Friends, it is time once again for Asheville’s most fantastical festival of freakiness and fun…
The Surreal Sirkus Arts Festival: Post-Helene Edition!
Despite all the destruction Western North Carolina has endured since the hurricane, we believe it’s more important than ever to gather and celebrate the creative spirit of this place, even as we mourn what has been lost.
Obviously, things are going to be a little different this year. The Surreal Sirkus Arts Festival is going to be smaller than we had planned, and it’s going to happen in two phases and in two different locations.
we will gather at Pack Square Park, culminating in a community ritual at 3:33 to mourn those we’ve lost in the past year, and to celebrate the resiliency and the spirit of this region.
12 - 5pm • Pack Square Park
12-1 Infinite Kiss
1-2 Will Franke
2-3 Devilled Eggs
3:33-4 Community Ritual
4-5 Drum Circle
5pm - 2am • Sly Grog Lounge
Live music, DJs, and a performance by the Surreal Sirkus
The Sly Grog portion of the event will be a fundraiser to support the artists in Western North Carolina who have been impacted by Helene through the Surreal Sirkus Flood Relief Fund. We will be accepting donations at the door, but no one turned away for lack of funds.
The Surreal Sirkus show will feature the first act of an eight-part series culminating in the 2025 Surreal Sirkus Arts Festival. This first chapter will focus on the tale of the Black Egg. The story will unfold throughout the year at the equinoxes, solstices, and cross-quarter holidays.
We will also be joining forces for the event with Create Fest, a local organization bringing diverse communities together through the arts. Create Fest will host an open mic and showcase featuring music, poetry, storytelling, and comedy. Look for them on the Love Bus down at the park, and later in the courtyard of Sly Grog.
5-6 Polly Panic
6-7 Spectral Habitat
7-8 Angry Lovers
8-9 Morphonic
9-9:30 Surreal Sirkus
9:30-10:30 Medisin
10:30-11:30 Sensoma
11:30-12:30 Intrinsic
12:30-2 Kri Samadhi