Outdoor Business Alliance (OBA) upcoming events

50th Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour benefiting MountainTrue (09/11/2026)

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Bringing the Worlds Best Mountain Films to Asheville

Join us for two distinct nights of filmmaking excellence. Each evening features a completely different lineup of films, so we encourage you to join us for both sessions to see the full breadth of the world tour.

When: Friday, September 11 and Saturday, September 12, 2026

Where: Wortham Center for Performing Arts | 18 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC

Time: Doors open at 6pm. Show at 7 pm.

FREE Door Prizes: every attendee is entered for a chance to win door prizes donated by our amazing local businesses. Multiple prizes drawn each night.

***NEW this year: come early to check out our sponsor and community partner room: see an adaptive mountain bike, take photos with a giant hellbender puppet, chat with community-minded orgs and more!

The Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour is an annual tradition for our community, bringing the spirit of outdoor adventure and mountain culture to the heart of the Blue Ridge. As MountainTrue’s largest fundraiser of the year, this event celebrates the grit, beauty, and wonder of the wild places we work so hard to protect. Whether you are a climber, a paddler, or a dreamer, these films are sure to spark your next great adventure.

The Films:

Friday, September 11th: MORAINE

Saturday, September 12th: ICEFALL

Basket Weaving: Willow Picnic Baskets w/ Tyler Lavenburg (3 Days) (09/18/2026)

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 16:00:00 GMT

EVENT DETAILS HERE!

Weave a traditional willow picnic basket by hand in this immersive 3-day workshop rooted in skill, heritage, and use.

Willow basketry is a craft built slowly—through repetition, patience and the steady conversation between hands and material. In this immersive 3-day willow workshop, you’ll weave a durable, beautifully functional picnic / gathering basket using the traditional European stake and strand method, a technique carried across generations by migrant ancestors and still trusted today.

Working with strong yet supple willow, you’ll create a compact version of a full pack basket, but small enough to manage comfortably, yet still crafted with strength and durability. These baskets are meant to be used: for harvesting food, carrying daily essentials, or heading out into the wilderness for a beautiful picnic! Your finished piece will be completed with your choice of a wrapped willow handle or soft leather straps.

Beloved Firefly friend and willow weaver Tyler Lavenburg, guides the process with care and attention, helping students move through the inevitable moments of challenge toward real skill and confidence. As your basket takes form, you’ll learn a variety of traditional weaves while developing an intuitive understanding of how willow bends, holds, and even breaks–such good metaphors for life.

Open to all experience levels, this class is ideal for anyone drawn to traditional handcraft, practical skill-building, and the quiet pride of making the things we need in our everyday lives.

You’ll Walk Away With:

A beautiful and unique handwoven picnic / gathering basket made start to finish by you

Knowledge of willow propagation, tending and sustainable harvesting techniques

Hands-on experience with a variety of traditional basket weaves

The skills and understanding to replicate the entire weaving process on your own

A deeper connection to an ancient craft rooted in European heritage

A renewed confidence and appreciation for what your hands can make and do

This class will be held outdoors on Friday, Saturday & Sunday, September 18-20, 2026, from 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm on Friday and 9:00 am – 5:00 pm on Saturday & Sunday, near Weaverville, NC.

Money, Margins, & Momentum (09/23/2026)

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

EVENT DETAILS HERE

Money, Margins, & Momentum on September 23rd, 20226

Do you know what your numbers are really telling you?

Your financials can reveal opportunities, uncover challenges, and help you make more confident business decisions.

Join us for Money, Margins & Momentum, a hands-on workshop where you'll learn how to better understand your financials and turn your numbers into practical tools for growth. No accounting background is required.

September 23, 2026
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

$30 for 3 hours of great content
WCU, Biltmore Park, Asheville, NC

2026 Community Partners Impact Invitational (10/04/2026)

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 16:30:00 GMT

EVENT DETAILS HERE

The Community Partners Impact Invitational debuts October 4, 2026 at the Grove Park Inn Golf Course in Asheville, and it's going to be something worth showing up for.

PIVOTPoint's work doesn't happen in a vacuum. It happens because of community. Local businesses, service providers, neighbors, and advocates who believe investing in young people is everyone's responsibility. This is a day to celebrate that. To connect, collaborate, and show up for the community that shows up for us.

Kick off with lunch and live music before a shotgun start on one of WNC's most iconic tracks. Hole sponsors will be set up throughout the round with food, drinks, giveaways, and real conversation with the organizations making this region a better place to live and work. Stick around after for awards recognizing the day's standouts.

This is golf with purpose. This is our community, on the course. Let's go!

Appalachian Folk Medicine w/ Byron Ballard (10/10/2026)

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 14:00:00 GMT

EVENR DETAILS HERE!

Discover Appalachian folk medicine through hands-on herbal craft, story, and the living traditions of the mountains.

Just in time for Samhain, step into the wild heart of southern Appalachia and explore its vibrant folk traditions through the wisdom of Appalachian magic practitioner and beloved storyteller, Byron Ballard.

Carried across oceans in the hearts of immigrants and woven together with local Indigenous plant knowledge, Appalachian folk medicine is a unique living, breathing tradition: practical, powerful, ancestral. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll trace the twisty history of these old medicines and discover how culture, land, and spirit shaped a distinctly Appalachian healing practice.

Together, we’ll roll up our sleeves and work with the plants themselves — crafting tinctures and poultices, and creating traditional asfidity (protection) bags from up-cycled fabric. These humble tools carry generations of knowledge about protection, restoration, and care of both body, spirit and the land.

Midway through, we’ll break bread and share a warming bowl of soup, nourishing body and spirit in good company.

Participants will also spend time with the Seven Sovereign Sisters of the Appalachian mountains, learning the stories and healing relationships surrounding these beloved plant allies. Alongside the herbal work, Byron will guide deep relaxation techniques rooted in traditional practice — reminding us that healing has always been about tending the whole person.

Throughout the day, we’ll explore the culture and heritage behind these practices, dispelling stereotypes and gaining a fuller, truer understanding of Appalachian people and their ways. These traditions are not relics — they are vital threads in the living fabric of the region.

In this workshop, you will:

Learn the history and cultural roots of Appalachian folk medicine

Explore the blending of British Isles traditions and native plant wisdom

Work hands-on with tinctures, poultices, and traditional protection bags

Meet the Seven Sovereign Sisters and their healing uses

Practice deep relaxation techniques grounded in folk tradition

Gain a richer, more nuanced understanding of Appalachian people and culture

Come spend the day in the old ways — practical, grounded, generous — and leave with skills, stories, and a deeper connection to mountain folk medicine.

This class will be held indoors on Saturday, Octber 10th, 2026, from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm in Asheville, NC.

Presented by Waypoint Adventure North Carolina Fall Fundraiser (10/15/2026)

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 22:00:00 GMT

EVENT DETAILS HERE

Join us for the Waypoint Adventure North Carolina Fall Fundraiser — an inspiring evening dedicated to expanding adaptive recreation opportunities across Western North Carolina. Together, we’ll celebrate the power of adventure, community, and inclusion while raising critical funds to support individuals with disabilities in accessing transformative outdoor experiences. This year, we are proud to set an ambitious fundraising goal of $50,000 to strengthen and grow Waypoint Adventure’s adaptive recreation programming throughout the region. Guests will enjoy an evening filled with impactful stories from participants and community members, a silent auction, and meaningful opportunities to invest in the local community and the life-changing work happening across Western North Carolina.

Rawhide Lanterns w/ Josh Barnwell (11/14/2026)

Sat, 14 Nov 2026 15:00:00 GMT

EVENT DETAILS HERE!

Craft a rawhide candle lantern by hand and explore this ancient material’s luminous magic in a hands-on workshop.

As the leaves fall and the diminishing days lead to long November nights, we turn toward one of the oldest human instincts: to tend a small fire and lean in towards the light. Before glass was common, before hardware stores and headlamps, people depended on candles, shaping the materials around them into vessels to protect the light. Rawhide has been meeting this need across continents and cultures since time immemorial. When held to a flame, its translucent surface softens and amplifies candlelight like nothing else, glowing beautifully and coming to life with the flame.

In this hands-on workshop, we’ll join beloved Firefly Gathering friend & instructor, Josh Barnwell, in crafting our own individual rawhide candle lantern rooted in European designs dating back to the Iron Age.

During this workshop, you will:

Learn how rawhide is made and why it behaves so differently from leather

Explore its unique properties as a natural material

Select and assess hides for your project

Create and pattern your own lantern design

Clean and prepare the lantern body

Practice basic rawhide stitching

Assemble your own working candle lantern

This class is open to all skill levels, whether you’re brand new to handcraft or already comfortable with natural materials, you’ll find something here: a new medium, a new technique, a new way of being with the light. Each participant will take home your finished rawhide candle lantern, as well as the knowledge and skill to continue experimenting, adapting and following your inspiration wherever it leads.

This class will be held indoors on Saturday, November 14th, 2026, from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm in Asheville, NC.

Hand-Dipped Beeswax Candle Making w/ Jess Kaufman (12/19/2026)

Sat, 19 Dec 2026 19:00:00 GMT

EVENT DETAILS HERE!

Celebrate the Solstice by hand-dipping beeswax candles in this cozy, hands-on workshop rooted in tradition and light.

On the longest nights of the year, we’ll come together in warmth and good company for this age-old Solstice tradition: hand-dipping beeswax candles, a timeless practice that invites patience, presence and a quiet resilience.

In the 5th Annual cozy, hands-on workshop, you’ll gather around the “fire” of gently simmering cauldrons of golden beeswax, the earthy-sweet smell filling the air. Settle into the calming rhythm of dip, cool, and repeat as your tapers slowly take shape. Jess Kaufman, local batik artist and founder of WAXON, will guide you through the candle-making process while sharing the deeper story of beeswax—an increasingly rare and precious gift from our pollinator kin.

You’ll also learn how WAXON’s zero-waste batik studio reclaims and reuses every drop of wax, honoring this sacred material through careful stewardship and creative reuse. The result is a practice rooted not only in craft, but in sustainability and care.

Participants will leave with:

Two pairs of hand-dipped beeswax taper candles (four total, with the option to make more)

Practical candle-making skills, from wick selection to tapering, trimming, and shaping, along with tricks learned over time

A shared sense of connection and joy as we honor the darkness and welcome the returning light in the 5th Annual Solstice Beeswax Candle Dipping Workshop

Jess says her favorite part of the class is “watching the joy on people’s faces as their candles grow.” Come celebrate the Solstice, kindle your own light, and take part in a tradition that weaves together community, craft, and reverence for the natural world.

This class will be held indoors on Saturday, December 19th, 2026, from 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm in Asheville, NC.