Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Some more of what’s going on:
-New downtown coffee shop: Jay Weatherly, owner of Hi-Five Coffee Bar, tells me that he’s opening a second coffee shop in downtown Asheville on Rankin Street. Jay has been running Hi-Five, located at 190 Broadway nearby, for five years. (The former Dripolater, Weatherly changed the name to Hi-Five two years ago.) The 13 Rankin Ave. space was the former home of Duncan & York, which moved over to Lexington Avenue.
“I see so much growth in downtown Asheville, and this was a wonderful opportunity that we couldn’t pass up,” says Weatherly, who sees an opportunity to “capture the tourist traffic downtown.” Hi-Five on Broadway has much of a “locals” clientele, he adds.
The downtown coffee shop will have the same name and concept, but beyond that, “we’ll feel it out and develop it in terms of what else we bring in,” Weatherly says. One idea – offering merchandise to help people brew their own killer cup of joe, he says.
The new shop should be open in spring, Weatherly says.
-West Asheville building under contract: The building at 414 Haywood Road in West Asheville, recently listed for sale, is under contract to be sold. The listing price was $849,900. The building was formerly the home of The Elumenati, a company that designs domes to visualize data. Elumenati co-founder David McConville moved from Asheville a few years ago.
-Win a date to Pre-Jam: Here’s a fun contest in which you can win a date to the Christmas Pre-Jam on Friday AND help a local charity. Details:
Some lucky person is going to win a date to the Pre-Jam with me, Michelle Smith on Friday, Dec. 12 AND we are all going to give a nice big chunk of change to three fantastic local organizations: WNCW, FATE and, of course, Asheville Habitat for Humanity!
So just in case any of you don’t know, the Pre-jam is the kick-off to the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam which takes place every December here in Asheville and benefits Asheville Habitat for Humanity. At the Pre-Jam Warren brings together some of the amazing performers who will be appearing at the Jam for an intimate, one-of-a-kind music performance that is broadcast live from WNCW.
Tickets to the Pre-Jam are very limited. I was given two passes as part of my thank-you package for becoming WNCW Radio Vista Society member last summer. I decided to give even more people a chance to participate in the Christmas Jam spirit by raffling off my second pass.
-Theraworx update: Venture Asheville reports the following in its latest newsletter:
Coming on the heels of raising $3.4 million in investment, Asheville-based Avadim Technologies has landed a contract to supply its patented Theraworx skin product to medical facilities run by the Veteran’s Administration and Department of Defense. Theraworx is clinically proven to help control hospital-acquired infections while restoring the skin’s natural defenses.
-New Merrimon Avenue restaurant: Loyal reader Heidi reports that there’s a new restaurant coming to Merrimon Avenue:
Brat and burger place with handcut fries is going in on Merrimon in the old Veg-heads location. Two young guys. Seem nice.
-Dueling protests: On Thursday, downtown Asheville will be the site of dueling protests. First, former Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower and political activist Chad Nesbitt are planning a rally in support of police beginning at 12:15 in Pack Square Park in front of the Asheville Police Department. UPDATED: This rally has been cancelled, according to an email from Mumpower this afternoon. A tidbit:
Former Buncombe Republican Party Chairman Chad Nesbitt and former Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower have voiced concerns for potential violence as the primary reason for the cancellation of the pro-police rally. “The self-described LBGTQ community has publically announced their intention to hold a counter-protest in time and location proximity to our event,” said Nesbitt and Mumpower. “That increases the potential for duplication of the aggressive actions we’ve seen in San Francisco and other cities that various liberal factions in Asheville seek to imitate. We want to thank our police, not create more risks and work.”
“Lawless protestors across the country are ironically duplicating the methods and missions of racist organizations we rightfully rejected at an earlier time. Anarchy, violence and protest as a form of entertainment merit no support from those wishing to keep our society healthy and whole,” said Nesbitt and Mumpower.” “We’re happy to step aside and let these folks have the field – there are other ways to thank those in law enforcement.”
Meantime, members from several area LGBT groups are planning a counter-protest at noon at the Vance Monument. The protests are sparked by outrage over recent police actions in Ferguson, Mo., and New York that have resulted in the deaths of two African-American men at the hands of white officers.
On Saturday, there’s a WNC Solidarity March Against Police Violence in downtown Asheville. The march goes from St. James Episcopal Church to the Vance Monument.
On Sunday, Rev. Keith Ogden of Hill Street Baptist Church is holing an event he’s called Black Lives Matter. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the service, which will include music and poetry, starts at 6 p.m.
Image link for Hi-Five Coffee.
Because, hauntedheadnc (gordon smithy?) spelling ‘lieberal’ and ‘democrackkk’ ADD depth and dimension to the EVILNESS of YOU PEOPLE!
Democrackkks are ALL about racism and the KKK…it’s your history, haunted…DEAL widdit!
So the old “Veg-Heads” location is being turned into a burger & brats place. It does sound a lot tastier & more likely to get my business. I wonder if the name “Meat-Heads” has been considered?
OH Boy! …yet another new coffee shop! WOW! too wonderful for words!
What would you prefer instead?
Dr. Mumpower has never been a publicity hound by any means…surely you lieberals KNOW that even though
you always claim otherwise…Mumpower has more common sense and goodwill than most anyone else in AVL that I have encountered! He is an honorable man, and seems happy not to be on city council with this bunch of criminal thugs giving away taxpayer money to RICH corporations and developers …
ALL LIVES MATTER !!! When are blacks going to stop killing blacks ???
“Dr. Mumpower has never been a publicity hound by any means”
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone….ANYONE who has been paying even the remotest level of attention over the past 10+ years knows that the most dangerous place to be in Asheville is in between Carl Mumpower and a camera. That’s why during his tenure on Asheville City Council (and for a period afterwards) he constantly had guest columns, letters, and insta-letters in the ACT, usually several in the same week, sometimes even more than one in the same day. The biggest, raging egomaniac in town!
Dr. Mumpower is probably THE smartest, most capable ‘leader’ City Council has EVER had, but the lieberals in central AVL control the electorate and thus lost the only competent member for a bunch of absolutely INCOMPETENT boobs who sit there now, with other lieberals circling for a seat, it looks like…AVL has ZERO leadership.
Z E R O, N A D A, N O N E !!!
WHEN are blacks going to STOP killing BLACKS?
ALL LIVES MATTER, preachers !!! ALL LIVES !!!
you are a racist; in my book, that makes all further thoughts/opinions no longer valid to the greater community conversation.
lieberal democrackkks are the REAL racists
“lieberal democrackkks are the REAL racists”
It wasn’t funny or clever the first thousand times you misspelled the words “liberal” and “Democrat,” so why do you keep doing it, Mr. Caudle?
Hmm. “a rally in support of police”. While I certainly agree that our local department could use some support in light of the… problems they have with leadership and morale, I wonder if this rally is in good taste considering recent events. It could easily be misconstrued as them supporting police brutality. Or maybe just looking for publicity as usual.