Cherished Asheville, NC music venue Salvage Station has announced that it will close at the end of the 2024 season, vacating its riverside location due to eminent domain for the I-26 Connector project. The announcement from the dual indoor-outdoor venue shared on Thursday stated that owners plan to relocate and rebuild, though they don’t know where yet.
Salvage Station was founded on the site of a former salvage yard at 466 Riverside Drive in Asheville in 2016. In the years since, the venue has become a fan-favorite throughout Western North Carolina and the Southeast. Salvage Station has hosted hundreds of concerts by a wide range of performers from Billy Strings to The Beach Boys to Mavis Staples to Goose and many more, serving as a hub for the eclectic cross-section of music drawn to Asheville. The venue features an intimate, 700-capacity indoor stage and a sprawling outdoor amphitheater capable of hosting 2,500 people, with an array of food trucks lined up along the adjacent French Broad River.
“Revitalizing the now gorgeous 7 acre riverfront property, that was once a dumping ground and salvage yard, was no small feat,” Salvage Station wrote on social media. “Danny McClinton, the owner and founder of Salvage Station, had a vision to clean and transform the property to the venue we all have come to know and love. The birth of Salvage Station has been a catalyst for growth in Asheville’s thriving music scene and a safe space for our community to gather.”
The impending expansion of the I-26 Connector project was an open secret among locals in Asheville for years. The same went for the venue’s staff, though Salvage Station marketing director Katie Hild told the Asheville Citizen-Times that while they knew they would have to close one day, the recent notice to vacate from the North Carolina Department of Transportation still came as a shock.
“We’re committed to rebuilding,” Hild said, “we’re exploring options.”
Salvage Station’s notice to patrons echoed that commitment, adding “Where we go is unknown, but for sure, if a salvage yard can become a nationally recognized music venue, we will certainly figure out this next chapter.”
Salvage Station has a full schedule for its final season at its original location. Highlights include Steep Canyon Rangers (6/7), Rising Appalachia‘s Summer Solstice Soiree (6/8), The Beach Boys (6/16), Doom Flamingo (7/26, post-Widespread Panic), Steel Pulse (7/27), Trouble No More (8/15), Umphrey’s McGee with Eggy (8/30–8/31), Brew Ridge Jam with Leftover Salmon and moe. (10/11–10/12), and many more. The last show currently scheduled for Salvage Station is Tropidelic on November 3rd. Visit the venue’s website for tickets and a full calendar of events and read the venue’s full notice below.
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