· Horse drawn carriage tours will add a new dimension to Asheville’s downtown and help draw tourists into the downtown business district.
· The tours will operate April 26, 2013 through June 30, 2013. The tours will involve a maximum of 5 participants at a time.
· The carriage will follow the attached route. No streets will be closed and traffic will not be affected. Drivers will point out sights and businesses along the route and passengers will be able to see and hear about local businesses at a leisurely pace.
· Manure will be caught in bags and not be on the street.
· Hours of operation:
o Thursdays and Fridays 6 pm to 12 midnight
o Saturdays 4 pm to 12 midnight
o Sundays 1 to 7 pm
· Contact information for the tours:
Catherine Hunter
Asheville Horse & Carriage Tours
The route of the carriage hits Patton, Walnut, College St., Haywood St., Page Ave., Battery Park Ave. and possibly Church and South Lexington.
Thanks to loyal reader Chris for the heads-up.
26 Comments
[…] of a letter resident Stewart David has sent to Asheville City Council (background here on the new horse-and-carriage ride in […]
A Pee Team is an outrage! This is Asheville for goodness sake. Washable Horsey Diapers are what should be used.
Most Friday and Saturday nights, BEER CITY needs a Pee Team, even without the horses.
And the horsey diapers had better be biodegradable! (They will eventually have to be disposed of.)
I’m sorry, but I thought the spirit of Asheville was about supporting local businesses and having a progressive attitude towards individuals trying to nurture the city’s eclectic character. Howabout instead of shooting the idea down before it’s even taken flight, we instead give props to this female business owner who single handedly has put this fun idea into effect. As for those concerned about the wellbeing of the horse, I would invite you to get out from behind your screens and go see for yourselves if it looks unhappy, overworked, or mistreated.
Nice try, disguising capitalist exploitation of animals as progressive feminism.
Agreed, Big Al. I lived in NYC for a little while and most everyone here has been to central park to see the tortured horses there, having to carry around 1,000s of pounds of human flesh. Those horses obviously suffer. This is an archaic idea and our city’s streets can no longer support motor traffic as well as horse traffic.We already have millions of tons of crap that got pumped into the french broad and now we have to worry about tripping into some horse crap, horses are majestic in their element, this lady should teach riding lessons, have a horse sanctuary,anything else besides torture these sea biscuits in our streets.
I think you failed to detect my tongue firmly in cheek with that last remark. Carriage Horses do not “obviously suffer”, and I am far more in the capitalist camp than the touchy-feely feminist/animal rights circus. HOWEVER, there are characteristics specific to Asheville (narrow streets, high traffic volume, steep grades) that make this enterprise too risky and dangerous.
My point in the last, admittedly snarky, remark was the notion that a business owner should be given a break by “progressives” because of her gender. The inverse would presume that if the entrepreneur is a MAN, he is AUTOMATICALLY presumed to be an uncaring, abusive, greedy abuser of animals, but a WOMAN will always do right by Sea Biscuit and friends. Typical lefty hypocritical BS!
This is what happens where there are carriage horses. Dead horses and dead people. We already had a major accident at the Grove Park Inn. http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=mcafee&va=horse+carriage+accidents
Shawn, this may work in a city like Charleston, SC, but Asheville has hills. Big ones. Walnut St is so steep some people heading up from the Lexington/Rankin St area cut through the parking deck to take the elevator. I can’t see a horse with metal shoes on pavement pulling approximately 1 ton of humans and wagon up that hill. Unless the route is down that hill.. then I shudder to think of the driver trying to control that descent.
Also Charleston has a method for treating the pee spots.. The driver drops a flag marker and a urine treatment team following around in a truck sprays a neutralizing agent on that spot and washes it away. I don’t see mention of a pee team.
Weekend nights in the summer are already so crowded there’s barely room on the sidewalk for crowds.
If you’ve ever been around horse carriage tours you’d instantly recognize: This is a very bad idea for this town.
a pee team!
Asheville can’t keep the streets and sidewalks clean and repaired as it is …
[…] Horse-drawn carriages will ply the streets Thursdays through Sundays from now through June.www.ashvegas.com/asheville-horse-carriage-tours-launches-in… […]
what happened to the beer bicycle … I have yet to see it.
The streets smell like R. Kelly’s sheets…piss!
Do you all negative people realize that these horses are very well kept and cared for? Do you realize that they are rescued from death and torture? abravo to those who helped make a better life for these horses and slow things down a bit. Cars need to slow down an obey the pedestrians and these carriages.
Worst idea of the year…..whoops..my bad, worst goes to the beer bicycle.
Yes, a terrible idea. Downtown is crowded and very steep. This is an accident waiting to happen.
This is terrible news.
Horses in downtown traffic…. terrible for the horses and terrible for the congested, confusing, slow tourists trying to read their GPS units and not looking at the road. Many cities are wising up and outlawing this, why are we starting it up in Asheville?
All true. Maybe a better idea in Biltmore Village like they do at Christmas.
this is awful, such cruelty
There is nothing cruel about driving a carriage! Please lean before You speak.
See the movie blinders and make your mind up.
why such a short window of operation …
They probably don’t know yet how successful it will be and are floating this as a trial baloon.
Horse and carriage rides? Really? That’s so played. Asheville was booming in the 1920s, not the 1820’s. How about tours in a restored vintage vehicle from the roaring 20s?
That would be cool. Or an operating double-decker bus.