Events across the Triangle set to draw large crowds for final weekend of summer
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a series of events across the Triangle this weekend.
NC State hosted a 919 event on Friday on the Centennial Campus, featuring music and food trucks.
"We are all about feeling good and feeling happy," said Matthew Farmer, Director of the Wolfpack Sound Polka Band, which is performing at the event.
The Wolfpack Sound Polka Band is comprised entirely of NC State students and alumni. Farmer said they looked forward to celebrating both the Triangle and their own culture.
"We have found tons of Polish people that have been here, but there hasn't really been a whole lot of ways to connect with their Polish heritage. So we're helping people bring that out," Farmer shared.
That appreciation is also at the core of the International Festival, set for Saturday at the State Fairgrounds.
"The mission has always been about bringing people together, providing a platform where we can provide cross-cultural exchange, celebrating culture, food, just the happy things, especially at this time where people are tense and on edge," said organizer Bearta Alchacar.
Alchacar expects about 100 vendors, a combination of food, retail, and exhibitors, largely from the Triangle.
"These people start here locally and then grow to open up their stores, open up restaurants," Alchacar said.
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For participating businesses, it also enables them to get in front of new audiences.
"Advertising doesn't buy you that one-on-one, the immediate feedback. I feel like people kind of tweak and listen to what the customer is saying more because they have that immediate reaction," Alchacar said.
In Durham, Centerfest is celebrating its 50th anniversary on Saturday and Sunday.
"Centerfest uses art to bring people together. It really is a way to build community and bring us all together, no matter where we're from or what we're interested in or what our politics are. It's a way to bring people together through art," Katie Wyatt, Executive Director of the Durham Arts Council, shared.
They are expecting 40,000 people across both days, with performances across several stages downtown.
"It's taking some really major artists and putting them on a street stage so that you have the chance to really engage with them right after the show, meet them, join their following, buy their music, support local talent," Wyatt said.
Organizers anticipate 20,000 people to attend La Fiesta del Pueblo in downtown Raleigh on Sunday.
"It's a moment to celebrate the pride, the existence, the resistance, and the legacy of the Hispanic community in North Carolina," said Veronica Aguilar, the Communications Director at El Pueblo.
Aguilar said she's excited to see the growth of the festival over the past 31 years, which has coincided with the growth of the area's Hispanic community.
"La Fiesta del Pueblo is a really good moment for folks to come together in downtown Raleigh to celebrate, to put aside kind of those fears, those worries, and have a day where they can try new food and see people they haven't seen in a long time," said Aguilar. "For the Latino community, it's a great moment to remember those traditions that they hold so tightly, either from their own home countries or if they grew up here in the US, to connect again to those traditions, that heritage. And it's a moment for the wider Triangle community, whose curious about the Latin American culture, whose curious about a different culture that's a neighbor to come out and to try new food, to check out all that the Latino community has to offer."
Fiesta Italiana North Carolina will also take place on Saturday from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. in Apex at Hunter Street and the Apex Town Hall Courtyard.
The annual event was founded by a small group in the Triangle in 2018 to celebrate Italian culture, music, food, wine, and more.
All of the above events are free to attend.
ABC 11 is a proud sponsor of La Fiesta del Pueblo.
