Get your eatin' dresses ready, Asheville. The 2023 Taste of Asheville returns with its first in-person event since 2019 on Thursday, March 9 from 6-9 p.m. at the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center on the A-B Tech campus (16 Fernihurst Dr.).

And to make things even more festive, AIR's signature event just so happens to coincide with the organization's 20th year of operation, supporting and advocating for the city's independently-owned restaurants.

Roughly 60 AIR member restaurants and beverage vendors will be on hand at the event, offering small bites and sips to guests as they chow, we mean meander, their way through the venue.

In addition to all that food, there will also be live entertainment, courtesy of Asheville's Firecracker Jazz Band. And new for this year's event? A silent auction for a full dinner for eight — with wine pairings — prepared in the winner's home by Bouchon's Michel Baudouin and Eric Scheffer of Vinnie's Neighborhood Italian and Jettie Rae's Oyster House.

Best of all? Proceeds from the event will support educational and professional programming for AIR member restaurants and their employees. Get tickets.