Category Archives: Asheville Attractions

Keeping Asheville on the map for tourists

Published in Asheville Attractions on December 12, 2013

ASHEVILLE — This city has long banked on premier attractions such as the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Biltmore Estate and the century-old Grove Park Inn to bring in tourists and their dollars.

But developing the destination and ensuring a future flow of visitors and money will take new products and new investments, a tourism consultant said Wednesday.

“A lot of destinations are becoming too generic,” said Mike Konzen, chairman and principal of PGAV Destinations, a consulting group based in St. Louis. “You have a chance here in Asheville to create something special.”

About 150 people packed the banquet hall of the U.S. Cellular Center to brainstorm the next best attractions for Asheville as a destination.

Tourism is big business for Buncombe County, totaling $2.3 billion in annual economic impact, said Stephanie Brown, executive director of the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau. Buncombe alone draws more than 9 million visitors and 3.1 million overnight guests each year, who in turn support some 23,000 local jobs.

Brown called the event “an opportunity to put on our community thinking cap, to get the juices of the people who created what Asheville has become, and

Article source: http://www.blackmountainnews.com/article/20131212/NEWS/312120035/Keeping-Asheville-on-the-map If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

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OpenTable Restaurant Reviews Reveal Top 100 Best Restaurants in America

Published in Asheville Attractions on December 12, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ —
As we toast a remarkable year of fine dining, OpenTable

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, the world’s leading provider of online restaurant reservations, is pleased to celebrate the 2013 Diners’

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/opentable-restaurant-reviews-reveal-top-100-best-restaurants-in-america-2013-12-11?reflink=MW_news_stmp If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

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Citing bout with infection, Franklin Graham asks for prayers for his father

Published in Asheville Attractions on December 11, 2013

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) –

The Rev. Franklin Graham posted a note to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s website on Tuesday, asking for prayers for his father, 95-year-old Billy Graham.

“My father turned 95 this past November 7, and I am pleased to say that my family was able to be with him as he celebrated another milestone in his long and productive life,” Franklin Graham posted.

“Since that night a few short weeks ago, he has had another bout with a respiratory infection and was hospitalized briefly before returning home to recuperate,” Graham continued. “He is extremely weak but his vitals are good.”

That’s when Graham said he would appreciate prayers for his father.

“Our family would appreciate your prayers for him that the Lord would strengthen him,” Graham posted. “He has been so encouraged by the release of his most recent book ‘The Reason for My Hope—Salvation’ that he immediately began work on another book about a subject that he feels that God has laid on his heart. Only the Lord knows what is in store as we move forward in service to Him.”

WBTV spoke with visitors at the Billy Graham Library

Article source: http://www.kltv.com/story/24184490/citing-bout-with-infection-franklin-graham-asks-for-prayers-for-his-father If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

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Going Beyond the Card: Go Local Gets Growing

Published in Asheville Attractions on December 11, 2013

It started as little more than a poster in a window — a heart and the words “Love Asheville, Go Local” — a symbol the observant eye has undoubtedly come to know well. You’ll find it in shop windows, on the bumpers of cars, on the backs of T-shirts. That symbol launched the Asheville Grown Business Alliance, now an organization of hundreds of locally owned independent businesses, that encourages residents and visitors to support the local economy and local schools through the Go Local loyalty card.

Asheville Grown Director Franzi Charen, who first created that poster for her shop Hip Replacements, said this year will also be the first year the alliance will receive a portion of the sales from the card. That means new developments are in the works, including making the “Love Asheville” symbol more visible than ever.

“We’ve wanted to create a ‘Love Asheville, Go Local’ mural forever,” said Charen. “It would really beautify downtown, and I believe we can make that happen this year.”

Alsace Walentine, events coordinator at Malaprop’s Bookstore, said her store has participated in the Go

Article source: http://www.mountainx.com/article/54739/Going-Beyond-the-Card-Go-Local-Gets-Growing If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

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The Lesson from a Road Trip Across America: Size Doesn’t Matter

Published in Asheville Attractions on December 11, 2013

Motoring across the United States isn’t what it used to be. My first few crossings four decades ago, while still being educated, were marked by tall cups of java and an incessant sprint for the horizon. On my just-completed trip, the pace was slower, the stops more selective and the itinerary much more serpentine.

After 4,100 miles, 20 nights and 14 cities, a surprising picture of urban America comes to light. What stands out is not the continued predominance of the old cultural settlements of East Coast elites but the ever-brighter lights of major metropolises across the southern tier of the country; the tiny sparkle of urban gems on the smaller end of the population spectrum; and ancient Western desert towns thriving with innovative art and architecture.

Above all, the motor survey brings a renewed appreciation for the unpredictable nature of innovation and change in cities, equal parts old-fashioned creativity and new-fashioned smartness. And it suggests that, contrary to some current theories, when you’re looking for urban creativity size doesn’t matter that much.

Let’s start with the bright lights, which surprise us in the extent to which innovation builds on and deepens their distinct cultural identities.

Atlanta, Nashville, and Las Vegas — metropolitan

Article source: http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-road-trip-across-america-innovation-creativity-cities-large-small.html If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

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WCU Master Plan approved by Trustees

Published in Asheville Attractions on December 10, 2013

CULLOWHEE – A new campus master plan endorsed Friday (Dec. 6) by the Western Carolina University Board of Trustees is designed to closely link physical facilities of the university, including future construction and renovation, to goals of its recently approved strategic plan.

The master plan is meant to provide “a flexible framework for growth,” said Keith Storms of Hanbury, Evans, Wright and Vlattas, a firm specializing in campus design and planning.

The plan is based on enrollment projections that anticipate more than 11,000 students studying on the campus in Cullowhee by the year 2023, and the need for approximately 486,000 gross square feet of additional interior space to accommodate the needs of those students. Currently, about 7,800 students out of WCU’s total enrollment of 10,107 live and study in Cullowhee.

Approval of the plan, which was drafted with the guidance of a 16-member task force, comes after a 17-month process that included numerous public forums designed to collect input and feedback from university students, faculty and staff and from residents of surrounding communities.

During that process, the task force and the master plan consultants presented numerous options for land use and future development. Feedback from the campus and community led to a preferred

Article source: http://www.mountainx.com/article/54761/WCU-Master-Plan-approved-by-Trustees If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

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Go Local 2014 Card Directory Launches

Published in Asheville Attractions on December 10, 2013

Watch out, Portland! Asheville is flexing its locally sourced muscles. Pretty soon you will be able to figure out where to dine out at your favorite local restaurant and easily establish the lineage of your hamburger, determine that your server is being paid a living wage, and know that you are benefitting not only the local economy but also local school children-all for only $15.

On December 11, Asheville will realize this new level of localization through the launch of the 2014 Go Local Card Directory published by the Mountain Xpress in partnership with Asheville Grown Business Alliance (AGBA), the Asheville City Schools Foundation (ACSF). 28,000 copies of the directory will be distributed in this week’s edition and 17,000 copies can be found in the top box of the Mountain Xpress kiosks as well as at select businesses throughout the year. Not only will the new 2014 Go Local Card Directory reveal incredible deals at over 360 local, independent businesses, it will also designate which businesses are committed to taking a thriving local economy to the next level.

Article source: http://www.mountainx.com/article/54803/Go-Local-2014-Card-Directory-Launches If you need a cheap air ticket, hotel or rental car please visit http://www.airticket.com

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