Apr

Mayor Announces Free Concert Series

Today Mayor Nancy MacFarlane announced a free concert series that will take place over seven Thursays at City Plaza. Here is the press release:

Raleigh’s newest free concert series, Oak City 7, kicks off May 31, 2012, in City Plaza on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. Admission is free to the public and the events take place from 5pm to 9:30pm every other Thursday, beginning the Thursday after Memorial Day, and ending the Thursday before Labor Day. There will be seven shows total.

OC7 features notable local and regional bands along with local and craft beers. There are three bands per event. The genres will include Americana, Indie Rock, Folk Rock, and Bluegrass.
OC7 does not utilize any taxpayer money and is 100% sponsor driven. The series will drive substantial revenue into the local economy encouraging attendees to visit local shops, bars, and restaurants before and after each event.

"Raleigh is a great place to live and work, and to attend concerts. This area is home to some of the most talented musicians in the world and Oak City 7 is a great showcase of this amazing talent. Oak City 7 helps stimulate the local economy without being a burden to taxpayers as it is funded solely by private sponsors," says Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane. Showcasing amazing local products, services, and artists is the foundation for Oak City 7, all the while providing the public with a comfortable and enjoyable free concert setting.

"We have some of most talented musicians and bands in the world right here in the Triangle," says Oak City 7 spokesperson Dave Rose. "Oak City 7 will feature the best of this amazing local talent pool."

The full line-up of artists performing will be announced on April 30, 2012 at OakCity7.com.
Oak City 7 dates:

May 31, 2012

June 14, 2012

June 28, 2012

July 12, 2012

July 26, 2012

August 9, 2012

August 23, 2012

Sponsors include: RA Jeffreys, Big Boss Brewery, Triangle Brewing Company, Carolina Brewery, LoneRider Brewing Company, Sweet Water Brewing Company, Brooklyn Brewing Company, Aviator Brewing Company, Starr Hill, Kona Brewing Company, Red Hook, Got to Be NC Agriculture, Pepsi, Red Hat, Johnson Lexus, Cheerwine, Stewart Engineering, Hardin Construction, Brooks Pierce Law Firm, and LGBT Center of Raleigh

For more information visit OakCity7.com

Downtownraleighrez1

At first I thought this was another April Fool’s post. Just what Raleigh needs, more dowtown concerts to keep everyone in good spirits and avoid real discussions about a lack of jobs, downtown housing sales, business closings, etc. etc. etc. There is so much artificial money being pumped into downtown, along with a seemingly endless random list of events, which collectively still provide no sustainable long-term benefit to the downtown community. Perhaps the downtown stakeholders could urge leaders to focus on attracting companies and then watch downtown grow. As it stands now, it’s the endless stories about a new restaurant replacing a closed restaurant, a new company taking an old company’s offices, a boring museum getting a facelift, and on and on and on. All the money and efforts to create a vibrant downtown are only leading to similar lackluster results. None of the traffic generated from the money being poured in is predictable or sustainable. Surely businesses will have tremendous traffic during a popular weekend event, and a new museum opening will bring customers, and so will people traveling for a convention. The problem is that companies can’t rely on two busy days and five slow days in a week. It’s hard to operate like that, i.e. The Mint. With hundreds of millions being spent to grow downtown, I hope the city can find creative solutions to bring long-term, predictable, sustainable business to the area. Random concerts are cool, but for all the hype, downtown Raleigh doesn’t even have a grocery store yet!!

Posted by Dana on April 25, 2012 | Tags: Music . | ( 1 ) Comment

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Mayor Announces Free Concert Series

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