2026 could see the soft opening of two outdoor venues in areas that were devastated by floodwaters during Hurricane Helene.
The projects were among those highlighted Monday at the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority’s Year Ahead event.
The first project is being spearheaded by the owners of the Orange Peel music club in downtown Asheville. They plan to build a new, 6,000-capacity outdoor concert venue on Thompson Street along the Swannanoa River in East Asheville, where the Cursus Keme brewery once stood.
Liz Tallent, one of the Orange Peel’s co-owners, said the venue’s stage will be a “flow-through structure” that’s resilient to floodwaters, while many of the remaining elements can be moved off-site if flooding is forecast.
“We think that in order to bring life and new economic development to this part of Asheville, which was so devastated, these kinds of outdoor-centric uses are kind of the only smart way to redevelop,” Tallent said at Monday’s event, which was held at the Orange Peel.
The other new venue will be in the community of Swannanoa, where a multi-purpose outdoor facility called Beacon Park is in the works. The project will include a bike park, outdoor bouldering walls, an event lawn and a one-mile walking loop.
Casey Watkins, one of Beacon Park’s founders, said his group has partnered with the nonprofit RiverLink to better manage stormwater in the area.
“We really see this park opening in the summer not just as a community park but as a recovery engine for our community that will continue to be able to pump out really cool things for our projects that are happening in Swannanoa,” Watkins said.
The project has been awarded $4.5 million from the TDA through its Tourism Product Development Fund.
Both soft openings are expected in the spring or summer of this year.
Monday’s meeting highlighted several other tourism-related projects that are on tap for 2026.
- The Biltmore Championship Asheville golf tournament will take place at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, a Jack Nicklaus-designed course, in September.
- The Biltmore Estate will be hosting Luminere, an immersive light show projected onto the Biltmore House, from March through October.
- The Asheville Art Museum will be home to the exhibition from February through June called “In A New Light: American Impressionism 1870-1940.”
- The town of Woodfin is preparing to launch the Woodfin Wave this summer, a much-anticipated whitewater wave park.
