Lately there has been talk of making some serious changes to the yearly Bele Chere festival that envelops downtown Asheville. Proposed changes include changing the dates of the festival and moving it to a different location.
Bele Chere is always a big weekend for Asheville Live Cam, due to our location right in the middle of the action. Bele Chere 2010 was no exception. Every year brings a slightly different layout to the festival. This year it was centered more to the west side of our building (the BB&T building). I recall years where it was mostly centered around City-County Plaza and years when it even enveloped Wall Street. The constant, though, is that it is always in the heart of downtown, and that’s where it should stay.
Make no mistake, this is not bias talking. Asheville Live Cam would probably benefit from the festival moving a little farther away, since our cameras can’t look straight down to the streets surrounding the building. Because of that, a lot of the action is missed. If it were a little further away, like around City-County Plaza or further west down Patton Ave towards the Westgate Bridge, we’d be able to get better views of the action. But to my mind, that’s not where the festival belongs. The heart of downtown Asheville is Pack Square, and that is where the festival should be centered.
Changing the dates is a bit more controversial. It wouldn’t really affect this site, since we’ll provide the views regardless of the dates. However, it could significantly affect the festival itself. The main drawback about the current dates at the end of July is that it is just SO HOT! Moving the dates to a cooler period such as the Spring or Fall would make for a cooler and possibly more enjoyable time for festival-goers, but it could also seriously affect attendance. Bele Chere is currently the largest festival in the southeast. That could change if the dates are moved.
From the Citizen-Times:
Others say that changing the season could impinge on other festivals that have staked out shoulder seasons, such as the Greek Festival in September.
Also, keeping Bele Chere running depends in large part on volunteers, many of whom may not be able to donate labor outside summer months, said Byron Greiner, president of the Asheville Downtown Association.
Losing the volunteers would be bad, but this is the quote that my mind keeps coming back to:
Greiner, a former Bele Chere committee chairman, favors changes but says they can be risky.
10:36 PM
Baltimore claims that it has the largest free outdoor art festival called Artscape and I would hate to see changes that reduce the size of Bele Chere. Spreading it out a bit so the crowds are not so concentrated helps a lot. I have always told people that it occurs on the last weekend of July every year and many remember it that way. Changing the date, as nice as that could be, would definitely reduce the crowds significantly. Artists also have burned this into their calendars so not only would it reduce the crowds, it would affect the artists as well. I would like to see Bele Chere attract more artists as I run into great artists at other festivals who don’t do BC. Why? Anyway, I love Bele Chere because it is in the heart of downtown and you get to experience what a great city it is. By the way, see the Baltimore site at http://www.artscape.org/
2:34 PM
I’d rather experience our beautiful downtown when it’s not overrun by a bunch of rude out-of-towners baking and sweating and getting all beery all over the place.
And why is this scheduled during some of the hottest days of the year? Do the planners not understand that downtown asphalt and concrete streets suck in the mid-summer sun’s heat and hold it. I sweated so profusely last year that the headband around my straw hat was black with perspiration. I was so miserable I couldn’t enjoy the bands. We sought shelter in a cool bar and I swore never to undertake this again–at least until it was moved to a cooler season.
This event is a drag.
4:47 PM
While I agree with a couple of your points (it does need to be scheduled when it’s not so hot), I also see the bright side. Lots of people have a great time at Bele Chere, and even though it is inconvenient for those of us who live and/or work downtown, it is still a fun atmosphere and overall a good thing for the city. Just do like the rest of the locals… stay far, far away!