If it wasn't for people in Asheville having something to say we wouldn't have Asheville Grit.
Thankfully there are loads of lovely bloggers and contributors who choose to use Grit as a platform to share what interests them, inspires them, even what might piss them off. Getting to read pieces each day in which I learn so much about the city I love is the best part of my job, and it looks like our readers have been enjoying them as well.
Last Thursday, on May 28, Mother Nature held back on the forecasted rain and came through with a beautiful evening as we celebrated a great year of Asheville Grit with fabulous people, food, music, and drinks at one of the coolest new spots in town – the
Smoky Park Supper Club, and Asheville sure knows how to party.
How fun to look around the crowd and see so many familiar faces – many of whom were at our launch party a year ago – and also meet new people who have recently joined the Asheville Grit cast of characters. Of course it also meant so much to see so many supporters of Grit – friends and advertisers whose love has helped our website have a fantastic first year.
I could go on and on and gush about how lucky I feel to have been surrounded by so many unique, creative, impressive people on such a special night, but I'll just stick to a few essential shout outs.
First of all,
Joe Cosey was in the house! I was ecstatic that our Site Developer was able to actually make it to the party for the website he created – and stay tuned as he and Programmer and Analyst
Larry Halstead get ready to unleash the newly redesigned, mobile friendly versions of both
AshevilleGrit.com and our partner in web crime
Ashvegas.com. Speaking of that
other website, of course thanks to
Jason Sandford, who has been at the helm of Ashvegas for 10 years and who we are lucky to have as our friend and collaborator. Starting off as a blogger and then becoming a Rock Star Intern slash Editorial Assistant, it has been a pleasure to have
Lauryn Higgins be such an important part of Grit.
Rounding out our Grit/Vegas Dream Team is
Katie Hild, the Advertising Directing Diva, assisted by our lovely Advertising Inventory Manager,
Louisa Amsterdam (also a kick-ass Grit blogger).
I also want to thank my
WNC magazine family and the rest of
Gulfstream Communications including Publisher
Jeff Drew (who was also in the house!), Site Director
Rory Grueler, and my
CharlestonGrit.com counterpart,
Jessie Parks. You were both missed.
We were so lucky to celebrate the night away all while enjoying a preview of the gorgeous
Smoky Park Supper Club, which is opening later on this summer.
The fabulous owners
Matt Logan and
Kristie Quinn could not have been better to work with and I know Asheville is super excited for the doors of SPSC to be open for good. Another awesome bar/restaurant along the river? What? How lucky are we?
And what a treat it was to sample food from Executive Chef and Badass,
Michelle Bailey, and "Culinary Architect"
Mark Rosenstein, who collaborated on a perfect menu of small-bites and even showcased a signature
Covington Vodka cocktail just for the occasion. (Thanks,
Mary Rich!)
Thanks to
DJ Zati for keeping the tunes going, the staff of
5 Walnut, who are always fantastic,
Asheville Color & Imaging for printing beautiful things for us always,
David Simchock for taking all these wonderful party pics, and the lovely
Amber Hatchett of
Amber Hatchett Designs for outfitting me in her jewelry creations. And of course, thank you tons to
Doug Hecker who, not only was the lead designer of Smoky Park Supper Club, has been one of my biggest supporters during this entire year.
Additionally, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the unofficial stars of our party – the #SelfieSticks. It was actually Matt Logan during one of our planning meetings who jokingly said we should have a few floating around at the party, and we made it so. I can pretty much guarantee that for most everyone in attendance it was their first Selfie Stick experience, (and for many, probably their last), but they pretty much stole the show. So much so that we seemed to have, ehem, "lost" a few. If anyone knows any information that could help lead to the safe return of our Selfie Sticks please call our anonymous hotline. All tips will be kept confidential.
#SELFIESTICKGATE2015
But in all seriousness, THANK YOU ALL! Thanks for appreciating and believing in a website that aims to entertain and inform and showcase Asheville in an unconventional way.
Here's to a great year ahead.
Cheers,
Ayana Dusenberry
Editorial Director
#avlgrit
Interested in sharing your blog or becoming an Asheville Grit contributor?
Send us a line.