Last evening, 
Asheville Grit went live and had its launch party on the rooftop deck of downtown Asheville's 
Social Lounge, and it truly could not have been more lovely.
 
White lanterns swayed in the breeze under blue skies, guests sipped on local beers provided by 
French Broad Brewing, and nibbled on delicious (and gorgeous) bites by 
Strada & Social Lounge. Extra special touches were staffers looking fly in 
#avlgrit tees, printed by 
Blu Bus Printing, and cute logo stickers, koozies, and coasters for the taking, produced by 
ACI.
 
Everyone was eager to check out the newly launched site, and we had Macs set up for them to peruse away. I loved hearing blogger's reactions to finally seeing themselves up on the site and also recognizing other contributors. It was a true a community celebration and the enthusiasm and overall sense of support was palpable. Friends got to catch up and new connections were made. It was truly fun to watch it all go down.
 
We could not have done any of it without the
 WNC magazine and 
Charleston magazine teams, and I am sending a huge, personal shout out to the amazing 
Rory Gruler, and Joe Cosey, the Digital Director and Developer, respectively, for 
Gulfstream Communications. Also, none of this would be possible without Katie Hild, Director of Avertising for 
WNC magazine and Asheville Grit, and Jason Sandford of Ashvegas. 
 
Major thanks also go to 
ACI (Asheville Color & Imaging, the 
Ashevegas team, 
French Broad Brewery, 
Anthony Cerrato and the teams at 
Social Lounge & 
Strada, Barrett Nichols, and 
THE BLOGGERS! 
 
More to come... 
 
Ayana