AVL Biz Weekly — Sept 9–15: Hatch Goes South, 12 Hours of RADish & a 100-Foot Putt in Biltmore Village

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,

Friday and Saturday nights, the Diana Wortham runs BANFF's mountain film tour, a different lineup of adventure films each night, every ticket going straight to MountainTrue's river and forest work. Wednesday afternoon, the Arboretum's running a guided wildflower walk with its naturalists.

Tuesday, Biltmore Village runs a 100-Foot Putt Challenge and block party. Five bucks a swing, a DJ set from Kipper Schauer, food and drinks from the neighborhood.

Let's get into it.

📋 On Deck

• Business: Roy Williams talks leadership at UNC Asheville Thursday, and Hatch brings Pitch Party to Hendersonville for the first time Tuesday.

• Fun: The Mountain State Fair opens Friday for a ten-day run, RADish Fest takes over the Grey Eagle for 12 hours Saturday, and BANFF's mountain film tour benefits MountainTrue Friday and Saturday.

• Music: The Bouncing Souls headline a four-band punk bill at the Orange Peel Saturday, Jake Blount and Horse Feathers hold down the Grey Eagle midweek, and Ron Pope closes out the week Tuesday.

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

🗓️ Business Events

• 🗓️ Building Something That Endures: An Evening with Roy Williams — Thu, Sept 10 · 5 PM (4:30 PM VIP reception) (Kimmel Arena, UNC Asheville, 227 Campus Drive) — The Asheville native and Hall of Fame coach talks recruiting talent and leading through transition, moderated by Tate Groome.

• 🗓️ Pitch Party Hendersonville — Tue, Sept 15 · 5:30 PM (Southern Appalachian Brewery, Hendersonville) — Hatch AVL Foundation takes its open-mic pitch night south for the first time: 10 minutes per entrepreneur, honest feedback, pizza.

Hosting something cool?

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

💡 Marketing Quickies

This week's theme is on-site SEO, the stuff sitting on your own website that decides whether you show up when someone searches "[your service] near me" or loses to the competitor one listing above you.

Run the 5-second mobile test on your own site right now. Pull it up on your phone. If it takes more than a few seconds to load, or the tap-to-call button isn't visible without scrolling, that's a job lost before anyone reads a word. Contractors usually lose this fight to slow photo galleries; professional service businesses lose it to vague or missing services, lengthy paragraphs longer than War and Peace and not optimizing for mobile. What to fix: strip the page down until it loads fast and the phone number or contact info is impossible to miss.

Add alt text to every photo and basic schema to your homepage. Job site shots, headshots, before-and-afters, whatever you've got, each one needs a short description telling Google what it's looking at. Your homepage should also carry schema markup naming your business, service area and hours.

Check what people are actually typing before you write your copy. Most businesses write their website the way they'd describe the work to a colleague, not the way a stressed customer types it into Google at 9pm. Pull up Google's autocomplete for "[your service] + your town" and see what it suggests, then work that exact phrasing into your homepage and service pages.

🎉 Fun Stuff Around AVL

• 🗓️ NC Mountain State Fair — Fri, Sept 11 – Sun, Sept 20 (WNC Ag Center, Fletcher) — Ten days of rides, livestock shows, fair food and free entertainment; K-12 students get in free until 6 PM on opening day.

• 🗓️ BANFF Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour, benefiting MountainTrue — Fri–Sat, Sept 11–12 · 7 PM (Diana Wortham Theatre) — A different lineup of adventure films each night, door prizes from local businesses, every ticket supporting MountainTrue's forest and river work.

• 🗓️ RADish Fest — Sat, Sept 12 · 11 AM–11 PM (The Grey Eagle) — Twelve hours of local bands, live painting, comedy and a free makers market taking over the whole RAD block.

• 🗓️ Fall Wildflowers of the NC Arboretum — Wed, Sept 9 · 1–4 PM (NC Arboretum) — A guided walk through what's blooming as summer turns over, led by Arboretum naturalists.

• 🗓️ Shiloh Community Association Historic Celebration — Sat, Sept 12 (Garden Pavilion, 59 Hampton Rd) — A neighborhood celebration marking Shiloh's history, hosted by Asheville Parks & Recreation and the Shiloh Community Association.

• 🗓️ 100-Foot Putt Challenge & Block Party — Tue, Sept 15 (Historic Biltmore Village, 11 Kitchin Place) — Local businesses, food, drinks and a DJ set from Kipper Schauer, plus $5 attempts at a 100-foot putt ahead of the Biltmore Championship Asheville.

🎧 Bands on the Horizon

• 65 North Pickers + Radish — Wed, Sept 9 · 8 PM @ Grey Eagle Music Hall

• Christina Chandler — Wed, Sept 9 · 5:30 PM @ Grey Eagle Patio

• Matt Smith's Well-Crafted Music Series w/ Underhill Rose — Wed, Sept 9 · 6 PM @ Highland Brewing Meadow

• Jake Blount w/ Clover Lynn — Thu, Sept 10 · 8 PM @ Grey Eagle Music Hall

• 5J Barrow — Thu, Sept 10 · 5:30 PM @ Grey Eagle Patio

• Elder w/ Bask — Thu, Sept 10 · 8 PM @ The Orange Peel

• Horse Feathers w/ River Whyless — Fri, Sept 11 · 8 PM @ Grey Eagle Music Hall

• Morgan Geer — Fri, Sept 11 · 5:30 PM @ Grey Eagle Patio

• The Emo Night Tour — Fri, Sept 11 · 7 PM @ The Orange Peel

• Cactus Kate and the Pricks — Fri, Sept 11 · 7 PM @ Highland Brewing Meadow

• The Bouncing Souls 'Born to Be Tour' w/ The Suicide Machines, Strike Anywhere & Human Issue — Sat, Sept 12 · 7 PM @ The Orange Peel

• Commodore Fox — Sat, Sept 12 · 7 PM @ Highland Brewing Meadow

• Country Brunch w/ Michael Corwin — Sun, Sept 13 · 11 AM @ Grey Eagle Music Hall

• Carrie Morrison — Sun, Sept 13 · 5:30 PM @ Grey Eagle Patio

• Rainy Eyes — Sun, Sept 13 · 2 PM @ Highland Brewing Meadow

• mr. phylzzz + JD Pinkus — Mon, Sept 14 · 8 PM @ Grey Eagle Music Hall

• Ben Musser — Mon, Sept 14 · 5:30 PM @ Grey Eagle Patio

• Ron Pope — Tue, Sept 15 · 8 PM @ Grey Eagle Music Hall

• Sonia Leigh & Friends — Tue, Sept 15 · 5:30 PM @ Grey Eagle Patio

Want your biz in front of a few really smart AVL business owners? 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