Bele Chere Means Beautiful Living…
And a Whole Lot of Fun
You’ll see how the festival got its name when you visit beautiful downtown Asheville in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina.
For three days each year, always the last full weekend in July, the central downtown area of Asheville is barricaded off to vehicular traffic and the largest free street festival in the Southeast holds court in Asheville. Some 350,000 festival-goers from across the region and the country come to celebrate the mountains of western North Carolina. This year Bele Chere turns 30 and it just keeps getting better.
The festival consists of six stages scattered around Asheville, this year the main Celebration Stage has be moved out of the Downtown district to Memorial Stadium. The other five stages will be located on Lexington Avenue, Haywood Street, Battery Park, Coxe Avenue, and Biltmore Avenue, all within an easy walk of each other.
A designated area called Arts Park typically features several dozen regional artists and their work. Displayed art covers a variety of media types including painting, photography, pottery and jewelry. A variety of music genres are represented at the festival, including Country, Blues, Folk, Mountain, Rock and Jazz with both local and nationally known musicians represented.
Asheville’s bustling downtown area, diverse cultures, unique stores, and dozens of the best independent restaurants in the southeast come together with the music and the people to create a vibrant festival like no other. At the very least, the people-watching opportunities are unmatched anywhere else in the southeast, except maybe at Atlanta Pride and that’s doubtful.
This year Bele Chere will open on Friday, July 25 at Noon. The dates and hours of this year’s festival are Friday, July 25, Noon to 11pm; Saturday, July 26, 10am to 11pm; and Sunday, July 27, Noon to 6pm. If you live in the Asheville area, keep in mind that the city usually closes off the streets within the festival early sometime on Thursday evening in order to set up the stages and vendor areas.
Limited parking is available in all the public parking decks on Rankin Street, Wall Street, and at the Civic Center. And some of the surface lots will be available as well. Consider parking at the Asheville Mall on S. Tunnel Road or at the K-Mart on Patton Avenue and taking a shuttle, roundtrip for only $3, into the festival for stress free parking.
Since there will be plenty of food available from vendors and a multitude of eateries, coolers are not allowed, and why would you want to lug one around all day anyway. If you want to enjoy a beer, it will be available but you have a to purchase a wristband ($2) in order to buy beer at the festival. Beer is not allowed inside the Children’s Area.
Please, don’t bring your dog or any other pet. Bele Chere really isn’t fun for them nor is it safe for them with the crowds, noise, and the hot sun. They will be happy to greet you when you return home.
While you’re in Asheville for Bele Chere, please browse the many interesting shops and support the local businesses. Although it was downtown merchants who created Bele Chere 30 years ago, in recent years it has hurt them more than helped. If there’s one aspect of Asheville that makes the city what it is, it is independence – independent retailers and restaurants, without them, Asheville would be just another cookie-cutter town like some many other towns and cities are today.
For more information about performers, parking, services, maps of the festival, stage locations, shuttle routes and times, please visit Bele Chere’s website at www.belecherefestival.com.
Read the next article in Arts and Entertainment, Get Out and Be Proud: 2008 Pride Round-Up