For Leicester resident Tonya Lawrence, the home energy efficiency work that Asheville-based Energy Savers Network (ESN) provides for free has great personal significance. As part of its ongoing partnership with Duke Energy, ESN earlier this year provided Lawrence with energy efficiency upgrades that would have cost her thousands of dollars.
On April 30, Asheville-founded indie folk band River Whyless will appear on PBS North Carolina’s music series Shaped by Sound, a statewide program highlighting North Carolina artists through live studio performances and in-depth conversation.
In September 2024, Hurricane Helene turned Asheville’s River Arts District (RAD) into a landscape of water and wreckage. Studios that once hummed with glassblowers, potters and painters stood submerged, decades of creative labor lost beneath mud and debris.
Thirty years ago, Molly Courcelle was living in Boston and visiting a friend at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence when she met Tania Dirks who was enrolled as a student there. On subsequent visits to the school, Courcelle began spending more time with Dirks and they became fast friends.
In 1960, long before plants like Oconee Bells and Indian Pink bloomed along Reed Creek, the land that is now the Asheville Botanical Garden (ABG) was a pasture tangled with weeds, poison ivy and discarded trash. To most, the neglected land was an eyesore. But local resident Bruce Shinn saw something there.
When I moved to Asheville 12 years ago, I was a dedicated vegan. That decision was primarily motivated by a concern for animal welfare and utter confusion around the many claims made on grocery store labels. How could I truly know the animals had a good life?
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and the nonprofit RiverLink have partnered to create an on-campus wetland area that is reducing stormwater runoff, improving water quality in Haith Branch and the French Broad River and serving as an outdoor classroom.
Besides a curated collection of fine art in a range of mediums, The Lucy Clark Gallery is home to custom framing services offered by Troy Willis, a master framer for more than 30 years, and his wife Rebecca Kahrs, an artist. The two previously owned Dragonfly Gallery and Custom Framing in Brevard.
The Laurel of Asheville is available in both print and digital editionsWe are delighted you have chosen us to be your gateway—both through our popular print Asheville lifestyle magazine and our website—to the arts, culture, and communities that comprise the remarkable area that is Western North Carolina. In these pages, you will find behind-the-scenes stories about the region’s concerts, theatre and dance productions, festivals, restaurants, artists, and the multitude of locally-based businesses. We also enjoy bringing you features about the people and organizations who are caring for those in need, protecting our historic heritage, preserving our rich and diverse environment, and nurturing our cultural soul.
