AVLtoday

1 week ago | avltoday.6amcity.com | Grace Powers

Obstacle course racing (think: the Spartan Race) will make its debut in the 2028 Summer Olympics as part of the Modern Pentathlon. Repping Team USA in Los Angeles doesn’t have to be a pipe dream because local gym OSEGA has just constructed its Triumph Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) Training Center. The center boasts a wide range of obstacles to test your strength and endurance, not to mention your mindset.

1 week ago | avltoday.6amcity.com | Laura Hackett

Deep in the heart of Pisgah National Forest, there’s a historic space research station with ties to NASA — and it’s one of only three International Dark Sky-certified Parks in North Carolina. We’re talking about the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) — an isolated 200+ acre area that first opened in 1963 as NASA’s Rosman Tracking Station. In 1967, its 26-meter radio telescope received one of the world’s first color photos of the full Earth from space, as well as a TV transmission.

1 week ago | avltoday.6amcity.com | Grace Powers

This summer, the first phase of Asheville Regional Airport’s $400 million expansion project will take flight, debuting the new seven-gate north concourse. As the interior finishes are being finalized, the airport announced a list of five restaurants and two retail spaces opening in the new terminal. Three storefronts will open upon the completion of phase one — two restaurants and one retail shop.

1 week ago | avltoday.6amcity.com | Grace Powers

At the end of April, Citizen Vinyl will close its cafe, event space, and record store. Founder and CEO Gar Ragland shared late Monday afternoon that after five years in business weathering a global pandemic and a local natural disaster, challenges have led Citizen Vinyl to “focus on the core segments of our business: vinyl manufacturing and studio recording.”Both the record-pressing factory and Citizen Studios will remain inside the Citizen-Times building and tours will continue to be offered.

1 week ago | avltoday.6amcity.com | Grace Powers

Asheville’s first health food store is celebrating 50 years. What better way to celebrate half a century of Earth Fare’s sustainable, organic eats and artificial ingredient- and additive-free foods than with a birthday party (and free cake, of course)? When the store came onto the scene in 1975, it was known by a different moniker — Dinner for the Earth. Nearly 20 years (and several expansions) later, the Asheville market officially rebranded as Earth Fare.