Next Saturday, the Great Smokies Craft Brewers Association will host the 13th annual Brewgrass Festival, in downtown Asheville. The Brewgrass Festival is one of the most popular beer festivals in the Southeast, and tickets have been sold out since early in the year.

Brewgrass features over 40 craft brewers from around the country, pouring samples of over 120 different beers. There’s also a great musical lineup, with some of the hottest acts in bluegrass, roots, and old time music. This year’s lineup includes such notables as Jim Lauderdale, Blueground Undergrass and local favorites Dehlia Low.

Image 420 has been providing t-shirts, design and beer taster glasses for Brewgrass for many years. This year, we’re definitely doing more Brewgrass merchandise than ever before. One of those items will be the annual commemorative Brewgrass t-shirt, which will be unveiled at the festival, and available online after that. The art on the shirt, as usual, was developed by the Image 420 Art Department, and we’re very excited to see it make its’ way out into the world.

Periodically, we like to highlight some of our biggest and best customers here on the Image 420 blog. I’m not sure how we’ve gone this long without mentioning our biggest customer, Tail of the Dragon. Maybe it’s because we’ve seen them almost every week for many, many years, and their near-familial status with us has caused us to forget to tell you about them. Whatever the reason, here is their long overdue feature.

If you’re a motorcyclist, or a sports car enthusiast, chances are you’re already familiar with Tail of the Dragon. Also known as US 29, it is an 11-mile stretch of road that crosses over the North Carolina-Tennessee border, and boasts some of the most intense riding one can find. The 318 curves on this stretch of road draw motorists and cyclists from all over the world, and a lot of those folks leave wearing one of Ron and Nancy Johnson’s Tail of the Dragon shirts. We know, because we print a LOT of them.

So check out their website, which has links to everything you’ll need for a trip to the Tail. And be sure to buy one of their sweet shirts while you’re there!

Have not posted any updates in a while. All this work we have been doing on the 2009 International Model A day patches has made me feel like I am falling behind on our Model A. International Model A day is Sept. 26th. I do not think ours will be on the road but it should be running. We have most of the wiring straightened out, water pump in. Getting closer all the time

Albatross Party (one of the many Asheville bands that has an employee of Image 420 as a member) is having a CD release party tonight, at Broadway’s (120 Lexington Avenue, downtown Asheville). Come by and check out the show.

To call the Rockin’ Riverfest Raft Race a “race” is more than a bit of exaggeration. Last year, however, we ended up walking away with the second-best time in the race. This year, we raced less, and relaxed more.

The river was much easier to traverse, given the high waters from all of the rain we’ve had recently. So, while more industrious souls zipped by us (one team drove paddleboat made out of a fighter jet gas tank), we took our time down the French Broad.

Not that there wasn’t some excitement to be had. Breaking your boat before you ever get it into the water will provide for a fair amount of excitement. Check out the slideshow…

Riverfest 2009, Part One

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Putting the raft together.

We would like to cordially invite you to come out to the French Broad River Park (Amboy Road, Asheville) tomorrow, for the 2009 Rockin’ Riverfest. This will be our second year in the raft race, and we’d love to have your support, as we float lazily down the river. Or sink somewhehere near the starting line.

Here’s our design for the Model ‘A’ Ford Day patch next to a scan of the final emblem.

You can learn more about the event and the emblems by clicking here, or you send an email to Bruce Adams.

Here is a comparison study, between Image 420, and one of our local competitors.

Our friends at Rodney’s Auto Service have been hosting a Thursday Night Bike Night in downtown Weaverville, and needed some t-shirts. So, we created a design, and printed a batch of shirts for them. Here is a photo of the finished product:

A couple of weeks later, another local screenprinter tried to duplicate the shirt, in an attempt to lure the job away from Image 420. Here is a photo of their results:

And here are both shirts, side by side.

We’re presenting this to you not to be mean, or to brag, but to say this: We believe in attention to detail. From the art room, to the printing press, and at every point in between, we are all paying very close attention to our craft, making sure to present your art in the best possible fashion. We are not the cheapest printers in Asheville. But, if you let us print your shirts for you, those shirts will not look like they were printed at the cheapest print shop in Asheville, either.

There are some new designs in our online portfolio. Some of our biggest and best clients, such as The Orange Peel and the Brewgrass Festival, are included. Check it out.

Speaking of the Brewgrass Festival, we were checking out their swanky new website, when we noticed that this year’s musical lineup had been announced, and one of our other clients was on the list! Congratulations to Dehlia Low, a very fine local band, on all of your current success, including this. We hope that you sell many of your lovely new t-shirts at the festival.

And if you’re interested in buying some Brewgrass merchandise, their online store is now open. Pint glasses and t-shirts are available, and you can also pre-order this year’s full color Brewgrass Festival shirt. We can’t show you what the design looks like, though. You’ll just have to wait.