Black Wall Street AVL brings GRINDfest back to Asheville Saturday
Black Wall Street AVL turned Pack Square Park into a Black-owned marketplace Saturday, with 14 approved vendors, a pitch competition and live music.
Pack Square Park turned into a storefront and stage on Saturday, June 13, as Black Wall Street AVL brought GRINDfest back to downtown Asheville. The free one-day event centered Black entrepreneurship, with a Business Summit, Black Business Market, Pitch Competition and live music and culture programming under the theme Rebuilding is Everybody’s Business.
For Anthony Lynch of Curbside Laundry, the event hit close to home because he comes from a family of business owners. GRINDfest put local entrepreneurs in front of customers and each other, giving Black-owned businesses a visible place to sell, network and build the kind of connections that can translate into repeat business in Asheville.
The Black Business Market was part of that draw, with 14 vendors approved to take part. GRINDfest’s site listed 487 registered attendees toward a goal of 1,500, along with a need for 42 volunteers and a target of 120. Explore Asheville described the event as an all-day celebration of Black culture, music, food, business and community.
Black Wall Street AVL started in 2020 in response to economic disparities in Asheville and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 2021. Its early GRIND effort, funded by NC IDEA Foundation, aimed to enroll 20 Black businesses and help them reach $250,000 in revenue together. Instead, the organization says it enrolled 74 businesses, generated more than $1 million in revenue and created 22 jobs.
That business mission has only gained urgency since Hurricane Helene devastated Black Wall Street AVL’s headquarters at 8 River Arts Place in the River Arts District. The French Broad River crested at a record 24.67 feet during the storm, and the building was later condemned, pushing the group to operate from its coffee-shop roots and continue building out its REACH Hub recovery space.
The timing also mattered in a city still working through small-business recovery. On Jan. 27, 2026, Asheville approved $15.5 million for its Small Business Support Program, and city officials have been working with Mountain BizWorks, Venture Asheville, Arts AVL and Eagle Market Streets Development Corporation on Helene-related grant administration. Against that backdrop, GRINDfest functioned as more than a festival: it was a direct display of Black-owned commerce, recovery-minded networking and local spending power in the heart of downtown Asheville.
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