Twenty-six tends to be the age where you suddenly realize that, yes, like it or not, you've become an adult. Y'know, 25 still felt kind of carefree. But 26 -- well, now things are getting serious.
So what does it mean for a festival to turn 26? (By the way: Happy birthday, Bele Chere!)
Well, not even the stodgiest fun-phobe could accuse Asheville's biggest annual hurrahof having lost its sense of goodtime summer spirit. Yet now that Bele Chere has passed its quarter-century milestone, the Southeast's largest street party -- a three-day, 100-act, massively attended tribute to art, music, food and local culture -- also has its sense of self firmly in place. And this newfound "maturity" benefits festival-goers both well-seasoned and brand new alike.
Consider, for instance, this year's headlining acts, up three from the usual five to include high-buzz jam bandsMofro and Stockholm Syndrome; jam-grassers the Larry Keel Experience; pop-country hottie Sara Evans; old-school-country "swinger" John Anderson; comeback kings Big Head Todd & The Monsters and De La Soul; and gospel pinup Calvin Richardson. Thanks to the unexpectedly expanded lineup, that old "something for everybody" cliche just gained real meaning!
Other new Bele Chere happenings also add to the nothing-but-up air that's hovering over festival 2004. A wine-tasting event, Zinfomania, will provide a dizzying array of vintages for the connoisseur. And helicopter rides are another fresh attraction guaranteed to take you higher.
Ever since Bele Chere began during the country's first major craft craze back in the late 1970s, creative types have graced the festival's downtown streets with their wares. Still, you could argue that the Arts Park -- featuring the jury-selected portion of work from the nearly 150 artists who've been invited to exhibit in the 2004 event -- gets newer every year.
Because style never goes out of style.
And as long as people who hear the name of our greatest annual hometown party for the first time keep on asking, "But what does 'Bele Chere' mean?," we'll just have to keep coming up with new answers.
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