Flat Rock celebrates tomorrow with ice cream, bluegrass, Sandburg tours

From the Hendersonville Lightning:

Fans of ice cream and bluegrass are invited to Celebrate Flat Rock Saturday. Mayor Bob Staton will kick off the festivities at noon. The Celebrate Flat Rock Ice Cream Social including a bluegrass band and other activities is noon until 4 p.m. . .

Check it out for the list of events tomorrow (June 1)!

New restaurant opens in Flat Rock (yea!)

The Flat Rock Cinema welcomes a new neighbor:

The former Mama Christina's is now THE WHITE AND RED ROSES CAFE and Friday (May 17) is their Grand Opening! Please join us in welcoming the new owners by showing your support. Their new menu features fresh food from their new kitchen and a fantastic chef. You'll love their Shrimp & Grits, Pasta Primavera, Roasted Stuffed Peppers, Shepherd's Pie, Tuna Melts and more - plus you'll find a great assortment of local wines and beers!

Click HERE for their lunch and dinner menus.

Lunch is served Tuesday-Friday from 11AM - 2PM and Dinner is served Thursday-Saturday from 5PM - 10PM. Call (828) 692-4470 to find out more.

Please support them (but save some room for popcorn) and tell them we sent you!

Wild azaleas

Not a very good picture, but one of my favorite plants--my orange wild azalea that has survived three transplantings due to house construction and now seems to be thriving.

Flat Rock to hold Ice Cream Social June 1

From the Times-News:

The Village of Flat Rock will hold its annual Ice Cream Social at noon June 1 on the grounds of the Flat Rock Village Hall and throughout the village. Vanilla, chocolate chip, strawberry, no sugar added butter pecan and sherbet will be served.

Mayor Bob Staton will kick off the festivities, which continue until 4 p.m. Beginning the afternoon’s entertainment is Appalachian Fire Bluegrass Band, led by Dwayne “Doc” Durham. Also returning are the Bishop Brothers (Myron, Wayne and Lenior), who grew up in Brevard.

New to the Ice Cream Social this year will be Simple Folk, a four-piece Asheville/ Hendersonville band celebrating its 10th anniversary this summer. The West Henderson High School Jazz Band, directed by Alan Klaes, will close out the afternoon’s entertainment. Tiffany Ervin will serve as mistress of ceremonies.

The performance of the Flat Rock Village Merchant’s Music Series, sponsored by the Village of Flat Rock, will feature singer and songwriter Tom Fisch at 6 p.m. on the back porch of the Wrinkled Egg. Call 828-697-0208 for more information.

Blue Ridge Book Fest May 17 - May 18

The fifth annual Blue Ridge Book Fest is this coming Friday, May 17, through Saturday, May 18, at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock. Honoree this year is novelist Wiley Cash and there will be workshops on self-publishing and North Carolina and the Civil War, as well as a rare book appraisal and the introduction of the Henderson County High School Graphic Novel Team Contest, to be judged by Shirrel Rhoades, a former publisher of Marvel Comics and a consultant with DC Comics and Mad Magazine.

Check it out!

Flat Rock agrees to pay $1.15 million for golf course

(Sorry I'm so late with this, but we've been out of town.) From the Times-News of May 1:

FLAT ROCK — A month and a half after deciding to build a municipal park, village councilmen agreed Monday to pay the owners of Highland Lake Golf Course $1.15 million for the 66-acre property, beginning with a $525,000 payment at closing on June 30.

Council voted unanimously to enter into a purchase agreement with Course Doctors Inc. to purchase all property and buildings on the golf course except for practice range lights and a “pole barn,” which the current owners must remove at their expense.

Course Doctors owners Jim Sparks and Tom Davis had the golf course on the market for $1.3 million, but Henderson County optioned the property in 2011 for $1.1 million before abandoning plans for its own park and soccer complex there after citizens objected....

[Flat Rock Mayor Bob Staton] said the village plans to establish an advisory committee with the goal of preparing a master plan for the property and “determining what the phases of development might be, along with estimated costs for budgeting purposes.”

Protecting open space at the village's gateway was cited by councilmen as a key reason for purchasing the golf course. Though two-thirds of the land is within a floodplain, Staton said Course Doctors could have built up to 44 multi-family condos or townhouses on the land closest to Greenville Highway....

Read it all.