The City of Asheville and the Bele Chere entertainment selection committee have announced the lineup of the 2011 Bele Chere Festival, to be held July 29-31 in downtown Asheville.
42 acts, more than half of whom are local or regional acts, will perform on four stages over the three-day event.
Here is a selection from the press release from the City of Asheville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department announcing the lineup:
Some of the local bands performing are: Floating Action, Secret B Sides, Kovacs & The Polar Bear, RBTS Win, Sirius.B, Doc Aquatic, Sonmi Suite, The Billy Sea, Sanctum Sully, Paper Tiger, The Vertigo Jazz Project, Lyric, The StereoFidelics, Do It To Julia, Papadosio, and Balsam Range. In addition, the winner of the Last Band Standing contest will open the festival on the Haywood Street Stage. Last Band Standing: The Road to Bele Chere 2011 is in collaboration with WNC Magazine.
Headliners for the event include Marc Broussard, Big Gigantic, Mambo Sauce, The London Souls, Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, The Whigs, Apache Relay, Rebirth Brass Band, Hoots & Hellmouth, and Railroad Earth.
Bele Chere is the largest free street festival in the Southeast and is produced by the City of Asheville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department in conjunction with the Bele Chere Board of Directors. Bele Chere is sponsored in part by Budweiser of Asheville and Clear Channel radio.
The Bele Chere entertainment selection is made with the help of a committee of volunteers, who spend a weekend listening to hundreds of submissions from artists. More than 750 submissions are received every year. A 2007 public input process and direction from Asheville City Council has resulted in an increased focus on performers from the WNC region.
Click here to visit the Bele Chere Festival website.
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Click here to see pictures from Bele Chere Festival 2010.