Fayetteville Street was reopened to car traffic in late summer of 2006. Downtown Raleigh has not been the same since. This celebration was titled Raleigh Wide Open and estimates say that between 60,000 and 70,000 people attended the street festival. A year later, Raleigh Wide Open Part Two celebrated the year anniversary of the inaugural event. Not much had changed on Fayetteville Street in that first year, but the crowds still came. In September of 2008, almost exactly two years after Fayetteville Street reopened, the city will celebrate the opening of the long awaited Raleigh Convention Center. The title of this celebration? You guessed it, Raleigh Wide Open III and “It’s going to be the biggest party our community has ever had,” Mayor Charles Meeker said.
By the time of the celebration, there will have been a lot of changes on Fayetteville Street including a handful of new restaurants and tenants, although it looks like Yancy’s is in trouble with Chapter 11. The Convention Center states that they need $1 Million Dollars for this opening celebration and are calling out to local businesses and organizations to help out with the costs. The businesses will in turn be paid back with displays of their products and information inside of the building during the celebration. This is because public money will not be used in the celebration like it was used on the project.
The Building is pretty elegant and low in profile compared to many of the convention centers you will see across the country. It is also one of the first LEED certified convention centers in the country and just celebrated 750,000 and counting “safe man hours.” The event will hopefully grab lots of attention from all parts of the city and allow users that may normally not be able to use the building to get a glimpse of where all that money went. Next up for the city of Raleigh’s completion of Fayetteville Street is the plaza adjacent to the convention center. Maybe Raleigh Wide Open Part Five will be the opening of this space, because assumption is that Part Four will be the year anniversary of The Raleigh Convention Center’s opening.
Opening Festivities
Ribbon-cutting at noon Friday, Sept. 5
Celebration Friday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.
Photos courtesy of New Raleigh except Raleigh Wide Open by Raleigh Skyline
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