If you've heard of Dan Deacon, you were probably stoked (and a little surprised) to see his name on the Bele Chere lineup. If you're not familiar, prepare to be confused and possibly even elated by his set. First, a little background for the latecomers: Deacon is an articulate, lighthearted, classically-trained composer/multi-instrumentalist best known for […]

The surf is roaring — or maybe it’s the clamor of thousands of landed buccaneers, flooding the city of many hills that, for one weekend a year, becomes Bele Chere Island. At least according to Xpress, your blanket on the sand, the sail on your skiff, the parrot on your shoulder. In other words, welcome […]

WNC Magazine’s Last Band Standing put five local bands in competition for a rather ceremonial Bele Chere slot: 4:30 p.m. Friday. That’s the kickoff, the Champagne bottle against the hull. Fletcher-based rock outfit BlackJack won the final round and proved that classic rock was not only timeless but ageless, too. With its deep riffs and […]

While Bele Chere officially kicks off Friday afternoon, Saturday is when the festival hits its stride. Music cranks up at noon and doesn't end until 10 p.m. (and then there are the afterparties in local venues, in case you like your Saturday to spill into Sunday). This year, from the opening notes of Leeda "Lyric" […]

Sunday at Bele Chere has always been a subdued and family-friendly affair. No alcohol is allowed on the streets, out-of-towners begin the trek home, street preachers with bullhorns are presumably at church somewhere and the rowdiest participants are generally all partied out. On a desert island, the festival's closing day would be akin to the […]

Land-ho! Crossing the roiling oceans of Bele Chere festivalgoers is enough to give any otherwise smooth sailor a cmajor ase of seasickness. You can keep your mind off the nausea with games like count-the-mulleted-shirtless-guys or find-the-baby-stroller-holding-the-beer-stash. Failing that, head straight for the Taste of Asheville, a landlubber's oasis in a vast expanse of crazytown. A […]

There's more to dressing for a festival than just slapping on whatever shorts and T-shirt are lying on the floor from the night before. This is your chance to express yourself and let you inner music-loving, hippie-dancing, easy-breezy, bo-ho alter ego come out to play. Wondering what to wear? Gigi Fasano, owner of Vintage Moon […]

Bele Chere Island is as dense with revels as it is flush with inhabitants, and twice as strange. In the early morning hours during the last weekend in July, downtown becomes a kind of stage, pacific yet ripe for the early afternoon to part the curtains, bringing on a swarm of extras, unified within festival […]

The free, outdoor music of Bele Chere ends at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (earlier on Sunday), but unless you've had too much sun, too much to drink or you're just getting too old, the festivities continue into the early morning. Downtown clubs keep live music rocking until last call, so don't miss the […]

Ultimate Air Dogs might be the luckiest dogs at Bele Chere. In addition to touching down in a refreshing pool of water, they are the only animals allowed at the festival (other than service dogs). Ultimate Air Dogs was created by former Detroit Tigers pitcher Milt Wilcox (he won the 1984 World Series with the […]

More doughtily than any other narrative formula, the stranded-on-a-desert-island theme has lurked around children’s stories like a vulture over a shipwreck, waiting patiently for the tradewinds to shift and resuscitate the concept in some fresh form. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was steered by everyone from civil-rights titan James Baldwin to surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel to […]

OK, so you had to take your children to the Children’s Area, your mother needed to swing by the downtown Y because of her port-a-john phobia, and your significant other won’t move from the bench outside of Malaprop’s. Isn’t it time you thought about you? Use this handy guide to help you find your Bele […]