When SPARKcon takes over the streets of Downtown Raleigh, the atmosphere is charged with infectious energy and enthusiasm for all types of creative SPARKS.  Street painting, circus performances, fashion, dance, visual art, food, theater, thought-provoking exhibits, music…SPARKcon has it all.  Free and fun for the whole family, plus always even a few bridal parties in the street, what more can you ask for out of a weekend?

Sir Walter Wally, Raleigh’s very own groundhog, seems to have gotten even more famous. He’s made the Top 11 List of Groundhogs to Watch.  Seriously.  Now, I don’t know exactly who ranks groundhogs, but my gut says that Wally must have come in at #11 on the list for it to even be named that way.  At Wally’s coming-out party today, a big crowd of winter-weary Raleigh residents of all ages listened as his handlers at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences also hyped Wally’s prediction rate as 50-50, claiming he has a better success rate than Punxsutawney Phil.

Regardless of Wally’s official prediction, the good news today and every February 2 is that spring is in sight.  According to Raleigh Mayor Pro Tem Weeks, the bad news is that Wally saw his shadow, but the good news is that at some point in 2013 we will have a spring and summer. I hope Wally’s right on this one.

This was not just another wacky race in Raleigh.  Well, yeah, there were some…ahem…unusual outfits, shall we say, but there were no doughnuts involved.  Just things like green hair, tutus, striped kneesocks, green mustaches, kilts, and plenty of weird head ornaments.

The route of this race was through the heart of my neighborhood, Historic Oakwood.  The amazing sound of 2,000 runners running by my house is a hard one to describe.  My shoes, however, did not join in that pounding noise on the street.  I admit to sitting in a chair on my front porch watching the runners go by and providing encouragement from my couch potato position. Of course I was cheering on the St. Patty’s runners.  My name is Callahan, after all.

That’s Life in Raleigh.