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CIDERFEST NC EXPANDS TO NEW AND IMPROVED VENUE AT CARRIER PARK WITH MORE CIDERMAKERS, FOOD TRUCKS AND LIVE MUSIC
The seventh annual CiderFest NC fundraiser will welcome a larger lineup of pourers and food trucks for its celebration of hard cider, mead and apple wine as well as local food, live music, arts and crafts, a kids zone, and more at an improved and expanded venue of Carrier Park.
As the largest annual fundraiser for the nonprofit Green Built Alliance, the al-fresco event will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019 at Carrier Park, 220 Amboy Road, in Asheville.
For cider lovers sampling sips from some of the nation’s best craft cider and mead makers, or foodies tasting small bites from some of Western North Carolina’s best local food producers; from families seeking a destination for kid-friendly fall activities, to area residents wanting to support and learn more about sustainability; CiderFest has something for everyone.
The sixth annual CiderFest in 2018 connected a record-setting 2,000 people with 24 cider, mead and apple winemakers offering close to 90 different varieties of cider and mead. The 2019 event is expected to draw another sell-out crowd to sample sips from an even larger mix of local and national, small and large pourers. In addition tasting cider and mead, guests can enjoy bites of artisanal food including local cheeses, baked goods, caramels, and ice cream.
Beyond food and drink, CiderFest has an abundance of fall fun to soak in amid the changing autumn colors with live music as well as a bevy of beautiful products to peruse from local arts-and-crafts vendors throughout the park venue. On the entertainment front, CiderFest will welcome two local bands, Pretty Little Goat and Lazybirds, to the music stage.
This quintessential family-friendly fall fest also offers an interactive kids zone with hands-on educational green-living activities and eco-friendly crafts. Providing more opportunities to learn about hard cider, all attendees will receive a take-home Tasting and Festival Guide to highlight differences in cider, ingredients, and origins and take notes about ciders sampled.
Back for the third year, a limited number of VIT (Very Important Taster) tickets offer guests advance entry to the event a full hour early, beginning at noon, to enjoy exclusive access to tastings from our cider and mead makers and artisanal food vendors before the crowds arrive. VITs may even have the opportunity to sample specialty, small-batch or limited-release ciders and meads that won’t be available during the regular event. In addition to early access, VITs also receive a complimentary commemorative CiderFest NC snifter.
CiderFest NC is a carbon-neutral event and will offset the event’s footprint for each ticket holder with contributions to the Appalachian Offsets program, which is in the final stages of fundraising to install a solar system on the roof of Isaac Dickson Elementary School.
ABOUT CIDERFEST NC:
CiderFest began as a fall fundraiser for the nonprofit WNC Green Building Council with the intention of serving about 60 people locally produced apples, cheese and hard cider in 2013. The event exceeded those expectations in its first year by a wide margin as it sold out with 400 attendees. Almost overnight, CiderFest NC became widely recognized as the very first hard-cider tasting festival in North Carolina. The event is now in its seventh year as the largest annual fundraiser for the nonprofit now known as Green Built Alliance.
Well known as Beer City USA, Asheville has long been esteemed for its local brewery scene, and cideries have been riding their own wave and coming to increasing prominence as well. To celebrate that growing tradition, CiderFest NC was launched in 2013 as North Carolina’s first hard cider festival and has nearly quadrupled in size in the five years since its inception. The sixth annual event was the most successful CiderFest to date with 2,000 guests on hand.
Since the event has sold out in recent years, people are encouraged to buy tickets early. For more information and tickets, visit www.ciderfestnc.com.
ABOUT GREEN BUILT ALLIANCE:
Green Built Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with an 18-year history of advancing sustainability in the built environment through community education, measurable standards and regional action. The membership-based nonprofit is making a difference locally and regionally through numerous community initiatives and resources. The nonprofit makes sustainability more accessible to the surrounding area through its efforts distributing 30,000 copies of the annual Green Building Directory; coordinating the Appalachian Offsets carbon-offsetting program; participating in the leadership of the Energy Innovation Task Force and managing the Blue Horizons Project community campaign to help create our region’s clean energy future; and administering green-building certifications such as Green Built Homes. Learn more or get involved by becoming a member or making a donation at greenbuilt.org.
