Press release from Blue Ridge Food Ventures
[Asheville, North Carolina – June 23, 2014]: Tickets are now on sale for Stir Crazy, a party benefiting Blue Ridge Food Ventures, featuring food, craft beer, wine and specialty cocktails, live music, and silent auction and raffle items that range from restaurant gift certificates and zipline passes to Disney World tickets.
Presented by the Asheville Affiliates, Stir Crazy will take place at The Boathouse, a pavilion on the French Broad River at 318 Riverside Dr., Asheville, in the River Arts District. The event is July 24, 6 – 9 p.m. – a date that traditionally would be the Thursday before Bele Chere weekend.
Musical group One Leg Up, a favorite of club, concert, and festival stages throughout the southeastern United States, will play a mixture of upbeat gypsy jazz, Latin, swing and original jazz compositions.
Stir Crazy is open to the public. Tickets are $20 online at http://bit.ly/1kvp2O4 ($25 at the door) and cover all food, beverages, and entertainment. Due to limited parking, carpooling is strongly encouraged.
Blue Ridge Food Ventures is a nonprofit, shared-use food and natural products manufacturing facility, located in leased space on the A-B Tech Enka campus, where artisan food entrepreneurs, farmers, chefs, bakers, caterers, mobile and food cart operators, and natural products manufacturers can find the equipment and resources they need to make and market their products. It is a job creation initiative of AdvantageWest, the nonprofit regional economic development organization serving Western North Carolina.
The first facility of its kind in the state and the largest in the Southeast, Blue Ridge Food Ventures has helped launch more than 250 businesses, many of which distribute products to retailers nationwide. Support through attendance at and donations to Stir Crazy will enable Blue Ridge Food Ventures to continue its work helping farmers and small businesses in Western North Carolina. View a short video about Blue Ridge Food Ventures here.
A diversity of well-known local products are made at or got their start at Blue Ride Food Ventures, from Lusty Monk Mustard to UliMana raw chocolate truffles, Smiling Hara Tempeh, Blue Blaze & Co. Soda Syrup, Buchi Kombucha, Threshold energy bars, Smoking J’s Fiery Foods, Sugar & Snow Gelato, 5th Sun salsas and hot sauces, Carolina Pig Polish barbecue sauce, Jack’s Nut Butter, BelloLea Artisan Kitchen pizza kits (formerly known as GalloLea), Vortex Doughnuts, and countless others.
Blue Ridge Food Ventures also has the first and only shared-use, GMP-compliant natural products manufacturing facility in the U.S. In addition, the organization operates a community supported agriculture program (CSA) called Winter Sun Farms, in which produce from local farms is purchased during the growing season, processed and frozen, then distributed during the winter months. More information is available at www.BlueRidgeFoodVentures.org.
CONTRIBUTIONS SOUGHT
Organizers are seeking donations of goods and services for the Stir Crazy raffle and silent auction, as well as other contributions and in-kind support for the event. For more information on how to support Stir Crazy, contact Kathi Petersen, senior vice president of corporate and public relations at AdvantageWest, (828) 712-1286 or kpetersen@awnc.org.
CURRENT SPONSORS & CONTRIBUTORS
Current sponsors and contributors include: Alleman Law Firm, The Asheville Tourists; Asheville Track Club; Asheville Treetop Canopy Adventures; Asheville Wine & Food Festival; Asheville Zipline Canopy Adventures; Bclip Productions; BelloLea Artisan Kitchen; Biltmore; Blue Blaze Soda & Syrup Co.; The Boathouse; Brevard Music Center; Carolina Cinemas; Carriage House Distillery; Catawba Brewing Co.; Catering by Corey; Dena Rutter Design; Diamond Brand Outdoors; Fine Arts Theatre; Freaks & Geeks Tattoo Sideshow; French Broad Riverkeeper Program; Leah Noel, CPA; Lusty Monk Mustard; Meghan Rolfe Photography; Navitat; One Leg Up; Petersen Tree & Landscape Mgmt., Inc.; Pisgah Print; RTX Resort Travel & Exchange; Skyland Distributing Company; Star 104.3; Sugar & Snow Gelato; Twice as Nice nail salon; UliMana; Vortex Doughnuts; The Walt Disney Company; and Zerozen Design.
The presenting sponsor, the Asheville Affiliates, was founded in 1999 as a social networking group for young professionals to benefit area nonprofits. The organization has grown into a community network of more than 3,000 members. The organization has raised more than $265,000 for 50 nonprofits. Membership is free and all Affiliates fundraising events are open to the public. More information at ashevilleaffiliates.com.
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