Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Here’s more of what’s going around, including news that Asheville City Council is set to interview semifinalists for the city manager’s job. Here we go:
-Clover CBD, the brand new CBD dispensary located at 707 Merrimon Ave., has reopened today as CBDWellness. Partners Doug Riley and Mike Rangel, both of Asheville Brewing Company, said they’ve parted with ways with former partners, who will retain the name Clover CBD but have no other connection to them. Meantime, CBDWellness will focus on high quality CBD offerings and feature products from local hemp farms and companies.
-Asheville City Council has narrowed its search for a new Asheville city manager to six candidates, who will be interviewed next week. That list will be cut to a group finalists who will take part in a public meet-and-greet sometime in mid-October. More details here on the Asheville city manager search.
-Marie Colton, a trailblazing former state lawmaker and civic leader from Asheville, died on Sept. 25 at age 95. She was elected the North Carolina General Assembly’s first female speaker pro tempore in 1991. Here’s her obituary.
-Merianne Miller, a former Asheville Citizen-Times reporter and former news services director at UNC Asheville, has died. She was a beautiful soul. Here’s a remembrance by her former newspaper colleague, Barbara Blake.
-Balsam Range, the talented bluegrass band based in Haywood County, was a big winner at the International Bluegrass Music Awards in Raleigh this week. BalsamRange was named Entertainer of the Year. Here’s the full list of winners.
–Barnaroo music festival is happening out at Franny’s Farm in Leicester this weekend. The event is a fundraiser for Asheville Music School.
-The Foundry Hotel on Eagle and Market streets in downtown Asheville is planning for an early November, but that can change. It will be the next big downtown Asheville hotel to open in an ongoing wave of hotel development.
-The big new downtown Asheville apartment building known as Patton Place has opened. The project includes 116 apartments and accompanying parking deck at the corner of Patton and Clingman avenues.
-The 10th annual Blue Ridge Pride celebration is set for Saturday.