AVL Biz Weekly — Mar 11–17: Fringe Is Back, Shamrocks in Weaverville & a St. Paddy's Week You Won't Sleep Through

Welcome to AVL BIZ Weekly—your local cheat sheet for what’s happening in Asheville’s small business + creative scenes.

Each week: hand-picked events, marketing ideas that actually work, and a little local flavor to keep things fun.

My name's Jason and I'm writing this (connect with me here).

Hey friends,

It's St. Patrick's Day week, which means downtown is going green whether you planned for it or not. Jack of the Wood is going all day Monday. There are at least four different bar crawls happening this weekend. Weaverville is shutting down Florida Avenue for dancing and hot dogs on Sunday. If you are in the hospitality, retail, or food business and you are not thinking about this week as a revenue week, we need to talk.

The bigger story, though, is the Fringe. The 24th Asheville Fringe Arts Festival opens Sunday at One World Brewing West with a free kickoff party, and runs through the following weekend. Theater, dance, comedy, puppetry, spoken word — all at small, weird, intimate venues. The Fringe is genuinely one of the most creative things Asheville does every year, and this week you get to tell people it starts here. That's a good conversation starter if you happen to be networking.

Speaking of networking — there's a juicy one tonight at Highland Brewing. "Regional Economies: The Power to Build from Within" is exactly the kind of event that sounds dry in a title and ends up being a two-hour conversation you didn't want to leave. Worth the drive up the hill. Have a beer for me.

Let's get into it.

📋 On Deck

• Business Events: Regional economies talk at Highland Brewing tonight, NSA-WNC speakers meeting Thursday, and the week in between packed with green-flag opportunities for service businesses

• Marketing Quickies: Your competitors are not following up. Which means you don't need to be amazing — just consistent.

• Fun Stuff: St. Paddy's bar crawl, Asheville Fringe kickoff, Weaverville Shamrock Festival, Jack of the Wood all day Monday, and more green chaos

• Bands on the Horizon: Jordan Jensen, Gary Numan, Cat Power, The Hives w/ The Chats, Mike Gordon on St. Patrick's Day, TWEN at the Grey Eagle, and more

🙋 Want your biz featured in front of a few really smart AVL business owners? Email me for details

🗓️ Business Events

• 🗓️ Regional Economies: The Power to Build from Within — Wed, Mar 11 · 5:30–7:30 PM (Highland Brewing Barrel Room, Asheville)

  Tonight. If you care at all about how local economies work — and if you're a WNC small business owner, you should — this is worth the drive up the hill. The conversation centers on how regions build resilience from the inside out, and the barrel room setting means the networking is almost as good as the content. "Sales end soon" was flagged on Eventbrite, so don't sit on this one.

• 🗓️ National Speakers Association — NSA-WNC Meeting hosted by ACNC — Thu, Mar 12 · 10:15–11:45 AM (216 Asheland Ave, Asheville)

  The WNC chapter of the NSA meets every other Thursday at AmeriHealth Caritas, hosted by Linda Ruhland of @positivelyasheville. If you're a keynote speaker, coach, consultant, trainer, or facilitator — or if you've ever thought about becoming one — this is your room. A mix of presentations, peer learning, and real talk among people who are serious about the business of public speaking. Tickets on Eventbrite.

• 🗓️ Intro to AI LLM Systems with Ollama and Python — Silicon Dojo Asheville — Tue, Mar 17 · 5:30 PM networking / 6:00 PM class (East Asheville Public Library, 3 Avon Rd, Community Room)

  Silicon Dojo is running a hands-on class on building your own AI systems with Ollama and Python — not just prompting ChatGPT, but actually wiring up a local LLM, writing Python to control it, and adding prompt injection rules. Hosted by Eli Etherton. Free, open to all skill levels, and runs on almost any computer. If you've been curious about what's under the hood of AI tools, this is a legitimately good starting point. Come early at 5:30 for the networking.

Hosting something cool?

📬 Hit reply and tell me what you think. Or share an event!

💡 Marketing Quickies

Your competitors are not following up. Most of them send a quote, hope for the best, and wonder why the customer went somewhere else. Which means you do not need to be the best in your market — you just need to be the most consistent. Here's what that looks like in practice.

1. You’re Not Going to Follow-Up
You tell yourself you'll follow up on Friday. Friday becomes Monday. Monday becomes "I should probably just let that one go." That's a systems problem. The businesses that consistently win on follow-up aren't more motivated than you, they just automated the part that requires memory. Confirmation texts go out automatically. Check-ins go out automatically. Review requests go out automatically. Nobody has to remember anything. Willpower runs out by Thursday. Systems don't.

2. Most Businesses Quit After One Follow-Up 
Research consistently shows that most sales happen between the 5th and 12th touchpoint. Most businesses follow up once — maybe twice — and then go quiet. If you have a quote sitting out there more than 48 hours old without a response, send a second message. A third. A soft fourth. You will close jobs you had completely forgotten about.

3. The Missed Call That Isn't a Lost Job 
Your phone rings at 9 AM while you're under a sink. You miss it. If you text back within an hour, you're 7x more likely to qualify that lead. If you don't respond for a day, 67% of customers will have already booked someone else. This is not about hustle — it's about automation. A system that texts missed callers back immediately doesn't require you to check your phone. It just works.

4. Replace "Let Me Know" With a Decision Point 
"Let me know if you have any questions" is the death sentence of a follow-up email. It puts the entire burden of next steps on the customer. Replace it with a decision point: "I have Tuesday at 10 AM or Thursday at 2 PM — which works better for you?" This doubles reply rates because it asks for a specific, low-effort response instead of an open-ended one.

5. Your Google Business Profile Is Working This Weekend 
St. Patrick's Day weekend means extra foot traffic and people searching "near me" from their phones on the sidewalk. If your GBP has outdated hours, a bad first photo, or hasn't been touched in months — this weekend is actively costing you walk-ins. Update it today. Add one new photo. Post one St. Paddy's Day special if you have one. It takes 15 minutes.

🎉 Fun Stuff Around AVL

• 🎉 Don't Tell Comedy — Secret Show (Asheville Introverts) — Thu, Mar 12 7:30 PM, Show 8:00 PM (Twin Leaf Brewery, 144 Coxe Ave)

  The Asheville Introverts are hosting a Don't Tell Comedy secret show somewhere in the RAD — you won't know the venue until the morning of, lineup's a mystery, tickets are $27 at donttellcomedy.com.

• 🎉 St. Patrick's Day Party with Live Band — Asheville Social Dance — Sat, Mar 14 · 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM (Pillar Rooftop Bar, 309 College St 6th Floor, Asheville)

  Asheville Social Dance throws a St. Patrick's Day rooftop party with a live band at Pillar — wear green, bring your two-step, free parking in the Hilton Garden Inn deck.

• 🎉 Mushroom Log Workshop — Grow Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms — Sat, Mar 14 · 2:00 PM–3:30 PM (Fifth Season Gardening, South Tunnel Road)

  Learn to inoculate logs with oyster, shiitake, or reishi spores and take your log home to fruit mushrooms for years — tickets on Eventbrite.

• 🎉 The Official Lucky's St. Patrick's Day Bar Crawl — Asheville — Sat, Mar 14 · 4:00 PM–midnight (Hi-Wire Brewing - South Slope, 197 Hilliard Avenue)

  The official Lucky's bar crawl covers multiple downtown stops starting at 4 PM — ticket includes drink specials, bar crawl kit, and a full night of green chaos.

• 🎉 Do the Almost St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl — Sat, Mar 14 · 4:30–9:00 PM (Pillar Rooftop Bar, 309 College Street, #6th Floor)

  A second St. Paddy's-weekend pub crawl option for those who want an earlier, more structured finish — grab a ticket on Eventbrite and pick your starting point.

• 🎉 Beginner Bonsai with Danny Coffey — Sat, Mar 14 · 11:00 AM–1:00 PM (Fifth Season Gardening, 4 South Tunnel Rd)

  A two-hour hands-on bonsai workshop with artist Danny Coffey — you leave with a styled tree and a new, extremely patient hobby.

• 🎉 AVLH3 Hash House Harriers — St. Paddy's Weekend Run — Sat, Mar 14 · 1:00 PM (38 North French Broad Venue, 64 Carter Street)

  Asheville's Hash House Harriers — "a drinking club with a running problem" — follow a mystery trail through town and end wherever the beer is, $8 hash cash.

• 🎉 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival — Kickoff Party — Sun, Mar 15 · 7:00 PM (One World Brewing West — Free)

  The 24th Asheville Fringe Arts Festival kicks off with a free party Sunday night, with ticketed shows ($16) running March 19–22 at BeBe Theatre, LEAF Global Arts, LaZoom Room, Sly Grog Lounge, and more.

• 🎉 Weaverville Shamrock Festival — Sun, Mar 15 · 2:00–6:00 PM (Florida Ave & Merchants Alley, Weaverville )

  Weaverville shuts down Florida Avenue for live Irish music, traditional dancers, food from local spots, a $3 social district drink stamp, and Paddy O'Weave the leprechaun handing out Lucky Charms.

• 🎉 Disc Golf — Beginners Welcome! @ Highland Brewing — Sun, Mar 15 · 12:00–1:30 PM (Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy)

  Asheville 20s–40s Social Group runs a casual disc golf round on the Highland course — cold drinks, hot food, and no athletic ability required.

• 🎉 Salt Watercolor Workshop with Sara Bell — Tue, Mar 17 · 6:00–8:00 PM (Noir Collective AVL, 39 South Market Street)

  A Tuesday-night watercolor workshop using salt techniques to create unexpected textures — no experience needed, just show up and paint something cool on St. Patrick's Day.

• 🎉 Mosaic Lamp Workshop — Tue, Mar 17 · 6:30–9:30 PM (DoubleTree by Hilton Asheville Downtown, 199 Haywood Street)

  Build and take home a one-of-a-kind mosaic lamp in this hands-on Asheville workshop — all materials included, tickets on Eventbrite.

🎧 Bands on the Horizon

• Jordan Jensen (BUS-TED UP Tour) — Wed, Mar 11 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel (Sold Out)

• Gary Numan — Thu, Mar 12 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel

• TWEN — Fri, Mar 13 · 8 PM @ Grey Eagle Music Hall

• Cat Power (The Greatest Tour) — Fri, Mar 13 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel (Sold Out)

• The Hives (with The Chats) — Sat, Mar 14 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel

• Asheville Fringe Arts Festival Kickoff Party — Sun, Mar 15 · 7 PM @ One World Brewing West (Free)

• Mike Gordon — Tue, Mar 17 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel

• O.C.M.S. Big Iron World Tour: Back to the Roots (with Willie Watson) — Sun, Mar 22 @ The Orange Peel

• The Golden Hours (Lowland Hum + David Wax Museum) — coming up @ Grey Eagle Music Hall

Want your biz in front of smart AVL owners & creators? Reply with what you’re up to and we’ll see if it’s a fit.

Until next week,

Jason De Los Santos
Pixelated Stories Digital Marketing
(828) 585-4293