OK: What you need to know is that Bele Chere originated in 1979 as a way to get local folks to bring life to Asheville’s then-floundering downtown—via local music, local art and local revelry.
See a trend there?
But as the festival grew year by year, the music began coming in from all over, and big national names got big attention.
This year, the music-selection committee received 1,100 applications from all over the world, says Melissa Porter, Bele Chere coordinator with Asheville’s Parks and Recreation Department.
While that kind of widespread interest is impressive, it seems Asheville has locals on its mind.
Earlier this year, the city invited the community to expound on the state of Bele Chere and the changes it would like to see. A big suggestion emerged: Bring back the locals.
“One of the things we heard loud and clear,” says Porter, “is [that] the community wanted us to showcase what we already have.”
Well, you asked for it and you got it. More than half of the bands in this year’s Bele Chere music lineup comes from around these parts. Of course, by the festival’s standards, “local” doesn’t mean just Asheville.
“It’s important to us that the festival is about our region,” Porter says. That region encompasses a whopping 22 counties, from the westernmost Cherokee all the way to Catawba, 80 miles to the east.
When festival organizers got the word to increase the local stage presence, they began poring through that stack of applications, separating them into genres that include rock and pop, bluegrass and country and the ever-present singer/songwriter (“that one’s kind of indicative of the area,” Porter notes).
What emerged is a local lineup that spans from the jammy rock of SeepeopleS to the award-winning traditional bluegrass of Town Mountain to the hippie-hop revelry of GFE. Of course, some locals, like dark-pop favorite Stephanie’s Id, are an easy pick, and have been in the Bele Chere mix for a few years now. “There may have been more of a focus on a local lineup in the past than people realized,” Porter says.
But music isn’t the only place to find local flavor. This year, regional beer brewers will be out on the street for the first time. Though they will be relegated to the Taste of Asheville area at Pack Square, Pisgah, Highlands, French Broad, Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company and Catawba will all have taps available to sling the suds of WNC’s best. This year’s beer setup is only a trial effort, and if the city likes what it sees, local brewers may have a larger presence in future festivals.
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Great article….. I would love to se the full article from the print version included here in the on-line Bele CHere Guide….. Don Talley |
Asheville Music Scene Jul 26, 2007 |
