Bele Chere

Bele Chere was an annual music and arts street festival held in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. The festival was previously held annually on the last weekend in July beginning in 1979. It was the largest free festival in the Southeastern United States, attracting over 350,000 people.

The festival consisted of six stages scattered on various street corners in Asheville. A designated area called Arts Park typically featured several dozen regional artists and their work. Displayed art covered a variety of media types including painting, photography, pottery and jewelry. A variety of music genres were represented at the festival, including country, blues, folk, mountain, rock and jazz with both local and nationally known musicians represented. In 2013, the 35th annual Bele Chere festival was announced as the final festival by the City of Asheville.