Located just west of Charlotte, Gaston County offers families plenty of options for a weekend getaway. With museums, parks, nature trails, and some of the region’s best hiking, mountain biking, and paddling, it’s easy to plan an adventurous day trip or a quick vacation. You’ll also find lots of family-friendly…

Located two hours or less from most of the major population centers in the state, the Dan River Company can arrange trips from 2 hours to 2 days, covering 40 miles of the Dan River. Come and enjoy the beauty of the area, a day in the sun or an adventure on the river. There is no better way to relax than listening to the quiet ripples of water provided by nature, viewing the wildlife and spending time with your friends and family.

The Town of Valdese will kick off their 2019 Family Friday Nights summer concert series on May 24, 2019 at 7pm in the downtown Valdese parking lot. The summer concert series is free for everyone, so bring a lawn chair and get ready to hear some great music! The May…

Start your summer on a high note in Eastern America’s highest town, Beech Mountain, North Carolina.  This family-friendly destination offers affordable fun for all ages, and June Family Fun Month highlights some of the best of what this quaint resort town has to offer. Many of the businesses in town,…

An amazing two days of local craft beer and live music, camping and new friends. NCBMF will be on May 10th and 11th at Historic Rural Hill, a non-profit historic site and farm located 20 minutes from downtown Charlotte in Huntersville NC. This event is rain-or-shine and will not be…

Whether you’re looking to grow your own vegetables, add an outdoor living space to your backyard or bring color into your landscape, Garden Jubilee is the place to be this Memorial Day weekend. Now in its 26th year, Hendersonville’s premiere lawn-and-garden show returns to Main Street May 25-26. More than…

Enjoy yourself, reward yourself. The Carolina Craft Beverage Trail is a reward program to nudge you to get off the well worn path and experience boutique craft beverage destinations across the State of North Carolina.

Yadkin Valley’s top wine festival uncorks its 18th edition with an all-star lineup of wineries and live music in Elkin, NC, on Saturday, May 18. The Yadkin Valley Wine Festival attracts wine aficionados from near and far with tasting booths from two dozen wineries and a full afternoon of music…

As the apple trees begin to bloom, Hendersonville celebrates the spring season and the hope for a bountiful harvest with the second annual Cider, Wine & Dine Weekend, April 25-28. The four-day event showcases local food and drink with nearly 50 happenings at cideries, wineries and tasting rooms throughout the…

The craft beer explosion that started in Asheville and Charlotte has finally made its way across the Catawba River into Gaston County. With an abundance of outdoor recreational opportunities throughout the area, Gaston is the perfect setting for embracing the brewpub culture, and visitors will find several taprooms where they…

The Hawg in the Holler Music Festival, inspired by Tim Cifers, is kicking off its 5th year celebrating music, family fun and local charity efforts. Featured bands for the day include (in this order): Brooke McBride, Who Shot John, Nantucket. This year we welcome Oxford’s own Carson Blakely, afternoon DJ…

Listen to the natural flow of the Dan River from the back deck of the Green Heron Ale House in Stokes County during #NCBeerMonth. Located in Danbury, the heart of the county, you can experience history, local arts, and many accesses to the Dan River for a leisure float during…

The Loch Norman Highland Games at Rural Hill is a family friendly event presented by Historic Rural Hill. Come and experience all the fun with Highland Dancing, Bagpipe Bands, Highland Athletics, a Giant Kid’s Zone, Scottish Merchants, Haggis, Celtic Rock and Traditional Performers, Historic Reenactments, Scottish Country Dancing, Sunday Church…

We often take a drive to the unknown and wind up somewhere fantastic. It’s what we do!  This time was a great surprise. Not only did we find an incredible brewery but we found awesome people like the staff at Tobacco Wood Brewing Co. and getting to meet and chat…

Coming April 1, 2019 to Morganton’s Marquee Theatre: the return of the mysterious Brown Mountain Lights of Burke County. Movie Poster from Original Release             The lights, a natural phenomenon seen for centuries near their namesake mountain, play an integral role in Alien Abduction, a 2014 sci-fi thriller. Five years to the…

Now that engagement season has passed, brides-to-be are planning their dream weddings. The rolling hills of Surry County in the Yadkin Valley wine region create a beautiful setting for such occasions. While many venues throughout Surry County are ideal for weddings, these four places stand out when brides choose to…

This April, get to Goldsboro where the month kicks off with Pig In The Park on April 5-6th in historical Waynesborough Village, where twenty cook teams will face off in a whole hog BBQ contest, making enough delicious food to satisfy over 5,000 festival goers.  Hot on its heels is…

With 2019 underway, Grandfather Mountain’s calendar of events is in peak condition. With a mission to inspire conservation of the natural world by helping guests explore, understand and value the wonders of Grandfather Mountain, the nonprofit nature park and its staff are readying for a fun and eventful year. “2019…

Cool green mountains and crystal-clear lakes surrounding Hendersonville, North Carolina, create an ideal setting for summer youth camps, drawing thousands of boys and girls every summer from across the South. The first camp opened in 1910 and by 1921, the Asheville Citizen-Times dubbed Hendersonville “the center of camps in the…

Days are getting longer and the local calendar is filled with festivals, events, challenges, and fun experiences to put a little SPRING into your Step as you adventure and explore the mountain peaks and river banks of Stokes County, NC! So much to do around the ROCK this Spring, you’ll…

The 27-mile Catawba River Blueway is filled with scenic spots for a paddling adventure. Looking for one of the area’s best float trips? Check out the stretch of the Catawba River starting just below Mountain Island Lake in North Carolina and flowing to the border of South Carolina. You’ll paddle…

Medaloni Cellars rests on twenty-two acres of rolling hills located in North Carolina’s beautiful Yadkin Valley. Located 10 minutes outside of Winston-Salem, Medaloni Cellars is a beautiful addition to the Yadkin Valley wine trail to be toured by wine lovers from all over. Enjoy a romantic sunset with views of…

You know what an oasis is, right? That’s Goldsboro. A community that is bubbling up from the Coastal Plains of North Carolina, flourishing with art, culinary treasures, parks, planes, pickles, and locally crafted pints. The city of Goldsboro makes a great choice if you are looking for a destination that…

We all want the best experience for our wedding, right?  Finding the best fitting venue is just as important as the dress. Well… Almost!  Here you have it all scheduled for you to enjoy the adventure of choosing your perfect place in style. Are you planning a 2019-2020 wedding?  Well,…

February is often the snowiest month in the Blue Ridge mountains, making it a perfect time to visit the ski resort town of Banner Elk. Banner Elk has the distinction of being the only North Carolina town within five miles of two ski resorts. It is nestled between NC’s two…

Bière De Femme is a unique beer festival celebrating our 3rd year in North Carolina. This year’s event will be held at the Highland Brewing Company Event Center, boasting more than 35 incredible one-off beers made specifically for this festival by women beer professionals from each brewery. The Bière de…

Rutherford County North Carolina is an accessible destination to get to from about anywhere in the state, and even easier to fall in love with. A divers nest of communities in the foothills below Hendersonville & Asheville and West of Charlotte where outdoor activities, food, art, history, and festivals welcome…

The Town of Beech Mountain and the Beech Mountain Resort are gearing up for the 8th Annual Retro 80’s Ski Weekend. This year, the event, which is always the third weekend in February, is adding more options for families as well as for party animals. From Thursday February 21st through…

Brides looking to get married in the Blue Ridge Mountains can plan their dream weddings at the Say I Do to Hendersonville Bridal Show on Saturday, March 23. Hendersonville is a popular choice for destination weddings. There are 65 venues in Henderson County to accommodate weddings of all sizes and…

There will be a new place to explore the outdoors in Gaston County. Mountain Island Educational State Forest, the latest of seven educational state forests across North Carolina will showcase the benefits of forest management in action. It will be a wonderful spot to take your dog for a hike…

There is no better venue than a home. The second-best venue is a place that feels like home. Your friends, your family, complete strangers… digging their feet into lush carpet, being introduced to incredible wine, and cozying up like a family by the lake. Not everyone in Lake Norman has…

JOLO Winery & Vineyards, located in the Yadkin Valley town of Pilot Mountain, enters the new year on a roll after capturing five gold medals in various competitions in 2018. The most recent accolades came in November when the winery’s Crimson Creek earned the three highest honors at the 2018…

Waldensian heritage flows with wine (certainly not the worst historic trait to have). Centuries ago, in the Cottian Alps, west of Torino, Italy and the Western Piedmont of Italy, the Waldensians learned the craft of creating great wines. One reason that Historic Valdese was favored by Waldensian settlers is the…

There’s no tubing like snow tubing, and the Banner Elk area is home to four of the top places to tube in the North Carolina mountains. Those four options are: Sugar Mountain Resort, Beech Mountain Resort, Hawksnest Resort and Jonas Ridge Snow Tubing Park. All these tubing parks provide 100%…

[metaslider id=2281 cssclass=” alignnormal”] Whether you mountain bike North Carolina’s rugged singletrack or ride the greenways and want to up your game, the fall opening of the Poston Pump Track in Gaston County has expanded your options considerably. It’s the first asphalt track on the East Coast between Miami and…

This brew and ‘cue is worth the trip. Home to famous BBQ joints and brew spots, a visit to Goldsboro is an experience you can taste. People come from all over the country to grab a bite from our award-winning BBQ restaurants, some of which are featured on the Historic…

[metaslider id=2294 cssclass=” alignnormal”] Beech Mountain, N.C. is the highest town in Eastern America, with a peak elevation of 5,506 feet. A ski resort sits in the middle of the town and doubles as a downhill mountain bike park in the summer. Beech Mountain is home to the Land of…

Stokes County is the place to be in 2019 to celebrate the “Year of Music” in North Carolina. Come Hear NC is a promotional campaign of the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources and the North Carolina Arts Council designed to celebrate North Carolinians groundbreaking contributions to many…

On any given weekday, you’ll find parked cars lining Main Street in Lexington, people strolling the sidewalk with bags on their arms, and store doors swinging open and shut with customers going in and out. In an era of downtown revitalization, this small Piedmont town teems with activity. This time…

No more long road trips to drive up to the mountain for tubing with your friends or family – it is happening in Gaston County. Crowders Ridge outside Gastonia is your destination. A fast & dry custom-created tubing chute with 250-foot lanes replicate a snow tubing experience, but without freezing…

Whether or not you’re a lover of winter sports, the Town of Beech Mountain has something for you to love. Each year, Santa visits the 4 Seasons at Beech to find out what children would like for Christmas. This year, he’ll be there from 2-4 pm on Saturday, December 15th….

Enjoy the holiday’s pleasures a little too much? Stuffed to the gills from all those parties? Determined that this is the year to make a change for the better? Why not come out to Rural Hill and start 2019 off right with First Footin’ our annual walk and celebration of Hogmanay, or Scottish New Years?

The best part about turning 21, is that my mother, my sister, and I could text each other on a Friday and decide on a place to meet up, have a couple of drinks, and catch up on each other’s lives.  Full disclosure, when I said “Friday,” I meant “Monday,…

Take a stroll through the heart of downtown, here you’ll discover lots of trendy boutiques and day spas tucked inside of historic buildings.  Making a grand investment in its future and $15 million later, Goldsboro is beautifully revitalized. Now, it’s waiting to revive you! Let’s put it this way. Who…

Experience the hospitality and warmth of a Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas with Home for the Holidays in Hendersonville. This popular series of holiday events kicked off Thanksgiving weekend and continues through the New Year. Main Street shopkeepers festoon their storefronts with decorations, while a downtown skating rink is open from…

Outdoor adventures are just as FUN in the cooler winter temperatures of Stokes County. Locals say, “Winter is the best time for a relaxing, brisk hike to vistas of clear views for miles”. Take in the fresh mountain air of the Piedmont Region at Hanging Rock State Park