Capacity Crowd Enjoys WRAL’s Pops in the Park

WRAL-TV personalities and staffers greet the Labor Day weekend crowd at the station’s tent.

WRAL-TV’s Pops in the Park, an annual Labor Day tradition, dodged Ernesto’s rain and provided an evening of fun for families across the Triangle. The Sunday, September 3rd event celebrated the 50th anniversary of WRAL-TV and the 75th anniversary of the North Carolina Symphony.

A capacity crowd of 6,000 showed up to revel on Labor Day weekend. Gates opened at Cary’s Booth Amphitheatre at 4:30pm and the music began half an hour later. The early evening entertainment included the Raleigh Jazz Ensemble, which WRAL-TV Reporter Sloane Heffernan hosted on her inaugural appearance at the event. The United Arts of Wake County and Visual Art Exchange turned the sidewalks into art with the help of delighted children of all ages in crowd.

Children & parents patiently wait in line for a turn in the carousel moon walk.	The NC Symphony wows the crowd with their music during their headlining performance.
Children of all ages turn the sidewalk into a work of art with colorful chalk.	Tabor Bell (son of WRAL-TV’s Marian Bell) hands out balloons at the WRAL-TV tent.

WRAL-TV Anchor Bill Leslie stepped up to host the main show as the North Carolina Symphony took the stage at 7pm. Guest soloists Rozlyn Sorrell and Leonard Rowe joined the Symphony for a concert that captivated the crowd.

WRAL-TV not only brought the concert to the audience that came out to the Booth Amphitheatre, the station broadcast a one-hour program of the Pops in the Park on WRAL-TV on Monday, September 4 at 7pm and again on UNC-TV on Thursday, September 14 at 8pm. UNC-TV and WRAL-TV worked together for the production.