After a year of construction, the Fayetteville Street Mall in downtown Raleigh will once again be open to traffic beginning Saturday, July 29, 2006. To celebrate the re-opening, an event dubbed Raleigh Wide Open, featuring a parade and fireworks among other attractons, has been scheduled, beginning at 6:15pm. CBC is playing a major role in Raleigh Wide Open, headlining celebratory events at each end of the mall.
WRAL-FM & WCMC-FM are sponsors for the opening parade which will feature WRAL-TV personalities Greg Fishel and Debra Morgan as emcees. The parade, which will start at 6:15pm, will contain floats from WRAL-TV, WCMC-FM & WRAL-FM carrying on-air personalities. Finally, WRAL-TV is sponsoring the big Fireworks Extravaganza at the end of the evening.
The parade will begin at the intersection of Morgan and Fayetteville Streets. The procession will turn left on Davie Street and end at the corner of Davie and Blount Streets. Mascots, antique cars and more will also be included in the parade.
All three stations will man booths at the event. A block party will be happening up and down the entire street. Over 2 dozen restaurants will sell samples of their food at booths, including beer and wine tasting. The reigning Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes will have a booth, among others. And street performers and two small bands will entertain until the main event begins.
The official opening ceremony, including WRAL’s Fireworks Spectacular will launch at 9:30pm.
