In 1992, when he did not live here anymore, Brocephus would come to town for Bele Chere. 18 years later, now that he lives here again, he thinks it’s a great weekend to go camping. I’m with him. (Not literally. I’m not going camping, but it seems like a good time to get out of Dodge.) Going to Bele Chere is like going to Pigeon Forge. I always think it is going to be fun and it always sucks. It did not used to be this way.
Bele Chere started out to bring people downtown. That’s not really necessary anymore. On any given weekend it’s harder to drive a car past Pritchard Park that it is to find a sober driver at Brewgrass. Between the drum circle and the buskers, I can’t think of a better place to hang out with a belly full of local food. Then once each year we block the entrances to restaurants with steak hogie vendors from Greensboro and run off the buskers so that the Marshall Tucker Band can take the stage. Is this really necessary?
Not anymore, but there are still undervalued portions of our community that could benefit from a cultural arts festival type of event. We have an extraordinary supply of creative types across genres. Folk art and music are our history, heritage, and lifeblood, but new forms of visual art, music, and media are being embraced in Asheville. As long as there is no money to be made anywhere, those talented people will stick around. When and if the country goes back to work, we will start losing those folks to the places where the jobs are. Or we could get the jobs here by showcasing the talent and the environment of our local scene. Here’s what we do:
A) Say goodbye to Bele Chere. Have one last blowout and call it a good run, or wind down over the next couple of years so that the hotels can adjust. Either way, say thanks for the memories.
B) If we just can’t say goodbye to Bele Chere, move it to some part of town that could use the boost. East West Asheville for instance. This would be a radically different kind of Bele Chere, of course. Much more local, funky, and integrative of the businesses in the area.
C) Divert some of the resources currently allocated to Bele Chere to support some events in Pack Square Park for the Funnel Cake and Fried Sausage crowd. Just the mainstage on one night three times during the summer. Let the people have their washed up 70’s Southern Rock.
D) Divert a significant portion of the previously allocated resources to provide support for the Moog Festival. This event has the potential to become the South by Southwest of electronic music. AC Entertainment can pull this off just as sure as they put together Bonnaroo (if that’s how you spell that.) Such a festival, which would live in local venues and therefore increase their revenue, would succeed where other festivals have tried to bring together film, music, design, art, etc, etc. This could, in turn, catalyze the job creation which will ensure Asheville’s future as a center of creative capital.
E) Let the rest of the revenue be used to provide greater opportunity for non-profit events within the City of Asheville. It’s prohibitively expensive for non-profits to produce fundraising events in public spaces without co-sponsorship from the city. The process for co-sponsorship has become increasingly byzantine due to financial constraints on the part of the city. Loosening that up will provide much needed revenue for non-profits as well as additional cultural offerings to our residents.
I know that giving up Bele Chere is a hard thing to consider, but the time has come for us to move on. Preserving and building the creative capital of our community takes more than street parties, but they can play an important role. The opportunity before us is full of possibility. We should not miss it by hanging on to the past.
It does make one wonder at the fact that Austin, TX has SXSW, Manchester, TN has Bonnaroo (your spelling was indeed correct), and Asheville has Bele Chere. A’ville can do better. Like your thinking here.