The Spring Herb Festival returns to the Western North Carolina Farmers Market for its 26th annual regional festival this weekend. Sponsored by the N.C. Herb Association, the festival brings together more than 60 growers and vendors offering locally grown herbs or herbal products, including soaps, oils, extracts, tinctures and more. Previous festivals have attracted crowds of more than 35,000.
Admission and parking are both free, but be prepared to be patient as close-proximity parking is limited. Shuttles will be running between parking areas to ease the traffic burden.
This year, both the Herb Society of America and the Center for Honeybee Research will have information booths to guide shoppers toward plants that are pollinator-friendly and offer planting knowledge and advice. The N.C. Cooperative Extension Service will also have an information booth staffed by Buncombe County Master Gardeners.
The festival runs from 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. on both Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 3. Despite early morning crowds on Friday, vendors assured Xpress that they would have plenty of plants to last the whole weekend — though Sunday’s close-out sale (from 3-4 p.m.) might have slim pickings.
Scroll through the slideshow to see more from the 26th annual Spring Herb Festival
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.