 Downtown Asheville: Fireworks are July 3rd
The City of Asheville had to move its Independence Day Celebration to Memorial Stadium (behind the Tourist Baseball Stadium on Biltmore Ave) on the south side of downtown Asheville on July 3. An event for the whole family, the festivities start at 4:00 PM and close with fireworks at 9:30 PM. The day will feature live music along with a wide range of activities, and a variety of food from area vendors. The City plans to return the Celebration back to Pack Square Park for 2012.
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More 4th of July Celebrations & Fireworks near Asheville in the North Carolina Mountains for 2011
• Brevard: TOP PICK! All festivities on July 4. Morning 5K/10K Firecracker Run. During the day, downtown streets are closed to an overflowing crowd. Transylvania Community Arts Council hosts its Annual Fine Arts & Craft Showcase. The Classic Automobile Show stretches for blocks and delights even the casual aficionado of 1920s to 1970s vintage vehicles. The Courthouse Gazebo is center stage for day-long musical entertainment. Fireworks at 9:30 PM.
• Black Mountain/Montreat: Montreat will host a parade on July 4 at 10:30 AM. Black Mountain will have family fun and fireworks beginning at 7 PM on July 4.
• Fireworks Hike: Come celebrate the Fourth of July with an old-fashioned watermelon cutting, and view the Black Mountain fireworks display from the peak of Sunset Mountain, presented by the Swannanoa Valley Museum. Meet in parking lot of Black Mountain Savings Bank, 200 E. State St. at 6 PM. Please bring your dinner, water, a folding chair, a flash light, poncho (just in case), and warm clothes (it can get chilly after dark even in July). The Museum’s team will transport chairs up the mountain for hikers and provide watermelon and soft drinks. You will carpool to the trail head and hike 45 minutes on a moderate-easy trail to the mountaintop where you will have your dinner and watch the fireworks explode over the town.
Cost is $15 for members and $25 for nonmembers. To register, call 828-669-9566 or email info@swannanoavalleymuseum.org.
• Orchard at Alta Pass on Blue Ridge Parkway: July 4 11:00-4:30 Covered dish picnic open to all. Live music all day is free! Admission for the meal is a dish to share OR $10 per meal. The Orchard provides fresh barbecue, water, iced tea and paper goods. You might want to bring lawn chairs.
• Cherokee: Celebrate America's Independence with a bang at Cherokee’s Annual 4th of July Fireworks display, located at the Acquoni Expo Center. The festivities kick off on Monday, July 4th at dark.
• Hendersonville: July 3: Fireworks display at dark, viewable from downtown Hendersonville, with fre live outdoor music 7:30-10 PM downtown at 201 South Main (Visitor Center). July 4: Independence Day Parade, Main Street, 11:00 AM, and Heritage Museum Ice Cream Social, Historic Courthouse Plaza on Main St., 12:00 Noon, music by the Sassafras Band, the honor guard and the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.
• Waynesville: The Stars and Stripes Celebration runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. along Main Street with music and sidewalk sales on July 4.
• Maggie Valley: Red White & Boom! July 1-4 with live entertainment, games, amusement rides. Free admission. Fireworks July 3 at 9:45 PM. Maggie Valley Festival Grounds.
• Highlands: Fireworks on July 4 at 9:15 PM at Highlands Civic Center.
• Cashiers: Cashiers Mountain Music Festival on July 2-3. Fireworks at dark on July 3.
• Franklin: 4th of July Parade in Historic Downtown Franklin at 10:30 AM.
• Old Fort: Community Picnic on the grounds of Mountain Gateway Museum between 1 and 3 pm. Bring your food, drinks, chairs, blankets and the family to enjoy the shaded landscape bordering picturesque Mill Creek. Afterwards, stroll out to Catawba Avenue and watch the Independence Day Parade that begins at 4 p.m.
MORE EVENTS!
Antique Car Show in Asheville
Explore 18 acres of classic cars, trucks and street rods at the 42nd annual Mountaineer Antique Auto Car Show on July 1-3, 2011 at the Western North Carolina Agriculture Center near the Asheville Airport. Visit their Web site for more.
Shindig on the Green
Musicians and dancers from across Western North Carolina gather on July 2, starting at 7 PM, to share the region's stirring Southern Appalachian mountain culture and traditions-with each other and visitors from around the world-at the Shindig on the Green in downtown Asheville. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and stake out a spot on the "green." Free!
Read more about Shindig on the Green.
Shakespeare in the Park
The Montford Park Players, North Carolina's longest running Shakespeare Festival, opens the Fourth of July holiday weekend with performances by The Asheville Shakesperience, July 1-3, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 PM. All performances will be at the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, 92 Gay St, near downtown Asheville, and are free to the public. Donations appreciated. For more, contact Montford Park Players at (828)254-5146.
Asheville Pillowfighting Championships
Looking for something a little different? Everyone is invited to The Bywater club (796 Riverside Drive – near Downtown Asheville) for a down and dirty pillow fight competition, July 4, 6-10 PM. Participants compete while sitting on a garbage bag and straddling a greased log that rests above a kiddy pool filled with “gunk.” Entry is limited ($15 fee). You can also come and watch for free while you take in the live music, enjoy the kick butt BBQ, brews, compete in the sack races, corn hole, horseshoes, and tons of other awesome events on site. Hosted by The Race for Awesomeness.
Brevard Music Center Festival
The Brevard Music Center (BMC), a summer festival and institute, continues its gala 75th anniversary season on the weekend of July 1 with two orchestral programs led by BMC Artistic Director Keith Lockhart. The weekend concludes with the annual Pendergrast Family Patriotic Pops Concert featuring the Transylvania Symphonic Band under conductor Kraig Alan Williams. On Friday, July 1, at 7:30 PM, Keith Lockhart leads the Brevard Sinfonia in a program of orchestral masterworks: Mozart's immortal Symphony No. 39 in E flat, Richard Strauss's tone poem Till Eulenspiegel and the Symphonic Suite from Lieutenant Kije by Sergei Prokofiev. Keith Lockhart, an alumnus of the Brevard Music Center, has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor since 2007. He is also the longtime Conductor of the Boston Pops and served for eleven years as Music Director of the Utah Symphony and Opera.
On Saturday, July 2, at 7:30 PM, Keith Lockhart leads the Brevard Music Center Orchestra in two of the acknowledged masterworks of the twentieth century: Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, regarded as one of the greatest of all compositions by an American composer; and Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, the revolutionary 1913 ballet score that changed the course of European music. The program also includes the lyrical, pastoral Oboe Concerto by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The oboe soloist is Eric Ohlsson, BMC's principal oboist and Professor of Music at Florida State University.
On Sunday, July 3, at the special time of 2 PM, the Transylvania Symphonic Band presents the Pendergrast Family Patriotic Pops Concert, one of the Brevard Music Center's most popular events each season. This year the concert features a special appearance by the Brevard Community Band, and for a few numbers the two bands share the stage to create a gigantic wind orchestra. The program features a wide variety of patriotic and other music and concludes, as usual, with the 1812 Overture accompanied by live cannon. The whole extravaganza is led by BMC's Director of Bands Kraig Alan Williams. More on the Festival.
Summertime Art & Crafts Show
The annual Mountain Artisans Summertime Art & Crafts Show is July 2-3 in the Ramsey Center arena on the campus of Western Carolina University. The show is home to some of the most respected and unique artisans in the Appalachian Mountains. This year's event features more than 100 exhibitors showcasing their contemporary and heritage art & crafts. An array of items will be displayed for sale, including: fine art, woodworking, pottery, weaving and gourd art. Heritage crafts such as shaker brooms, pine needle baskets and folk dolls will also be available, along with heirloom fabric items. Soaps and candles are always popular, while master jewelers and bead designers delight attendees with a selection of accessories. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Admission is $3 for adults. Children under 12 are admitted free. Free parking is also available. Visit their Web site for more.
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