A Howling Halloween in Downtown Cary

The Town of Cary, NC, where we live, has a major push on to re-invigorate the old downtown area, which is walking distance from our house.  One of the components in this campaign were some brand-new activities for children to celebrate Halloween.  They took place this evening, so my son and I walked down to check them out.

The fun started at the Herb Young Community Center, where they had pumpkin painting crafts in one room, and the entire gym area covered with games and bouncy houses for younger children.

They were also running a hayride from the Community Center up Academy Street to the new Cary Arts Center, about which I have written before.

The horses were beautiful, but this picture doesn't do them justice.

Note to the Town of Cary:  I think the hayride is a much better idea than the horse-drawn carriages you have been running at Christmas.  The Christmas idea is great, but the carriages are so small that they only hold a few families at a time, and the waiting time just gets to be too long.  The hayride can hold a lot more people, so the lines aren't too bad.

One brand-new feature this year was that some of the merchants in the downtown area stayed open for Trick and Treating--plus, many handed out special discount coupons as an incentive for the adults to buy something in the shops.
Note to the merchants:  A lot of children these days have nuts and peanut allergies.  So it is not a good idea to have a candy selection in which everything has nuts, which was the case in a couple of the places we went.

This was the day after Final Friday, so half of the studios didn't participate, which was a shame, because the owners all know my son and we wanted to show them his costume.  But the most happening place in the whole downtown shopping area was Chambers Art, a multi-faceted artistic facility that not only gave away candy, but had a wonderful Halloween village display and was even running a craft activity for children to do:

Chambers Arts really got into the spirit of the holiday, and Klara's Czechoslovakian restaurant had an appropriate outfit on its candy dispenser:

After stopping off at Ashworth's Village (where the downtown merchants are), the hayride continued up to the Cary Arts Center, which had all sorts of things going on.

There were classes where families carved clay pumpkins, blue grass music, scary (or not) Halloween stories, and even a Haunted House!

All in all, it was a fun evening of Halloween activities in Old Cary.  To be honest, most of them were geared to the younger-than-middle-school crowd.   The stuff at the Art Center was more for all ages, though, and it was nice, crisp evening to be walking around and enjoying the sights and the great holiday energy.

A New Addition to Final Friday

It was the final Friday last night, which is the occasion of the month Art Loop in Cary, NC, where we live. Final Friday has been enhanced the past few months with the opening of the new Cary Arts Center, which now participates.  But last night, we had not only CAC join in, but also an occasional participant and a brand new art gallery that has opened in downtown Cary.

We started at the Arts Center, which was bustling because the theatre was showing Once Upon a Mattress that night as well.  But the month's exhibit was also interesting; it consists of high-quality photographs of assorted old family heirlooms, accompanied by a short piece written by a poet about the significance of these antiques to the family of the descendants.  It was a great show to discuss with my son and his friend who accompanied us, because it made them consider how many stories there are associated with the things that we value, whether they are utilitarian, sentimental, or actually have monetary worth outside the family.

There is a commercial center along Chatham Street in downtown Cary called Chocolate Smiles after the  candy store of the same name located in that plaza.   They joined in the fun this month by staying up late and offering food and entertainment.  The chocolate store encouraged children to make art from jelly beans:

They served lovely food, including some empanadas and fried plantains from the nearby Cuban restaurant:

and quite a nice blues band that played as we ate and sipped and watched the sun set from the terrace above:

All of the Town of Cary buildings had the same displays as last Final Friday, so we didn't go to those buildings.   But we headed down to the heart of downtown Cary, where what did we discover but....

There is a NEW art gallery that has just opened in downtown Cary!  Apparently, only three days ago...

The gallery is named Emerge Fine Arts, and it is owned by a digital photography artist, assisted by her father and her Chinese Crested Hairless dog, whose name is Sophie:

The art was rather upscale, but very nice, including some wonderful glass, watercolor, and acrylic pieces:

So good luck to Emerge--we hope it is really successful!  It was great to add it to our Final Friday tour.

Of course, we also loved the art in our usual favorite galleries as well--Cary Gallery of Artists, the Russian Gallery, and the more-recently opened Chambers Art.    Lots of lovely pieces to see in all sorts of media, and many of the artists are available on that night to talk about their work.  So it is a great opportunity to enhance your education about contemporary art.

Cary Arts Center Is Dedicated!

What a great day today was!  It was the official opening ceremonies for the new Cary Arts Center, about which I've raved in previous posts.  There were art activities going on all day, from 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM, including free concerts, dance performance, theater improv, historical lectures, art exhibits, craft projects for kids, lesson demonstrations, artists working on  and talking about their pieces under development.  The dedication ceremonies themselves were at 2:00 PM, attended not only by hundreds of Cary residents, but by many Cary politicians old (such as long-time former Mayor Koka Booth) and new (present Mayor Harold Weinberg and most of the current Cary Council).

We walked up there about 1:00, despite a fairly heavy rain--but we weren't about to let that deter us!

Once we got there (admittedly, a little soggy), I caught up with my good friend Eileen, who was there with her two boys who are my son's age, and we watched some lovely performances by the Cary Ballet:

Then a dashing Town Cryer called us all to attendance to the dedication ceremony:

Many politicians and Town of Cary staff thanked the many people who had worked on the entire project, which began about 10 years ago, although the groundbreaking was about a year and a half ago:

Many people were acknowledged, and many expressed their delight about how well this vision for an integrated facility for the arts has been manifested.  It made me really proud to live in a community that recognizes the importance of supporting the arts, especially for children, in a time of financial hard times and an educational focus on standardized testing.  And it is wonderful that a site that had been a school for almost 150 years, and one of the first public education buildings in the area, has been saved to continue its mission of educating and uplifting the citizens for a long time into the future.

My favorite part of the ceremony, however, was related to the cornerstone, which was supposed to be placed in the theater flybridge that day, but had to be postponed due to the rain.  But in that cornerstone was placed a time capsule with items contributed by 37 Cary-based arts and cultural organizations.  Some were parts of the Town government or local educational institutions, some were discipline-specific arts organization, and some were related to ethnic minorities.  But it was so wonderful to see representatives from groups seeking to share the culture of African, Turkish, Hispanic, Indian, Nepalese, Sister Cities in France, Belgium, Ireland, and China, Philippine, and I've probably forgotten a few more.  It was wonderful to see such diversity in a Southern community that 50 years ago was basically a rural train stop outside Raleigh with 5,000 residents, pretty exclusively white and black.

The plans are for the time capsule to be opened up in 70 years.  So I may not be around then, but I certainly hope my son is.  I took a picture of him next to the cornerstone/time capsule that maybe he can put into the time capsule when they seal it for the NEXT 70 years!

We also ran into our friends Angie and Todd, who came from a beading party for their daughter's birthday, and later into my friend Bridget, whose all-too-old son was supposed to be playing as part of the Cary High School Marching Band (another old tradition in Cary) for the dedication, but which unfortunately for us got rained out (although I'm not sure the kids, who have been practicing for up to 12 hours a day for a couple of weeks now, minded the break).

All together, it was just a lovely, lovely day, full of great art, great friends, and a great accomplishment on the part of the Town of Cary.

Grand Opening Celebration for the Cary Arts Center This Saturday, August 13

I've raved about the new Cary Arts Center in an earlier post or two, but this weekend, area residents will have a chance to check it out for themselves.  The Town of Cary is holding its Grand Opening Celebration
from 9 AM - 5 PM on Saturday, August 13.  In addition to touring the building, the public can view art, dance, theater, and musical performances, try some adult mini-classes, or do some child-friendly crafts.

Town officials will hold a dedication and cornerstone ceremony in front of the building at 2:00 PM.  Then at 5:30, teens will show their videos created under the Cary Youth Video Project.  Later in the evening, there will be a free concert by Larkin Poe, two sisters who perform original folk, country, and pop music.

The following day, Sunday the 14th, artists who were involved with the design and renovation of the now 48,000 square foot building will hold a roundtable discussion to share with the public the process and decisions made in turning the historic Cary school into a state-of-the-art performance and art center.

When looking around, be sure not to miss the new sculptures adorning the lawns, which are part of Cary's Annual Public Art Outdoor Sculpture exhibit.  Ah, but that is the subject of a future post....