Guide to 2025 Summer Camps
- Volume 31
- / Issue 33
Cover Design Credit:
Scott Southwicktt
Cover Photography Credit:
Grace Whitaker
Who or what inspires local kids and teens? Find out in this week’s Kids Issue, Part 2, which is full of creative and engaging art, essays, poems and short fiction. Plus, check out our annual Summer Camp Guide, which includes information from 65 organizations hosting more than 200 camps. On this week’s cover is Cobi Pugh, pictured at last summer’s ARP Outdoor Camp.
arts
Local arts leaders share post-Helene highs and lows
Xpress checks in with ArtsAVL, the Center for Craft and the Asheville Theater Alliance.Best Medicine: The benefits (as well as the horrible realities) of raising a child in Asheville
As "Best Medicine" co-host Cayla Clark prepares for motherhood, she turns to three local comedians for parenting advice. Xpress should note we are not responsible for any of the suggestions…Smart Bet: Jim Swayzee
The local singer-songwriter's album release show takes place March 22 at One World West.Smart Bets: Petit Mondrian
Asheville Creative Arts’ dance-theater piece debuts April 2 at the Tina McGuire Theatre.Mercy in the Mountains concert initiative supports Helene victims and WNC musicians
A grassroot effort launched by a retired educator, the next show in the Mercy in the Mountains series features Ashes & Arrows at The Grey Eagle.Smart Bets: Asheville Fringe Arts Festival
The beloved event returns March 19-23.They Might Be Giants play their 10th and 11th Asheville shows
With two upcoming sold-out shows at The Orange Peel, the genre-defying band discusses its past, future projects and plans to support local storm recovery.Smart Bets: Cyber Punk
The digital exhibition is on display at Third Room through mid-May.
food
A Year in Beer: Living the hi-life at Hi-Wire Brewing
Hi-Wire Brewing's original South Slope taproom is the setting for musings on Asheville's thirst for in-person connection.What’s new in food: Taste of Asheville, Wine Walk AVL and a biscuit and mimosa pop-up
Plus, Taqueria Rosita expands its hours and Sovereign Remedies gets a refresh with former employees at the helm.Dobra’s downtown tearoom turns over a new leaf
Well Played Board Game Café owner Kevan Frazier recently bought the shop — one of three local locations — from former owner Andrew Snavely.
living
Preventive Care: Raising healthy kids in the technological age
In his latest column, Dr. Troy Jackson shares tips for how parents can better manage their children's screen time.Asheville teen named to USA Paralympic National Swim Team
T.C. Roberson High School junior Emma Roberts recently was named to the USA Paralympic National Swim Team just months after her first Para swimming competition.
news
Back in the Day: The water of my youth
Robert McGee reflects on his childhood days in Marshall and the powerful hold the French Broad River still has on him.Back in the Day: Strolling through downtown in the early 1960s
Deborah Austin revisits her childhood adventures in Riceville and downtown Asheville.Beyond the Dais: The music, laughter and leaky diapers of Kim Roney’s youth
As part of Xpress‘ annual Kids Issue series, we reached out to the members of Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners to share their childhood recollections. Council…School crossing guards share their stories
Two longtime crossing guards share the personal joys of working with kids and their strategies for conducting traffic in the school zone.Beyond the Dais: The infamously bad dance moves of Commissioner Parker Sloan’s youth
As part of Xpress‘ annual Kids Issue series, we reached out to the members of Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners to share their childhood recollections. Buncombe…Despite Helene, there are plenty of kid-friendly outdoor activities in the Black Mountain region
Spring is here and there are plenty of parks and some trails open in Black Mountain, Swannanoa and Montreat.Beyond the Dais: Sheneika Smith on youthful pranks
As part of Xpress‘ annual Kids Issue series, we reached out to the members of Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners to share their childhood recollections. Council…A look into the daily routes of local school bus drivers
Bryan Newton has a full time job managing facilities at Camp Cedar Cliff. Still, he gets up at 5 a.m. every morning to drive about 22 students to school at…Back in the Day: ‘To Lord’s Drug Store!’
Barb Knight relives a childhood stroll with her father.Beyond the Dais: Maggie Ullman’s childhood obsessions with Pee-Wee Herman and the outdoors
As part of Xpress‘ annual Kids Issue series, we reached out to the members of Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners to share their childhood recollections. Council…Constituents speak out at Rep. Chuck Edwards’ town hall
U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards addressed a full house at the Ferguson Auditorium at A-B Tech during his March 13 town hall. Along with the 350-plus people inside the event space, an…Council approves zoning code changes to accelerate projects
Asheville City Council approved several changes to the city zoning codes at its March 11 meeting to make it easier, cheaper and faster to build regular and affordable housing along…Asheville City Board of Education sets guiding principles
The Asheville City Board of Education passed a set of loose guidelines for how it should govern, communicate and act at meetings in a 6-1 vote at its meeting March…HUD rejects City of Asheville’s disaster funds plan because of DEI
The City of Asheville is updating its plan for $225 million in disaster recovery funds after the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rejected it…ACS students could get free meals next year
Staff will submit an application to join the federal Community Eligibility Program, which reimburses the district for ensuring every student can eat breakfast and lunch free at school without having…
opinion
Letter: Let’s be ‘Asheville Smart’
"Maybe if we were 'Asheville Smart,' we could create a more equitable and a more sustainable culture to replace the inequitable and unsustainable parts of our culture that got washed…Letter: Stressed out by Social Security cuts
"The stress caused by the uncertainty of not being able to rely on a program I’ve contributed to my entire working life is unconscionable."Letter: Save our neighborhood’s woods
"Please protect the woods for the animals that live there and for the humans that enjoy them. Please preserve our ecosystem."Letter: Use habitat restoration to reverse destruction
"For example, 90% of the parking lot at the outlet mall is not being used."Letter: Closing federal offices cuts access to resources
"Closing Social Security offices and U.S. Department of Agriculture offices in WNC makes it impossible for our communities to access programs that are meant to be available to them, in…Reaping season
Letter: BCS needs to radically change weather policy
"The merest appearance of the possibility of theoretical danger or liability does not justify Buncombe County’s kids missing hours of real instruction."Letter: Worried about DOGE tinkering with Social Security
"I actually downloaded my work history from the Social Security site and saved a copy because I don’t trust these DOGEs."Developing plans
