Its a Celebration!
With the Arts and Crafts Conference just a matter of weeks away, I don’t make many unnecessary trips away from our office, where we are finishing up the 88-page Conference Catalog. Over at her end of the office, Kate is typing name badges using the name badge forms those of you who have registered received last week in the mail and have sent back to us.
And over at the Grove Park Inn, the reservation staff is already taking calls for the 2019 Arts and Crafts Conference.
2019?
Although it is still one year, one month, and three weeks away, those Arts and Crafts enthusiasts who plan on coming in 2019 began making their reservations this week.
Why?
To request a specific room.
For many of you, what began as a two-day event has become an early spring vacation here in Asheville. I moved here thirty years ago, in part because Asheville experiences all four seasons – but summer and winter are by far the shortest. Temperatures above ninety or below twenty degrees become headline news, and snow often only delays tee times by a few hours.
Asheville offers more than just a temperate climate, which helps explain why some attendees arrive a few days early or stay a few extra days, exploring the 1895 Biltmore Estate (their wines are becoming better every year), driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, or browsing our array of shops, galleries, and restaurants.
And if you’re staying for more than just a night, why not request a specific room?
For some it is in the historic Main Inn, whose 142 original rooms still feel like it is 1913, but equipped with televisions, coffee makers, wireless internet, and other modern essentials. Others prefer a larger room in one of the more recent wings, which offer panoramic views over downtown Asheville in rooms decorated in the Arts and Crafts style.
If all this sounds good to you, the 512-room Grove Park Inn still has a few rooms for next month’s 31st National Arts and Crafts Conference. Just call (828) 252-2711 and ask for someone in Group Reservations.
For as the New York Times pronounced, it is “the most important weekend of the year for Arts and Crafts collectors.”
Come celebrate with us — everything Arts and Crafts!
Until next week,
Think spring in Asheville!
Bruce