ASHEVILLE – LEAF Global Art’s annual summer festival lit up the heart of downtown Asheville as more than 30,000 people gathered for music, dance, games, art and local food since its inception in 2015.
This year, the non-profit event is moving to a new outdoor venue called “The Outpost,” at 521 Amboy Road in the Riverside Arts District. According to Alexa Kincaid, associate director of LEAF, the change is due to “conflicting dates with LEAF, Downtown After Five, changes in funding, services provided and City of Asheville policies.”
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The new event venue is operated by Gray Eagle Events, Asheville’s oldest music venue, and features 2.5 acres on the French Broad River with room for two stages. LEAF Down the Riveras this year’s event is called, it will be the first festival to be hosted in this new venue and will run from 11am to 8pm on August 20.
The event will be more intimate than in years past, as the riverside venue can only hold between 600 and 1,000 people, according to Otto Vázquez, LEAF’s artistic curator. Since the festival began, total attendance has ranged from 15,000 to 30,000 people, according to Kincaid.
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Despite the smaller size, there will still be plenty to do and see.
Local traveling artists, from acrobats to break dancers, magicians and puppeteers, will perform throughout the event grounds. Vendors will be dishing up delicious local eats including Cecilia’s Kitchen, Gray Eagle Taqueria, Proving Coffee Grounds, AD Doggs, Frozen Monkey Rafat ice, Sweet Squeeze Lemonade and Kernel Mike’s Famous Kettle Corn.
Friends and families can also enjoy renting kayaks and canoes, playing on bounce houses and letting loose a Tik Tok dance party.
“What’s really great about this one, it’s very different because most of the time the LEAF festival is there for families and the emphasis is on creating a family environment, but a lot of the music and acts aren’t necessarily aimed at kids,” said Joel “Cactus” Sullivan, whose band Secret Agent 23 Skidoo is headlining the event.
“This one is pretty much for the kids; and not just for the kids, but by the kids. There are a lot of young performers. In fact, I think my band and Jordan Scheffer are the only adults who even play this festival. Everyone else is either a teenager or a child.”
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Headlining the event will be Secret Agency with 23 Skidoo, a Grammy-winning family hip-hop group, and Jordan Scheffer, a blind Asheville-based vocalist who released her debut album, “Until We Try,” in 2021. Other performers will include Rockwell Dance Academy, International Dance Academy, Haviken Hayes, Dancing on Air Breakers and Carolina Diva Diamondz.
No seating will be available, so festival goers should bring chairs. The site will have parking and shuttle service from a nearby site. However, LEAF encourages cycling and walking to the event. This event has a suggested donation of $10, but children are admitted free.
“After traveling as much as I have, I’ll just say that Asheville is a very unique place,” said Sullivan, who has performed at festivals around the country including Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and Smithsonian.
“We’re very lucky to have the music scene and the arts and entertainment scene that we have here. The LEAF festival is doing a great job of highlighting that and, especially lately, of really showcasing what’s going on with local Asheville while pulling inspirations from around the world. I’m very happy to be part of it, very happy to have 15 years of history with this festival and really looking forward to this one.”
Ryley Ober is a news intern at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. News tips? Email her at ROber@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober
