Appalachian State is the reason Boone feels larger and livelier than its census numbers suggest. The campus runs through the south side of town: brick academic buildings, a yoga-pant-and-flannel undergraduate population, and Kidd Brewer Stadium, where the football team plays in front of a vocal mountain crowd.
Casual visitors can walk the central campus quad, see the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts (free contemporary art exhibitions), or catch a game in autumn — App State home football Saturdays are the social event of the season in town. Game-day parking and crowds can fill the centre of Boone; plan to walk in from a lot if you arrive late.