Celebrate the 34th Goombay This Weekend

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Celebrate the 34th Goombay This Weekend

  • asheville grit

    Asheville Grit is what Asheville has to say. It's a free-form, curated forum for Ashevillians to submit blog posts on music, art, food and drink, opinions on local things and more. Contact us if you...
Goombay is back in 2014 and it's better than ever. The festival has many new and exciting things to look forward to this weekend. This year there is a focus on health, wellness and celebration of the many things Asheville calls part of its cultural scene.   Here are just FIVE reasons not to miss Goombay this weekend: 1. Our new location! This year because of the expansion on "the block" the event will be at Pack Square park from 2-10pm on Friday and 10-10pm on Saturday. The Saturday celebration will kick off at 10am with yoga in the park with Denver Lululemon Ambassador Tyrone Beverly with an amazing flow in the park, followed by the Percussion Procession, which starts at Eagle Street and Biltmore Avenue complete with stiltwalkers, dancers and lots of drums!   2. Asheville is a place where people have moved in order to have a better place to raise their children. Thriving families are part of our culture and to that end there will be an incredible kids area for children to learn, move, have fun and enjoy the weekend. LEAF Easel Rider will be on deck sharing circus act and African drumming workshops as well as hip hop and African dance. The Urban Arts Institute and the Underdog Crew will be teaching a dance class on Saturday Morning and the Asheville Mardi Gras Parade Krewe will be helping kids to make masks. There will also be Cross Fit for kids on Saturday from 2-4 and we know how much Ashevillans love Cross Fit!!   3. AWESOME opportunities to dance all day on both days. Studio Zahiya is sponsoring a dance competition on Friday from 3-6 pm. for school aged attendees with a cash purse and DJ Pride on the ones and twos. More dancing will follow with DJ Supaman, who will spin more beats into the 9:00 with evening's headliner, ZANSA!!! Some of our local favorite bands: LYRIC, Jonathan Scales Fourchestra, Free Flow, Hip Hop 4 Peace, and Uprock Citizens Brigade and imported for your maximum groove pleasure ReggaeInfinity and the Mardi Gras Indians. No matter how you like to groove, there will be something there for everybody!  4. Beer! Are you even allowed to throw a festival in Asheville and not have beer?  We will have tasty drinks from Asheville Brewing Company, French Broad Brewery, Sierra Nevada, and PBR5. AFTER PARTIES on Friday and Sunday nights at our friends' place NEW MOUNTAIN both starting at 10pm!!! On Friday night you can get and up close performance with 101 Runners featuring Big Chief Juan Padro and original members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Acoustic Syndicate and The Bluegrass Project. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 the day of. On Sunday night we bring you the man known as "The Hendrix of the Sahara" Vieux Farka Toure with Mande Foly, son of legendary Malian Guitar Player, Ali Farka Toure. Tix are $12 in advance, $15 the day of.
  We have made sure to have something for everyone, whether you want to come out and hang for a little while or all day, this promises to be a weekend to remember! Let's celebrate culture in true Asheville style. You can find the complete schedule at ashevillegoombayfestival.com    We'll see you on the green.   -Daniele Martin