Square dancing has been part of life on the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau for generations, from Helen's Barn's fifty-plus summers of music and dance to this annual evening on the Bascom campus. Jackson Grimm's Old Time Machine provides live music, and caller Harrison Keely walks dancers of every experience level through traditional squares and reels. No partner or experience required.

The Bascom, in collaboration with Highlands Sotheby's, will present a meet and greet reception with Brad Allyn Jay Friday, August 7th from 4:30 - 6 pm at Highlands Sotheby's. A selection of the artist's work will be available for purchase. Additionally, more works are available at The Bascom.

As part of the 16th Annual Dazzling Dahlia Festival, the Bascom is pleased to host an educational talk and workshop led by Dahlia Festival Directors Peggy Boruchow Arnette, Libby Eustis, and Kim Daugherty on The Bascom's Terrace. Tailored for both novice and experienced growers, this engaging session explores the full arc of the exhibition dahlia—from the final weeks in the garden to the show table in the upcoming Single Bloom Competition.

Participants are encouraged to bring two or three dahlias from their own gardens for hands-on guidance in selection, evaluation, and staging.

The Fall Reception celebrates three new exhibitions on view across The Bascom's galleries and opens the weekend of the 16th Annual Dazzling Dahlia Festival. Guests move through the galleries to honor community artists whose work speaks to the influence of women in the arts, encounter Jo Sandman's experimental practice through The Bascom's partnership with the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, and meet the featured ceramic artists of The Bascom Clay Symposium. The evening also offers a first look at the weekend ahead, with a preview of the festival's floral-themed programs and a recognition of Michelle Radford as winner of the 2026 Dahlia Poster Contest.

The Dazzling Dahlia Festival returns in 2026 as a vibrant celebration of horticulture, art, and community on The Bascom campus. Rooted in the Plateau’s long-standing appreciation for gardens and creative expression, the festival brings together growers, artists, and visitors for a shared exploration of form, color, and seasonal abundance.

On view September 10 through 12, Petals and Perspectives is a floral design showcase throughout the festival weekend. Participating floral designers create arrangements in direct response to works of art on view in The Bascom's galleries, so a viewer moves between the work of art and its floral answer.

Bascom Studio Members will present a collection of wall pockets and vases, adorned with fresh dahlias, which will be available for purchase during the Dazzling Dahlia Festival. Don't miss the chance to visit the Studio Barn and be truly dazzled!

The festival's signature juried competition invites growers and floral designers of all ages to enter single blooms or arrangements across open, novice, youth, and arranged divisions. Free to enter. The juried show will be on view Friday, September 11 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday, September 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Growers, click here for more information on how to enter. 

Highlands ecologist and garden designer Sonya Carpenter examines how the dahlia's color and form draw pollinators, birds, and butterflies to the garden, and what it takes to keep them nourished on the Plateau. Saturday, September 12, 11 a.m. Free.

The Bascom Clay Symposium returns for its 16th year in 2026, bringing together ceramic artists Alexander Thierry, Andrew Shaw, and Tiffany Thomas for a focused exploration of surface treatments in contemporary clay. Through demonstrations and shared dialogue, the artists examine how imagery, pattern, and material process shape meaning, memory, and expression in ceramic work.