Speed Street

[grodney]

I'm about to head down for my annual corn dog and funnel cake, so I'm bumping this thread for this little tidbit from the FAQ found here:

http://www.600festival.com/faqs.asp

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Q: What items are NOT allowed to be brought to the festival? <LI>A: The following items are NOT allowed to be brought into the event:

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[Charlotte_native]

I'm about to head down for my annual corn dog and funnel cake, so I'm bumping this thread for this little tidbit from the FAQ found here:

http://www.600festival.com/faqs.asp

"

Q: What items are NOT allowed to be brought to the festival? <LI>A: The following items are NOT allowed to be brought into the event:

.

.

[Batou]

Heh, when you go to that faq site and look at the where to park map, it is seriously outdated

http://www.600festival.com/parkingmap.pdf

[swampfox43]

I've seen what goes on at Speed Street -- they probably just don't want any evidence!

Gee, no pictures of Carowinds, and no pictures of Speed Street. THE TERRORISTS HAVE WON!!

[C_C_Planner]

I'm about to head down for my annual corn dog and funnel cake, so I'm bumping this thread for this little tidbit from the FAQ found here:

http://www.600festival.com/faqs.asp

"

Q: What items are NOT allowed to be brought to the festival? <LI>A: The following items are NOT allowed to be brought into the event:

.

.

[Raintree21]

Heh, when you go to that faq site and look at the where to park map, it is seriously outdated

http://www.600festival.com/parkingmap.pdf

Well, the first clue is that it's called "600 Festival." It's Speed Street now and has been for a while. That seems to be just an old, outdated map that was just never removed.

[Xss]

Well, I know Speed Street was more than one week ago. But since no one posted any pics here are some we took in case it could interest some people here!

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Well, yeah, I know: I remember reading that cameras were not allowed...But we thought we could try to sneak in with ours...And well, we saw a lot of people were taking there and we didn't have any problem at all with police or guards. So I sincerely don't know what was that thing about "cameras not allowed".

Anyway, here are the pics. No buildings, just people, street activity, and some of the stands that were displayed.

[monsoon]

Nothing says "Amerikun" like a 300 pounder in an XXL tee shirt stretched by body fat into a huge sign for an advert for a fast food drive-thru. Bonus points for the ripped off sleeves.

[dxartist]

Nothing says "Amerikun" like a 300 pounder in an XXL tee shirt stretched by body fat into a huge sign for an advert for a fast food drive-thru. Bonus points for the ripped off sleeves.

actually, the sleeves are rolled up. The bonus points should be for wearing that ridiculous Arby's logo on her head. I walked through SS just like any other office Joe during lunch, but passed on all that healthy food.

[grodney]

Interesting how the layout for Speed Street changes each year. This year it's focused to the South, and doesn't even extend north to Trade & Tryon. Really trying to integrate the HoF. I believe they tried that last year, but it felt pretty dead between Tryon and the HoF. Light Rail is also prominent on the map, although they failed to note the stop just off MLK.

http://www.600festival.com/map.aspx

The bird's eye angular tilt perspective is also interesting, instead of the direct overhead. Nitpick: Apparently they didn't get the memo about Bearden park, as the Poplar cut-through is still on their map.

[ah59396]

No offense to the fine folks of NASCAR, but can't wait to NOT make it out. That place is a mess every year. Crowds of heavily intoxicated young people, lots of fights. Frankly it just isn't my cup of tea.

[rugger62]

Also annoying is the fact that the map is 90 degrees off North/South alignment.

[HopHead]

No offense to the fine folks of NASCAR, but can't wait to NOT make it out. That place is a mess every year. Crowds of heavily intoxicated young people, lots of fights. Frankly it just isn't my cup of tea.

And that's different from so many other large events how? LOL.

[Temeteron]

And that's different from so many other large events how? LOL.

Rednecks don't know how to control themselves when they are drunk. Simple as that

[HopHead]

Rednecks don't know how to control themselves when they are drunk. Simple as that

Well, I'm not defending rednecks, but they aren't the ones who shot up Speed Street last year either. Bottom line is if you go to a race, football tailgate, a concert or even the Queens Cup you're going to find dumb, drunk and stupid people. It comes with the territory of large events.

[ah59396]

And that's different from so many other large events how? LOL.

I'd say it's different compared to say, Taste of Charlotte. Or even the Cinco de Mayo festival they had in Uptown. I'm honestly not bashing the NASCAR people, wasn't my intention. And I agree that the shooting was a very independent event from Speed Street itself. But I've been to plenty of Uptown gatherings and from my experience, this is generally the one with the most drunk people acting like they are looking for a fight.

Doesn't mean it's everyone or indicative of race fans, just my experience.

[grodney]

I walked through Speed Street yesterday.  How the mighty have fallen.  This thing used to be jam-packed with race teams and sponsor teams and free stuff and 3 giant stages -- blocks and blocks of it.  Now, almost nothing.  A block of crappy food vendors (corn dogs and hot beef and ribbon fries), a couple blocks of very sparse sponsor stuff, a couple kiddie bounce houses, and then two blocks of nothing to get down to the HOF where the single Coke Stage is.  Oh, plus the 300 S Tryon lot which was a shadow of its former self, having only a giant Chevy lot, plus lame displays from Geico and Nathan's and some tobacco thing.  The whole thing was really pretty depressing.

 

[MilZ]

I walked through Speed Street yesterday.  How the mighty have fallen.  This thing used to be jam-packed with race teams and sponsor teams and free stuff and 3 giant stages -- blocks and blocks of it.  Now, almost nothing.  A block of crappy food vendors (corn dogs and hot beef and ribbon fries), a couple blocks of very sparse sponsor stuff, a couple kiddie bounce houses, and then two blocks of nothing to get down to the HOF where the single Coke Stage is.  Oh, plus the 300 S Tryon lot which was a shadow of its former self, having only a giant Chevy lot, plus lame displays from Geico and Nathan's and some tobacco thing.  The whole thing was really pretty depressing.

 

 

NASCAR and country music was never my thing, but I did enjoy it almost every other year until they disallowed backpacks full of beer.  

[15895]

Yeah, it really was only food trucks along Tryon. I assumed it was just because it was Thursday,

[HopHead]

I always thought that Friday and Saturday were the big days for the Speed Street festival? My wife works uptown for one of the banks and today (as is the case every year), was advised to work from home today because of Speed Street. 

[teeg]

Sad to say, but as a Nascar fan and former Speed Street fan, I have to agree that the festival is far past its prime.  

 

If I were in from out of town, I would not bother unless I was staying downtown (which would be much less likely given the number of hotels that are now available near the Speedway / Concord Mills).  There's just too much going on in Concord, and much less Nascar-related stuff at Speed Street than in years past.  At some point, it's just a local festival, and I would not hold it against Coca Cola if they opted not to sponsor it in the future.   

 

Also, the new layout is terrible.  I understand that they wanted to tie in the Hall of Fame, but it just doesn't work.   

[JRNYP2C]

Totally agree.  I can remember back only a couple of years where we would leave our office around lunchtime and leave the Wachovia building, go all the way to the end - which was past the library by a block or two - and then back up the other side.  We would have BAGS of stuff (cereal, bar-b-que sauce, laundry soap - all the sponsor stuff) for FREE!  Now i lowered myself to buy a meager $9 gyro that was probably worth $2.50 at the most.  I can spend $9 at Showmar's and basically get a feast!

It really was kind of cool about 10 years ago.  But now, its almost an afterthought.  Like, oh yeah, Speed Street is this week.  There were about 5 or 6 different stages where musical acts were playing during the afternoon and evening.  Maybe in our post DNC world, this extraordinary event is so anymore.  It always struck me as odd that a city the size of Charlotte would (and still does for Restaurant Weekend and such) close off the major roadways throughout its downtown.  You can get away with that in NYC, Chicago, Philly, LA and such b/c there are so many other ways to get around.  But here?  It was more of a hassle.

Kind of a shame since NASCAR is still an important of the cultural fabric here in NC.

[ES Charlotte]

If I had to guess, I'd say the key factor is their failure to bring in multiple national music acts. It was basically a music festival featuring Nascar back in the day. Most everyone I talk to doesn't go for that reason now, myself included. It didn't used to be just country music either. Staind is a good example of a show that I happened to be at and there were people everywhere. See here I remember people packed all the way to Tryon St.. Parking garages were lined with people. It's nowhere near what it used to be.

[hambone931]

File under: I never thought this would be relevant. In 2005, I got a new video camera and recorded a night at speed street with some friends. I (very poorly) edited it and posted it on youtube. Three days grace and Styx were playing that night and it was PACKED. Actual speed street footage starts around the 1:17 mark.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD45R8s3svI