Bele Chere July 29, 2011.

 I am still playing catch up with my posts here.

We went to Asheville, NC for Bele Chere on July 29th.

Bele Chere is a free street festival featuring music, art, crafts, music, dance and lots of great food.

The town of Asheville itself is one of our favorite places to visit, Bele Chere just makes it even more so.

The first picture, above, is inside one of my favorite bookstores, Malaprop's.

 Don't you just love the sign up on the shelf?

I think it is a great idea, bet it works too.

Would you leave a small child unattended here?

 One of our favorite stops!

The Chocolate Fetish Shop.

The truffles are HEAVENLY, and the shop is full of fun things made from chocolate.

The beach scene above is an example, even the sand is edible.

The chocolate fetish blog

 Another favorite stop is Kilwin's.

They make lovely fudge and ice cream.

The waffle bowls are very good and they hold lots of ice cream.

My Sweet Husband went for Triple chocolate and a scoop of cherry, 

I had Triple chocolate and a scoop of Key Lime (great combination).

 We did eat some healthy things while we were there.

My Sweet Husband found us some very good fresh organic tomatoes to go with our lunch

and dinner was from an Indian Food Vendor in the food court (it smelled so good, I forgot to take a picture).

 Daniel C. Williams and Son

Playing their Woodrow Stringed Instruments.

Small, portable, handmade, sounds great and looks easy to play.

The woodrow 

Check them out.

 A selection of their instruments.

 WNCW is our favorite radio station. They play a good variety including everything from Grateful Dead, to Bob Marley with Blue Grass, Jazz, old Rock and Celtic mixed in.

If you are too far away to pick up the station, you can listen to them on line too.

 Lots of people,

Crowds everywhere.

They all seemed to be smiling and laughing.

We were too.

 One of four outdoor stages set up around town for the festival.

There were Buskers of every type too. 

 Found me a new hat!

At the end of the day, even the squirrels looked worn out.

This guy found a cool spot to catch his breath.

We had a lovely day.

Cheers,

Kat

Fabulous Friday!

I met these two at Bele Chere.

They seem quite happy.

Must be the weekend.

Cheers,

Kat

P.S. They have a better sense of rhythm than most people I know :)

Travel Report Bele Chere 2010 in Asheville NC.

Bele Chere is an annual art's festival in Asheville NC.

Great music, good food, art in all it's forms, and happy people, what more could you ask for?

We were there on the 22nd of July.

I told you they had all sorts of art, this is a cat statue (I always find the cats).

The locals really get into it. I love the decorations on this balcony.

This is one of two photos of this band, don't they just look like they are making mountain music?

This is the rest of the band. Lighting conditions were not ideal and I had a lot of trouble getting a shot with these two out of the shadows. Photo shop to the rescue.

We have been to Bele Chere several times, you never know what you will find there.

This is a blow up dental spa.....

(The handsome guy in the middle is my Sweet Hubby)

The festival is well laid out and signposted.

Buskers come in all shapes and sizes.

Here we see a mime (a mime is a terrible thing to waste) walking with a fairy on stilts.

We also saw magic acts, living statues and plenty of musicians.

There are miles of booths selling all sorts of hand crafted items, as well as food and drink vendors.

There is that handsome guy again. He is my travel buddy.

Need to cool down?

Each year they set up a couple of giant canvases on frames for graffiti, they even provide the paint and brushes. We were there on day one and the canvas is already getting lots of attention.

My favorite artist's contribution.

This is, in our opinion, the best band we heard there. Their music seemed to fit the mood just right.

They are "Brother Fatback"

You can hear them play here Brother Fatback on My Space

A little bit of everything. This puts a whole new spin on "Playing Air Guitar".

Look at the top near the strap, it is a drink holder.

On that note,

Stay cool,

Kat

Bele Chere 2009

Have you ever been to Bele Chere? It is a street festival, held every July in Asheville NC. It is a three day celebration of art, artists, music and one of my favorite cities. It is also pure Joy!
Artists and art are everywhere. There are what seems like miles of booths set up alongside the road. In some cases, like in my first three photos, the artist is the art. These living statues were quite wonderful. They would hold various poses, as still as you could wish, until someone spoke to them, or dropped change in their hat. When activated, they would bow gracefully then mime different things. Great fun. Especially since I suspect they felt as if they were

melting. It was quite warm.

We were able to go for all three days a couple of years ago, even that did not seem like it was long enough. This year, we were limited to just one day.

Did I mention the food? Several local businesses were offering tastes of their wares. One of my favorites was

French Broad Chocolates. No it is not run by a lady from France, it is named after a local river. Lovely Fudge. We shared a Felafel from "The Jerusalem Garden Cafe" and Dinner was a vegetarian combo from a street vendor. (Oh my goodness, it was wonderful) Unfortunately I did not write the name of

the vegetarian vendor down. I really don't think
you can go wrong with anything on offer.
The fourth is an example of the art that is all over Asheville on a daily basis. The giant Iron is sitting out on a corner, just waiting to inspire despair. (My sister Paula thinks it is funny that after all those years in the military and ironing uniforms, I chose another career that requires uniforms, and I still feel like I have to iron them). Do you even own an Iron? My iron is not quite this old, but my ironing board is a wooden one that was made many years ago for my Mother in Law. The neat thing is she was about my height (not tall) so it is just right for me.

The odd looking frame contraption is a mister. A great way to cool off. Don't forget to put the camera away first.

A lot of the booths were selling different types of art. One of the many that I particularly liked was, Starships.com I guess the anniversary of the moon landings has me thinking about space ships.

Another good booth was provided by "Malaprop's Bookstore and Cafe". Books, nice atmosphere and coffee. Great combo.

One of the many things I love about Asheville is the blending of the new and the old. They have a lot of

wonderful architecture.

Some of the art is participatory. They have some giant canvas and paints ready for you to add to a mural and we even saw a walking puppet show. Cute.

There are stages set up in several locations. Far enough apart that they don't compete with each other and plenty of street musicians. Our dinner was accompanied by a couple of enterprising young ladies tap dancing.

Last but not least, a lovely bit of sunshine. This fine specimen was looking down on me from the yard next door to where we parked the car.

Have I wet your appetite? Bele Chere 2010 is less than 12 months away. Next years website is not up yet, but if you want a little more of a taste, try this years at MountainX.com
Kat