William Peace University students, a lot of you may be far from home or ready to live on your own and planning to stay here in Raleigh for the summer. Being here, you may wonder about things that you can do for entertainment. Downtown Raleigh always has some fun events going on and is a perfect place to peruse during your free time.
For starters, every first Friday of every month there is a huge event in downtown Raleigh called, First Friday. This event is free to attend and is open to everybody. Every month there are different events and venues, as well as different specials offered by any participating establishments. To figure out which establishments are participating in First Friday there are these First Friday Flags that will be placed and easy to locate for your convenience.
“First Friday is a free self-guided tour of downtown’s cutting edge cultural hot spots. Local art galleries, art studios, alternative art venues, and museums stay open late the first Friday of every month to welcome thousands of art-seeking enthusiasts downtown.” (http://www.godowntownraleigh.com/event/first-friday-raleigh)
The next First Friday is May 6, 2016. Then June 3, July 1, and Aug. 5, so mark your calendars!
For the people who enjoy the nightlife and are over the age of 21, club Still Life has an event called, Liquid Chaos. Every Thursday night they have $1.00 drink specials and free entry until midnight. They also are running a promotion called, Girls Night Out. Every Friday night ladies ages 18-20 are free until midnight and all ladies 21+ are free all night.
There is also this very special event called, Out Raleigh, happening on May 7, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. This event is a festival that is family-friendly and supports the LGBT community along with their counterparts. It helps to create awareness for the significance of this diverse group of individuals, while showing that they are accepted while also raising the necessary funding for the LGBT Center of Raleigh.
This festival will have live musical entertainment, vendors and artists from the Raleigh area, a KidsZone and a beer garden. There is no entry fee and it is open to the public. For more information, please feel free to check out their website (http://www.outraleigh.org/about-out-raleigh.html).
Another event for the music lovers out there is the Pinecone Bluegrass Jam held at the Busy Bee Café on Wilmington Street. This event starts at 7 p.m. and is held every first and fourth Friday of every month. Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music and noted as a genre of country music. The music itself gets its sound from various different backgrounds like Irish, Scottish and English music.
If you are musically inclined feel free to bring your instruments and play along or just sit back and observe and listen while enjoying some food and a cold drink.
One more amazing event you will be able to attend this summer is Artsplosure: The Raleigh Arts Festival. It will be taking place on May 20 through May 22. On Friday and Saturday it begins at 11 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. and on Sunday it runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
This is an awesome time to volunteer if you are interested. The shifts usually last at least three hours and there are a variety of volunteer positions that are available. Some of the positions available are: Large Scale Art Assistan, Kidsplosure Activities Helper, Booth Sitter and plenty more.
There will be tons of activities for people of all ages to enjoy. It is open to the public and there is no entry fee. They will have an Art Market where over 180 artists in various categories will display and sell their work.
Also, there will be live music and even a separate Kidsplosure event where kids will be able to show off their talents as well as participate in many activities; however, Kidsplosure will only be held on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Hopefully this helped jumpstart some of your summer vacation planning and no matter what you decide to do this summer, please remember to be smart and stay safe.
