Well, another year of the Bele Chere Festival has come and gone. Tomorrow the cams will all be reset to their previous positions and Asheville can go about its business. It was a fun year for the festival, even if sales were a bit down. We're looking forward to next year!
On an administrative note, the site had some pretty good numbers over the weekend, but it seems the streaming server was struggling a bit with the load. We apologize for anyone that got the dreaded "failed to load" message, and we will strive to do better next year.
Bele Chere is by far the busiest time if year for the site, with thousands of people from all over the world checking in to see the festival live.
It's official,
Bele Chere 2009 has officially arrived! As usual, on this very special occasion, we have changed all our camera views to give you live shots of the action. Our robotic
West Cam (affectionately known as RoboCam) is still giving all us Asheville natives a good view of traffic conditions around the Westgate Bridge, but it now gives you some nice zoom shots of the craft tents set up along Patton.
We moved the North Cam over to the West side and it is currently giving us a view of College Street and a bit of North Lexington. The South Cam is pointed a bit more down towards the Pack Square end of Biltmore Ave. Finally, the East Cam (another robotic camera which we call RoboCam II) is showing some close zoom shots of Pack Square.
If a camera doesn't load for you, try refreshing your page.
Posted by: Asheville Live in West Asheville, Twitter, South Asheville, Outdoor Fun, North Asheville, Local News, Local Music, Local Food, Holiday Fun, Family Fun, East Asheville, Downtown, Dinner, Date Night, Bele Chere on
May 22, 2009
July 24th will mark the start of Asheville's 31st annual
'Bele Chere' Music and Art Festival and the influx of 350,000 estimated festival-goers. According to their website, "The festival features four stages of free- live music and an impressive array of arts and crafts; as well as entertainment and activities for children. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the mountains of Western North Carolina- come join us for one of the Southeast's largest free outdoor street festivals."
Though still a couple of months away, here at
AshevilleLive we are keeping this festival on our radar and plan on bringing you a series of reports ranging from exciting events to see and participate in, to some of the changes being made for 2009. One of the additions to this year's festival will be a "battle of the bands-style contest" conducted in conjunction with WNC Magazine and the Asheville Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts Department called "
Last Band Standing: Road to Bele Chere 2009".
Other events we'll be keeping an eye on include the
30th Annual Bele Chere 5k, the Lexington Avenue Drumming Tent, and Rashad McCant's "
Shoot for the Cure", in which one lucky festival-goer will have a chance to win $10,000 with proceeds benefiting breast cancer research.
So stay tuned to AshevilleLive for upcoming reports with more information on how to maximize your fun at the largest street festival in the southeastern United States.
