolina. Or test you overall fitness with the Second Annual Lake James Triathlon, a 750 meter swim in Lake James followed by a 22 mile bicycle ride ending with a 3.1 mile foot race to the finish line! And on Memorial Day Weekend Asheville's 11th Annual Mountain Sports Festival challenges both pros and ametuers in mountain sports in a festival setting. In the High Country The Black and Blue: Double Century Relay is the only cycling event of its kind in the contiguous United States with 218 miles showcasing the demanding mountainous roads and notable rivers of Northwestern North Carolina, Southwestern Virginia and Northeastern Tennessee. Find more Mountain Sports events here...
Special Festivals with live music and local mountain arts and crafts include Brevard's renowned White Squirrel Festival voted "Best Spring Music Festival in Western North Carolina" by the reader's of the Asheville Citizen Times and Asheville's 8th Annual Monford Arts and Music Festival with two stages filled with continuous live music and entertainment from featured local and national artists. The 8th Annual Arts and Music Festival in charming downtown Saluda celebrates the talent of more than 50 outstanding local artists and craftspeople during Saluda's 130th birthday year. On Memorial Day Weekend Bryson City hosts Heritage Festival a two day event with old – time gospel, classic country and bluegrass, clogging, and Indian hoop dancing. In addition to music, the festival offers local arts and crafts, food, games for the kids, log-sawing contest and fun for the whole family. Pickin' on the Square in downtown Franklin kicks off its 
2011 season with free live entertainment every Saturday night Memorial Day weekend through October. Bring your own chair and enjoy some good mountain music and dancing. On Memorial Day, the Carl Sandburg Folk Music Festival is held on the grounds of the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site. The folk music which was an important part of Carl Sandburg's life comes alive with instrumentals, folk ballads and spiritual songs. Find more Music and Arts and Crafts Festivals here...
How does your garden grow? Whether you're an avid gardener or just appreciate the beauty of spring blossoms you'll want to attend these celebrations of spring: CHimney Rock Park's Spring Wildflower Guided Hike includes the maximum diversity of Park wildflowers on several Park trails. Memorial Day Weekend's 18th Annual Garden Jubilee Festival in Hendersonville offers over 200 vendors selling thousands of plants, arts
and crafts along with garden talks, clinics, garden accessories, and food. The festival covers 8 blocks of Main Street. Find Fantastic Spring herbs, great local bands, lots of arts and crafts vendors and farmers market items at the Banner Elk Herb Festival. Asheville's Annual Asheville-Blue Ridge Rose Society Exhibition features award-winning roses of every color and size. Experts will be on hand and a sale will be held in conjunction with the exhibition, which will include rose plants, fertilizer, and soil amendments. You can see the mountains' remarkable Catawba Rhododendron up close and personal on Grandfather Mountain's Remarkable Rhododendron Ramble. Programs will occur daily at 1 PM and last for approximately one hour. Find more gardening and nature activities here...
And if you're looking for the unusual and just plain FUN events, try Music and More at the Historic Orchard at Alta Pass in between Little Switzerland and Spruce Pine with music, mountain dancing, storytelling, hayrides, monarch butterfly raising, naturalist tours and birding walks and arts and handwork demonstrations. Or head north to Wilkesboro for the Candle Light Ghost Tours and an evening of tales, mystery and haunts. Learn about the ghosts that haunt the old buildings of downtown Wilkesboro. Visit a cemetery where Civil War Soldiers are
buried, stand in the jail cell where Tom Dooley spent his last days. Love comic books, SI-FI and all things fantasy? FANATICON2 hosted by Tthe Asheville Art Museum is a free event for fans of comic books, science fiction, fantasy and pop culture. Over 70 artists and vendors will be on hand for an opportunity to interact with Asheville's own independent comic book creators and to shop for comics, graphic novels and collectibles. Lake Lure's 4th Annual Lure of the Dragons highlights dragon boat racing, one of the fastest growing water sports in the world. Enjoyed by both the young and old, the occasional calorie burner, or the weekend warrior, all teams will have a chance to learn and practice the basics of paddling a dragon boat in the fund-raising event. For animal lovers there is the Tryon Summer Premier Horse Show or the AKC dog Agility Trials during Memorial Day Weekend. Or find lots of "horse power" in Maggie Valley at the 7th Annual Vettes in the Valley with over 320 Corvettes from 15 states plus a Road Rally, Vendors, Entertainment, Door Prizes, Contests and a Silent Auction. The official show car of the NASCAR Nationwide Series will make a “Pit Stop” on Saturday.
Enjoy the Great Outdoors and this spring's wonderful weather with mountain biking and the Assault on Mt Mitchell and Marion or Bryson City's 12 Hours of Tsali for the 7th annual Team and Solo competitions, one of the most fun and challenging races of the year. Held on the famous Tsali trail system, the race is10 miles per lap of fast flowing single track through the hills of Western North Carolina. Or test you overall fitness with the Second Annual Lake James Triathlon, a 750 meter swim in Lake James followed by a 22 mile bicycle ride ending with a 3.1 mile foot race to the finish line! And on Memorial Day Weekend Asheville's 11th Annual Mountain Sports Festival challenges both pros and ametuers in mountain sports in a festival setting. In the High Country The Black and Blue: Double Century Relay is the only cycling event of its kind in the contiguous United States with 218 miles showcasing the demanding mountainous roads and notable rivers of Northwestern North Carolina, Southwestern Virginia and Northeastern Tennessee. Find more Mountain Sports events here...
Special Festivals with live music and local mountain arts and crafts include Brevard's renowned White Squirrel Festival voted "Best Spring Music Festival in Western North Carolina" by the reader's of the Asheville Citizen Times and Asheville's 8th Annual Monford Arts and Music Festival with two stages filled with continuous live music and entertainment from featured local and national artists. The 8th Annual Arts and Music Festival in charming downtown Saluda celebrates the talent of more than 50 outstanding local artists and craftspeople during Saluda's 130th birthday year. On Memorial Day Weekend Bryson City hosts Heritage Festival a two day event with old – time gospel, classic country and bluegrass, clogging, and Indian hoop dancing. In addition to music, the festival offers local arts and crafts, food, games for the kids, log-sawing contest and fun for the whole family. Pickin' on the Square in downtown Franklin kicks off its 
2011 season with free live entertainment every Saturday night Memorial Day weekend through October. Bring your own chair and enjoy some good mountain music and dancing. On Memorial Day, the Carl Sandburg Folk Music Festival is held on the grounds of the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site. The folk music which was an important part of Carl Sandburg's life comes alive with instrumentals, folk ballads and spiritual songs. Find more Music and Arts and Crafts Festivals here...How does your garden grow? Whether you're an avid gardener or just appreciate the beauty of spring blossoms you'll want to attend these celebrations of spring: CHimney Rock Park's Spring Wildflower Guided Hike includes the maximum diversity of Park wildflowers on several Park trails. Memorial Day Weekend's 18th Annual Garden Jubilee Festival in Hendersonville offers over 200 vendors selling thousands of plants, arts
and crafts along with garden talks, clinics, garden accessories, and food. The festival covers 8 blocks of Main Street. Find Fantastic Spring herbs, great local bands, lots of arts and crafts vendors and farmers market items at the Banner Elk Herb Festival. Asheville's Annual Asheville-Blue Ridge Rose Society Exhibition features award-winning roses of every color and size. Experts will be on hand and a sale will be held in conjunction with the exhibition, which will include rose plants, fertilizer, and soil amendments. You can see the mountains' remarkable Catawba Rhododendron up close and personal on Grandfather Mountain's Remarkable Rhododendron Ramble. Programs will occur daily at 1 PM and last for approximately one hour. Find more gardening and nature activities here...And if you're looking for the unusual and just plain FUN events, try Music and More at the Historic Orchard at Alta Pass in between Little Switzerland and Spruce Pine with music, mountain dancing, storytelling, hayrides, monarch butterfly raising, naturalist tours and birding walks and arts and handwork demonstrations. Or head north to Wilkesboro for the Candle Light Ghost Tours and an evening of tales, mystery and haunts. Learn about the ghosts that haunt the old buildings of downtown Wilkesboro. Visit a cemetery where Civil War Soldiers are
buried, stand in the jail cell where Tom Dooley spent his last days. Love comic books, SI-FI and all things fantasy? FANATICON2 hosted by Tthe Asheville Art Museum is a free event for fans of comic books, science fiction, fantasy and pop culture. Over 70 artists and vendors will be on hand for an opportunity to interact with Asheville's own independent comic book creators and to shop for comics, graphic novels and collectibles. Lake Lure's 4th Annual Lure of the Dragons highlights dragon boat racing, one of the fastest growing water sports in the world. Enjoyed by both the young and old, the occasional calorie burner, or the weekend warrior, all teams will have a chance to learn and practice the basics of paddling a dragon boat in the fund-raising event. For animal lovers there is the Tryon Summer Premier Horse Show or the AKC dog Agility Trials during Memorial Day Weekend. Or find lots of "horse power" in Maggie Valley at the 7th Annual Vettes in the Valley with over 320 Corvettes from 15 states plus a Road Rally, Vendors, Entertainment, Door Prizes, Contests and a Silent Auction. The official show car of the NASCAR Nationwide Series will make a “Pit Stop” on Saturday.
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