AT&T Raleigh Winterfest

[RALNATIVE]

A posting that I saw in City Plaza tonight indicated that the ice rink will open on Dec.4th. There's also a website up that gives more information.

Raleigh Winterfest

[RALNATIVE]

Did anyone happen to make it downtown on the first night? Take any photos?

[Jones_]

I checked it out but did not skate. It was crowded even though the ice looked more like hard packed snow. There was a sledding area too that will be part of the weekly roundup of festivities. I think there is a weekly schedule online somewhere...

Combined with First Friday, there were tons of people out last night. Winterfest had a mini festival of its own with tents selling food and various things like t-shirts but other stores were open such a Crema, Spize and Isaac Hunters, that stretched the activity all the way north to the Capital. Also the live news had quite a crowd of people watching.

[ChiefJoJo]

The line was probably 50-75 people long at about 9pm or so, with no signs of letting up. Whoever came up with this idea at the DRA is a genius. Great idea to take an unused space and turn it into arguably the main attraction at City Plaza. Personally, I love these kinds of events because it draws a major cross section of people downtown... families, empty-nesters, couples, singles, etc. Anyway, the rain stayed away until later, so it all worked out for a great evening.

[orulz]

It was a beautiful Raleigh winter day today, chilly but not bad if you had on a jacket. There were quite a few people skating. City Plaza looked very lively. No lines to speak of, but Jimmy John's, Krispy Kreme, and Shish Kabob were all doing brisk business.

[RaleighRob]

Drove by the other night while I was trying to get most of my xmas shopping done downtown instead of the dreaded malls. (Note to downtown merchants...consider later holiday hours please! 6pm is too early if you want any of my $$ this season...but I digress.)

The area looked great....love the towers doing red and green!

I am surprised the City used regular xmas lights on the tree instead of LED's. (I LOVE them on my tree at home!) With all the talk about us embracing the technology for the towers, shimmer wall, even street lights...you'd think the tree would be a no-brainer. Oh well...minor nitpick.

[Spatula]

Would like to see LEDs with a better frequency range. Currently 'white' LEDs look very blue (and that's partly because they are). I don't think they'll look as good on decorations until they've fixed the problems with multi-color LEDs and can mix RGB light to make any color accurately.

[RaleighRob]

Would like to see LEDs with a better frequency range. Currently 'white' LEDs look very blue (and that's partly because they are).

[Spatula]

http://www.environmentallights.com/categories/1004_2362/soft--warm-white-led-christmas-lights

You're right. Apparently I live in a cave and these have been out for a long time. Guess I have some technological catching-up to do.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Here are a few pictures I took over the last week of the ice skating rink and City Plaza Area.

[RaleighRob]

Wait...when did they add the sled/slide? That's cool.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Wait...when did they add the sled/slide? That's cool.