Crowds of people, people and more people — more than 3,000 — made their way to the annual Asheville Wine & Food Festival at the U.S. Cellular Center downtown on Saturday, Aug. 23. At the end of the evening came the highlight of the festival: the final competition in the annual Chefs Challenge, a cooking competition that pits regional chefs against each other in an Iron Chef-style battle.
Hundreds of flavor enthusiasts gathered at the U.S. Cellular Center for four hours of wine, food, competition and camaraderie at Asheville’s sixth annual Wine and Food Festival Grand Tasting event, and only Southern hospitality could explain the extent of heavy pours that sloshed around inside the event’s beautifully branded keepsake cups.
Crowdfunding platforms make it possible for individuals and organizations of any size to harness social networks and raise start-up capital for projects that might otherwise fail due to lack of funding. Each week, Xpress will highlight notable WNC crowdsourcing initiatives that may inspire readers to become new faces in the crowd.
At Hollywood’s iconic venue, The Comedy Store, an inscription reads, “Not to be funny, but for three minutes to be yourself.” Comedian Duncan Trussell has never forgotten it. “It’s the purest articulation I’ve ever heard of what stand-up comedy is,” he says. “If you try to be funny, you’re diverging from what you already are, … Read more
