Rebuild Hot Springs

05/07/2026

Rebuild Hot Springs Area is seeking one or more licensed, insured General Contractors to complete up to six residential repair and reconstruction projects in Hot Springs and Spring Creek. These homes sustained damage during Hurricane Helene, and we are ready to move forward.

Funding is in place. We are ready to move quickly.

We are looking for contractors who can hit the ground running on residential repair and reconstruction — foundations, roofing, structural work, and related trades. Projects will be billed on a time and materials basis. If you are a licensed NC General Contractor with relevant experience and availability, we want to hear from you.

To express interest, reach out directly:

📞 828-782-3668
📧 [email protected]

https://rebuildhotsprings.org/hiring-gc/

05/01/2026

Time for Town & Trail Festival!

It is time to celebrate in Hot Springs! 🎉🎵🎶🥾🥾

HOT SPRINGS TOWN & TRAIL FEST WEEKEND SCHEDULE
brought to you by Rebuild Hot Springs (RHSA)

FRIDAY, MAY 1
5:00 PM: Walnut Mountain Shelter Exhibit Dedication at Hot Springs Welcome Center
6:00 PM: Appalachian Ballads with Sheila Kay Adams & Donna Ray Norton at Artisun Gallery and Cafe
6:00 PM: Live Music – Fenris Wolf at Big Pillow Brewing

SATURDAY, MAY 2
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM: Town & Trail Fest Main Event at Hot Springs Resort & Spa
10:00 AM: Vendor Market Opens
11:00 AM: Contra Dancing with Charley Harvey
12:00 PM: Live Music – Roy Hurley & the Big Pillow Open Mic Allstars
1:00PM: Live Music – Paint Rock
1:00 PM: Co****le Tournament
2:00 PM: Live Music – H***y Katz
3:00 PM: Live Music – Fenris Wolf
3:00 PM: Trail Poetry Writing Workshop by Tiffany Narron at the Hot Springs Welcome Center Walnut Mountain Shelter Exhibit
5:00 PM: Hot Springs Duck Race on Bridge Street at the Spring Creek Bridge
6:00 PM: Live Music – Big Creek Bluegrass at Big Pillow Brewing
8:00 PM: Live Music – Quick Chester at The Spring Creek Tavern

SUNDAY, MAY 3
2:00 PM: Live Music – Old Sap at Big Pillow Brewing

05/01/2026

There is no without Hot Springs Resort & Spa, and we mean that in the most literal sense.

They have been with us from the very beginning, opening their property along the banks of Spring Creek and the French Broad River for this festival, working alongside us from the first planning conversation to the last piece of cleanup, and making it possible for everyone to gather here free of charge.

The resort is the namesake of this town. Natural hot mineral waters, heated deep within the earth, have drawn people to this bend in the river for generations. That tradition of healing and welcome is woven into everything Hot Springs is, and Hot Springs Resort & Spa carries it forward every single day.

We're grateful for their generosity, their partnership, and for saying yes.

🔗 nchotsprings.com

04/30/2026

We're glad to welcome back the Earl Shaffer Foundation as a returning sponsor of .

If you've ever walked the Appalachian Trail through Hot Springs, you've followed in the footsteps of Earl Shaffer. In 1948, after returning from serving in the Army during World War II, Shaffer set out to walk off the war. Four months and more than 2,000 miles later, he became the first person to ever thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. He did it again fifty years later in 1998, becoming the oldest person to complete the thru-hike at the age of 79.

That 1998 hike brought him through Hot Springs, where he stopped in at Trailfest. The fact that Earl Shaffer walked through this town and sat with this community during that historic journey is something we don't take lightly.

Shaffer was more than a hiker. He was a poet, a conservationist, and a tireless advocate for the trail he loved. The foundation that carries his name works to preserve that legacy and keep his story alive for the generations of hikers still walking the same path.

🔗 Learn more at earlshaffer.org

04/29/2026

We're proud to have AdventHealth as a sponsor of this year.

For anyone living in Western North Carolina, the news out of Weaverville lately has meant something. AdventHealth recently broke ground on a new 67-bed hospital in Weaverville, bringing emergency care, labor and delivery, intensive care, and medical-surgical services closer to the families of Buncombe, Madison, Graham, and Yancey counties.

For communities like ours that know firsthand what it means to need care and have to travel far to find it, that matters in a very real way.

AdventHealth's commitment to this region goes beyond building a hospital. It's a long-term investment in the health of the people who live here, and we're glad to have them standing alongside us at Town & Trail Festival.

🔗 Learn more at adventhealth.com

04/28/2026

There's a moment at every festival when the music fades for a minute and you find yourself looking at the mountains, the creek, the tree line, and thinking something you can't quite put into words. Tiffany Narron's Trail Poetry Writing Workshop on Saturday, May 2 at 3:00pm will encourage you to do just that.

Tiffany is a writer, poet, and therapeutic coach living in Hot Springs whose work is rooted in the relationship between language, nature, and the interior life. She believes the natural world holds us, guides us, and gives us a language we often forget we know. Her Trail Poetry Writing Workshop invites you to slow down, pay attention, and find what this place has been trying to say to you.

The workshop takes place at the newly dedicated Walnut Mountain Shelter Exhibit at the Hot Springs Welcome Center, itself a piece of Appalachian Trail history worth knowing. You don't need to be a writer to show up. You just need to be curious.

Saturday, May 2 at 3:00pm. Free and open to everyone.

🔗 townandtrailfest.org

04/28/2026

We are proud to have East Tennessee's Own as a sponsor of this year.

WDVX is an independent, listener-supported community radio station out of Knoxville, broadcasting roots music and promoting the cultural heritage of East Tennessee and the Southern Appalachian region. wdvx They are home to the beloved Blue Plate Special, a free live performance series that has been putting great music in front of real people for years. If you know, you know.

The fact that a station with that kind of roots sensibility found its way to Hot Springs doesn't surprise us one bit. This is exactly the kind of community and music they've always championed, and we're glad to have them on our side of the mountain.

Tune in at 89.9 FM or online at wdvx.com.

04/27/2026

Friendly reminder that the Town & Trail Festival Co****le Tournament is happening Saturday, May 2 and registration is open.

$150 cash for first place. $50 for second. $30 to enter per team. All proceeds go to Rebuild Hot Springs Area's Emergency Services Fund to support our regional volunteer fire departments!

It's single elimination, 16 teams max. If you and your partner have been talking about signing up, now is the time to stop talking about it.

The tournament kicks off at 1:00pm on the grounds of Hot Springs Resort & Spa, right in the middle of everything else happening that day. Good competition, good company, and a pretty great place to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Register at townandtrailfest.org/cornhole.

04/27/2026

We're happy to welcome back Madison Health and Rehabilitation as a returning sponsor of Town & Trail Festival .

Located in Mars Hill, right in the heart of Madison County, Madison Health & Rehabilitation has been serving this community for years. They offer short and long-term care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nutritional care, and more, with a staff dedicated to helping residents reach their individual health goals. They're neighbors taking care of neighbors, which is something we understand and appreciate deeply around here.

We're grateful for their continued support of this festival and the community it serves.

🔗 Learn more at madison.sanstonehealth.com

04/26/2026

This year, Town & Trail Festival is proud to feature something that has been years in the making. On Friday, May 1, we invite you to join us for the dedication of the Walnut Mountain Shelter Exhibit, a permanent historical installation behind the Hot Springs Tourism & Welcome Center as a testament to what patience, persistence, and real community partnership can accomplish.

The Carolina Mountain Club tells the story well. "Originally built in 1938 by the Civilian Conservation Corps using American Chestnut logs, the shelter sat along the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee until it was condemned and slated to be torn down." Rather than let that happen, CMC spent years working across two states, two National Forests, and the Town of Hot Springs to save it. In March 2025, trail crews carefully labeled, photographed, and disassembled the shelter piece by piece, brought it down the mountain, and rebuilt it on a new foundation in Hot Springs. As CMC's Tom Weaver put it, "it has a new life in Hot Springs where hikers, locals, and visitors can connect with the past."

The Carolina Mountain Club has been one of the great stewards of this region for a long time. Since Hurricane Helene, their crews have been on the ground helping restore trails and access across Western North Carolina, doing the unglamorous, essential work that makes this landscape available to everyone who loves it.

If you'd like to be part of that work, there is a volunteer opportunity with Carolina Mountain Club on Friday, May 1 to assist with trail and river cleanup in the Silvermine area. Sign up at townandtrailfest.org/volunteer.

Come to the dedication. Walk around the shelter. Learn the story. It earned its place here in our community.

🔗 townandtrailfest.org