In early July, we heard that World Magazine, a Christian publication, was moving from its longtime location at Innsbruck Mall on Tunnel Road near downtown Asheville. Readers (and tweeters) subsequently asked whether the mall might be closing. Assigned to look into it, I decided to first take a tour.
Starting today and running through Sunday, the Asheville Civic Center will play host to the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands. Check out our Xpress video preview of the event, featuring some of the event’s craftspeople talking about their work.
When Asheville Hardware moved from its old location on Biltmore Avenue to its larger location at 10 Buxton Ave in April 2010, the company saw an opportunity to retool a popular program it had offered for years at its old location: the Asheville Woodworking School.
According to a post from this past Wednesday on the city of Asheville’s blog, the city is partnering with AT&T and Curbside Management for a phone-book recycling drive at each of Asheville’s 11 community centers. The drive is also a contest between the centers to see who can recycle the most phone books. All of that sounds great. How many outdated phone books are out there just waiting for the day when some bored soul throws them out after deciding on a whim to do a little spring cleaning? In 2011, who really uses phone books anymore?
More same-sex couples per-capita live in Buncombe County than anywhere else in North Carolina, according to a study of U.S. Census data done by the Williams Institute and recently reported in the Asheville Citizen-Times. Buncombe County has 15.5 same-sex couples for every 1,000 residents — the highest rate of any other county in the state. Durham County ranked second with 12.7 per 1,000 residents. In Asheville, the rates appear to be even higher: 19.7 same-sex couples per 1,000 compared to the city of Durham’s 13.2.
Around 50 Western North Carolina residents signed up to speak at the July 7 public hearing at A-B Tech’s Ferguson Auditorium about General Assembly’s proposed Congressional redistricting map, and overwhelmingly, those residents spoke out against the proposal. Many expressed concerns that under the proposal most of the City of Asheville would be removed from its long-held position in the heart of the state’s 11th district and placed instead in the 10th, a move some speakers labeled gerrymandering.
The sweltering weekend heat is only going to get worse today, as temperatures in Asheville are expected to hit 91 degrees, just shy of the 92 degree record set back in 1993, according to accuweather.com. As usual for this time of year, there’s around a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms this afternoon and evening.
Xpress has confirmed that the Citizens Hardware Do It Best store on 310 Weaverville Highway will close its doors on August 31. The store’s owner says that details on the closing will be coming later in the month. Citizens Hardware was established in Asheville in 1941.
In the wake of the WNC Community Media Center’s recent demise, Asheville City Council members are teaming up with the Buncombe County commissioners to lay the groundwork for the future of local public-access/community media. At their June 28 meeting, Council members approved a request for proposals for new community-media projects. City and county staff will […]
Here’s a video of the Spiritex solar-powered T-shirt cart, which can be found on the corner of Patton and Biltmore avenues in downtown Asheville. Spiritex sells locally made organic T-shirts; the cart is out on weekends, Mondays and other select dates. Conceived and designed by Spiritex employee Derek Sanders, the cart sports a rooftop solar setup that charges a battery for powering its evening lights and a small fan that keeps staff cool during the day. The custom-built cart also is composed of more than 60 percent recycled and salvaged materials.
At their June 28 meeting, Asheville City Council members agreed to partner with Buncombe County in seeking options for a new community media project to replace the defunct WNC Community Media Center. Council also unanimously passed a request to rezone part of the property occupied by Sunny Point Cafe in West Asheville.
There aren't enough doctors, pharmacists and other clinicians to meet the needs of our region's residents, particularly the poor, elderly and developmentally disabled, Dr. Ronald Paulus told attendees of the annual meeting of The Arc of Buncombe County on June 20. “There simply aren’t enough highly skilled medical professionals, particularly in the rural communities in […]
At first glance, the Spiritex pushcart looks fairly unremarkable. Parked on the corner of Patton and Biltmore avenues most weekends, the cart displays the company's locally designed and manufactured organic cotton T-shirts and other apparel. But behind its T-shirt-hawking façade, it's a green machine. Conceived and designed by Spiritex employee Derek Sanders, the cart sports […]
Follow Twitter coverage of tonight’s Asheville City Council meeting here.
Asheville CIty Council tackles two potentially tough issues at its June 28 meeting tonight: the future of the now-defunct public-access channel and a proposal to rezone property at Sunny Point Cafe from a residential to a business classification.
Sometimes you just need a little Getaway — not a big-to-do, not a major trip, just a little escape. Here’s the next video in our Xpress Getaway series: the Asheville Tourists at McCormick Field. Since 1924, there’s been baseball at McCormick, and everyone from Lou Gehrig to Jackie Robinson, and from Willie Stargell to Cal Ripkin Jr. has played in this historic park.
With two outs, runners at first and second are wary, anticipating a pickoff attempt. The Asheville Tourists are down by one run in the bottom of the ninth. Tourists right fielder Kyle Parker, once the starting quarterback for the Clemson Tigers, digs in and glares at the pitcher. The first pitch is a fastball, low […]
When Randy Shull and Hedy Fischer bought the future home of Pink Dog Creative in March of 2009, Depot Street was a very different place. The flood of industrial buildings turned artists’ studios that had already transformed much of the River Arts District hadn’t yet reached this area, and 372 Depot, part of the massive […]
At its meeting at on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Sewerage District will hold a public hearing on its proposed fiscal year 2012 budget. Totaling around $43.3 million, the budget calls for a 3 percent increase in the domestic sewer rate, raising the average household’s monthly bill from $25.72 to $26.45. MSD has increased sewer rates every year going back to fiscal year 2007. Rate increases over the past five fiscal years have averaged 3.75 percent.
Sometimes you just need a little Getaway — not a big-to-do, not a major trip, just a little escape. Here’s the first in our Xpress Getaway series: a tour of The Carl Sandburg Home, located just just 30 minutes away in Flat Rock, N.C. A celebrated poet and author with three Pulitzer prizes, Sandford lived at the home (dubbed Connemara by previous owners) for 22 years. Today, the home and the grounds are preserved as a National Historic Site by the National Park Service, and are open to the public. It offers a little hiking, a bit of a farm tour (goats!) and a peek at Sandburg’s office.
When he and his wife Lilian bought the 248-acre “Connemara” property just outside of Flat Rock from the Smyth family of Charleston, S.C., that year, Sandburg was already a celebrated poet and author, winning three Pulitzer Prizes for his work. He lived there for the next 22 years, until his death in 1967. Today, the home and the grounds are preserved as a National Historic Site and are open to the public.
