LEAF will hold the first LEAF Downtown AVL event in Pack Square Park on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 1 and 2. The free mini-festival will include Bootsy Collins and the Rubber Band Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds, The Main Squeeze, Empire Strikes Brass, The London Souls and more.
Press release from organizers:
After 20 years of producing WNC’s #1 Music Festival, #1 Festival for Camping and #1 Festival for Kids, LEAF Community Arts (LEAF) is proud to announce the first Annual LEAF Downtown AVL taking place August 1st and 2nd in Pack Square Park. The two-day event will bring the best of LEAF Festival and the best of LEAF Schools & Streets together for a diverse, welcoming event open and free to families and locals of Western NC and beyond.
LEAF Downtown AVL aims to celebrate communities, creativity, diversity and families in the heart of Asheville, NC. The long-term vision is to build quality of place by intentionally infusing the power of the arts, culture and creativity. LEAF Downtown AVL will further the goals of inclusivity, community partnerships and economic vitality in the greater Asheville area while driving the greater LEAF mission to connect cultures and create community through music and arts. “LEAF is celebrating its 20th this year!, states Jennifer Pickering, Executive Director of LEAF Community Arts. “What better way to acknowledge all that we’ve achieved than by bringing the best of LEAF Festival and the best of LEAF Schools & Streets to Downtown Asheville?! This is a family-friendly event that will be inclusive of the diversity and heritage found in right in our backyard. ALL are welcome!”
The weeks leading into LEAF Downtown AVL, LEAF will host the LEAF Arts & Park Camp July 20-24 & July 27-31 at Wesley Grant Center and the first ever Bootsy Collins Funk Dynasty Camp at Lake Eden July 27th-31st. The participants in the Funk Dynasty Camp will be showcased at New Mountain AVL on July 31st for their finale performance after spending the day with Bootsy Collins himself to raise their FUNK-o-meter! At LEAF Downtown AVL, Bootsy Collins and the Rubber Band will headline on the LEAF Downtown AVL Stage August 1st at 8:15pm. Other confirmed acts performing on the LEAF Downtown AVL Stage, in LEAF Café or on the Community Arts Stage include Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds, The Main Squeeze, Empire Strikes Brass, The London Souls and many more! In addition to dynamic performances, Pack Square Park will come alive with The Easel Rider, Family Adventure Zone, Healing Arts, Roaming Artists, Prestige Subaru Adventure Zone and we encourage you to “Run Your Ash Off” with us in the LEAF Art Dash 5k Run & Family Relay on August 1st. LEAF has partnered with the Asheville-based SuperFly Fabulous Events to plan, implement and manage the run. “We are thrilled to work with LEAF on the development of this fun racing concept. For the last six years, we’ve developed more than a dozen events from Tennessee to Colorado. It’s exciting to be working on our home turf on an event that has such potential for the city’s downtown,” said Stephanie Carson, Director of SuperFly Fabulous Events.
The growing list of Sponsors already includes Capital at Play, Asheville-Citizen Times, Harmony Motors, Prestige Subaru, WNC Magazine and French Broad Food Co-Op. Current community partners in the endeavor include City of Asheville, AVL Downtown Association, N.C. Arts Council, Date My City, Green Opportunities, Delta House Life Development of AVL, Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation and BLOCK-by-BLOCK Industries. Asheville Grown will serve as a primary partner in qualifying 80+ locally-owned businesses and vendors offering their services and products at the event.
Follow the conversation about this and updated announcements on Facebook or Twitter at #LEAFDowntownAVL. To find out details about LEAF Downtown AVL and other LEAF Local Events, visit http://www.theLEAF.org/local.
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