Brace yourself for a good time: The Bele Chere festival returns to downtown Asheville next Friday through Sunday, July 24 to 27. And it’s no run-of-the-mill retread: It’s the 30th annual Bele Chere, and festival organizers plan to celebrate the auspicious occasion with the biggest, best go at it yet.
Of course, the street festival, which draws more than 300,000 people to the city, evolves every year, with new events and activities. It’s a lot to keep up with, and it can take some planning to cash in on the magic (and avoid the mayhem). Fortunately, there’s a ready way to find out all that Bele Chere has to offer: Pick up a copy of the official guide to the festival, which is produced this year by Mountain Xpress.
It’s all there in the free guide: a map of all event locations, a comprehensive schedule of the more than 30 live-music acts, parking and shuttle info, in-depth profiles of the headline performers, details on family activities, a menu of festival-food options, tips for after-hours amusements and much, much more.
The guide will appear both as an insert in next week’s Xpress and at myriad locations around the festival. (Come see us at our booth, on the corner of Haywood Street and Battery Park Avenue, and we’ll hand you one ourselves—and treat you to some live local music while we’re at it.) Want to start your planning early? Check out the festival’s official Web site, also produced by Xpress, at belecherefestival.com.
I need to know where I can park and take a shuttle to the festival.