Hi friends,

This week we received the best early Christmas gift ever: On Tuesday, Pardee UNC Health Care administered the first COVID-19 vaccine in WNC. 🦠 This is great news not only because it could signal the beginning of the end of the pandemic in our own neighborhood, but also because it's a symbolic assurance that, while the holidays may look a little different for us this year, we still have a lot to be grateful for—and we will hopefully be back to clinking glasses and kissing under the mistletoe next year. 

Since you won't be hearing from me next week (Christmas Eve is a sacrosanct holiday for us Glasers), I want to wish you and yours the merriest of seasons! ❤️ I plan to make a menu out of eggnog and cookies, but check out our Guide to Holiday Dining if you're looking for something special next week.  

Happy Holidays!

• Manufacturing Tech  📡  A cutting-edge manufacturer of renewable energy equipment, Low Impact Technologies (LIT), recently announced its first manufacturing facility in Henderson County. The company plans to invest $5M in new machinery and $150K in improvements to an existing 30,000-sq.-ft. building in the Town of Fletcher. By 2025, the company will create 60 new positions with an average annual wage of $65,000.
• Schooling the System 🎓  UNCA Student Government Association (SGA) President London Newton has been named a recipient of the Community Impact Student Award from NC Campus Compact. Newton has prioritized advocating for the inclusion of student voices in administrative decision making, including collaborating on town halls for students of color to identify priorities for campus; including students in the interview process for hiring university police officers; and reconsidering how merit is defined in awarding scholarships. Learn more.
• Gingerbread Winners 🍪 The Omni Grove Park Inn recently announced the winners of the 28th National Gingerbread House Competition. The Grand Prize winner has 5,000+ individual pieces and took the team who created it over 1,000 hours to finish. While the competition was mostly virtual this year, there was no shortage of creativity in the edible designs, like a show-stopping mermaid and elves storming a castle to save Santa, judged by top culinary talent including celebrity chef Carla Hall. Nearly 100 entries across North America were submitted.

JOBS

• Arcadia Beverage 🧃 is looking for an Electrical Controls/PLC Engineer. 
• WellPet is looking for a Territory Manager. 🐶
• Organic Growers School 👨🏽‍🌾 is looking for a Marketing & Communications Associate and a Programs Coordinator.

• MANNA FoodBank is looking for a Mobile Programs Driver.  🚌

• Asheville School is looking for a Mathematics Teacher and a Head Varsity Track Coach. 🏃🏼‍♂️
• Symmetry Financial Group 💸 is looking for a Marketing Project Manager.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Gov. Cooper has announced that 300+ sites in NC will be providing free drive-through or walk-up testing. Anyone can take advantage of this testing and no insurance is required. Find spots here. 
• With the Grove Park Inn's annual gingerbread house competition going virtual, the innkeepers of the Asheville Bed & Breakfast Association are hosting their own bracket-style competition on social media. 🏡
• North Asheville restaurant Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian will open a second location in South Asheville next year. 🍝 Slated for summer 2021, the second Vinnie’s will be located in the former Iannucci's Pizzeria space.

• On Tuesday, Pardee UNC Health Care administered the first COVID-19 vaccine in WNC. 💉 Within hours of receiving its first shipment of the FDA-approved Pfizer vaccine, Pardee vaccinated a group of ten frontline, high-risk healthcare workers. Learn more.

• Asheville Regional Airport is the first airport in the state to receive an industry approved global health accreditation from Airports Council International, which evaluated the airport’s health and safety procedures with emphasis on response to COVID-19.  🛩

• Sign up for Carolina Flowers' tulip, ranunculus, or spring bouquet subscriptions and have flowers delivered to your door every 10 days or so this spring. 🌷 Check out their subscription offerings. 

• Mountain BizWorks and Craft Your Commerce recently launched their Handmade for the Holidays Gift Guide. 🎁 Check it out if you haven't finished up your Christmas shopping!
• The 2020 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award went to Eastern Cherokee Stories: A Living Oral Tradition And Its Cultural Continuance by Sandra Muse Isaacs. 📕
• Dogwood Health Trust is partnering with Sanesco International Inc. to launch a new diagnostic testing laboratory, CommunityLab, dedicated to WNC community testing. It will allocate most of its resources to support the demand for COVID-19 testing in the region, including 10% of testing to serve the uninsured. 👨🏻‍⚕️ Learn more. 

🧸  Toy Drive | The Sleigh the Mic Holiday Toy Drive will be held on Sat. Dec. 19 from 1–5 p.m. at Paradox at V12. 

🎅🏻  It's Santa! | Go Mini's has developed a COVID-safe Santa Mobile Storage Container for a Santa meet-and-greet and coat drive at Harrah's Cherokee Center. 

🎶 Holiday Tunes | A Swannanoa Solstice will take place in two socially distant formats: one limited-capacity, in-person performance at 2 p.m. on Sun. Dec. 20 at the Wortham Center and an online concert, beginning at 7 p.m. that evening and available through Dec. 31. 

🏺  Garden Gallery | Crucible Glassworks will host their final Garden Gallery of 2020, featuring local professional craft artists, on Sat. Dec. 19 from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. 

🏆 Awards Show | The 2020 Venture 15 and Venture Asheville Honors will be broadcast live tonight at 8 p.m. 

🩰  The Nutcracker | The Asheville Ballet presents the Nutcracker 2020 available via private link, Dec. 20–Jan. 3 whenever (and as many times as) you want to view it.