NC Fall Event: Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair

October 26-28   Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair    This event includes 100’s of animals, crafters, workshops and demonstrations. You can see spinning, knitting, weaving, felting and much more in fiber crafting.  Join a workshop class to improve your skills or just enjoy browsing and shopping the beautiful and unique apparel and wearable art at SAFF.

Hours are Friday and Saturday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Sunday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Admission is  $3 per person with Youth under 13 yrs. old free.  The Fair is located at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center, 1301 Fanning Bridge Rd., Fletcher (Asheville Suburb) in the McGough Arena.

Asheville's Bele Chere Festival - largest FREE Outdoor Street Festival in the Southeast

July 27-29   Bele Chere Festival This lively Asheville weekend event is the largest free outdoor street festival in the Southeast. The three-day festival on the streets of Downtown Asheville features live, original music all day and night for 200,000 festival-goers.

Bele Chere means "beautiful living" and comes from an ancient Scottish dialect. Bele Chere offers the unique opportunity to see, taste and hear some of the region's finest art, cuisine and music.

 Visual arts at the festival are displayed at the Art Park as well as throughout the Festival grounds.  The Arts Park features some of the best artists of Bele Chere, exhibiting jewelry, photography, pottery, woodwork, paintings, and metalwork. All items sold in the Arts Park are handmade. Visit the selected artists in the Drhumor and Asheville Savings Bank lots on Patton Avenue between Church Street and Lexington Avenue.

This year's musical line-up includes Antique Firearms, an indie rock band;  ArtOfficial, eschewing the simple magic of beat machines and samples for the irreplaceable warmth of organic instrumentation, and a meticulous care for crafting music with soul;  Baby Rattlesnakes, equal parts soulful jazz, appalachian folk, and catchy pop;  Balsalm Range, a blend of jazz - bluegrass - country and gospel;  and dozens of other original and renowned musicians.

Food and Beverages at the Festival go WAY beyond the usual over-warmed wieners. Experience Foodtopia at the Taste of Asheville in Pack Square. The Taste of Asheville features local restaurants, showcasing a sampling of some of the best cuisine in Asheville, from The Corner Kitchen and the Lobster Trap to Ultimate Ice Cream and Glam Ham Pork Rinds. Pritchard Park Food Court Vendors offer both traditional festival fare along with taste treats from the Amish Baking Co., Party in a Pita, Sherri's Crab Cakes, Steak Boys Inc., Tropical Delights and dozens more.  Beverage booths are located throughout the festival for a pause to refresh with water, soft drinks, beer and wine as well as microbrews from most of Asheville's acclaimed craft brewers.

Additional Bele Chere Festival activities include: The Purina Air Dogs;  The Kids area with a a mix of crafts, rides, and performances;  Easel Rider - Asheville’s Mobile Art Lab;  Nonprofit Booths such as Hats for Humanity;  KISS Country Karaoke to sing your favorite country song; The 33rd Bele Chere 5K hosted by the Asheville Track Club;  Asheville's Urban Trail and Public Art.

Southern Highlands Craft Fair this Week in Asheville

July 19 - 22    65th Annual Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands   Over 200 exhibitors, craft demonstrations, and live regional music and entertainment bring Asheville's downtown Civic Center (US Cellular Center) alive with fine traditional and contemporary crafts. Both levels of the Center are filled with artisans exhibiting and selling works of clay, fiber, glass, leather, metal, mixed media, natural materials, paper, wood and jewelry. 

The Fair showcases the work of members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild with members living in the mountain counties of nine states from Maryland to Alabama. Having been accepted into the Guild through a rigorous jury process, these craftspeople are the best of the best in the Appalachian region. 

The Southern Highland Craft Guild is a non-profit, educational organization established in 1930 to bring together the crafts and craftspeople of the Southern Highlands for the benefit of shared resources, education, marketing and conservation. The Craft Fairs are one of the ways in which the Guild fulfills its mission.

Get additional details about the Southern Highland Craft Fair and Asheville art and crafts on the Asheville NC Visitors Guide.