Archive for the ‘arts and crafts’ Category

Good reasons to visit Weaverville and Asheville

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

I don’t normally respond to other folks’ blogs because we stay so busy just trying to run our bed and breakfast. But I do try to keep up on what the world says about Asheville and about B&Bs here in particular. Most travel writers miss the mark when they write about our area, focusing on the obvious and advertised attractions: The Biltmore Estate, Grove Park Inn and Blue Ridge Parkway. All are well worth the publicity, but they are only part of the complex experience that is Asheville.

But I just came across a remarkable blog entry written by a first-time visitor to our area who captured the essence of the Asheville area better than any writer I’ve followed recently. See A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust entry for Asheville written Sept. 8. Even though the author stayed at a B&B other than Inn on Main Street, I encourage everyone to read it.

And if that writer’s reasons to visit this area aren’t enough, it’s time again for Art in Autumn in Weaverville. Come visit on  Sept. 18 on Main Street, Weaverville, as more than 100 juried artists display their work. Included in the fourth annual festivities will be music and food. The event is sponsored by the Weaverville Business Association, of which Inn on Main Street is a proud member.

If you need a place to stay, we’re just two blocks away.

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Bed and breakfast for Obama in Asheville

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

We’re thrilled that President Obama is coming to Asheville for his personal vacation.

It seems peculiar that he would choose our mountains, when he has all the privacy and beauty of Camp David, or could jet off to some more exotic locale. I like to think that he loved the Asheville vibe while he was campaigning here. He picked up lunch at 12 Bones then and no doubt got a glimpse of our youthful (in attitude, if not always in years), hip, artsy and active culture.

Maybe he’ll drop in on a studio or two at the Weaverville Art Safari, or better yet bid at the silent auction on Friday, while he’s in town. Michelle Obama would look great in some handmade wearable art created by a Weaverville artist.

We can certainly use the exposure. Tourism has taken a hit from the recession. People still visit the Biltmore Estate, but on a budget. Everyone has downsized, so folks we would have gotten as guests here in better times are shaving expenses by staying at chain motels and eating fast food. We like to see the president stay at the Grove Park Inn (if not Inn on Main Street!) just to show there’s no reason to slum it. Bad food and bad beds should be stimulus enough to come back to comfort.

President Obama will be here when the mountains are at their best, full of redbud and dogwood blossoms, as well as delicate mountain orchids, trilliums and fiddleneck ferns. The songbirds are back and harmonizing. The days are sunny and the nights are cool. It’s a time we are thankful for the end of a harsh winter and the promise of a dawning summer. There is hope in the air, and we need our president to nurture that hope. Welcome home to Asheville, Mr. Obama.

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Posted in Art Safari, Asheville, Asheville bed and breakfast, Biltmore Estate, Inn on Main Street, Our Weaverville, arts and crafts, bed and breakfast | No Comments »

Bed and breakfast with beastly deals

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

If it’s spring, it’s time to go on safari again. Not to stalk magnificent animals in the African bush, but to hunt magnificent arts and crafts produced by our clever Weaverville artists.

The Weaverville Art Safari is April 24 and 25, with the famous preview party on Friday, April 23, at Reems Creek Golf Club. Print a brochure if you aren’t already on the mailing list. We always tell our guests that the preview party alone is worth the visit, with a fun silent auction, dozens of door prizes and yummy hors d’oeuvres.

The safari is part treasure hunt, part cultural tourism, and part voyeurism as you see artists in their own environment, much like the magnificent critters on the savannah. Nobody leaves without a bargain piece to be admired for years to come, or even a functional item with attitude to give your day a smile. The Art Safari reflects that our tiny town shares the cosmopolitan nature of Asheville, yet has its own unique identity. The Art Safari symbolizes what makes our Weaverville a great place to live.

Inn on Main Street is likely to fill up with arts enthusiasts, so it’s always good to book early. We’ve made it even more attractive with an Art Safari special. When you are indulging your appreciation for nice things, it’s never a good idea to stay in a sterile motel rather than a bed and breakfast.

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Weaverville Art Safari returns

Friday, October 30th, 2009

signEven though it comes twice a year, the Weaverville Art Safari always causes a stir around here. The Nov. 7-8 tour is like dessert in the banquet that is the leaf change here in the mountains. The colors are still beautiful, especially at our elevation, but there is also a carpet of gold and yellow leaves that adds a seasonal dreaminess to the scavenger-hunt quality of the self-guided studio tour.

Visitors chase up and down back roads looking for the perfect piece for that perfect place in their home, and they hope for the perfect deal straight from the studio. Leaves dance in the wind along country roads as their straggler kinsmen fall and join in. The crisp fall air tickles the skin and lungs and reminds us how good it is to be alive.

The Art Safari is one of the things that makes us especially proud to live in Weaverville, where art, like that crisp cool air, is something we breathe and accept as part of life rather than some rare and unapproachable icon. In Weaverville, life is art and art is life.

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Art in Autumn returns

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

artinautumncardThere’s a time of year when color and texture abound in Weaverville in a display that brings visitors from all over the Southeast.

Nope, it’s not leaf season yet. It’s Art in Autumn.

Our street art festival is only three years old, but it’s already proven to be a popular attraction. Dozens of artists, local and otherwise, fill Main Street. it’s a little like getting a head start on the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands or the Weaverville Art Safari, two other events that bring patrons of the arts with Christmas shopping in mind.

Art in Autumn epitomizes what makes Weaverville charming, or as we residents call a cosmopolitan Mayberry. The festival includes some of the finest arts and crafts created in the Southeast, but displayed in the quaint atmosphere of our tiny town, home to a handful of cozy cafes, galleries and studios, and a luxury spa.

And, of course, we’re also home to Inn on Main Street, which we hope helps reflect that casual, friendly, yet sophisticated atmosphere that makes Weaverville so enjoyable.  Come join us for the festival.

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