From The Village Green in Cashiers, North Carolina:
The Village Green was created so that our community can gather together for recreation and enjoyment. For over 30-years we have been honored to bring events that are treasured by everyone in the Cashiers area year after year.
We don’t take this privilege lightly.
As we enter into this transformative time of year that is centered around Mother Nature showcasing stellar beauty around us with the turning of the leaves, The Village Green is pleased to announce that the 2024 Cashiers Valley Leaf Festival will move forward on October 11th, 12th and 13th.
With the start of this weekend's Festival, The Village Green will be donating 10% of the vendor booth fees along with proceeds from our Cashiers Christmas Ornament to the Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation’s Hurricane Relief Fund for our Cashiers, Glenville, and Sapphire areas.
The Hurricane Relief Fund, created by the Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation, will disperse monetary grants to our local food pantries, emergency councils, and legal aid organizations to serve local residents recover from the effects of Hurricane Helene.
While we understand that there may be concern about holding a festival while others are hurting, we believe holding the festival is especially important this year. All those in our community need opportunities to connect, feel normal, and find some joy in the face of adversity. We also need to face the reality that local businesses are already seeing negative economic impacts from the hurricane, and those impacts will be felt by local employees.
Visitor demographics gathered during previous Cashiers Valley Leaf Festival's have shown that retail, restaurants, and local hotels experience increased revenue during the weekend of the Festival. We feel that this Festival is something our community and local and WNC artists count on. We feel we can make the Festival happen while also demonstrating compassion and care for our Cashiers area residents and beyond.
The Village Green is partnering with the Rotary Club of Cashiers Valley to collect disaster relief supplies during the Festival and Rotarians will organize the dispersal of the donated items to organizations in our community that interact with local residents in need.
The Village Green is also partnering with Pisgah Legal Services to have their dedicated staff on site during the Festival to help any local resident with FEMA applications and disaster relief funding.
We thank all those within our community for pulling together and supporting one another, and we are thankful that The Village Green is able to continue to be the location where our community unites for celebration, conversation, respite, and recreation.
~Ashlie Mitchell, Executive Director & The Village Green Board of Directors
2024 Cashiers Leaf Festival is Still On
As we enter into this transformative time of year that is centered around Mother Nature showcasing stellar beauty around us with the turning of the leaves, The Village Green announces that the 2024 Cashiers Valley Leaf Festival will move forward on October 11th, 12th and 13th.