The Works Fourth of July Celebrations Move From Fairgrounds to Downtown Raleigh

Ann Ramsey
07/04 11:17 AM

This is a terrible move.  If you want to have a celebration downtown then do so.  Just don’t change a decades long tradition of fireworks at the fairgrounds.  I will not attend because I will not take my small grandchildren downtown where I have to park in a parking deck and pay money for the privilege of walking crowded blocks in the blazing heat.  This is beyond stupid.  I hope other people will speak up so we can return to being able to park our cars and sit in our lawn chairs with our coolers and enjoy the fireworks in a family friendly way.

Ann Ramsey
07/04 11:17 AM

This is a terrible move.  If you want to have a celebration downtown then do so.  Just don’t change a decades long tradition of fireworks at the fairgrounds.  I will not attend because I will not take my small grandchildren downtown where I have to park in a parking deck and pay money for the privilege of walking crowded blocks in the blazing heat.  This is beyond stupid.  I hope other people will speak up so we can return to being able to park our cars and sit in our lawn chairs with our coolers and enjoy the fireworks in a family friendly way.

Anne
07/04 05:41 PM

A very bad move. For a number of years my family, living in the North Hills area, have been able to drive around on I-440 to the fairgrounds, easily park, and watch the fireworks. With no tall buildings nearby, the fireworks could be watched from the fairgrounds parking, Meredith College, or many nearby areas.

I am not taking my kids for a long walk from a parking garage to a crowded area in downtown. We will be deciding within the next hour which of the nearby towns to visit and watch the fireworks.

Joe Mecca
07/04 05:58 PM

The event sounds wonderful and only wish that next year it would be in a public area convenient for the rest of us. It’s great the downtown residents have a place to go and with no worries about where they will park - as for me, it’s not worth driving around searching for a place to park and figuring out where to go from there.
Next year, they event planners might consider renting private buses to pick up folks at predetermined locations. It worked very well at the Blue Crab Festival located at Little River, SC. There was no charge for the ride to and from the festival where thousands of people attended.

Behki
07/04 06:15 PM

Girl, bye, you can easily watch the downtown fireworks from other places. Boylan and Dorothea Dix immediately come to mind.

RaleighRob
07/04 10:14 PM

Love the whiners.
This is a city, people.  We do city things in a city environment.  This isn’t Johnston County for crying out loud. 

I can’t think of any other city that doesn’t do their Fourth fireworks in the urban center!  It’s just the way things are usually done, and Raleigh has finally gotten a clue and done what most already do.

Driving and parking in downtown is a dozen times easier than the Fairgrounds.  There are like 3 roads that you can use to get to the Fairgrounds area.  There are like 20 major roads and just as many side streets that go downtown.  Dozens of parking decks and tons of side streets with free night parking.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

gemyra
07/04 11:04 PM

The fireworks were terrible, you could hardly see them unless you were on Fayetteville street and they were so small they did not clear the tops of the buildings.  I also don’t like crossing all those city streets with my kids knowing many of those people driving are drinking and I know that because it was like one big college party down there.

Skillet
07/05 08:01 AM

The fireworks were pretty lame, but at least the drunk people were annoying.

Mr Oridian
07/05 09:27 AM

Why were the fireworks only launched about 10 feet in the air? You couldn’t even see them from the Capitol building!

Everyone spent the whole time walking briskly towards the fireworks, trying to get a view, but they were over too quickly.

Terrible, terrible fireworks show, Raleigh. Come on, get it together.

Doug A.
07/05 09:42 AM

We drove by the Boylan bridge (and pub) at 9:00pm and it was completely mobbed.  Did anyone watch from Dix Hill and if so how was the view?  We ended up watching near the intersection of Glenwood and Morgan, where we got a parking place a little after 9:00 and walked to CharGrill for shakes.  The view from our spot was same as everyone else’s comments - the fireworks were mostly visible but pretty low.

Anne
07/05 10:03 AM

Raleighbob,
Most people who live in Raleigh live in suburban type neighborhoods well away from downtown. The majority of us have nothing to do with downtown. We don’t live there, don’t work there, don’t shop there, and don’t go there.
For most Raleigh residents the fairgrounds are closer. Being next to the I-440 the fairground are much easier to drive to than downtown. We can watch the fireworks from our cars if we don’t want to, or can’t,  walk far.
If downtown want to have a celebration, fine. But the City of Raleigh celebration and fireworks should be for the citizens of Raleigh, not just for the few who live in or close to downtown.

Jay
07/05 10:04 AM

Yesterdays 4th of July celebration while a great concept was very poorly executed. Fireworks were barely visible from anywhere on Fayetteville Street except for the plaza area. The traffic afterwards was a nightmare. No Police or State Patrol for traffic control. Cars full of families with young children were trapped in parking decks until well after 11:00. Tempers flared and several altercations were observed just from my contained location. #epicfail

timthetoolman
07/05 11:46 AM

I think moving the fireworks downtown was a great idea; however, shame on Raleigh for downsizing their size and duration. In past years, I’ve watched the Fairgrounds fireworks from atop one of the downtown parking garages. They were easily visible from downtown.  This year, I opted to watch from my home, approximately 3/4 mile southeast of Moore Square. While I can see the Raleigh skyline clearly from my home; the fireworks barely cleared some of the shorter buildings and we couldn’t see them.

Hey Raleigh, downtown is a great idea. But keep in mind that there are thousands of people who’d like to avoid Fayetteville Street and the parking mess and watch from our nearby homes. Beef them up a little next year, please.

Tony Woodard
07/05 11:56 AM

Speaking as someone who lives and works downtown, I hope they don’t have fireworks here next year. The crowd it drew, mostly provincials with a chip on their shoulders about having to drive ALL THE WAY downtown and pay FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS for parking, were by far the rudest, most demanding crowd I have ever had the displeasure of serving. Seriously. This view was confirmed by other service industry folks.

Bill
07/05 01:29 PM

That was worth a try but it was unanimously a flop.  Back to the fairgrounds with the fireworks.

Jules
07/05 02:31 PM

My friends, husband & I had a great time downtown! It was the first time we’ve been in years, and it was so easy to park on Glenwood and walk to the festivities. Getting back home was easy, too; much easier than the bottleneck we always experienced at the fairgrounds. The beer tent and art/craft show were very enjoyable, as were the music, wrestling event (which our friend’s son adored) and other activities. Far nicer than the shadeless fairground to us, and so much more convenient! Some improvements could certainly be implemented (more & bigger are always better with fireworks!), but overall if the fireworks stay downtown we’ll certainly come back.

Adam Roland
07/05 03:23 PM

We tried it out,  thought we would do something different, we won’t do it again. 

I have no problem with downtown.  I think it is great love to go there and eat and see a show.  However I now know I don’t like going there with 20-50K other people crammed in 5 city blocks. I was constantly pushing through a crowd worrying about losing a kid.  When we got to the plaza are we sat down and listened to some good music on the main stage there and the 82 Airborne parachute team was really cool.

Then there was Circus Maximus…whoever approved that goat rodeo made an epic fail..how do I explain what I think was Martha Washington in thigh highs and a bustier to my 10 year old I don’t care if she was waving a flag. The act was very sophmoric and had way to many hula hoops. Their set was huge and blocked the VERY LOW fireworks. And they kept performing during the fireworks with fire.  I was too worried about getting burned by their flaming hula hoops(yes more hula hoops) to pay attention to the very sub par fireworks. I expect something alot better from the city of Raleigh than that.

And parking…we got in easy and parked in a garage, paid 5 bucks.  I am fine with all of that no problem at all.  But anyone that says they got out of downtown quick must have watched the fireworks while driving in their car out of downtown.  We waited an hour sucking CO2 before the traffic in our garage even moved.  Standing at the rail of the parking garage we watched utter incompetence of traffic control.  If you are going to have that kind of crowd you have to have a plan to get them out and they didn’t. It took 1.5 hours for us to get out of downtown.

I think it was a good idea but after seeing the outcome I would say they need to make some major changes or they should do it somewhere else.  I know I won’t be going back there again.

Avery
07/05 03:24 PM

As someone works downtown for many special events, this was WAY more of a mob scene than even New Year’s..which does get crazy.  As someone that lives downtown walkable, and took a bike in..and watched the fireworks from Memorial Auditorium…bravo!  It was amazing!  As someone that was working that night and needed traffic to be controlled and people to be in a good mood…eek!  I hope the city moves this event back to the fairgrounds next year and does a smaller “locals” event downtown.

1hr parking garage wait
07/05 09:07 PM

The Mayor should realize that there will always be some sort of suburbs vs. downtown argument.  Epic fails like last night only weaken the rally to bring people downtown.  Personally, I love downtown.  However, for those who always complain about the hassle, it’s really hard to argue with them when they use last night as an example. 

Here’s an idea.  Do fireworks at the fairgrounds AND downtown next year.  Let people choose.  Keep the day long festivities again on Fayetteville St.  Let the families who prefer a more child friendly setting at 10pm have the option. 

No need for any more spin.  Make the best of a bad situation and just do both.

LiveRaleigh
07/06 12:46 PM

This is a you tube video of the Raleigh Downtown july 4 fireworks….  This was shot in the city plaza     http://youtu.be/1E5Loz_9HgE

Marky Mark
07/06 09:40 PM

All arguments about downtown or the fairgrounds aside, this was the single most pathetic fireworks show I have ever seen. City of Raleigh screwed the pooch on this one.

Greenga
07/08 11:09 AM

The fireworks were lame. The venue was terrible. Part of the fun is taking the kids and sitting in the grass. There was nowhere to sit. The parking was $5, the traffic was awful. It was hot, crowded, and smelly. Fayetteville Street was covered in trash. The restaurants all closed early. Wanted to take my 14 month old baby but I’m glad I didn’t. Hopefully they move it back next year. Who do we need to call to demand this? Anyone?

Carl
07/09 09:58 AM

Next year I’ll be on the corner of Hargett and Fayetteville
selling french cries and WAAAHburgers.
Whiny ass snitches.

Do you complain about your coffee being too hot too?
” I expect this…I expect that “
I expect your tired ass to get diabetes in about twenty seconds.

Sue from North Raleigh
07/11 08:33 AM

Not all of us want to spend an evening on Fayetteville St. drinking and eating and watching fireworks. Some of us have young kids. Others are elderly. We are not all the same. The fireworks should be high enough to be seen from many different areas, and somewhere no tall buildings block the view. Some people will eat and drink at restaurants before the fireworks, others will watch from a blanket on grass in a park, some will watch from their cars.
If downtown want to have a neighborhood party, fine. But city sponsored events should be for all types of people, not just those who enjoy Fayetteville St.
Downtown is just one of many neighborhoods in Raleigh, no more or less important than any of the others.

Not a Cheap Bastard
07/12 11:28 AM

I agree with most of the comments, except the people who bitch about $5 parking.  That was your choice.  I parked for free and used my fucking feet to get me close to the fireworks.  Laziness is not an excuse.  “Well, some of us have small kids…”  I never made you fuck.  That was your choice too.