Bring Your Sweet Tooth to Asheville This Weekend

Asheville Chocolate and Arts Festival
Come to Asheville this weekend for a nice blend of arts, culture, and chocolate! On Saturday, December 8 from noon to 7p.m. at the US Cellular Center, the Asheville Chocolate and Arts Festival offers chocolate samples, family-friendly world music, dance performances, a fashion show, and much more. There are also free workshops on drumming, dance, improv, and storytelling. It's a great opportunity to do some holiday shopping as well as guests can access the local and international artisans market. 

A percentage of the proceeds benefits a good cause, so it's another reason to come on out the festival. Local non-profits such as the Odyssey Community School scholarships for arts education, the Kids at Work! culinary arts program for at-risk youth, and the Urban Institute for youth dance and film. Students from each of these organizations participate in the various levels of the the festival's productions and performances. 

Now, back to the chocolate. Local chocolate providers in and around Asheville represented at the festival include the French Broad Chocolates, Ulimana Raw Chocolate, Raw Shakti Chocolate, Sinless Raw Chocolate, Choffy cacao drinks, Raw Herbal Chocolates, and many more. You can see the complete list of chocolate providers here. There are also several gluten-free bakeries and confectioners on-hand as well.

As a celebration of multicultural arts, the Asheville Chocolate and Arts Festival features local and regional performers, musicians, dancers, baskets and basket weaving demonstrations, cultural arts and education by members of the Cherokee Nation, Bellydance, African dance, Argentine Tango, Hip Hop and more. There's a lot to see!

Performers are also teaching classes in drumming, bellydance, Tango, West African dance, and digeridoo throughout the day. (Hey, it's a great way to burn off some of the calories you consume at the festival.) Children's performance artists are at the festival as well providing balloon twisting, face painting, and dance workshops. It's truly a family-friendly event.

All of these activities are included in the ticket price, which is $18 for adults, $8 for students, and free for children under 10 on the day of the event (plus a $2 utility fee). Additional ticketing options can be found here.

Gingerbread House Decorating Classes

Speaking of sweet treats, on Saturdays in December Laughing Mask Candies on Lexington Avenue in Asheville hosts gingerbread-house-making classes. Yum, yum!

It's a chance to perfect your technique and try your hand at creating some seasonal delights. Space is limited and classes fill up fast, so make your reservations now! You can find out the full details here.

Downtown Asheville Accommodations
This a wonderful time of the year to be close to all of the seasonal events occurring this month in Asheville. Make your stay more convenient by choosing vacation rentals right near the heart of Asheville and save more time for the fun!

Have you spent time some time in Asheville in December? Where did you go? What did you do? Tell us about it in our comment section. We always love hearing from our readers!