Local street celebration Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Fest, aka LAAFF, will return to downtown Asheville on Sunday, Sept. 6. This will be the 13th iteration of the free, family-friendly event, which takes place from 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Press release from event organizers:
The Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival is known for highlighting the unique side of Asheville’s small mountain town living and larger than life arts scene. Since its inception in 2002 LAAFF has showcased the effervescent qualities of Asheville through quirky events, quality food, family activities, local hand-crafted gifts, and, of course, music. The 13th annual LAAFF Festival will find itself pollinating the urban landscape of Lexington Avenue on September 6th, 2015 with new partnerships and a vision towards a more community-minded festival.
2014 proved a pivotal year for LAAFF, as it was the first year the festival took place after the LAAFF Manifesto (found here) was reestablished. The manifesto speaks to the importance of creating a participatory, innovative, art-focused street festival that strengthens our local community. LAAFF’s core intention is to motivate the ideas of social and economic ideologies towards equality. LAAFF’s staff believe that interactive and enjoyable educational opportunities are one of the best ways to support this endeavor. LAAFF is excited to announce a new and highly integrated partnership with the French Broad Food Co-Op. This new partnership will support patrons at LAAFF by providing opportunities for the community to engage in activities that promote personal, social, and environmental health and well-being through a host of new programming.
French Broad Food Co-Op is Asheville’s only locally and cooperatively owned natural grocery, which is actually owned by the people who work and shop there. The Co-op is a place where everyone makes a difference. Known as a center for the community and a leader in healthful and natural living, FBFC will be a programming partner with LAAFF this year to bring the Urban Pollination theme to life. FBFC will be involved with interactive programming on September 6th as well as hosting a week of educational workshops leading up to the street festival. FBFC is also generously offering LAAFF food vendors a chance to purchase fresh, locally sourced foods at a wholesale rate from the Co-op, which provides immediate health and economic benefits for local food producers and LAAFF participants and also fits seamlessly into the long term vision of Arts2People (the non-profit that produces LAAFF).
LAAFF believes that as Urban Pollinators we should celebrate and highlight our nature as innately collaborative creatures who are driven by the natural order around us. Like bees, we produce more than we consume, and as humans we do so by encouraging creativity. Through our creativity, we can more effectively contribute to preserving our resources and thus ensuring that there is comfort and prosperity for all. LAAFF seeks to be a catalyst for the creativity and community building that will lead to these positive developments for all members of the Asheville community.
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