Warm weather in Asheville means there’s tons to do this weekend…

Gemfest 2008
10am-6pm Friday & Saturday; 11am-5pm Sunday. Colburn Earth Science Museum, Pack Place. Tons of dealers, free admission to the museum, silent auction.

Lighten Up Yoga: Free Yoga Day
Classes from 9am-4pm. Door prizes every hour. Open to new students, current students can play free if they bring a friend or family member.

Naked Bike Ride(please beware of naked photos on this Web site, click only at your own discretion).
Why? To make an impactful statement about world dependency on oil and petrochemicals. To protest the war in Iraq and the Middle East; to make a statement for Peace, civil rights and personal sovereignty. -From the Web site.
11am at the French Broad Co-op at 11am for a ride through downtown. Organizers work with the Asheville Police Department, and nearly everyone covers the ‘important bits’ - so while you might see scantily-clad people biking downtown on Saturday, you probably won’t see complete nudity.

Knit in Public Day
11am at Charlotte Street Park/EW Grove Park.

Urban Block Party
Food, beer, and music. On Eagle Street from 4-9pm.

Ferral Chihuahuas
Sketch comic hilarity at 35Below, show times are 8 pm & 9:30 pm.

Twice a year the Rivers Arts District studios open up to the public for a 2-day festival. The studio stroll is a fun way to see local artists in action, and to discover the art that lies inside the warehouses and old factories next to the French Broad river. You can walk between studios and eat at several restaurants in the district. It’s a time to meet the artists, see their newest projects, and watch demonstrations. Download this weekend’s map and list of artists.

Details: Friday and Saturday (June 14-15), 10-6. FREE and open to the public.

Grab food at…
Twelve bones
Clingman Cafe
Twin Cousins Kitchen

Next Thursday, June 19, Cafe on the Square is hosting an event to raising awareness of childhood obesity, which affects 25 million children nationwide. Table Talk, City Walk will also highlight the importance of family time at the dinner table as a way to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Throughout the day and evening, Cafe on the Square will serve all meals on its signature 9 Plates, which are healthier portions of its dishes presented on a 9-inch plate. All desserts will be served in the Cafe’s popular Yum Yum Dishes, which diners can take with them to use at home for encouraging moderation while snacking.

Table Talk At each table, cards will feature ideas for family meal fun as well as a short survey to test patrons’ knowledge of food. Completed surveys will be entered in a drawing for prizes including restaurant gift certificates, a session with a personal trainer and tickets the Diana Wortham Theatre.

City Walk portion of the day will encompass after-meal strolls throughout downtown, where participants can pick up cards from participating businesses. By collecting all of the cards, participants will receive a $15 gift certificate to Grove Arcade Corner Market.

Ten percent of all proceeds from the day will go to Louie’s Kids, a non-profit organization providing treatment for pediatric and adolescent obesity. Funds will be earmarked to help children in Western North Carolina.

Mayor Terry Bellamy will join diners for lunch at the Cafe at noon, then lead one of the downtown walks afterward.

For more information or to make reservations, call Cafe on the Square at 828.251.5565 or visit the restaurant online. If you can’t join the event next Thursday, you can still make a donation to Louie’s Kids anytime you visit Cafe on the Square.

About Cafe on the Square: Located at One Biltmore Ave. in Downtown Asheville, Cafe on the Square presents contemporary American cuisine in a relaxed yet elegant atmosphere. The menu includes choice-cut meats, pasta, seafood and vegetarian dishes, while the full bar features fine liquors, craft beers and an extensive wine list. Cafe on the Square offers daily food and drink specials as well as live jazz on Monday and Tuesday evenings.

About Louie’s Kids: Louie’s Kids is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that raises funds to help treat childhood obesity, which afflicts 25 million American children today. Louie’s Kids works to find the best treatment options to meet the needs of each child, finding the fix that fits, one kid at a time. Founded in 2001 in Alexandria, Va. and operated today out of Charleston, S.C., Louie’s Kids places a particular focus on economically disadvantaged kids.

Lance is a North Asheville gardener and blogger who posts on Greenthumbr. He has a great post about the cicadas filling his North Asheville yard! The post includes a lot of interesting tidbits about cicadas which I did not include in my last entry. So, go visit Lance’s Greenthumbr journal!

Travel a block or two away from the bustle and noise of Merrimon Avenue or Charlotte Street and you’d think something major was happening - construction, machinery, even a hovering space ship are three ways I’ve heard this incessant noise described.

But the distinctive sound is actually the 17-year emergence of cicadas, when they invade to mate, lay eggs - and they do it in very large numbers in pockets across the Southeast. This time around they’ve invaded Asheville, but I’ve heard that they hit the middle of the state last time. It’s a pretty cool natural phenomenon, even if they do look a little gross when thousands of them cover the yard, trees, bushes, and plants.
It’s been fun for the kids to see them for the first time, and it’s been interesting to find out how many people don’t really know what a cicada is, especially those in their 20s who don’t remember - or haven’t ever seen - an emergence like this! The colloquial tendency is to call them locusts, although they are not actually locusts at all. The wikipedia link above explains a little more about these insects and has a really cool time lapse of a cicada emerging from its shell.

From the Asheville Citizen-Times:
Cicadas take over -photos
Cicadas have invaded North Asheville -video
Cicada singing -video

Other cicada fun:
Earrings made from cicada wings