Category Archives: Events

Dancing Unicorn at Durham’s Beaver Queen Pageant
(Photo courtesy Aaron Zalonis Photography)

CircusSPARK Fundraiser at CAM Raleigh – Friday
This is a pop-up circus with art, music, aerial dancers, fire performers, stilt walkers, jugglers, acrobats, and more! The event is FREE and open to the public. All proceeds benefit circusSPARK, SPARKcon and visual art exchange.Food trucks onsite 5-10pm. CAM beer garden open 5-10pm. Full schedule:

• 6 pm :: Parkour Stunt Show presented by Enso Movement
• 7 pm :: Aerial Showcase presented by Cirque De Vol Studios
• 8 pm :: Circus Show
• 9 pm :: Fire Performance

Outdoor Movie at NC Museum of Art – Friday
See the movie Creed outside under the stars at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Tickets are just $6 for nonmembers.

Blues on the Plaza at Northgate Mall  – Friday
Bring a lawn chair and your dancing shoes and enjoy an evening outdoors with live music, food, beer and fun. The Blues on the Plaza music series are FREE Friday evening concerts featuring local area rocking Blues bands. This week the Beauty Operators are keeping Durham dirty with their danceable mash of blues, rock, zydeco, and American roots music, this five-piece, all-female band brings a party wherever they go.

Beaver Queen Pageant at Duke Park – Saturday
The Beaver Queen Pageant is one of Durham’s marquee events and is rich in the history and culture of the community. Started in 2005 by members of the Duke Park neighborhood in order to protect beavers from a potentially harmful road construction project; it has grown into a large scale event that attracts hundreds of people from all over the Triangle who are interested in protecting wetlands and want to give a helping hand to beavers. It is a free, family-friendly beaver ‘beauty pageant’ that is a creative outlet for both the contestants and the audience.

Tour D’Coop – Chicken Coop Tour – Saturday
Raleigh’s city chicken owners invite you into their backyards for a first-hand look at keeping chickens in an urban environment.  This self-guided tour provides the opportunity to see over 20 coops, from tiny urban gardens to sprawling suburban lots. This is your chance to glean creative ideas from neighbors who are incorporating chickens and permaculture garden designs into their home landscapes to create an inspiring urban adventure.

Mondo Roots Festival in Clayton – Saturday
Mondo Roots Cultural Arts and Music Festival in Clayton is designed to be a fun, eclectic experience with an all-inclusive atmosphere, making it enjoyable for all ages. It will include arts vendors, handmade arts and crafts, live musical performances, food trucks, and craft beer and wine.

Raleigh IronMan 70.3 – Sunday
The Raleigh IronMan 70.3 features over 2,000 competitors starting off with a 1.2 mile swim at Jordan Lake, followed by a 56 mile bike course going through Chatham County and Wake County before entering downtown Raleigh where a 13.1 mile run course will take athletes to the finish on Fayetteville Street. Check out the event website for the various course maps and head on out to cheer on the competitors!

Raiders of the Lost Ark ~ Friday Night in Raleigh City Plaza

There are some great events to catch the next few days if you are sticking around town for Memorial Day Weekend. Here are my top picks.

Outdoor Movie ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ – Friday 
Tonight the PNC Outdoor Movie Series kicks off wit ha screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Free to the public (bring a chair). Food Truck American Meltdown will be there starting at 5pm. DJ music starts at 6pm. Beer available for purchase $5.Movie starts at dusk.

Bulkogi Food Truck at Cocoa Cinnamon – Friday 
The Bulkogi Korean BBQ Food Truck will be parked outside Cocoa Cinnamon tonight 5-9pm. It’s going to be a beautiful evening to sit outside in Durham. 

WRAL Hot Air Balloon Festival – Friday through Monday
The hot air balloon festival takes place in Fuquay-Varina this year. This weekend long family friendly event includes a “Mass Ascension” & “Balloon Glow”. There will also be food trucks and live music. Spectating at the events is free but balloon rides will involve fees charged by the individual operators. Parking is $10. Plan to allow plenty of time for traffic and parking. This is a popular event!

Piedmont Classic Chevy Club Car Show  –Saturday
Awesome classic car show this Saturday 8am-3pm in Lake Wheeler Park. Free to the public. 

Cardinal Directions Beer Festival – Sunday
An afternoon (2-6pm) filled with 20+ North Carolina Breweries pouring Saisons. Cardinal Directions Beer Festival is back for a second year, with a new location – The Carrboro Town Commons. There will be food trucks, non-alcoholic beverage vendors and live music. The festival is open to the public and all are welcome! If you plan to drink tickets are $20 and include a festival glass and 5 sample pours, additional samples are available for $1 each.

WRAL Out & About Voters’ Choice Awards
You only have a few days left to nominate your favorite restaurants and other local businesses for 2016 WRAL Out and About Voters’ Choice Awards. Nominations end on Monday. Go here to nominate for your favorite local businesses.

Wendell Falls Barn Celebration – Saturday May 21st

Keeping my fingers crossed that the weather holds out this weekend as there are a lot of great events going on the next few days. No doubt you’ve already heard about Moogfest going down in Durham all weekend long. IndyWeek has a nice roundup of how to catch a lot of it for free. There are also some other great events going on around the Triangle. Here are my top picks:

Got to Be NC Festival – Friday through Sunday
The Got to be NC Festival is a Family friendly event at the NC State Fairgrounds this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with an agricultural twist. Enjoy carnival games and rides, live music, food, animal and agricultural displays, antique tractors, and more. No charge to get in. 

Kasey Tindall performs at Rye Bar & Southern Kitchen – Friday
Nashville’s Kasey Tyndall is not your typical girl in country music. The 19 year old brings her brand of fist-raisin’, bar-top-dancin’, beer-drinkin’ music to Nashville by way of her roots in Eastern North Carolina. Hear her perform this Friday at Raleigh’s Rye Bar & Southern Kitchen 7-10pm. 

Wendell Falls Barn Raising Party – Saturday
Wendell Falls will be celebrating their one year anniversary this Saturday. This family-friendly event is open to the public, and kids of all ages are welcome. Enjoy family activities, like face painting, crafts, magicians, bounce houses and a bungee trampoline and a local celebrity square-dance dance competition at 1:30pm! Dance to bluegrass from the acclaimed Old Habits band. Enjoy local beer and food trucks D’Burrito and Wandering Moose food trucks along with tasty treats from Little Dippers Italian Ice. Event runs from 1-5pm. 

Fainting Goat Brewery Grand Opening Party – Saturday
Fainting Goat Brewery in Fuquay is finally getting around to celebrating their Grand Opening! Come on out on Saturday for a  day filled with music, food, games, fun, and of course Fainting Goat Beer. If the weather holds, they’ll have live music outside. You might want to bring a chair. Food Trucks Flattz Signature Flatbreads and Heavy Metal Grillers will be serving all day and We will have live music all day as well:

Arsplosure – Friday through Sunday
Artsplosure returns to downtown Raleigh this Friday, Saturday and Sunday with art, music and food. Check the event website for all the details of this great event that celebrates excellence in the performing and visual arts and brings artists and the larger community together to improve the quality of life and cultural environment.
 

Bluegrass Music this Sunday at Midtown Park in North Hills

Here are a few of my top picks of things to checkout this weekend:

Beauty Operators & Mel Melton and the Wicked Mojos – Friday 
The Triangle’s ultimate Louisiana Swamp Blues band, Mel Melton & The Wicked Mojos team up with opening act, The Beauty Operators for The Friday the 13th Bad Luck & Trouble Tour at Raleigh’s Deep South Bar. Doors Open at 7 pm, show starts at 8 pm. $8 cover.

Music at CAM Raleigh – Friday
Shana Tucker is a singer-songwriter and cellist who credits her genre-bending ChamberSoul™ journey to the influences of her jazz and classical roots interwoven with 80’s & 90’s pop music, movie soundtracks, and world music. She wull be performing at CAM Raleigh Friday at 8pm. $10 cover at the door.

2nd Friday Art Walk –Friday
The 2nd Friday Artwalk takes place in Downtown Carrboro and Chapel Hill from 6:00 – 9:00 pm on the second Friday of every month. The Artwalk is a great opportunity to explore the many arts venues and businesses in Carrboro & Chapel Hill as well as socialize with other art lovers in the community. Many of the galleries will have live music and other art related entertainment.

Free Yoga in the Park – Saturday
Join Blue Point Yoga Center‘s experienced teachers for a fun morning of yoga and community in Durham Central Park. Each Saturday 9am-10am through August 27 they will offer free weekly yoga class for students of all levels. Please bring a yoga mat or towel to practice on. Class is held at NEW spot near The Leaf (opposite side of Foster Street than Durham Farmers’ Market).

Beehive Collective Bee Ball – Saturday
The Collective is holding its 8th Annual Bee Ball on Saturday, May 14, 2016 at the Southland Ballroom in downtown Raleigh. It’s going to be a great night of music, partying and fun for a good cause, with music by by Sidecar Social Club & DJ Jenilla Ice.

Urban Sketching Group– Saturday
The CAM Raleigh Urban Sketching Group is a monthly group intended for all skill levels interested in exercising, exploring or expanding their drawing skills. The Urban Drawing Group meets inside of CAM Raleigh and then enters the urban settings surrounding the museum in the Warehouse District. Free to the public. Departs from CAM Raleigh at 2pm.

Johnny Cash Tribute Band in Wake Forest – Sunday
Town of Wake Forest’s Six Sundays in Spring concert series  presents the Johnny Folsom 4 Johnny Cash tribute band. This free concert is held at E. Carroll Joyner Park Amphitheater. Main act will start at 5 pm and ending at 7 pm. 

Bluegrass at North Hills – Sunday
Free Live Bluegrass music in North Hill’s Midotwn Park. This bluegrass double-header features Love Canon (4:30-6 p.m.) a band of classically trained musicians who play some of your favorite ’80s tunes in a bluegrass style, while North Carolina’s own Tellico (3-4 p.m.) play original tunes rooted in bluegrass.

Bee Ball
(Photo courtesy Erin Debnam)

The Beehive Collective is a local giving circle that awards grants to non-profits working toward making Raleigh a better place. Its members are interested in supporting the development of women through local activities. By pooling their resources and organizing fun events, the Beehive Collective has raised money and given away more than $150,000 in support of causes ranging from public transportation to youth healthcare.

The Collective is holding its 8th Annual Bee Ball on Saturday, May 14, 2016 at the Southland Ballroom in downtown Raleigh. It’s going to be a great night of music, partying and fun for a good cause, with music by by Sidecar Social Club & DJ Jenilla Ice. The giving theme for 2016 is housing and all proceeds will go toward funding a grant at the end of the year.

Bee Ball
(Photo courtesy Erin Debnam)

As part if the festivities you can vote for one of the “Royalty Members”. These  members have been challenged to a fundraising competition and the person who raises the most cash wins the bragging rights and the knowledge that they’re helping make Raleigh an even better place.

The 2016 Bee Ball Royalty Court Members are: Trey Waters (Person St. Pharmacy), Jonathan Bonchak (Slingshot Coffee), Jason Justice, Lori Ann Phillips, Shana Overdorf , Adam Grossman, Jessie Williams (Edge of Urge),Michelle Smith (Gather), Angela Salamanca (Centro). You can support this great cause and vote for Royalty Court members here.

Ticket Information
2016 Bee Ball – May 16th at 8pm
Southland Ballroom – Downtown Raleigh