Bele Chere Festival 2011

Hi Southchase Neighbors!

This weekend Asheville is hosting the 2011 Bele Chere Festival.  As most of you probably know, this brings a lot of visitors to our part of the world. The festival schedule is as follows:

• Friday-July 29  noon-10pm
• Saturday-July 30  10am-10pm
• Sunday-July 31  noon-6pm

For families that may be atttending, you might want to take one of the shuttle services to avoid the traffic and parking. There will be a shuttle pick up at Asheville Mall in the back parking lot and then also at Kmart on Patton Ave.  The shuttles run every 20 minutes and cost $2 round trip per person.

Approximately 300,000 to 350,000 people will attend over the three day festival so plan ahead.  The weather is probably going to be a little unpredictable as well. 

The forecast for Friday is: high/91* with isolated thunderstorms, chance of rain is 30%.

Saturday forecast is 87* with scattered thunderstorm and chance of rain is 40%. Then on Sunday, the high is forecast for 81* with scattered thunderstorms and chance of rain is 40%.  Pack your umbrellas.

Just remember, no coolers and no pets.  These will be strictly prohibited and enforced.  If you want to attend but need someone to dog sit, there will be a "doggy jail" service for a nominal fee that will be available between the city hall and courthouse.  The Animal Compassion Network is providing this so that animals can have a cool and relaxing stay.

Keep in mind, this festival has quite an impact on our entire area, so plan your weekend accordingly.  For those who plan on participating in the events, have a great and safe weekend!

http://www.belecherefestival.com/index.htm

OUR SOUTHCHASE ENTRANCE

For me, it was an obvious choice as a first post for this blog.  I pass this entrance every day, multiple times a day and sometimes I pay attention to it and other times all I can think about is getting out of this heat and into my home!

This is often the first thing people see in our neighborhood ; when they are riding around with a real estate agent,  driving on a Sunday afternoon looking at houses, and early Saturday mornings when they are looking for a yard sale.  When we have birthday parties, barbecues and open houses, these gates open up the door to our neighborhood.... and the question I often ask on those days when I actually pay attention is:  Do these gates really represent our neighborhood?  Can we do better?  I believe we can do better.

Now here is the really good part. We all live in this great neighborhood and we DO NOT have to pay regime fees!  I have lived in both situations and my personal preference is to steer clear of formal homeowner organizations and fees.  I am sure there are MANY different experiences out there, but in my personal experience, homeowner organizations can become very political and often the amount of fees being paid never equals the services.

Here is the other good part!  We have a lot of incredible residents who care about the appearance of the neighborhood and want to ensure our homes maintain their value!  So my challenge to all of us is to come together and improve our entrances!  If you want to be a part of this initiative, then please become a follower of the blog by clicking at the top left hand corner and registering in google and please leave comments and suggestions at the end of each post by clicking on comments!

One additional note:  Thank You to all of you who have worked on the entrances in the past to help maintain them by adding flags, freshening paint, cutting the grass and adding pine needles!  We have neighbors who have individually taken on improvements over the years and our entrances would have disappeared if not for you! Thank You!

Let's Make Sure That Our Entrance Makes A Great Introduction To Southchase!

Welcome

Welcome to the Southchase Living Blog!  This blog has been created to serve as a resource for the neighborhood to share interesting ideas on safety, home improvement, landscaping, yard sales and much more!

Have you recently had work done on your home and you were impressed by the professionalism and skills displayed by the contractor?

Have you been surprised at a landscaping project that worked beautifully for you and you want to share the "how-to's?"

Do you have some great ideas on how to improve the entrances to the neighborhood?

I will be posting photographs and ideas as well. If I notice a beautiful yard in the neighborhood or a good deed being done, I will post it.  Let's share what we enjoy about the neighborhood.

This will be a positive and productive blog to focus on ways to share and help each other take care of our families, homes and neighborhood!