On Saturday I headed over to Durham to perform with the Bulltown Strutters in the Marry Durham festival. The Marry Durham event was born out of a desire to promote citizen engagement in Durham, celebrate Durhamite’s love for their quirky little town, and raise funds to benefit local non-profits. Over 2,000 people were in attendance to “Marry” Durham to affirm their commitment to the Bull City.
The ceremony and reception took place downtown along Rigsbee Avenue just outside of Fullsteam, Motorco, and Lloyd’s Lounge. The street was closed off to traffic and was overrun with food trucks, musicians, and crowds decked out in wedding garb and costumes. Each venue had several live music acts throughout the day.
Frank Stasio of NPR fame lead the ceremony. VIP guests included the likes of Mayor Bill Bell and Wool E Bull. After the nuptuals were completed, the Bulltown Strutters lead the newlyweds in a parade around the block performing a dixieland mashup of the “Bridal Chorus”, Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” , and “When The Saints Go Marching In” in true New Orleans second line band fashion (great photo here).
The music featured in each venue offered a wide spectrum of music genres. Everything from rock, bluegrass, to dixieland. It seemed like wherever you looked, something creative was going on. At one point I noticed a group congregated in an alley between Fullsteam only to discover it was crowd that had formed around a band (Corn and the Colonels) jamming in the cool shade.
Getting married and danacing to fun music can work up an appetite. Fortunately there were severl local food trucks like Klausie’s Pizza, Ko Kyu BBQ, Farmhand Foods, and Slippin Sliders on hand to provide nourishment to the newlyweds at the event. Given it’s success, I beleive there is a good chance of this becoming an annual event in the future.
For more pictures from the event, visit the official Marry Durham Flickr Photo Album. To see a cool clip of the Bulltown Strutters leading the wedding parade on check out this video on youtube.
The Triangle Explorer 