The NIMBY audacity… he’s giving back putting money into the economy the Glassdoor people are no fun.
Uhh, what’s going on around Moore Square tonight?
Was it the night market tonight?
Lil Durk is at Red Hat tonight.
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Like @OakCityDylan mentioned, it was the Thursday Raleigh night market, it was just more than double the amount of people from last week and weeks prior, which made it seem like something bigger was going on.
I have a feeling there is going to be an enormous demand from people looking to get out of the house, even more so than before covid.
A couple of the local produce vendors we do business with, who also sell to local restaurants, have increased their order size this week to levels never seen even before covid
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Yeah, thanks guys. I was wondering if it was the Night Market but as you mentioned Drew, there were a ton of people out and so I felt mistaken. I’ve never seen them close that portion of Martin before either, so it definitely seemed like a larger event. I was going to a show at The Pour House and there was a (really good) band playing the outside garden at Watts&Ward and another outside at London Bridge too. It was a beautiful cacophony of vibrancy in that area last night. The city felt very alive.
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So what you’re saying is there may be a few people at Brewgaloo this weekend?
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Weather was fantastic for it. It’s not my thing to be honest but great to see it doing well.
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A friend was in town for her daughter’s high school basketball tournament at the Convention Center over the weekend. They stayed in the City Center Marriott. We met up for lunch on Saturday at Parkside. I didn’t grill her but was curious about her thoughts on her first trip to Raleigh. They arrived Thursday night. They live outside Boston - she used to live in South Boston before moving out to the suburbs so has experience living/working in a more urban area.
She really liked the hotel but wondered why nothing is open in the area. She would’ve expected to see sandwich shops open for lunch and a lot of people out but didn’t get that vibe at all, even during the day on Friday. She wondered where the lines for coffee were in the morning - she assumed everyone works from home and doesn’t come downtown. Her group ate at Raleigh Times (I think Thursday night) because they could accommodate a big group and gave it high marks. Said the city felt a little unsafe at night when the kids wanted to go by themselves to get ice cream because it was empty - more people would’ve made it feel more vibrant and safe. They planned to go to Brewgaloo on Saturday night but I didn’t catch up with her to get her impressions of that event.
Not looking to debate - just passing along her impressions.
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It was pretty sleepy if not downright hungover downtown on Sunday when we met friends for brunch…
The vibrancy of activity is certainly something to strive for on a more consistent basis.
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City officials think happy loud people are crazed drunkards or something. There also isn’t a focal point for Raleigh like most cities. If we can get a grand main library next to one of the parks that would help. Also renovating City Market.
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For sure. I don’t think we’ve ever had that kind of consistency. It’s almost as if each district needs it’s own “center of gravity” and we build out from there. You sort of have:
- Fayetteville Street
- Moore Square/City Market
- Glenwood Ave
being vibrancy centers but they really just haven’t reached their full potential. Yes, Glenwood is packed at night but it would be nice to see a coffee, morning scene there too. Plus, more weekday lunches.
I guess the Warehouse District “center” could be the Union Station plaza and perhaps RUS bus could bring that to play once it’s up and running with BRT.
Fayetteville Street has always been so mixed-use that I’d argue that it’s prime time was weekday lunch pre-pandemic. That will be a slow crawl back but eventually, it has to come back as the office market finds it’s place.
For me, forget the social districts. Let’s just go back to pumping out events all year long. It’s tried and true at this point.
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would a network of reborn r-lines help?
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Hopefully for Glenwood. We start to see Smoky Hollow and the new Creamery buildings turn into pretty active mid day hangout spots in that area.
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I see more and more daytime and non-weekend evening activity in Glenwood South. When I first moved to the district in 2005, it was pretty much a ghost town except for Friday and Saturday nights.
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You’re definitely right, I live in Glenwood South. Places like The Hibernian and Carolina Ale House do decently mid week during the day. Nothing crazy, but there is a bit of foot traffic.
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Agree. I lived across from Fletcher Park for my first few years here - 2004-2006. When I would go to the gym (where Centerline Digital is/was?) on Saturday/Sunday mornings it was kind of depressing. Helios gave it some morning life for a while.
Downtown Raleigh isn’t for everyone, and it can be a weird place to visit if you don’t do your homework. I always tell people visiting an unfamiliar spot to research some things that you want to do while there, instead of expecting the city to cater to a random tourist who doesn’t know what’s there. Not trying to be harsh to your friend, but Raleigh isn’t a tourist town and it isn’t really that stand-out cool if you don’t know what to look for. I’ve said it before, but my motto for Raleigh is “A great place to live, a terrible place to vacation.”
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City Market could really be the signature spot to come to Raleigh if only they would let it. It could be famous like Reading Terminal in Center City Philly or Pike place Market in Seattle. It just needs a Major renovation and entertainment draw to pull everything in like a gravitational pull. City Market could be a tourist attraction I wonder why there aren’t more news on bringing it to life or upcoming plans for it😕
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Yeah, having the main building as a limited use event space doesn’t help at all. Easily converting that space into a brewery or mini-food hall will do wonders to the area and convince business to rent space in the other buildings.
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