One thing that you can say about Raleigh is that it’s a pretty diverse town, and they recognize this fact. Oftentimes, the different diversities are celebrated with festivals around town, and the festival this weekend brings yet another culture to the forefront. La Fiesta Del Pueblo is this Saturday, September 11 at theNorth Carolina State Fairgrounds.
La Fiesta del Pueblo is the largest Latin American festival in the Carolinas. This year’s 17th annual Fiesta is expected to draw over 40,000 people of all ages and cultures. La Fiesta celebrates and showcases not only popular music and artists, but also cultural art exhibits, traditional dance performances and folk musicians.
Along with the different forms of entertainment, there’s a special section for the kiddies featuring crafts, balloons, face-painting, inflatable rides, clowns and puppets. When you mention cultural festivals, you can’t go without mentioning the FOOD! Foods from Central and South America as well as the Caribbean can be sampled at the Food Court, it offers cuisines as diverse as pupusas, paletas, churros, tortillas, tacos al carbón, empanadas and much more.
You don’t have to be of Latin American descent to enjoy this festival; everyone of all cultures and designs are invited to partake in the festivities!
Admission to the festival is $5, and it is held on September 11th and September 12th at 11 am and 10 am respectively. See you there!
Head northwest on Crossroads Crest Way toward Jones Franklin Rd. Take the 1st right onto Jones Franklin Rd. Merge onto I-440 E via the ramp to Raleigh. Take the N Carolina 54/Hillsborough Stexit toward Meredith Coll. Turn right at N Carolina 54 W/Hillsborough St. Take the 2nd right onto Blue Ridge Rd. Take the 1st left onto Trinity Rd.
Hey Enclave at Crossroads Apartments! Get excited, because the three day weekend is finally here! I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this weekend, especially since it can kind of be considered the end of summer. At any rate, I hope it’s the beginning of cooler weather!
Since it is Labor Day Weekend, you know that the city of Raleigh had to deliver some options for you to enjoy. The list is courtesy of about.com:
First Fridays:First Friday in Raleigh is one of the Triangle’s favorite events and all of downtown Raleigh gets into the act. There are free self-guided tours of local art galleries, and a number of the museums including Marbles Children’s Museum and IMAX theater are open late.
Farmer’s Markets. Gather up the best of the season at your closest local farmer’s market. Or use the long weekend to venture out to a neighboring market just to try something new. Tomatoes and corn are sweet and ripe and perfect for your cookout recipes.
USA Baseball. The Labor Day Cup is an open invitation tournament comprised of 16 teams (eight 16U and eight 18U teams). Each team is guaranteed four games. The event will is held in Cary, N.C., at theUSA Baseball National Training Complex.
Rock the Cradle. Legendary music venueCat’s Cradle presents Abbey Road Livewith all your favorite Beatles music. Take the kids – there’s no school on Monday. Doors open at 8 p.m. Show starts at 9 p.m.
Monday:
Shop. Labor Day sales are well known for great values. Go to your local boutique downtown or put on your walking shoes and hit the Raleigh-Durham shopping malls.
For the longest of time, it seemed like every city in the nation had a beer week but Raleigh. Even Charlotte boasted of one! This week, all of that changed with the inaugural Raleigh Beer Week.
Raleigh Beer Week spans from August 30 to September 3rd, and has different events at different venues around the city that patrons can partake in. Since this is being billed as an “inaugural” event, it looks like the city of Raleigh can look forward to this being a recurring event downtown that can only continue to grow. Here are the events for the rest of the week courtesy ofNew Raleigh.com:
Wednesday, September 1
7:00 pm -Brooklyn Beer Dinner at The Flying Saucer: Join Steve Hindy, co-founder of Brooklyn Brewery, for a night of food & brews. Enjoy a 5 course dinner paired with 5 beers. Also in attendance is Daniel Bradford from All About Beer magazine. Tickets are $40 if you’re a UFO member, $50 if you’re not, and can be purchased at the Saucer.
9:00 pm -Cask Night at The Borough: Stop by to enjoy a cask of dry hopped French Broad’s ESB. The Borough is working in conjunction with The Flying Saucer’s beer dinner that Wednesday. Every ticket to the Saucer’s beer dinner will include a pint of the ESB, so save your tickets and bring them to The Borough.
Thursday, September 2
7:00 pm -Brewers Forum at the Busy Bee: Join Spike Buckowski from Terrapin Brewing Co, Sean Wilson from Fullsteam, and others for a panel discussion on brewing and the beer industry.
9:00 pm -Ballast Point Cask Night at The Flying Saucer: The folks at the Saucer will be tapping an uber rare cask of Black Marlin Porter with cocoa nibs.
Friday, September 3
6:00 pm -Cask at the Landmark Tavern: Join Darren Quinlan of Coney Island/ Schmaltz Brewing to tap a special brew.
I am a huge fan ofSo You Think You Can Dance! I think that one of my favorite routines was the Bollywood routine performed by Katee and Joshua. Their moves were so fluid and precise, and the routine itself just seemed so fun to learn! If you felt the same way, you can step into their shoes (kind of), with Bollywood Dance Lessonsat Lake Lynn Community Center right here in Raleigh, about 20 minutes from the Enclave at Crossroads Apartments.
The hour long classes start on September 7th at 7 pm. You’ll learn low-impact dance moves to famous Bollywood movie songs. You’ll also learn short choreo at each 8 week session. This is a full body workout, so be prepared!
Bollywood is a fun form of dance that is rooted in classical and folk dances from India. These Indian dances have been updated with influences from other styles of dances including Middle Eastern belly dance. Registration can be done when you get to class.
Check out the video fromSo You Think You Can Dance below to get a glimpse of the Bollywood style!
Get your taste buds ready everyone, because Downtown Raleigh Restaurant Week is here once again! Downtown Raleigh Restaurant Week is a weeklong dining extravaganza showcasing the culinary talent in the heart of the city! If you’re a true foodie, or just enjoy great food, head out this week and feast! The event lasts from August 23th – August 29th, so you have about 6 days left of the ultimate restaurant hopping!
Certain restaurants downtown will offer tantalizing, three-course prix fixe dinners for either $20 or $30, depending on the venue. Tax, tips, and drinks aren’t included in the $20 or $30 price. The list of restaurants participating is pretty long, so you have a good variety of restaurants to choose from. There’s nothing better than having a favorite local eatery, especially if that eatery is one you normally would not visit because the prices may not be in your price range.
Restaurants on the list include: 18 Seaboard, Cafe Luna, Sono, Dos Taquitos Centro, and many more! If you click on the hyper link above, you’ll be directed to the menus featuring the foods that they’ve specially selected for restaurant week.
This is a big event for Raleigh, so partake while you can! The best thing about it is that all of the restaurants are mere minutes from Enclave at Crossroads! It just doesn’t get any better.
Hey Enclave! Do you enjoy a good wine tasting every now and then? I’m sure there are a few of you out there that do. If you are one who partakes, then you’d like to know that every weekend, Total Wine (Raleigh) offers a free tasting of fine wines from around the world.
The fun thing about the wine tastings at Total Wine is that there is a different theme every weekend. If you go enough times, you’re sure to be a wine connoisseur in no time! If you’re just looking to find a nice wine to relax with, wine associates will be on hand to help you find one that’s perfect for you.
The tasting takes place today, August 13th at 4 pm. They occur every weekend, so if you miss the one today, you can catch the one next weekend, no problem. Grab some friends, sample some wine, and relax. It’s the weekend!
Hey Enclave! If you don’t really shop at Farmers Markets, you should definitely give it a try. This Saturday, August 14, you have a chance to do that at the Midtown Farmers Market in the heart of North Hills in the Commons in Raleigh.
Farmers Markets are great because prices are lower, and the quality of food bought there is much better than that of regular grocery stores and super markets. Often times, the produce is much more fresh, and in buying them, you’re also supporting local businesses.
The Midtown Farmers Market will have a wide variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, cheeses, flowers, meats, homemade desserts and baked goods, crafts, and a myriad of other things. For you enjoyment, every Saturday features live entertainment.
The market officially opens at 8 am, and I would advise that you get there sometime during the morning to get the pick of the litter so to speak. After your trip to the market (and if you haven’t bought any perishables), you can get some shopping in at the Commons. There’s nothing that North Hills doesn’t have!
Head northwest on Crossroads Crest Way toward Jones Franklin Rd. Take the 1st right onto Jones Franklin Rd. Merge onto I-440 E via the ramp to Raleigh. Take exit 8B for 6 Forks Rd N toward N Hills. Merge onto Six Forks Rd. Turn left at Lassiter Mill Rd. The Commons at North Hill Shopping Center will be on your left.
Sheryl Crow’s music blends rock, folk and pop into one mainstream sound, and she has won nine Grammy Awards. She has released seven studio albums, two compilations, and a live album, as well as contributing many songs to film soundtracks. She has sold 16 million albums in United States and 35 million albums worldwide and her newest album, 100 Miles from Memphis, was released on July 20, 2010.
Colbie Caillat
Colbie Caillat is an American pop and country singer-songwriter and guitarist from Malibu, California. She debuted in 2007 with Coco, which included hit singles “Bubbly”, “Realize”, and “The Little Things”.
This is sure to be an awesome concert! Be sure to get your tickets soon as concerts like these tend to sell out rather quickly. There are only two ticket prices left at $40 and $60.
Will you accept your mission, Enclave? Are you prepared to get splashed as you’ve never been splashed before? Well, if you sign up for the Raleigh Wars, or the Raleigh Water Wars as I call them, then the water is definitely coming your way.
The ‘Raleigh Wars, beginning August 1st, are by far one of the coolest homegrown games that I have ever heard of. It’s a game all about stealth, tactical planning, and hitting as many targets as you can. To play, just register on theRaleigh Wars website and then on Sunday you will be given a name. This will be the name of your target, should you accept your mission.
Once you recieve your ‘target’s’ name, without breaking any laws, or showing up to anyone’s job, church, or any other place of importance, you must stalk them and squirt themusing an approved self-contained-water-source device like a squirt gun, water balloon, etc.
After you hit your target, you obtain that person’s target, and the game continues. The person with the most hits wins! But, if you haven’t hit anyone within the first week, a ‘hit squad’ will come after you. Doesn’t this sound fun?
On August 21, White Collar Crime will host the Assassin’s Ball, aptly titled for the stalking and water squirting that you must do, and it’s only for Water Wars participants. There will be free PBR, Jimmy Johns sandwiches, and the final battles will be taking place that night as well.
There will also be an award for best water assassination, so be sure to capture your battles on video! For a list of prizes, check out the Raleigh Wars website.
Champagne Saturday; has a nice ring to it doesn’t it? Have you been visited by the AVON lady lately? Well, tomorrow, you can visit her. AVON independent sales rep and beauty consultant Mary MacRae Warren is hosting Champagne Saturday in Durham.
Beauty do-overs, bubbly, berries, and chocolate; that doesn’t sound like too bad of a time. At this event you can take the ANEW challenge & try AVON’s newest anti-aging emulsions from the premier ANEW skincare line. You will also be able to take 10% off your $40 skincare order and receive a free sample. There will be a raffle for AVON’s new Advance Techniques Lotus Shield anti-frizz serum.
You must reserve a space to attend the event. Email avonrep4uMary@gmail.com for your reservation. The event lasts from 1 – 4 pm.
Foods from Central and South America as well as the Caribbean can be sampled at the Food Court, it offers cuisines as diverse as pupusas, paletas, churros, tortillas, tacos al carbón, empanadas and much more.
If you are one who partakes, then you’d like to know that every weekend, 
