Asheville is ‘amalgam of mountain culture’

3 Comments

1. 

   Wow March 23, 2009

   Mellow Mushroom is a "chain" that happens to be locally owned. There are "independent" restaurants that are not owned by locals.

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2. 

   Jenny Graves March 23, 2009

   This little article seems to be more than just a bit off-base about the way things really are in Asheville. Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center was the ghost writer of this piece.

   "Art" is not the beginning nor the end of our little mountain metropolis. Fine Art has never been a part of the scene here (unless we’re talking about the theatre).

   We do get our share of cookie-cutter tourists who visit here instead of Gatlinburg (wise choice), but we actually offer them a very mixed bag of less-than-fine art gallieries, tacky candle and smoke shops, kitsch emporiums and semi-homegrown local eateries. Last time I checked, The Mellow Mushroom was a chain restaurant with locations all over offering the same formula grub.

   Our downtown is attractive and compact, but has been in a state of constant construction for nearly 4 years (think Pack Square). Attending Belle Chere is sometimes like being at a NASCAR race and some of our region’s main attractions are not readily accessible since they are "behind the gates" and require an expensive admission ticket at Biltmore Estate.

   Speaking of Biltmore, it seems that everybody I talk too is so over it. Most people have visited it once or twice, and after that there is no continuing appeal because it is just so expensive. Opening a few new rooms each year is not really adding much value for the high admission price. No wonder visitation there is declining.

   Asheville can be a cool place to visit but our best attractions are outdoors in nature and in the mountains–the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Smoky Mountains National Park.

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3. 

   The Real Deal March 22, 2009

   What chain eateries? Empty, I don’t think so. As for the coffee in Asheville it all seems to be a day old. A chain like Starbucks, which there are three in asheville always has the fresh stuff you can depend on.

   Yes there is a large art community which thrives in such a town, but funny how they all seam to be starving. Asheville does not have a juried fine art show to help support real artist. We just have a hodge podge of craft shows and the usual Bele Chere that does not have much fine art. You would think in such a town as Asheville we would have a great fine art show.

   I will give a double thumbs up for Early Girl Eatery on Wall Street and the Carolina Mountain Bakery on Hendersonville Rd. in the Skyland Crest Shopping Center.

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