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Streetlife in the Triangle


Raleighsfinest

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There are usually some street vendors with carts in downtown Raleigh, at least when the weather is decent. Before the big construction project, you could see them at intersections along Fayetteville Street. Head to the bus station on a spring afternoon and you might see two seperate hot dog vendors, one on Wilmington and the other on Blount. Vendors set up shop at night near the bars on Glenwood and at City Market.

I'm not sure if this is the sort of street vendor the original poster was talking about, though.

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^^ there are three or four hot dog vendors downtown. My buddies from work and I usually visit Carol (the Hat Lady) a couple of times per month (I don't know if her hot dogs are any better than the guy we walk past to get to her stand, but she is a wiz at customer service, asks us about our kids by name, that kind of thing. Plus, her Mom makes the best lemonade in the world).

She says that her business-- as you can imagine-- has been seriously impacted by the construction. If she can hold on until May, things should start looking up.

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Street vendors go to where the people are -- Fayetville Street during lunch, the museums/General Assembly building area on warm weekdays and weekends, and Glenwood South and City Market on weekend nights.

The "hat lady" even used to sell hot dogs outside of Marzz when that was just about the only nightclub in town. But now it's an ice skating rink, so no need for that. The only problem is that if you don't like hot dogs, you're mostly out of luck. There was an ice cream vendor by the museums during the summer, but I don't know if they're still there.

There was a Ben and Jerry's ice cream cart in City Market 5+ years ago, but I don't know what happened to it either. About a year or so ago, there were territorial fights over who could set up shop where. The city council worked out some kind of deal, but I forget what it is. I think other than a yearly licence (maybe $50) the city is pretty hands off as long as the vendor does not harass passers by.

As far as other retail, brick and mortor stores don't like it because it gives the street vendor a huge advantage of not having to pay rent, not having to have consistent hours of operation, etc. I've seen someone who looked like they were selling avon products off a table on Martin between Blount and Wilmington, but other than that, nothing. I would *love* to have a market in the City Market parking lot, but they seem adamant at keeping those parking spaces for store customers. Maybe in Moore Square if nothing else is going on? I don't know what permits or whatever Artsplosure and other events need, so it may be cost and/or paperwork prohibitive. I have been collecting some older books, cds, etc. to box up and take out there once that happens. The fairground flea market is ok for what it is, but it doesn't add to the urban feel a market within downtown would. Does anyone know if artists would be willing to sell their wares, a la the Grennich and Camden markets in London?

Kind of a chicken and egg/ vendors and customers thing, and not sure where the city stands either.

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Good idea Finest

I have seen paintings of Moore Square that showed kiosks ringing the area...kind of pre farmers market. SInce the City operates the two squares some organized system of rental or licensing of spaces ringing the two squares might be cool.

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I like the ideo of street vendors, but I have also enjoyed the car-free zones of some cities that turn certain streets into an open area with cafes, vendors, shops, etc. Anyone else like these? Or is that just a fad that doesn't help the city?

Hey! I know! Let's turn Fayetteville Street into an outdoor pedestrian mall!

:rofl:

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Hey! I know! Let's turn Fayetteville Street into an outdoor pedestrian mall!
City Market already kind of qualifies. Although I think they allow vehicular traffic on the internal streets some days, on other days (events, etc) it's blocked off and dedicated to pedestrians. I think this setup works quite well, particularly with City Market's location right on Moore Square. A similar, small car-free zone on the interior of a downtown block could work. For example, Epicentre in Charlotte will have four buildings with a pedestrian plaza between them. Fayetteville Street was simply too large, too dark, and too overgrown, and a tragic case of terrible timing..
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I wasn't sure if cities were still doing those types of things. Back in Virginia, where I'm from, the city of Charlottesville had one as the center of it's downtown, which was QUITE lively when I saw it. Lot's of people were loafing around, I was impressed. I've even heard of a few cities that have turned several blocks into these, instead of just one strip or block, making it a neighborhood. I haven't heard of too many cities doing those anymore, it seemed to me it was a fad for a while that faded.

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I went to an outdoor pedestrian mall that was a couple of blocks long in Santa Monica back around New Yrs '01...even saw Ms. Congeniality in a really nice movie theater there. The pedestrain mall was doing great, had cafes, shops, tons of people, although Santa Monica Raleigh is not...

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  • 8 months later...

I do not believe Raleigh has any ordinances against street performers, provided they don't block the right of way and don't violate any other laws. So it is not a matter of allowing them. However, I agree Raleigh could make exactly what is allowed, what requires a permit, and what is prohibited much clearer. For example, see the Sidewalk Ordinance in Asheville.

But for now, there's nothing stopping someone from standing on a corner with a sax (or whatever) and playing.

There's a guy who plays the violin (fiddle?) who is alternatingly on Hillsborough Street and Franklin Street. He's pretty good, and I see him on the TTA bus all the time. Spoke with him a few times but forgot his name.

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  • 2 months later...

This afternoon when I walked down Fayetteville Street on the way back from lunch, there was a tenor sax, a sax, a guitarist, and a dude humming to himself. Aside from the last one, they were playing holiday-type music, and it was really neat. Added much to the urban-ness of the whole street.

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Something funny happen last night. I was leaving Sullivans and had parked beside the old person tower and the church behind it. I had a good wine buzz and heard a sax coming from an area between the two. I thought that was an odd place for a person to play and hold out the hat but I was feeling good as I just scored an expensive bottle of wine from a California company I do business with as a holiday gift and free dinner at Sullivans.

I thought I would give this guy a $1. I went up to him and he did not have an empty case or anything. He just laughed and said he was not playing for money, just practicing his scales. So it was just some guy playing over in a small park playing sax for the fun of it. He then went and played some Charlie Parker for me.

What a joyful season !!!!

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