PRESS RELEASE FROM RIVERLINK:
Join RiverLink, The Wilma Dykeman Legacy and the City of Asheville as they celebrate Wilma Dykeman’s birthday on Friday, May 20, from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. at Jean Webb Park in the River Arts District. There will be performances and speeches by DeWayne Barton, Lauren Fortuna, and The Faerie Kin. See the official party invitation here.
Wilma Dykeman warned us all of pollution in the French Broad River in her 1955 book “The French Broad.” It was a clarion call to respect our natural world, and the first case ever made that clean water is good for the economy. Dykeman also pioneered in the areas of civil rights, women’s rights (including birth control), Appalachian Studies, and GMO’s.
She was born on May 20, 1920 just north of Asheville at the head of Beaverdam valley. She died in 2006 at the Keever Solace Center off Sweeten Creek Road. Between these Buncombe County bookends, she lived an extraordinary life filled with books and writing, learning and laughter, social debate and family nurture.
Hendersonville’s Verve magazine was onto something when they listed Wilma Dykeman first among the “10 Most Fascinating Women in WNC History.”
The participants will be serving cake and refreshments and offering a final report on RADTIP Public Art, implementation of The Wilma Dykeman Riverway Plan, and River Trivia.
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