Changing the location of Raleighs 4th of July Fireworks (Fayetteville: appointed, theater)

[harley8869]

We moved out here from another state just over 3 years ago and so far I've been pretty disappointed in the fireworks situation here. 3 years ago we attended the fireworks at the fairgrounds. wasn't too bad. lots of "FREE" activities for family and kids (which is REALLY nice to have.) They have grassy areas and places to "camp out" if you wanted to and you could take in your own coolers and food and drinks for your own picnics. The 4th should be a day to celebrate and NOT have to spend an arm and a leg to entertain your family for the day.
There were plenty of Buildings for people to "hide in" to get out of the rain, (Which it did all 3 years we have been here. First 2 years was a drenching pour) and PLENTY of FREE parking. Over all a pretty decent setup. The issue with that year was everyone sat in the stands to watch the fireworks, just to have them end up going off BEHIND the stands so it was a rush to get down on the field.
Well the wonderful city of Raleigh decided to move the firework celebration to down town Fayetteville St. Now their WHOLE idea behind this is "lets draw business to the businesses downtown and get more $$ from the taxes" Well there is a big problem with this.
1- you have 10's of Thousands of people cramped into a few blocks. Rather then having a place to spread out.
2- parking is a joke, and in some case people have to park a couple of miles away and do ALOT of walking to and from their vehicles.
3- Not very much is "free" pretty much everything there has to be paid for, so no "cheap entertainment for families",
4- No place to "hide" from the rain when it starts to rain and pour,
5- Getting out of downtown Raleigh is JUST as bad if not worse (unless you parked 2+ miles away.)
5 - SEEING the fireworks are a joke. Because they are lighting them off at the end of the street and it is SO packed people are jammed in right on top of each other, having younger kids or being short makes it pretty difficult to get a decent view.

Now this year they tried to make it "better" But in many ways was worse. the "entertainment" and venders this year was even LESS then last year and was sorely disappointing. They also tried to fix the fireworks by doing 2 separate shows. All that really did is keep the mess that was already on Fayetteville street, still there with the crammed crowds and then have a MAD RUSH to 2 blocks over at the Amphitheater for the everyone to hurry and crowd in there (It still isn't big enough to enjoyably handle the amount of people watching fireworks. Many people were still standing room only.) It also startled and scared a lot of the crowd who were trying to fight their way out of the mess who didn't know about the "second show" and many people "jumped for cover" thinking there was a serious problem. The 1st show seemed to have more fireworks then the "2nd" show and again you had to pretty much be ON Fayetteville st in order to see those. The 2nd show was pretty slow (a lot of one at a time fireworks) and a bit of a disappointment. There also was not very much going on (other then music) to entertain families that were waiting at the Amphitheater.

Please take into account the poor hard working law enforcement we have trying to manage this event. Each one I have spoken to both this year and last, have been very upset over the new venue and want it changed back to the fairgrounds. because people are wondering all over downtown Raleigh, and there are more places for people to wonder about and getting to and from the events. there have to be more law enforcement to cover the event, Which means more have to work the holiday and less of them can spend it with their families. They have also stated it is much harder for them to manage and control the situation, where as in the Fair grounds it is much easier for them to control and monitor what happens, which means easier for them to keep us "safe". Now if the police are just as upset then there is a real issue here

Now the issue everyone has on getting out after the event. Seriously if your going to complain about the traffic, just don't go anywhere at all. Put 10's of Thousands of vehicles ANYWHERE for an event and you will deal with traffic. You don't want to "sit in a hot car waiting in traffic" then don't rush to leave. We go to these different events, take our sweet time packing up and just continue to hang out and enjoy our family as all of the other "Idiots" have to "hurry up and wait". Then we get in our car and get out with out much problem at all.

Now if Raleigh had set everything up MUCH better, had more "free" entertainment. and COMBINED the fireworks used, it would a have been a MUCH better show and experience.

For anyone who has been disappointed or want things changed in how Raleigh continues to do their 4th celebration, the only way you will be able to get these things changed and possibly Back to the Fairgrounds is to voice your complaint. Not just to each other and on here and other forums but to the city of Raleigh itself. Because of the massive complaints they received last year, they made changes to try and make it better. If more people complain to them this year then we can keep on them to continue to make the event a better situation for future years.

You can do this by contacting them by email at: Citymanager@raleighnc.gov

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

I'll be the first to admit the downtown Raleigh fireworks and festivities this year were lackluster and kind of a disappointment. That said,Ithink some people may need a reality check. I read in the N&O that having the fireworks downtown actually cost about $25,000 less than it did when it was at the fairgrounds and there are a lot of sponsors throwing a lot of money at the downtown event. Give that people still come out in droves I don't think sending a bunch of emails complaining is going to result in the event moving anytime soon

Regarding the parking. I've been to the event at the fairgrounds and downtown. I would be hard pressed to say the parking is superior in either location.

[lamishra]

i'm all for bringing them back to the fairgrounds, i'll be sending an email. thanks.

[CHTransplant]

A downtown just doesn't seem to be the best place for fireworks in my opinion. When I lived in north Raleigh we attended the fireworks at the fairgrounds most years and really enjoyed it.

[pitroad]

My concern with holding an event in such a congested environment (downtown) is what took place on Fayetteville Street between the period of the 2 firework displays. Several hundred people were involved in some type of incident, that the news outlets have yet to completely report, that resulted in a stampede. What would have resulted if that incident had taken place when so many young children were present ? When I watched the video of the fireworks event carried out on Friday night in Garner, in a open park type involvement (lawn chairs; picnics; etc), it was so obvious that what the city of Raleigh is doing is so wrong. They are risking the safety of families for the sake of downtown business. My thoughts are the city should give the holiday festivities back to the families of Raleigh and return the fireworks to the fairgrounds and perhaps someday to the a Dix Park scenario.

[Starglow]

From what I heard some kid was shooting off bottle rockets and sent everyone scrambling. Raleigh leaders seem to have forgotten that people are still skid-dish from what took place in Boston. The fairgrounds is a controlled environment space whereas downtown is not so security is much easier to manage at the fairgrounds given the volume of people attending the event.

We have not attended the fireworks events since they moved downtown and never will because I despise going downtown for anything except when called for jury duty.

[sowk09]

Next year go to Garner's 4th celebration (usually held on the 3rd). At a big park, free symphony music, fireworks, etc.

[DPK]

Yeah while I admire your passion for this, it's not going to happen. The city has made up its mind about where it wants to hold major events like this and a couple letters isn't going to change that.

With that said there are a couple things that people could do better imo:

• One is that if they are going to do multiple sets of fireworks, don't do them at separate locations. That causes people to scatter like crazy. If people are spending most of their time on Fayetteville Street, have the fireworks there.
  
  
• There needs to be better traffic control. More streets need to be blocked off and lights de-signalized such that there is a constant stream of cars going East-West on Hillsborough Street and North-South on Capital Blvd toward 40/440/540.
  
  
• In regard to rain and lack of shelter, that's totally not the cities problem. Weather happens. If anything you are more unsheltered at the fair grounds. Check the weather and bring a derpin umbrella.
  
  
• As for the "2 miles" distance problem of parking and getting to your car, that's probably an exageration. That's way outside the downtown footprint:
  
  
  
  Park in Seaboard Station or anywhere outside the R-Line loop and take that free bus. I saw that thing after the fireworks and there were barely any people on it. I would say though that there needs to potentially be park and ride locations setup to ferry people in and out sort of like the State Fair.
  
  
• I also can't take people seriously when they go all NIMBY and refuse to go downtown for anything. That's a shame because it offers some great things. I'm not saying you have to live there and love everything about it, but stop being so narrow minded. I'm sorry you can't park directly in front of where you want to go in a sprawling parking lot of asphalt. Ermurgurd exercise.

In any case, the 4th downtown is still a relatively new event for the city to deal with. I'd give them another couple years to iron things out. It's not going back to the Fairgrounds, sorry.

[goodbyesnow]

Originally Posted by Starglow

We have not attended the fireworks events since they moved downtown and never will because I despise going downtown for anything except when called for jury duty.

You despise going downtown except for jury duty?
I'd say that would be the only thing I'd despise about downtown!

[Poggly Woggly]

Originally Posted by DPK

It's not going back to the Fairgrounds, sorry.

Time will tell