Come celebrate July 4th at North Hills this Friday. There will be games, music, a parade and even an appearance by the 2008 Mrs. North Carolina America, Maureen MacDonald. The event is free and open to the public. See below for some more details.

What: July 4th Celebration at North Hills

When: Friday, July 4 from 11:00am - 3:00pm

• Parade registration from 11:00 - 11:20am
• Parade starts at 11:30am

Where: The Commons lawn (across from Regal Cinemas)

More Details:

Parade:

The children’s parade will have prizes for the best decorated bikes, tricycles, wagons and costumes. Please decorate your child’s bike before coming to the event and arrive around 11:00am to register for the parade, which starts at 11:30. The suggested entry fee is one canned food item to help restock Wake Relief’s pantry.

Music:

After the parade, there will be music for people to enjoy. Guitarist Josh Long will go on at noon and Old Avenue will play at 1:15pm. Old Avenue is a jazz/funk/pop rock band made up of local high school stundents who recently won Lincoln Theater’s Battle of the Bands contest.

Other:

In addition to the parade and music, there will be a moon bounce and amusement park games for kids. There will also be a juggler, balloon artist, face painter and caricaturist for added entertainment. If you’re in the mood to shop, I’m told there will special holiday promotions at North Hills stores.

This should be a nice July Fourth celebration for friends and family. I may be at the beach on vacation, but if I’m in Raleigh, I’ll definitely be there.

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If you’re a big martini fan, you should check out Midtown & Bar 115. Every Tuesday is $5 martini night there. They’ve got a great bar if you prefer to be inside, or you can sit outside and enjoy the open air. Either way, it’s a pretty good deal for a martini at North Hills.

Have you ever been to Midtown & Bar 115? How was your experience?

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Story From WRAL.com

President Bush will arrive in Raleigh today at 4:30pm for a private event to raise money for Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory’s gubernatorial campaign. The fundraiser will take place at  John Kane’s home. Kane is the chairman and CEO of Kane Realty Corporation, which had led the redevelopment of the North Hills area in Raleigh.

According to WRAL.com, more than 100 people are expected to pay at least $4,000 to attend this private event.

Read the whole story here: http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/3076404/

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The Music

The Mardi Gras Band put on a good performance and when they took a break an emcee came out and encouraged people to come up front for some shag lessons. People seemed to be having a lot of fun and it was crowded, but not so much that it was uncomfortable.

The Luau

At around 8:30ish people started heading over to the luau at Mura. They had roped off an area outside Mura with tables, a Red Bull mini-bar, and a DJ who was spinning over by the fountain. There was a long line to get in, and the line wasn’t moving very quickly. But there was a girl passing out leis so this was a good distraction from the wait. We finally got to the front of the line and I found out that I’d mistakenly reported the price of admission and sushi. I’d heard it was $10, when it was really $15. But the money went to a good cause (Muscular Dystrophy Association) so I paid and went in.

We met up with the MyNC.com crew (see picture below), who were there getting the word out about their community website, which features sections for Raleigh, as well as other areas of North Carolina. I definitely think they’re doing some cool stuff with this, as it seems they understand the trend towards citizen journalism and user-generated news.

The Food

After talking with a few other friends and meeting some new people, we decided to investigate the food situation. Unfortunately there was no food yet (after 9pm). People had gathered by the one table where the sushi was going to be and were waiting to eat. Eventually they brought the sushi out but it took a while to get through the line to get food.

For the $15 admission fee you received two tickets, which were good for one plate of sushi each. I’m definitely glad I waited, as the sushi was excellent. The only things I would have done differently would be to get the sushi out earlier, utilize more than one table so the lines would be shorter and include some options for vegetarians — I’m not one, but I’ve come to accept them…I don’t make fun of them nearly as much as I used to

Overall it was a good event benefitting a great cause. For anyone else that attended the luau, what did you think?

The Pictures

See below for some pictures from the music and luau. Click the thumbnails twice to see the largest versions. You can also see these pictures and others on Flickr.

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Sponsors include Budweiser, Absolut and Red Bull. NBC-17 will be covering the event and doing some live video streaming, and I’ll be there taking pictures and video as well. Come out to the event and help support the MDA in their mission to fight neuromuscular diseases that affect more than a million Americans.

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Here’s a picture of the space where The Lassiter at North Hills will be built (construction has not started yet and I’m not sure when it will). The Lassiter will house 49 premium condominiums ranging from $490,000 to $2.5 million. For a few months now, the area has basically turned into a parking lot for construction workers in the area. On Friday, I counted 56 cars there. Yes, I know this is breaking news…

Also FYI - the upscale home furniture store Porto has closed. The owners cite the poor economy as a major factor in deciding to close the stores (there was one at North Hills and one at Eastgate in Chapel Hill).

How has the economy affected your financial decisions?

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Here’s how Cinelli’s describes Grandma’s Pizza on their website:

Thin crust, baked in a pan, litely topped with mozzarella cheese & Italian plum tomatoes. Sprinkled with Olive Oil, fresh garlic, basil and oregano. An Olde World Recipe that dates back to our Grandma and her Grandma, brought to NY by our mother and now brought here to NC by the Cinelli brothers.

The extra herbs and fresh ingredients give this pizza a great flavor. I highly recommend it.

Check out the video below to hear what Taylor thought about Cinelli’s and Grandma’s Pizza.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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***** TONIGHT’S SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO THE SMOKE/AIR CONDITIONS RELATED TO THE WILDFIRES IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA ****

It’s Thursday and you know what that means. The Midtown Music Shag Series continues tonight with a performance by Part Time Party Time Band over at the Commons from 6:00-8:30pm.

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If you’re curious about what this will look like, here’s some pictures to think about. Remember, they’re conceptual so this may not be exactly how things will look when they’re finished in 2010 or so. Click the pictures for larger versions.

In this first picture, the Hyatt Summerfield Suites is the building on the right. St. Alban’s is the first building on the left and The Cardinal (continuing care retirement community) is at the end of the green area at the far back of the picture.

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The second rendering shows the view from the reverse angle (coming from The Cardinal). The Hyatt Summerfield Suites is on the left. You can see that there will be retail spaces on the ground level in this building.

From both of these renderings, it looks like there will be exciting things going on in this area in the future.Thanks to Meghan at Capstrat for sending over these great renderings!

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The Hyatt Summerfield Suites Hotel at North Hills will have 140 rooms spread out over seven stories and 100,000 square feet. Other details and features include:

• full kitchens
• living area with a 32 inch flat screen TV
• separate bedroom
• complimentary full breakfasts
• free high-speed internet access
• 24-hour Guest Market with snacks and quick eats
• interior access to a fitness center and pool
• evening socials - Monday through Thursday.

Has anyone ever stayed in a Hyatt Summerfield Suites before? What did you think? And what exactly are the evening socials (and are they fun)?

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