During the late 1970s — downtown Asheville’s ghost-town days — few area residents would have believed that a hastily planned street party could spark the city’s now-substantial reputation as a haven for tourism, live music and the arts.

And yet, 29 years and 30 Bele Cheres later, that’s exactly what happened.

“I think the city was primed and ready for an explosion in tourism in the late 1970s, and Bele Chere was a component of it,” says Melissa Porter, head festival coordinator for the city of Asheville’s Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department.

Today, Bele Chere is the largest free festival in the Southeast, featuring six stages of live music, whole blocks of merchants and artists and a food court to rival that at any festival in the country. While many of the region’s outdoor festivals have come and gone, Bele Chere has thrived. Some 10,000 people braved the fledgling fest in 1979, but recent years have seen attendance regularly veer toward 400,000. And as Bele Chere has grown, so has the city — at this point, it’s hard to tell which gives the other the bigger boost.

“It’s certainly a part of why our tourism has increased over the years,” Porter observes. One key to Bele Chere’s longevity, she adds, is localbusiness support — a vital thing to have when the whole of downtown is impacted on a peak summer weekend.

However, in 2006, amid criticisms about a lack of local focus in festival attractions, the city began an initiative to enhance the presence of Asheville-centric food, art and culture at Bele Chere. The results of that program are evident, with some 32 local and regional bands taking the stage this year — a third of the total acts. Local artists have been given prime spots in Arts Park presented by CITIZEN-TIMES.com (see feature on page 36), and local restaurants — with the proviso that they showcase thier regular cuisine, rather than the standard festival grub — are given due attention at the Taste of Asheville food court presented by PSNC Energy (see feature on page 34). The Taste of Asheville will also showcase local beers, as provided by six local microbreweries.

“It’s part of our strategic plan for growing the festival,” says Porter. But that doesn’t mean the festival isn’t growing in other ways. This year will mark the addition of a new venue, the U.S. Cellular Celebration Stage at Memorial Stadium, for ticketed events.

“As downtown grows, there are no large spaces that would be suitable for a ticketed event with a national headliner. It’s also a selfcontained area, which means that we don’t have to put in a lot of infrastructure like we do with the other stages,” explains Porter. “The stage is within walking distance of downtown, and we think it will be a natural complement to the rest of the festival.” But, as with any mass event, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with options at Bele Chere. And that’s exactly why we created this guide.