Picture This: The North Carolina Capitol at Christmas
Picture This: The N.C. Governor’s Mansion
International Festival 2009
Were you at the International Festival in Raleigh’s new convention center this past weekend? Thought so. Judging by the size of the crowd, I don’t think anyone in town missed it. And it was definitely an event not to be missed!
There were three stages of entertainment, with attentive audiences at each stage. Hundreds of appreciative spectators filled the seats at the dance demonstration stage. There were booths offering information and booths selling items from countries around the world, even henna tattoos and belly dancing lessons!
And the smells! The whole place smelled so delicious that it was difficult to decide which country’s menu to order from. Fortunately for us, most of the menus at the food stands offered a selection of inexpensive items, so that we didn’t have to choose after all, but instead enjoyed food from Bagladesh, China, Turkey, and Nepal. What a treat to be able to sample authentic foods from so many different countries all in one place!
While I expected to see a diverse group taking part in the International Festival, I was amazed by the incredible diversity of the festival-goers. Raleigh has truly become a melting pot.
That’s Life in Raleigh.
SPARKcon……..wow!
SPARKcon 2009 transformed Raleigh into an amazingly cool place to be on a weekend in September.
SPARKcon is a grassroots event celebrating the creativity in our area – the “creative hub of the south.” And if you think Raleigh can’t possibly live up to such a weighty description, you obviously missed SPARKcon this year. For four days, Downtown Raleigh was spilling over with proof of this creativity. Music, art, dance, ideas, film, poetry…….
….fashion. Did I mention fashion? The fashion show on the stage in the middle of Fayetteville Street had to be a turning point for our fair city. The loud, thumping beat, the large, appreciative crowd, the models whose hair and makeup were closer to “Night of the Living Dead” than “Night in Raleigh, N.C.,” plus the designs being showcased had me murmuring that famous line about Toto and not being in Kansas anymore! Raleigh has graduated to the big time.
That’s Life in Raleigh…a big, happening city.
N.C. Governor Plants a Row for the Hungry
In addition to the regular kitchen garden on the grounds of the governor’s mansion here in Raleigh, Governor Bev Perdue has planted extra collard greens and cabbage as part of the Plant a Row for the Hungry national campaign.
Have you heard about this program? Plant a Row started in 1995 and encourages gardeners to plant an extra row of vegetables in their gardens and then donate the produce to local food agencies and soup kitchens. American gardeners have donated more than 14 million pounds of food as part of this grassroots effort. And it was all started by one guy. What a story!
That’s Life in Raleigh.
North Carolina Literary Festival
The N.C. Literary Festival was the place to be September 10-13, 2009, on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill, featuring 102 authors, including poets, crime writers, children’s authors, big names like John Grisham and R. L. Stine, and several Pulitzer-Prize winners. The N.C. Literary Festival is held biennially and is organized and sponsored by the libraries of UNC, N.C. State, and Duke, with additional support from N.C. Central University. The universities also take turns hosting the event.
This year’s host was UNC. Wow, did they do a fantastic job. While it goes without saying that the setting was beautiful, the whole event was also very well-organized, well-marked, and well-staffed by a large volunteer force. There were even ice-filled tubs of bottled water free for the taking and, of course, plentiful recycling bins for the empties.
The 2009 Literary Festival billed itself as “a celebration of reading and writing,” and a celebration it was. The sessions were actually more like performances. Authors were paired up for discussions that were engaging and entertaining, as well as educational and thought-provoking. The question-and-answer periods with the audience were a delightful part of the sessions, too. Books were for sale onsite and the authors were signing books after each session.
Children had their own scene at this year’s Literary Festival. It was easy to find kids excited about reading and writing in the special area for kids under 12, where there were tons of fun activities and many authors lined up to perform for this younger audience. Local team mascots were roaming the venue, as well as book characters such as Clifford and at least one of the “Wild Things.” Waving at them seems natural, doesn’t it, even when you’re not accompanied by a young child?
You could find something at the 2009 N.C. Literary Festival to make you laugh, make you cry, make you think, make your mouth water, and make your mouth hang open. All of this, and it’s free and open to the public and will come around again in 2011. Don’t miss it!
That’s Life in Raleigh.