6.15 Indy Week

RALEIGH | DURHAM | CHAPEL HILL

June 15, 2022

p. 13

Raleigh W Durham W Chapel Hill VOL. 38 NO. 24

CONTENTS NEWS 4 8

As police violence is in the spotlight again, Raleigh's council voted to increase the RPD budget this week. BY JASMINE GALLUP From cancelled drag queen story hours to towns refusing to sign on to a non-discrimination ordinance, it's been a grim Pride Month in parts of Wake.

BY MARIANA FABIAN

10 Hayti commemorates Juneteenth.

Contestants at this year's annual Beaver Queen Pageant in Durham, p. 58.

BY THOMASI MCDONALD

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 13 14 16 17 18 30 34 36 40 45

PHOTO BY MADDIE WRAY

An introduction to an annual contest that needs none. BY JANE PORTER A Q&A with Abby Lampe, cheese-rolling champion. BY MARIANA FABIAN A satirical look at Meta's potential regional arrival. BY HANNAH KAUFMAN A one-of-a-kind Triangle-themed crossword puzzle. BY RACHEL SIMON Eat & Drink Health & Body Local Color Out & About Services Shop

WE M A DE THIS P U B L I S H E RS Wake County

MaryAnn Kearns Durham/Orange/ Chatham Counties

John Hurld E D I TO RI A L

ARTS & CULTURE

53 You have one week to see this indie film. BY GLENN MCDONALD 54 An interview with the Relevators Sound System. BY AMANDA WICKS 57 Raleigh Little Theatre's sparkling production of In the Heights is the essence of community theater. BY BYRON WOODS 58 The Beaver Queen Pageant celebrates 18 years. BY ANA YOUNG

Editor in Chief

Jane Porter

60 Culture Calendar COVER Illustration by Jon Fuller

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Creative Director

Annie Maynard Graphic Designer

Geoff West

Jon Fuller

Arts & Culture Editor

Staff Photographer

Sarah Edwards Staff Writers

Jasmine Gallup Thomasi McDonald Lena Geller Iza Wojciechowska

3 Drawn Out

C R E AT I V E

Managing Editor

Copy Editor

THE REGULARS

Contributors Madeline Crone, Grant Golden, Spencer Griffith, Lucas Hubbard, Brian Howe, Lewis Kendall, Kyesha Jennings, Glenn McDonald, Nick McGregor, Gabi Mendick, Anna Mudd, Dan Ruccia, Rachel Simon, Harris Wheless

Interns Caryl Espinoza Jaen, Mari Fabian, Hannah Kaufman

Brett Villena

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BACK TA L K

Last week, Jasmine Gallup wrote about the state’s newly introduced, luckily bound-to-be-vetoed “Don’t Say Gay” bill and the impact it could have—and is potentially already having—on LGBTQ students and the teachers who care for and try to include them. Two readers, including one Raleigh city council candidate, James Bledsoe, got into a spirited exchange over the story, and the bill, on Twitter. We found their conversation enlightening and a little humorous and so are sharing it here.

INDY Week tweet: North Carolina’s newly introduced House Bill 755, or the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is part of a much larger conservative movement to crack down on LGBTQ rights. @JamesGBledsoe1: Except no part of the bill says you can’t say the word gay, just that you can’t sexualize children. @Mflevy39: A child with two moms or dads would not be able to speak to teachers about their parents if this passes. This has nothing to do with sexualizing anyone. @JamesGBledsoe1: That’s what school counselors are for. This would prevent the school teacher from taking on that role, not the child. I can’t think of a child that is mindful of current laws. The teacher could just notify the school counselor of the issue and schedule a meeting. Case closed. @Mflevy39: How very juvenile of you. @JamesGBledsoe1: That’s the proper chain of authority for the subject matter. Student notifies teacher, teacher notifies counselor, counselor notifies parents. That’s not juvenile, thats the way it should be. @Mflevy39: Under this BS law that would not be allowed.

@JamesGBledsoe1: Under this law, parents wouldn’t have to worry about teachers telling childeren that it’s ok to be the opposite gender when their biology says otherwise and that men can get pregnant.

Sounds like a fantastic deal. Your right, it makes me homophobic to not want kids to be introduced to sex at a young age. The only people that want to make sure kids are introduced to sex as early as possible are pedophiles. @Mflevy39: How is Susie talking about her two dads sexual in anyway? Should Peter, who has two moms, not be allowed to take both of his mom’s to a Mother’s Day celebration?

The only people talking about sexualizing kids are straight homophobes. @JamesGBledsoe1: The kids are still allowed to do that. Just not with the teacher.

Thank you for proving my point. @Mflevy39: Only in your mind.

Who’s right? This bill is such a mess it’s not really clear how it would be enforced, but it is clear that it is bad. That’s why we called it HB 2 2.0.

indyweek.com @INDYWeekNC @indyweek

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DR AW N O U T

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BY STEVE DAUGHERTY

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Raleigh

The Price of Policing As violence from the Raleigh Police Department is in the spotlight, a fight once again brewed in the city council chambers over how much money law enforcement should receive this year. BY JASMINE GALLUP jgallup@indyweek.com

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t a public hearing last week, a young Black mother was among more than 30 people who stood in line at the podium to protest a nearly $8 million budget increase proposed for the Raleigh Police Department.

Nique Williams carried her young daughter in her arms as she waited to give her two cents on the city’s annual budget.

“In the last five years, the Raleigh Police Department has brutalized hundreds of people,” Williams said. “Murder and violence against my community is common for the Raleigh PD. As a Black woman, it is extremely painful to see the unwarranted vendetta police have against Black and brown people.”

“As this body increases the police budget by the millions year after year, it becomes apparent that the city council members have a high tolerance for police violence and a reckless disregard for the safety of me and my loved ones,” Williams continued.

Williams’s one minute of speaking time quickly ran out, but her daughter got the last word before the two departed council chambers: “I want to be safe,” the girl, wearing a pink scrunchie in her hair, said.

The sincere plea from Williams and her daughter didn’t change the minds of council members, though. They passed the city’s $1.1 billion budget Monday, complete with the funding increase for RPD, in a 6-2 vote despite vehement protest from community activists and police officers. Council members David Cox and Patrick Buffkin were the two dissenters.

Cox said the budget didn’t do enough for public safety workers and spent too much on projects like the new city hall and community engagement bus. Buffkin said the pay raises for law enforcement “don’t meet the needs of the moment.”

In the fight over the Raleigh police budget, there were two camps. First, the com4

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munity activists, many of whom are Black and brown, who argued RPD’s budget should be cut to make room for a mental health crisis response unit and a raise for other city workers. Refund Raleigh, a local community group, led the effort in demanding the city divest from police and invest in community safety.

Second, there’s the Raleigh police and firefighter associations, who demanded pay increases amid severe staff shortages. In RPD, there are currently 168 vacancies, about 20 percent of the total force, according to Matthew Cooper, president of the Raleigh Police Protective Association (RPPA). The department has lost about 77 officers, 30 of them senior, since 2020, Cooper wrote in a letter to the city.

“Neighboring municipalities have prioritized funding for public safety, offering substantial raises and benefits to prospective applicants, while Raleigh has fallen further behind with no tangible commitments for compensation,” Cooper said during the public hearing. “Raleigh officers have left our department to these neighboring departments.”

The heart of the struggle was over how to keep people safe in Raleigh: with police or without police.

Police Chief Estella Patterson, who replaced former chief Cassandra DeckBrown in August, wrote in a statement that “an investment in police services is necessary in keeping Raleigh safe for all.” “[RPD] is committed to working in partnership with the community to reduce crime and build trust with all who live, work, learn, and play in our city,” Patterson said.

“The divesting of funds from the police may limit these efforts and impact services for those who need it most, specifically in areas where there have been increases in crime.”

RPD vehicle on Martin Street

PHOTO BY BRETT VILLENA

Police Violence The police department has undergone some reforms since 2020, including instituting a ban on chokeholds and strangleholds and creating the ACORNS unit—Addressing Crisis Through Outreach, Referrals, Networking, and Service—which is made up of six law enforcement officers and three social workers.

Unlike some other nonpolice teams, however, the unit responds to people in crisis only after they have interacted with traditional, armed police officers. After an interaction on the street, an officer may call in the unit to help someone connect with resources like shelter and counseling.

With such modest reforms, it’s unsurprising police violence has continued. Three years after Raleigh police shot and killed Soheil Mojarrad, a man with mental health challenges, officers shot and killed Daniel Turcios, a man who was walking away from a rollover traffic accident.

Just four months later, in May, officers shot and killed another man, Reuel Rodriguez-Nunez, after he threw flammable objects at police vehicles. Body camera footage shows Master Officer P.W. Coates shouting “Do it! Do it!” at Rodriguez-Nunez, who may have been attempting suicide by cop.

Rodriguez-Nunez’s brother, Jasiel Rodriguez-Nunez, said Friday his brother was experiencing a mental health crisis and officers failed to handle it appropriately. He and local activists—including Dawn Blagrove and Kerwin Pittman of Emancipate NC—called for RPD to fire Coates,

revoke his law enforcement certification, and remove his pay while he is placed on administrative leave.

“Individuals were de-escalating the situation, but yet he chose to escalate the situation and essentially provoke and bully somebody having a mental health crisis,” Pittman said during the news conference Friday. “If someone who was having a mental health crisis and standing on the ledge of a bridge about to jump, this was akin to this officer running over there and telling him, ‘Jump, jump! Go ahead, do it! Jump, go ahead, do it!’”

Emancipate NC is also demanding that every RPD officer undergo de-escalation, crisis intervention, and character training.

Blagrove also joined Refund Raleigh’s calls to defund the police and establish a nonpolice crisis response team.

“Master Officer P.W. Coates … lusted for any pretext to murder a mentally unstable man with suicidal ideations. ‘Give me the go-ahead,’ he said. This murderer is now on leave with pay from Raleigh Police Department,” Blagrove said during the public hearing.

“Instead of paying killer cops and increasing the city police budget, which is the single largest budget allocation, choose to invest in real safety. You have done what is easy, now do what is right.”

Following the recent uptick in police violence, the department is now considering a new policy to de-escalate situations before officers resort to use of force. The policy would include more training for officers with the goal of reducing the frequency and amount of force used by police.

But activist Ajamu Dillahunt, who’s been keeping a close eye on the two fatal shootings carried out by the RPD this year, argues that the city needs to cut ties with a broken police department and look for other solutions.

“The police cannot be a container for the things we need in order for our communities to thrive,” Dillahunt says. “The de-escalation that has (supposedly) been attempted is just not adequate. The institution is deeply flawed and has a history of racist and brutalizing tactics.”

Refund Raleigh’s demands Refund Raleigh proposed the city council invest in a crisis response program similar to Denver’s Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, which responds to nonviolent 911 calls instead of police officers. In the two years since the STAR unit started, mental health clinicians and paramedics have responded to more than 2,700 calls, The Denver Post reported.

They’ve helped people experiencing homelessness, people who are suicidal, those who have mental health illnesses, and people using drugs. They’ve connected people with shelter, food, and resources, all with zero arrests and no police violence. In light of the program’s success, Denver city officials are now expanding the program with hopes they can respond to more than 10,000 calls a year.

“Denver’s program has been so successful because it’s independent, it’s been able to go directly to people in crisis,” Dillahunt says. “The way ACORNS functions is that it has to get approval from the police and it’s coordinated through them. So the police have the final say. We believe [an independent crisis response unit] will keep our communities much safer.”

Refund Raleigh also proposed the city raise wages for city workers to $22 an hour, citing studies that show raising the minimum wage reduces crime. A 2016 White House study by the Council of Economic Advisers found “higher wages for low-skilled workers reduce both property and violent crime, as well as crime among adolescents.”

Raleigh’s current minimum wage for workers is $13.76 an hour, $4.60 below the city’s living wage for an adult with no children, which is $18.36, according to calculations by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For a single adult with one child, the hourly wage they need to live normally climbs to nearly $36.

Economic justice is a key factor in reducing crime and violence, Dillahunt says.

Much crime happens because people are

doing what they can to survive in a world where they don’t have the resources to support themselves or their family, he says.

“When people don’t have what they need to survive, then they will do things to get what they need. When people have what they need to survive, that prevents crime,” Dillahunt says. “The city is constantly getting more expensive to live in, but the wages for people are not changing. When people have housing, jobs, quality education, and quality health care, the world is a better place.”

Higher wages for city workers will also help improve neighborhoods, parks, and infrastructure, and help grow programs like summer youth camps and afterschool tutoring, Refund Raleigh argues.

The Raleigh Police Protective Association’s demands Meanwhile, Cooper and other police officers argued the only way to keep Raleigh residents safe is to keep the police department fully funded and staffed, with additional funding this year to help attract qualified law enforcement officers.

“The rise in violent crime in our city is becoming impossible to ignore,” Cooper said during the public hearing. “Raleigh is running neck and neck with Durham in the number of homicides this year. Staffing shortages make patrol operations nearly unmanageable. The department is being forced to pull resources from other areas to supplement voids in service. When this happens, everyone suffers. The problem is not going away.”

Since the start of this year, 20 homicides have been reported in Durham, only one more than the 19 homicides reported in Raleigh.

The Raleigh City Council has steadily increased the police department’s budget over the last five years, from $97 million in fiscal year 2016–17 to $117 million in fiscal year 2021–22, to $124.5 million this year.

That’s an increase of nearly $8 million, or about 7 percent over last year.

The budget includes $545,600 for police cars and the replacement of aging equipment, $300,000 for a new digital evidence storage and tracking system, $295,000 for improvements to police vehicles, and $275,625 for a onetime boost to contractual services for the department’s promotional process.”

The budget also includes $100,000 for the Raleigh Youth Summit and $6,000 for training on crime prevention through environmental design.

The biggest chunk of funding, however—about $5.5 million—is going to a 2

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June 15, 2022

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percent cost-of-living raise for all full-time department employees, a 3-5 percent increase in merit pay, and 18-51 percent increase in starting pay for police, depending on the position. Rick Armstrong, of the RPPA, has said the city’s plan overlooks experienced officers.

Armstrong and others instead asked for a 10 percent raise for officers across the board, including detectives and sergeants, plus a 3-5 percent raise for lieutenants, captains, and majors. Police also asked for the ability to be paid overtime instead of earning days off, to help with staffing shortages.

The association’s proposed pay raises would cost between $5.3 million and $5.5 million, about the same amount of money the city is currently proposing to spend on raises, city staff wrote in a memo. The association’s proposal for overtime pay would cost the city an additional $3.3 million, according to the memo.

The council ultimately didn’t meet officers’ demands. Buffkin brought a motion on Monday to further increase law enforcement pay by raising the tax rate by an additional half cent, to 2.5 cents total. The motion failed with only Buffkin and David Knight voting in favor. Knight said Monday that Refund Raleigh’s public comments were “inaccurate and inappropriate.”

“They were egregious and they were over the line and I apologize to our public safety workers and first responders for not speaking out [during the public hearing],” Knight said.

It’s notable that during this year’s budget process, the council considered the RPPA’s demand and ignored Refund Raleigh’s proposal. Although the council didn’t further raise officer pay, officers entering the department this year will receive higher wages than ever. Council members also voted to put excess money in the budget towards officer raises next year, to ensure they a receive a minimum 10 percent increase over a twoyear period.

But will better-trained, better-equipped, and better-paid police officers really keep Black and brown people safe? History suggests not.

Even if the RPD were to adopt more aggressive reforms, there’s been little evidence in other cities and towns that anti-bias training, community policing initiatives, or de-escalation policies work to reduce police violence.

Raleigh’s own history of violence and reform is itself a record of failure. A new police chief hasn’t helped. The police advisory board, created two years ago, lacks the power to make real change and is now completely symbolic after two members resigned last year. Shootings keep happening.

“We’re in a unique time,” Dillahunt says.

“The tide is shifting and people are seeing it for themselves … why money should be taken away from the bloated police budget put into social programs.” W 6

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A Breakdown of the Police Budget ADMINISTRATION: Administrative employees support the work of the police, including through IT work, personnel recruitment, training, storing, and cataloging evidence, liaising with the court, and maintaining police vehicles.

Nine new positions $27.7 million $30.9 million DETECTIVE DIVISION: This division is made up of detectives who investigate and solve crimes and includes units to address homicide, drugs and vice, financial crimes, gangs, and family violence. It also includes a youth and family services unit.

One fewer position $24.1 million $25.8 million SPECIAL OPERATIONS: This division is made up of people who provide a specialized response to field situations and emergency incidents, as well as who oversee special events. It includes the Crash Reconstruction Unit, Traffic Enforcement Unit, Canine Unit, Mounted Unit, Animal Control Unit, and Special Events and Planning.

Two new positions $9.8 million $10.3 million

CHIEF’S OFFICE: People in this office help oversee public affairs, community policing, finance and budget, and internal affairs (investigations of officers who have complaints lobbied against them).

One fewer position $3.7 million $3.9 million FIELD OPERATIONS: This division is made up of officers to patrol the city and respond to calls. It also includes the FLEX Team and Watch Commanders.

Nine fewer positions $51.2 million $53.4 million

EXPENDITURES BY TYPE: Personnel:

$64.6 million

$67.3 million

Employee benefits:

$30.3 million

$33.9 million

Operating expenditures:

$15.8 million

$17.1 million

Special programs and projects:

$3.2 million

$3.6 million

CITY OF RALEIGH GENERAL FUND SPENDING BY DIVISION Infrastructure (43.7%) Police (16.5%) Fire and emergency communications (11.6%) Parks, recreation, and cultural resources (8.1%) City daily operations (4.9%) Transportation (4.5%) Convention center (3.7%) Planning and development services (2.9%) Housing and neighborhoods (1.8%) Finance (1.2%) City officials (0.9%) Equity and inclusion (0.2%) Raleigh city council members approved the city's annual budget Monday. The budget for the Raleigh Police Department, totaling $124 million, is the second-largest piece of the $1.1 billion plan.

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Wake County Performers from the House of Coxx PHOTO COURTESY OF RAAFE PURNSLEY

Hurt Pride From the Holly Springs council’s refusal to make a Pride Month proclamation to drag queen story hour events canceled in Cary and Apex, Pride Month for the LGBTQ+ community is looking bleak in parts of Wake County this year. BY MARIANA FABIAN backtalk@indyweek.com

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ast year, the House of Coxx, a drag collective based in the Triangle, planned a family event to take place at the Cary Theater located in downtown Cary for Pride Month, scheduled for April 1. Raafe Purnsley, a member of the House of Coxx, says he was extremely excited to finally introduce Cary to drag, especially to those who had had no exposure to it before.

“We were going to read and talk about the history of drag in the LGBTQ community. [The event] was really to introduce families to drag in a more in-depth and genuine way,” Purnsley says.

Drag queen story hours are family events that are hosted by drag queens who read books to children.

Purnsley says he had intended for it to be family-forward and even modeled the drag queens’ performances around some Disney songs that the kids would recognize; “Surface Pressure” from Encanto was on the set list.

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Days before the event, Purnsley received a message out of the blue informing him that the theater show was no longer happening (the Town of Cary owns the Cary Theater and events are administered by the town’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources).

Some Cary locals, including Emanuela Prister, a lawyer active with the Wake County GOP, had complained. On March 16, Prister sent a strongly worded email to Cary town manager Sean Stegall about the use of “derogatory language” in the queens’ stage names, arguing that the names referenced body parts and sex acts and were inappropriate for children.

“It is in fact grooming,” the email stated. “It is criminal in nature, and it is nefarious and not acceptable in a civil society.”

In his response the same day, Stegall said he was not aware that the theater had been rented for the event and that he “decided to terminate the show based up [sic] the use of vulgar language and it’s promotion to children.”

“While the Town supports and wants to encourage diversity in its offerings certainly not in this form or manner,” Stegall wrote. He did not respond to a request for comment from the INDY. Following the cancellation of Cary’s event, more Triangle locals started harassing and sending violent threats to the organizers of Apex Pride, according to Purnsley. A drag queen story hour scheduled this month was originally canceled for Apex Pride, too, due to homophobic backlash from some residents. Equality NC stepped in to sponsor the event and took over the annual Apex Pride Festival, and the story hour went on as planned this Saturday at Apex Pride.

Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) North Carolina chapter leader Mary Elise says she knows how much kids love these events and how significant drag queen story hours are for them.

“Some kids just love it because it’s another story time, but for other kids, it’s a life-changing experience,” Elise says. “They need to see this representation … whether it be someone with the same skin color as them or someone who might present their gender differently …. There are so many different ways that we represent people in our story hour and our stories.”

Elise says drag queen story hour isn’t just about talking to children about Pride or LGBTQ+ issues. On the DQSH website bookshop, recommended booklists include various sections not solely focused on LGBTQ+ pride. In fact, some of the lists involve themes such as self-expression, what makes a family, and the amplification of Black and brown voices.

Unfortunately, the cancellations of these story hour events were not the only acts of discrimination occurring across Wake County during this Pride Month.

In Holly Springs, first-term Republican mayor Sean Mayefskie refused to make a proclamation for Pride Month and refused to join Wake County and other municipalities in enacting a nondiscrimination ordinance (NDO) for its residents.

Carrie Randa, a resident of Holly Springs and 2021 town council candidate, says she reached out to Mayefskie in April to ask if Holly Springs would be signing onto the NDO and issuing a Pride proclamation. Mayefskie didn’t engage much with Randa, but he did send her one response stating, “I am aware of the LGBTQ+ community,” and nothing else.

“I sent statistics on why I thought [a Pride proclamation] was important, especially for LGBTQ+ youth,” Randa says.

“A lot of the statistics were about mental health impacts, suicide rates—all sorts of things to show why this proclamation is important for our town.”

Randa continued following up with Mayefskie and included screenshots of hateful comments left on a Pride event Facebook post that was scheduled to take place in neighboring town Fuquay-Varina in the correspondence. The mayor responded that he didn’t think a proclamation would

Performers from the House of Coxx

PHOTO COURTESY OF RAAFE PURNSLEY

curb hate speech but said that he is adamantly against it.

Mayefskie did not respond to requests for comment from the INDY. Randa started a petition on May 26 to see if she could convince the town’s leadership that Holly Springs residents want to be considered inclusive and welcoming. Randa received more than 500 signatures and planned to present the petition to the town council during its June 7 meeting and demand an explanation as to why the town wouldn’t issue a Pride proclamation.

Before the town council meeting took place, on May 31 Randa and a town council member, Kristi Bennett, had a meeting to discuss the Pride proclamation and NDO. Randa says they didn’t reach an agreement, but she left the meeting feeling like it was a good conversation.

But on June 5, Bennett made a Facebook post about refusing to make the proclamation and told her followers to come rally against Randa at the town council meeting.

“It would do a lot for our town to see one or more residents speaking on the opposite side of the issue,” the post read. “If you’re willing to take a moment and write an email to the mayor and council in support of NOT adopting the wake county NDO or declaring June Pride month in holly springs, I know myself and others would probably appreciate the support. Thank you.”

Bennett did not respond to the INDY’s request for comment.

“It’s a little embarrassing, I guess,” Randa says. “In 2022, and we are still fighting this battle.”

A livestream from the June 7 Holly Springs council meeting shows Randa and several others speaking about why a Pride Month proclamation is much needed. Speakers ranging from young people to longtime resi-

dents of the area said they were disappointed, angry, and upset that the council would not issue the proclamation.

“In this inaction, one can only conclude that Holly Springs has decided that some of its most vulnerable citizens are just not worth the effort and don’t require the same protections afforded to everyone else,” Randa told the council. “Pride Month is meant to acknowledge difference, promote acceptance, and show and welcome diversity.”

Outright homophobia is something that Purnsley says he has experienced before, but he says it is ridiculous that it is still occurring in the Triangle in 2022. He says he also didn’t anticipate this kind of backlash or locals’ response to the planned story hours because the events had, in the past, been welcoming and joyful events for children and adults.

“It was not lost on me, the picking and choosing that this community continuously does, every year, when it comes to the ‘protection of our children,’” Purnsley says. “Specifically, with the reality and the threats that real children in schools are facing … gun violence, food insecurity, and inaccessibility to school supplies.”

Elise says she worries about new initiatives from lawmakers targeting the LGBTQ community, such as the so-called Parents’ Bill of Rights, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. She says proposed legislation like that frightens and angers her.

“It worries me that children out there will identify with what you don’t want talked about at school,” she says.

But in spite of the backlash in some of the more conservative corners of Wake, Pride events go on as planned— and proudly—in Raleigh, Durham, and Orange Counties. W INDYweek.com

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Durham

A Shining Light For the second year in a row, Juneteenth in Hayti promises to be a memorable commemoration and celebration. BY THOMASI MCDONALD tmcdonald@indyweek.com

T

he theme for Durham’s second annual Juneteenth, “Keeping the Fire Lit,” is inspired by a monument that honors the former Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing that first opened in 1901 in the Hayti District.

Angel Iset Dozier, one of the Juneteenth organizers and founder of the nonprofit Be Connected, which addresses inequities in communities, says the theme resonates with the Lincoln Hospital Monument in that it recognizes “how rapidly the city of Durham is changing.”

“And we want to emphasize the story of Hayti as a beacon, shining light on a more equitable vision of Durham as a city that resists forms of renewal that do not serve all of Durham across intersections,” Dozier says.

The nearly seven-foot-high granite obelisk topped by a large metal oil lamp sits on the verdant, oak-tree-shaded lawn in front of the current Lincoln Community Health Center. The memorial, erected in 2005, shares its space with a commemorative plaque in a curving, hourglass-shaped area defined by small white and brown rocks dotted by larger, smooth black rocks.

“It’s known in the community as the ‘genie lamp,’” Dozier says. “You rub it three times and make your wish.”

This week’s celebrations at Hayti are spearheaded by the nonprofit Village of Wisdom (VOW), a Hayti-based, education equity nonprofit that works to eliminate racism in the classroom. VOW held its first Juneteenth event at the Hayti Heritage Center in 2019 and partnered in 2021 with Be Connected, which curates the Fayetteville Street Corridor Fellows Project “LIVE! Hayti’s 3rd Friday Art and Business Walk.”

This year’s celebrations have been expanded to include partnerships with Spectacular 10

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Magazine, the state’s representative with the National Juneteenth Committee, and the Bragtown Neighborhood Association.

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rban sprawl will take on a new meaning this weekend.

Friday’s events along the Fayetteville Street corridor will take place at the Hayti Heritage Center, the historic Algonquin Club, College Inn, and the W.D. Hill Recreation Center area in the 1300 block of Fayetteville Street, according to a press release.

On Saturday, the Golden Belt campus in East Durham will feature music and messages from the National Juneteenth Committee, hosted by Spectacular Magazine. On Sunday, Spectacular will host a barbeque cook-off.

One could ostensibly grab a barbecue plate on Sunday afternoon and then head over to a gospel festival in Bragtown, the oldest African American community in the state, which was founded by formerly enslaved people who toiled at Stagville plantation.

The Bragtown Community Association will host its second annual Juneteenth, themed “INSPIRATION,” at Lakeview Park on Dearborn Drive starting at two p.m.

Dozier notes that last year’s event in the Hayti community celebrated the presence of Erzulie, the Haitian Mother Mary and goddess of love, whose veve (a religious symbol) has adorned the steeple of the Heritage Center (formerly the church) for 130 years. It also celebrated the Haitian veve for Papa Legba, the “spirit of the crossroads” who facilitates communication, which sits atop the William H. Robinson Science Building on the NC Central University campus.

The monument honoring Durham’s former Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing PHOTO BY THOMASI MCDONALD

Legba sitting atop the science building, which was built in 1939, does not appear to be a happenstance occurrence. Both veves can be seen simultaneously while standing in front of the home of NCCU founder James E. Shepard. The old church steeple appears to sit in the middle of Fayetteville Street, nearly a mile away.

With the church’s completion in 1891, roughly 90 years after the Haitian revolution, one can only wonder if community leaders during that period were trying to transmit a message of self-sufficiency to future generations.

D

ozier says this year’s theme is apt: despite the broken promises of urban renewal and the threat of gentrification, “Hayti belongs to the Black community.”

“It’s important that we continue the legacy,” she says.

The nursing school, which closed its doors in the 1970s, is yet another institution that succumbed to the broken promises of urban renewal in the historically Black neighborhood and its early residents, whose community resilience and enterprise in the face of Jim Crow won the admiration of W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, two titans of civil rights who rarely agreed on anything.

Juneteenth is the nation’s oldest celebration commemorating the end of slavery.

Historical records indicate not all former slaves in all parts of the country were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, such as those living in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas. But freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were freed by executive decree and

the day came to be known as “Juneteenth”

by Texas’s newly freed people.

Dozier calls the holiday “a significant event” because “it represents the ultimate microcosm of not getting information on time, the ultimate afterthought, especially in the Hayti neighborhood.”

Organizers of Durham’s Juneteenth celebrations say it’s well past time to move beyond the symbols and instead fight for things that are much more substantive in a community that’s now threatened by gentrification.

The three-day event, which begins with the ongoing Third Friday at the Hayti Heritage Center and will feature the short film Hayti Stories, a vendors’ marketplace, spoken word performances, visual art, live jazz and hip-hop, dance, and drummers.

Dozier says it’s about using art as a vehicle for change and to promote healing in a once-vibrant community that has been broken. However, she adds that the celebration will also emphasize the importance of activism, especially among the community’s young people. The Hayti celebration will include a youth artists panel and feature the work of seven youngsters.

The celebration will also focus on past efforts by community elders to sponsor youth activities such as the near-legendary Algonquin Club, a “social club and a community center, primarily for the African American ‘elite’ of Durham and Hayti,” according to Open Durham. The club was organized in the 1920.

According to writer Dorothy Phelps Jones, the Algonquin Club “voted to become a part of the Algonquin Tennis Club, which was the older organization and emphasized social growth as one of its primary objectives. It was the group that brought Althea Gibson at the height of her fame as a tennis champion and bragged of Arthur Ashe as one of the youngsters who played on their tennis courts—‘the bourgeois has arrived.’”

Dozier points to another little known fact about the old Algonquin: young people, with the help of adult members, built go-karts that they raced at soapbox derbies on a Jim Crow “chitlin’ circuit” but also nationally in integrated events during the 1930s and 1940s.

A 1963 story in a midsummer edition of The Carolina Times extolled the racing prowess of 15-year-old William “Little Willie” Bowman in a story headlined “Durham Has Its Own ‘Fireball Roberts’: New Derby King.”

The event organizer says the go-karts were part of a sports mecca in the community that included the W.D. Hill Recreation Center, Hillside Park, the old location of Hillside High School, and the

Algonquin Club. The youngsters in the community were also supported by community businesses, including the nowclosed College Inn and Scarborough & Hargett, one of the nation’s oldest Blackowned funeral services.

Dozier says there is a spiritual kinship between the old go-kart kids and today’s youth who ride their motorbikes along the Fayetteville Street corridor on Sundays.

“These young men are often criminalized for riding, but they actually have strong principles and significant cultural influence,” she explains. “One group calls themselves ‘Wheels Up, Guns Down’ because, while they are experiencing joy and being themselves, they are also reminding us of our own cultural abundance.”

Dozier also points to last year, when the city announced plans to demolish the Wheels Family Fun Park skating rink in East Durham that’s been closed since 2020 and replace it with a state-of-theart aquatics center and a park. Durham’s youth responded by circulating a petition and collecting 1,100 signatures requesting the skating rink be included in the plan. The petition drive was led by youth fellows with the Fayetteville Street Corridor. This week, the 9th Street Journal reported that city council members were receptive to a multiracial group who requested that the skating rink, long a safe space for marginalized youth, be preserved and renovated.

“This is how the city of Durham can be held accountable,” Dozier explains. “Partner with the citizens of the city, and well you should be.”

Stories are at the heart of the Hayti District’s healing and activism, with “the concept of memory as a way to heal and recall the codes and dreams of the ancestors,” Dozier says.

Dozier says the community’s blight was caused by the city and that its residents never received reparations from the misnamed urban renewal plan that demolished hundreds of homes and businesses to make way for Highway 147.

“We don’t have the capacity to sustain things,” she says. “There’s a reason for all of the nasty attention and crime. We are at overcapacity and our people are tired of always having to turn something out of nothing.”

Despite the obstacles, Dozier alludes to the Juneteenth theme.

“The lamp reminds us of fire and light, powerful symbols for Black communities, particularly in times of darkness and stagnation,” she states in the press release. “We come from a place of cultural abundance, we build upon what is already here.” W INDYweek.com

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2023

NEW FOR !

3 2 0 2

Best of the Triangle IS GOING YEAR-ROUND.

Beginning in the new year, “Best of the Triangle” will become a year-round feature of INDY Week. Each county will vote for their favorites, and the winners will go head-to-head for the title of “Best of the Triangle 2023”—stay tuned.

For queries and promotional opportunities, please contact sales@indyweek.com 12

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W

BEST OF the TRIANGLE 2022

e don’t need to tell you, dear INDY readers, what’s the best of the best in our beloved Triangle. Every year, for the past two decades, you’ve told us the best restaurants and bars, yoga studios and hair salons, museums and preschools, and so much more, and this year, 2022, is no exception. You’ve told us who’s the best of the best in 344 categories ranging from businesses and service providers to politicians and Twitter feeds, websites, and radio stations across Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties. Thank you for nominating and voting for all of your faves! Our many finalists and winners will display our signature “Best Of” star decal in their business’s windows with pride. Please take some time to read our staff’s write-ups on our favorites of your favorites.

We here at the INDY think the Triangle is the best place to live in the country and our Best Of winners and finalists are certainly a core part of what makes our communities great. Not only do we have the best culinary standouts and sports rivalries east of the Mississippi, but we also boast a cheese rolling competition, recent NC State graduate Abby Lampe, who took her homegrown talents, honed on the hills of Dix Park, to England to triumph. Read our Q and A with Lampe on page 14.

As much as we love the Triangle, there could be some trouble ahead for us. Our readers voted overwhelmingly for affordable housing in the category of “Best Use of Public Money.”

With Meta coming to town, writer Hannah Kaufman takes us on a trip into the dystopian metaverse (page 16) where we can afford neither homes nor headsets with which to experience said metaverse. Scary!

And for our puzzle lovers, do we have a treat for you. Rachel Simon has created a Best of the Triangle crossword puzzle that covers all things local and loved. Try your hand on page 17.

Dig in and enjoy everything that the Triangle has to offer within these pages and out in our communities, which, thankfully, don’t have to compete with the metaverse just yet. And keep a copy of our Best Of paper on hand for some coffee table reading or to give to a visitor to help them explore—it’ll surely come in handy.

Until next year!

CONTRIBUTORS

Sarah Edwards, Jasmine Gallup, Lena Geller, Hannah Kaufman, Thomasi McDonald, Jane Porter, Geoff West

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

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(TRI)ANGLE Cheese rolling champion Abby Lampe

Cheese Rolling Champion

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SUBJECT

Meet Abby Lampe, a recent NC State graduate and the first American woman to be crowned winner of the Gloucester Annual Cheese Rolling Championship.

BY MARIANA FABIAN backtalk@indyweek.com

INDY WEEK: How did you get involved in the championship? What brought you to compete in it?

ABBY LAMPE: Social media and videos on

YouTube. I hadn’t seen the Netflix special [We Are the Champions, “Cheese Rolling” episode] until the day before I raced. One of my friends talked to me about the docuseries and I was so shocked. We watched it the night before, trying to get ready. The episode talked about some strategies, and going into it, I felt a lot better having watched that.

It became a reality in March. My friends and I were talking about our plans for the summer, someone mentioned this race, and I thought to myself, “That would be really cool to do.” I looked it up to see what date it was. It happened to be in June, when I was planning my post-graduation trip. I figured out that it was feasible for me to fly out to England.

What’s the tradition surrounding the competition?

Basically, someone rolls an eight-pound cheese wheel down this hill and then everyone chases it. People from the docuseries ask, “How long has this been going on?”

Some said 400 years, some said 600 years, and some even said centuries.

The village of Brockworth, where the cheese rolling takes place, has done this 14

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for a long time. It hasn’t gotten international except for in the past few years.

It’s usually just been an English thing.

I think it’s supposed to be good wishes for crops.

It’s like the quintessential English countryside. On the walk to the hill, there was a little cow pasture and I got to take some videos of them. There were cows everywhere.

Did you have any sort of training routine beforehand?

I actually went to Dorothea Dix, once. I asked people around Raleigh if they knew of any steep hills that were grassy and not concrete or asphalt. Dix had good sledding hills, so I figured I’d use one of those. I wanted to figure out if going sideways (tumbling) or if going headfirst would be the best way.

I originally thought going headfirst would be better.

Little did I know that I would have no control over how I would roll or the speed that I’d be getting to. You don’t realize all these different parts of the cheese roll until you’re in it. I thought, this is it, this is my life.

I loosely use the word “train,” because I don’t know if you could call it training.

I used [the day that I flew in] to feel for where I was going to be. We hiked up the hill and I went on a test run. It was more

like a walk and then a slide and then turned into a tumbling fest.

Cooper’s Hill is so steep it’s actually a 1:2 ratio and 200 yards long. I got my friend to record it so I could rewatch the footage to prepare for it, but it was also very funny to watch myself fall down that hill.

That was my physical preparation. My mental preparation was watching a ton of film, specifically the men’s race that was done before my race. I watched them back to see who won and where they started.

In any sport, I feel like watching film is essential when you’re participating as a competitor.

Did you get to eat the cheese? Did you have any cheese rolling role models?

You get sent home with the cheese that was rolled down the hill. I shipped it to my parents ’cause I looked at getting it through customs and there was just no way. Getting it from customs from the UK to Spain was not happening, I think they have a no animal product rule.

I’m going to unveil the cheese with my family when I get back, and we might wanna collaborate with the chancellor to celebrate the win with NC State.

Chris Anderson is a 23-time cheese rolling champion. I got to meet him, actually.

After the race, I was freaking out.

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

Flo Early was also there, and she was the one who was taking pictures with me and she gave me the cheese. I was floored. When I saw her, I was so in shock. I didn’t know she was gonna be there at all. I was gleaming and I couldn’t believe she was there. She’s a four-time champion of the ladies’ race.

Both of them are world record holders for the cheese rolling event. Crazily enough, Anderson sent me a Facebook message which said, “Congratulations! Absolute nutter,” and then he sent me a video of Ozzy Man Reviews, which is an Australian guy reviewing the tape from my win. I couldn’t believe he sent me that, it was so sweet.

Would you do it again?

I think so, especially sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t take a long hiatus if I were to take one. I’m only going to be this young for now. Bones will break harder and recovery will be worse if I wait to do it at, like, 30.

Did you end up getting any injuries?

Not really. After the race, I was so full of adrenaline. Only one of my legs is actually bruised, with a few scratches too. My head did kind of hurt a little after the race. A few scratches on my side too, which I didn’t know about. I fully expected to break, fracture, or sprain an ankle—I’m prone to ankle injuries.

I think there’s a 30 percent chance that you’ll get injured [while doing the cheese roll].

The odds were pretty good, a 70 percent chance that I won’t get injured—you know, that’s a C, a passing grade. C’s get degrees!

What’s the looking like?

rest

of

your

summer

I’m going to be traveling a lot. Next week, I’m going back to England for a couple of concerts. I’m going to Portugal, too, and then spending some time in Greece as well.

Unfortunately, those days line up with the running of the bulls, so I won’t be able to participate in that.

People were really happy that I won’t be able to do that, though. Some of my classmates in the Spanish classes I’m taking asked if I could do it; I said no and they said, “Good. You already threw yourself down a hill for some cheese.”

The running of the bulls is definitely more dangerous considering all the moving variables. Those are actual animals. A cheese is an inanimate object, you know, it’s going to roll and [you] see where it’s going to go.

Bulls are unpredictable and have minds of their own. They will pummel you and you will get hurt.

The last question I got asked at the race was, “Did you tell your travel insurance you’d be doing this?” I said, “I don’t have travel insurance.” W

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

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(TRI)ANGLE Headsets and Housing Costs A harsh reality (but nice virtual reality) for the Triangle BY HANNAH KAUFMAN backtalk@indyweek.com

A

re you bored of your average, everyday life? Do you like playing video games a little too much? Do you live in the Triangle area?

If you answered yes to these questions, you’re in luck: Meta is coming to the Triangle and will transform what was once a bustling urban landscape into a complete virtual reality simulation.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, Inc., is an American technological conglomerate based in California. The company has offices all over the country, including in major cities like New York, Chicago, Denver, Austin, Seattle, and soon, our very own Durham—bringing its nationwide VR program along with it.

A virtual reality simulation may sound scary, but Meta assures us it’s merely a glimpse into a future that the world is already careening toward. The company is working on a project to create a “metaverse” through the use of virtual and augmented reality, a 3-D space where you can socialize, learn, collaborate, and play in ways never imagined before. By putting on a special headset or other wearable technology like smart glasses, a violent thunderstorm can instantly become a beautiful summer day, a boring night in your house can become a frontrow concert with friends, an angry letter from your landlord can become a calming poem in your hands.

With rumors swirling that Meta is setting up shop in Durham, many residents are concerned about the unavoidable and 16

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astronomical increase in housing costs already seen with the arrival of other tech giants like Apple and Google. Real estate costs have increased by 25.8 percent since April 2021, according to April 2022 statistics, partially due to the influx of California-based tech companies in the Triangle. While these companies promise to bring thousands of jobs and revenue to our cities, housing prices are only expected to double over the next decade, putting the Triangle on an even faster, no-toll road to mirroring cities like San Francisco with an extreme wealth gap and homelessness crisis.

But enough of all that whining and back to the exciting stuff: if your real, day-to-day life gets too hard because of the arrival of this $600 billion–plus corporation, you can just step out of reality and hop into a VR paradise with no money problems to speak of at all!

According to an inside source (let’s call him Zuck), Meta will begin by setting up massive virtual reality programs one Triangle town at a time. Each resident who lives in these towns and cities will need to purchase or rent a $400,000 virtual reality headset. That may seem rather pricey, but with the benefits that the metaverse will bring, local leaders promise that it will be well worth it. Plus, this is only the average cost of a headset—there may be cheaper headsets available to rent or buy (although with Meta’s new office in Durham, prices are estimated to go up from here). If you don’t have the means

GRAPHIC BY HANNAH KAUFMAN

to afford this headset, you will have no option but to leave the Triangle and move someplace with no Meta office (or with cheaper headsets).

Meta’s mandatory VR program will start off tame: everyone in the Triangle will be required to go into the metaverse for 10 minutes every day or face hefty fines. But from there it will escalate to a full-on virtual reality takeover, with Meta upping the requirement from 10 minutes to 45 minutes to hours on end—and, eventually, most residents will find themselves living in the virtual world more than they live in the real world. Meta wants it that way.

You may ask: How can this be happening? Isn’t this unfair to the people who can’t afford headsets who are being forced out of their homes and the Triangle? Is Meta trying to brainwash us into becoming entranced with a false reality while their company ruins our actual reality?

Well, studies show that widespread, mandatory VR simulations actually make people happier long-term. Any problems or stressors that feel inescapable in the real world can easily be eliminated with

the help of Meta. For example, instead of going outside and worrying about higher-than-normal temperatures and extreme weather events induced by climate change, you can just go outside in the metaverse and enjoy a crisp 78-degree summer day with no sweltering heat (or sweltering guilt about the climate injustice that is currently faced by underserved and under-resourced communities.

Win-win!)

So thank you, Meta. Those of us with generational wealth who can afford to buy headsets and stay in Durham can’t wait for your arrival in our beloved city.

While the real consequences of your arrival will be colossal to many, the VR world will remain as peaceful and sheltered as always, and will brainwash—I mean, help— us to forget the problems that plague the “real” world.

In the INDY’s “Best Multibillion Dollar Corporation to Turn the Entire Triangle into One Big VR Simulation in Order to Escape the Consequences of Their Actions on Reality” category this week, let’s just say Meta swept the competition. W

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

TRIANGLE CROSSWORD

BY RACHEL SIMON backtalk@indyweek.com

ACROSS 1. Type of slouchy bag 5. Formal neckwear 10. Drug also known as ecstasy 14. “No man _ _ island” 15. Type of power 16. French yeses 17. Video game heroine Croft 18. British fellow 19. Raleigh attraction with a sculpture garden (abbr.)

20. _ Brewing Concern in Raleigh 22. Like cleats 24. U.S. bills, for short 25. Local venue that hosts 200+ yearly acts (abbr.)

26. Honda model 29. Type of bread you can buy at Guglhupf Bake Shop 33. Pocahontas’s spouse 34. One of the Stark daughters on Game of Thrones 35. Second word in the name of a Raleigh amphitheater 36. Frozen snowman 37. Billboard chart listings 38. Store in downtown Raleigh full of gifts and art 39. _ Jones BBQ 40. _ Island, smallest U.S. state 41. _ _ Black (Will Smith film) 42. Hockey legend Phil 44. Well-behaved 45. Blue Ridge and others, for short 46. Word seen before “range” or “will”

47. Triangle writing school is named after this tree 50. Local ice cream chain has two of this fowl 54. He dueled Hamilton 55. Put away, as ashes 57. Live _ _ (party) 58. “Dies _” (Latin hymn) 59. NC State Museum of Art & Design 60. “Walk _ _” (1964 Dionne Warwick hit) 61. Sch. periods 62. Invitation encls.

63. Dissenting votes

DOWN 1. Popular Chapel Hill bar sits at the top of this elevation 2. Anthem first words 3. Triangle steakhouse located in this agricultural building 4. Sporadically 5. Equally brave 6. Performances heard at 25-across 7. Lump of clay or soil 8. Local area nickname: City of _(s) 9. Wrongfully enter 10. Courteney’s Friends character 11. _ Donuts with three Triangle locations 12. Act without speaking 13. “It’s _ _ state of affairs!”

21. Wore 23. Former sunscreen additive also known as vitamin B

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

25. Squalid state 26. Came up 27. Coke and Pepsi, for two 28. Carpentry device 29. “I’ll handle it!”

30. “_ _ saw her face” (Monkees lyric) 31. Understood 32. Make up for 34. Chimney coatings 37. Lively get-togethers

38. Something removed 40. Q followers 41. Simpsons tavern 43. Trendy dye jobs you can get at Willow Hair Salon 44. Fork tines 46. Blacksmith’s fire 47. Stats for the Durham Bulls’ hitters (abbr.)

48. NW France river

49. Local bar chain _ and Draught 50. Regrets 51. Sicilian peak 52. LGBTQ+ bar with a gemstone in the name 53. 1970s CIA spoof film 56. Org. with arms

ANSWERS ONLINE AT INDYWEEK.COM, OR CHECK OUT NEXT WEEK’S ISSUE!

INDYweek.com

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EAT & DRINK

Brandwein’s Bagels As the only bagel shop on Franklin Street, Brandwein’s Bagels fills a special (and very necessary) niche with its promise to serve classic New York bagels that are boiled and baked right here in Chapel Hill. Since its opening by a UNC graduate in 2020, the shop has seen nothing but success—and that boom is about to get even bigger. The eatery announced in 2021 that it’s expanding, meaning more parking, faster service, and most importantly: more bagels. From the colorful tables that countless UNC students have sat around catching up with friends to the delicious Green Goddess Spread, Brandwein’s has something for everyone and further proves the power of a Kenan-Flagler graduate with a dream, some ambition, and a lot of love for bagels.—HK

Finalists: Everything Bagels, Benchwarmers Bagels, Isaac’s Bagels

La Farm

Since La Farm first opened in Cary in 1999, the European-style bakery has grown in leaps and bounds. Its original location has expanded into the storefront next door, giving people plenty of room to settle down for a quick lunch or cortado. Husband-and-wife team Lionel and Missy Vatinet have also opened three other locations in Cary and Fuquay-Varina, along with a food truck, and started selling fresh loaves at local grocery stores.

The bread itself is what all bread should be—delicious, airy, and crusty. La Farm is the neighborhood bakery everyone longs for, a welcoming local place where you can find breakfast, specialized ingredients for a dinner party, or simply something on your regular grocery list.—JG

Finalists: Boulted Bread, Union Special Bread, Yellow Dog Bread Co. 18

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Mediterranean Deli PHOTO BY BRETT VILLENA

My favorite section of Rise, Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken’s menu is The Build, where you can pick a biscuit flavor and customize it from a ginormous list of toppings.

There are so many topping options that The Build sort of feels like a bastardization of the concept of choice—I calculated the number of possible combinations and it has 44 digits—but that’s what makes it fun. Get a blueberry biscuit with American cheese and hot sauce! No one’s stopping you.—LG

holds a sacrosanct space in the mixological world of spirits and libations—not quite a cocktail but heartier, not quite a meal but certainly a vehicle for supplying nutrition or replenishing essential vitamins and minerals lost after a long night of boozing. But the Blind Pelican, a seafood restaurant in Holly Springs, takes the already multifaceted concept of the Bloody Mary to a new level altogether. It’s a cocktail, it’s a meal, and if you’re going with one from its Ultimate Bloody Mary menu, it’ll cost somewhere around $100. It’s worth the price tag: Where else can you get jumbo shrimp, bacon, grilled cheese, crab legs, lobster tail, and filet mignon served up to you in your cocktail glass? Trust, it’s less zany (and more delicious) than it sounds, and we’re glad to have the Blind Pelican—whose bartender Joshua Self also won in our categories of Best Bartender/ Mixologist and Best Draft Slinger in Wake—in our humble corner of the county.—JP

cranberry-apple butter—what could be better? Like all the best breakfast restaurants, Flying Biscuit sells eggs, bacon, and other breakfast items all day, every day, starting at seven a.m. for those early Rise, Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chickenrs. And every meal comes with a serving of the café’s homemade biscuits, some of the best in the Triangle. The rest of Flying Biscuit’s menu is equally appealing. The chorizo hash is a savory feast, while the french toast with raspberry sauce and honey crème anglaise lives up to its heavenly name, especially for those with a sweet tooth.

Flying Biscuit is always a great stop for brunch as well, with a drinks menu that includes mimosa flights, Bloody Marys, and Irish coffee.

The trick is to arrive an hour before you want to eat, put your name down on the list, and enjoy some shopping in Cameron Village before settling down to a gourmet breakfast.—JG

Rise, Southern Biscuits The Blind Pelican Flying Biscuit Cafe & Righteous Chicken I’ve long maintained that the Bloody Mary Fluffy, buttery, sweet biscuits with homemade

Finalists: Monuts, Biscuitville, Debbie Lou’s–True Flavors

Finalists: Jack Tar & the Colonel’s Daughter, Motorco–Parts & Labor, NoFo at the Pig

Finalists: Big Ed’s, First Watch, Brig’s

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST BURRITO IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST COFFEE SHOP IN DURHAM COUNTY

There’s nothing like a good restaurant name pun. Sorry, let me reword—there’s nothing like a good restaurant name pun that also happens to serve amazing burritos. So hop in your car and drive to Carrboro for Carrburritos, a family-owned California-Mexican restaurant with locations in Carrboro and Davidson. Carrburritos has both classic and unconventional burritos, including a customizable burrito that comes with one filling choice out of eight options, including shredded pork, grilled vegetables, or guacamole.

The chips taste exactly how tortilla chips should taste—thick, salty, and somewhere right in the middle of crunchy and soft so that they melt perfectly in your mouth. Jarritos fruit-flavored sodas are available upon checking out, and don’t forget the margarita specials on Wednesdays and Thursdays.—HK

Cocoa Cinnamon’s owners prioritize sustainability and inclusivity in every step of the journey “from cup to crop and crop to cup”: they make a point to support producers who use sustainable practices and are women of color; hire diverse employees and pay them a living wage; provide Spanish translations and have added churros to the menu at their Lakewood location to make the community feel welcome; and upcycle their coffee grounds into fertilizer for local gardens. The result? Exquisite coffee, a warm and accessible space, a happier planet, and a “Best of the Triangle” win every single year since it opened.—LG

Carrburritos

Finalists: Cosmic Cantina, Fiesta Grill, Monterrey

BEST CARIBBEAN OR CUBAN IN THE TRIANGLE

COPA

Rooted in the philosophy that “mise en place begins in the soil,” the nation’s only farmto-table Cuban restaurant places great import on using fresh, locally sourced ingredients—many of which are harvested from the owners’ farm in Hillsborough—and provides guests with a transportive yet grounding experience by surrounding them with traditional music and decor that encourages them to acknowledge the origins of the food they’re eating. COPA’s menu is packed with historical tidbits that are tied to its authentic fare; the La Diosa Negra cocktail, for instance, is named for a woman who initiated such radical reform in Cuba that people called her a “Black goddess.” When you leave COPA, you’ll realize that you received not just an exquisite meal but a vacation, an education, and a meditation.—LG

Finalists: Boricua Soul, Spanglish, Carmen’s

Cocoa Cinnamon

From left: Sous Chef Jacqueline & Executive Chef Queen Precious-Jewel

Customized, VIP catering experiences for every occassion

Finalists: Joe Van Gogh, Bean Traders, Cloche Coffee

Taking chances with various ingredients to develop and execute menus that highlight American, Mediterranean, and Italian cuisines.

BEST COFFEE SHOP IN WAKE COUNTY

Cup A Joe

With Cup A Joe, the name says it all. It’s a traditional, low-maintenance coffee shop that NC State students and Raleigh natives alike pour into weekday mornings for their daily caffeine fix. The baristas have coffee-making down to a science, so it’s easy to pick up a cup to go. If you have a big deadline coming up, though, the funky, chill shop is also an easy place to settle down to work for a few hours.

Cup A Joe’s rotating specials ensure there’s always something new to try—usually something flavorful, light on the sugar, and heavy on the espresso. But if you just want a simple cup of joe, you won’t be disappointed.—JG

www.indulge-catering.com • (919) 973-3069

42 ROTATING TAPS FOR PINTS, FLIGHTS, AND GROWLER FILLING. OUTDOOR SEATING, DOG FRIENDLY, TRIVIA, LIVE MUSIC.

Finalists: Sola Coffee Cafe, Jubala, NoRa Cafe

BEST DELI IN THE TRIANGLE

Mediterranean Deli If your stomach is growling louder than a lawn mower and you’re seeking out a meal that will be both fast and filling, Mediterranean Deli is the way to go. The bustling, spacious restaurant’s seemingly never-ending array of menu options puts visitors in a trance as they gaze from pastas to side salads and potato dishes … and back to pasta again.

That’s not even mentioning the entrees, with gyros, pitas, and shawarmas that you can fill with as much tzatziki or tahini sauce as you please. At the Franklin Street location, outside seating is also a plus, with giant fans gusting cool air onto diners during the hot summer months.—HK

Finalists: Neal’s Deli, Ideal’s, Deli Edison

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

CHEERZ TO 8 YEARS OF BEERZ!

We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our customers for your enthusiastic support!

4810 Hope Valley Rd, #110 Durham | 919-973-2755 Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Untappd & Taphunter INDYweek.com

June 15, 2022

19

BEST DRAFT BEER SELECTION IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST FOOD TRUCK IN THE TRIANGLE

The nearly six-year-old Beer Study shares space with the Starpoint Brewing Company.

“We have about 15 types of beer on tap from Starpoint and 40 total,” says manager Kerri Hoffman. “We have two wine drafts, two cider drafts, and a kombucha CBD.” And oh, what a selection on tap: there are pilsners and IPAs, Hefeweizens and porters, amber ales, wheat ales, lagers, pale ales with jalapeños, stouts with coffee, milk stouts, and fruited IPAs. Need something a little more exotic? Try Beer Study’s Salud Cerveceria Tiki Dairelynerweisse, a sour with pineapple, strawberry, banana, coconut cream, and hibiscus. Or, for the more lowbrow albeit still cosmopolitan palate, check out the Perennial Suburban Beverage, a gose with Meyer lemon, Valencia orange, and Key lime. How about a Rare Barrel Illusions of Forever, a golden sour with red plums aged in an oak barrel, or maybe the Fonta Flora Doodle Juice, a strawberry double IPA dry hopped with Belma and Huell Melon?

The beer hall also offers Royal Jamaican alcoholic ginger beer and has an import section that includes beers from Belgium, Estonia, and Germany.—TM

Whenever I’m out at an event or festival in downtown Raleigh, I always check the map to suss out whether my favorite food truck—the Triangle’s very best food truck—will be making an appearance. Of course, that food truck is Chirba Chirba. If I’m in luck and the festival is blessed with that yellow, smiling-dumpling-adorned truck, at some point during the day I’ll rally my friends and make them stand with me in the inevitably long line to order.

(That line is the result of the enduring popularity of Chirba Chirba.) No one usually minds standing in line with me, you see, because they, too, want to eat Chirba Chirba. So we wait. We order our juicy buns and jiaozi, slather them in all the piquant sauces, and scarf them down. Then, a few shows, laps, beers, or hours later, we’ll get back in that line all over again for more Chirba Chirba. That’s just how good it is—so nice, they named it twice, and twice is how many times in a day I’ll show up for the inimitably delicious fare from the food truck Chirba Chirba.—JP

Finalists: Growler Grlz, The Glass Jug Beer Lab, Pour

BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

Beer Study

Thanks for your votes!

be st

O F TH E

gle trian 2018

Burritos-Tacos-Nachos Housemade Salsa-Margaritas!

711 W Rosemary St • Carrboro • carrburritos.com • 919.933.8226

BEST DRAFT BEER SELECTION IN WAKE COUNTY

Raleigh Beer Garden

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If you’re looking for a fresh pour, look no further than the Raleigh Beer Garden. The three-floor establishment on Glenwood Avenue set the world record for most beers on tap in 2015, with 369 drafts. Raleigh Beer Garden’s number of drafts has since grown to nearly 400, so whatever your poison, there’s something for you. RBG’s excellent garden, complete with fairy lights and space heaters, means there’s always a wonderful place to enjoy a pint, whether it’s a chilly winter evening or warm summer night. The garden’s ever-rotating draft list also means there’s always something new for beer entrepreneurs, whether it’s a funky sour or seasonal summer shandy. Have analysis paralysis? Don’t worry. The garden’s digital beer menu is searchable by beer style, alcohol content, and bitterness. And if you need some food before the next round, the garden’s pretzel, baked or fried, is the perfect salty snack to satisfy any craving.—JG

Finalists: The Flying Saucer, Cellar 55, Beer Garden

Chirba Chirba

Finalists: Epic Vegan Food Truck, Cousins Maine Lobster Truck, Stairway to Veggin’

Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe

For the past 12 years, Vimala Rajendran has served up a marvelous selection of traditional Indian dishes at the Curryblossom Cafe, while abiding by a set of values that prompted her to pay her employees a living wage long before it was in vogue and relying on locally grown produce and meats to support local farmers.

“We are local fare with a global flair,” Rajendran tells the INDY. The airy restaurant is just off the beaten path of Franklin Street in the green, rather serene Courtyard, where it sits like a culinary oasis within the folds of a lotus flower. Rajendran, who grew up in the bustling city of Bombay, moved to the United States as a 21-year-old, pregnant, and dependent spouse of a research scientist.

Rajendran says she began cooking at a very young age, and as she became older it became a way to take care of her family and instill life and cooking lessons to her staff.

Her day starts at seven a.m., when she arrives at the restaurant to oversee the preparation of “lots and lots of onions, lots and lots of ginger and green chilies.”

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

“Each dish is distinct and brought up from scratch each day,” she says. “I’m around to taste it, tweak it, and eat it. I’m learning myself how to make something better.”—TM

Finalists: Lime & Lemon Indian Grill & Bar, Viceroy, Sitar Indian Cuisine– Durham, Indian Monsoon

BEST JAPANESE RESTAURANT IN WAKE COUNTY

Waraji

Waraji doesn’t just have the freshest sushi in the area; it’s also the best place in the Triangle to immerse yourself in an authentic Japanese dinner experience. Hidden behind a nondescript brick facade in a strip mall on Duraleigh Road, Waraji boasts a broad selection of sushi and sashimi, as well as the largest selection of sake in North Carolina, whether you prefer it hot or cold. The interior is a beautiful, cool contrast to the restaurant’s tiny entryway, with Japanese art on the walls and private dining nooks with on-thefloor seating. Overall, it’s the perfect place for an intimate, fancy dinner for two.—JG

Finalists: Kanki, City Market Sushi, OSHA, Ajisai

BEST LATE NIGHT MEAL IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Cosmic Cantina If you happen to be strolling down Franklin Street anytime from 11 p.m. to four a.m., you might find yourself marveling at the 20-person line out the door filled with hungry college students. As a hungry college student myself, I can attest: this line is no onetime thing. Cosmic Cantina really is that good. The nighttime environment is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, and while most college students have plans to party or barhop on a Saturday, some of my best memories are from a late-night Cosmic run. Cosmic’s signature hot sauce beats out Texas Pete any day, and the restaurant’s loud, bustling environment just adds to the fun. Of course, it’s also pretty good during the daytime—but trust me when I say that nighttime is when the chicken burrito will work its true magic.—HK

Finalists: Time-Out, Northside District, Buckets in Chapel Hill

BEST LATIN AMERICAN RESTAURANT IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Luna Carrboro

With a menu that marries the flavors of South America and the American South, Luna offers a taste of home to immigrants and longtime locals alike, serving up dishes that offer a thoughtful interpretation of the cuisine chef-owner Shawn Stokes grew to love during his years working in Latin America and after moving to Durham (where Luna has a second location). The restaurant gets all sorts of bonus points for its business practices (sourcing sustainably raised meats, offering employees paid time off, providing free lunches for folks in need during the pandemic … and just being cool—like when they turned an anti-masker’s one-star review into a viral T-shirt).—LG

Finalists: Monterrey Mexican Grill, Fiesta Grill, El Restaurante Ixtapa, O’Ya Cantina

BEST NEW RESTAURANT IN DURHAM COUNTY

PRESS Coffee Crepes Cocktails

Durham has long been devoid of 1) a crepe place and 2) a brunch spot with a wait time under 30 minutes. PRESS, which opened last year in the American Tobacco Campus, has filled both needs with one deed. The European-inspired café has excellent customer service, reasonable prices for its massive portion sizes, bomb-ass crepes, a vast selection of coffee, tea, and alcoholic beverages, and enough indoor and outdoor seating that there’s pretty much no chance you’ll have to endure the unpleasant experience of waiting for a table to open up while you’re hungry and hungover.—LG

Finalists: Ideal’s Sandwich and Grocery, Queeny’s, Monsoon Indian Restaurant

BEST PIE IN WAKE COUNTY

Angus Barn

There it is, towering magnificently over Glenwood Avenue. Is it a hotel, a farm, a wedding venue? No, it’s Angus Barn—home to the best pie I’ve ever eaten. Those who claim to be “cake people” will quickly be persuaded by the barn’s delicious chocolate chess pie. The recipe was formulated in the 1960s by the current owner Van Eure’s mother, and around 50,000 pies are now made and sold every year. You can even have the pie shipped to you anywhere in the country, so if you choose to travel and are missing good ol’ North Carolina, you can quickly have a rich, chocolatey

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

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slice of home at your doorstep. The recipe has perfected just the right combination of salty and sweet, but Eure isn’t secretive about the ingredients. In fact, the full recipe is posted online, allowing you to turn a trip to the restaurant into a trip to your kitchen (but at the end of the day, Angus Barn makes it best).—HK

Finalists: bittersweet, Slice Pie Company, Bonafide Bakeshop & Cafe

BEST RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

M Sushi

In my opinion, the other three restaurants in Mike Lee’s M-pire are equally deserving of this title, but as the first to launch, M Sushi gets the most love because it’s where many Triangle residents lost their omakase virginity. An omakase meal often spans hours, with diners relinquishing all control over the menu to the chef—the word translates to “I leave it up to you” in Japanese—and watching the preparation and plating occur right before their eyes. It’s an experience that sticks with you, especially when the ingredients are as fresh and flavorful as they are at M Sushi. If you’ve struggled to land a reservation, don’t fret: a second location is set to open in Cary’s Fenton development this month.—LG

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Finalists: Mateo, Angus Barn, Hawthorne & Wood

BEST VEGGIE BURGER IN DURHAM COUNTY

Bull City Burger and Brewery

I’ve eaten upward of 50 veggie burgers from Bull City over the course of my life, so when I tell you they slap, you better believe me.

During middle and high school, I regularly ordered the Joan Jett (three-bean patty, lettuce, garlic aioli) as part of the restaurant’s “Grade A Burger” deal, which offers free meals to students who make the honor roll.

After graduating college, I applied to work at Bull City—partially because I knew I’d get a discount on its veggie burgers—and during my tenure there, I grew especially fond of the restaurant’s rotating selection of plant-based burgers, which range from beet-quinoa to sweet potato–chickpea. It’s rare that a burger joint has more than one veggie patty on the menu, so Bull City stands out in this regard, but above all else, the restaurant clinched this category because its veggie burgers celebrate, instead of mask, the ingredients that make them; amid the faux-meat craze, Bull City has stood its ground, proving that veggie patties don’t have to compromise their integrity to be impossibly good.—LG

Finalists: Pure Soul, Only Burger, QueenBurger, Elmo’s Diner

BEST WINGS IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST SANDWICH IN DURHAM COUNTY

Heavenly Buffaloes

Eastcut’s menu embraces sandwich styles from a variety of regions along the East Coast: the Spicy Gabagool evokes an Italian sub from New York City; the Balboa Beefsteak is authentic to Philly; and the Jaybird rings true to the fried-chicken sandwiches that many native Durhamites grew up eating, complete with a generous smear of Duke’s mayo. The restaurant’s win in this category reflects not just the flavor and composition of its sandwiches but the taste and makeup of Durham residents in 2022, many of whom are transplants from up and down the Atlantic seaboard.—LG

Not to beat the dead horse (or buffalo), but this restaurant’s wings can only be described as heavenly. With bone-in, boneless, and vegan wing options, and 27 different sauces and flavors, no two visits to Heavenly Buffaloes should ever look the same. While the wings are what puts this bright-orange building on the map, the fries offer another exciting variety of choices: Idaho or sweet potato, plain rubbed or dry rubbed, to share with your family or not to share with your family (selfishly, I think we all know the right answer to that one). Aside from the food itself, the outdoor seating after a Tar Heel game day is always lively and exciting, and the interior decor is hilariously buffalo-heavy.—HK

Finalists: Parker and Otis, Toast, Ideal’s Sandwich and Grocery

Finalists: Tomato Jake’s, Chicken Bee, Pie Pushers

Eastcut Sandwich Bar

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B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST BAGEL IN THE TRIANGLE

Brandwein’s Bagels

Finalists: Everything Bagels, Benchwarmers Bagels, Isaac’s Bagels

BEST BAKERY IN DURHAM COUNTY

Guglhupf Bakery–Cafe & Biergarten

BEST BISCUITS IN DURHAM COUNTY

La Farm Rise, Southern Bakery Biscuits & Finalists: Boulted Bread, Union Special, Yellow Righteous Dog Bread Co. Chicken Finalists: Monuts, Biscuitville, Debbie Lou’s– True Flavors

BEST BREAKFAST IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST BISCUITS IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Monuts, Guglhupf Bakery–Cafe & Biergarten, Jack Tar and the Colonel’s Daughter

Finalists: Loaf, Ninth Street Bakery, Monuts

Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen

BEST BAKERY IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Rise, Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken, Neal’s Deli, Village Diner

Guglhupf Bake Shop

Finalists: Weaver Street Market, Hillsborough Bakeshop, Phoenix Bakery

BEST BAKERY IN WAKE COUNTY

La Farm

Finalists: Boulted Bread, Union Special Bread, Yellow Dog Bread Co.

BEST BARBECUE IN DURHAM COUNTY

The Original Q Shack Finalists: Picnic Durham, Backyard BBQ Pit, Lawrence BBQ

BEST BARBECUE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Allen & Son BBQ

Finalists: The Pig, Hillsborough BBQ, The Spotted Dog

BEST BARBECUE IN WAKE COUNTY

The Pit

Finalists: Sam Jones BBQ Raleigh, City Barbecue, Prime BBQ

BEST BREAD IN WAKE COUNTY

BEST BISCUITS IN WAKE COUNTY

Rise, Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken Finalists: The Flying Biscuit Cafe, Bojangles, Jubala

BEST BLOODY MARY IN THE TRIANGLE

The Blind Pelican Finalists: Jack Tar & the Colonel’s Daughter, Motorco–Parts & Labor, NoFo at the Pig

BEST BREAD IN DURHAM COUNTY

Elmo’s Diner

BEST BREAKFAST IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen Finalists: Breadman’s, First Watch, Breakaway Cafe

BEST BREAKFAST IN WAKE COUNTY

Flying Biscuit Cafe

www.indulgentessentialspices.com • (919) 973-3069

BEST BREWERY IN DURHAM COUNTY

Ponysaurus Brewing Company Finalists: Fullsteam, The Glass Jug Beer Lab, Durty Bull

BEST BREWERY IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Ninth Street Bakery, Loaf, La Farm Bakery, Whisk & Rye

Finalists: Carolina Brewery, Top of the Hill, Vecino

Steel String

BEST BREAD IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST BREWERY IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Weaver Street Market, Great Harvest Bread Co, Chicken Bridge Bakery

Finalists: Bond Brothers, Lynnwood Brewing Concern, Big Boss

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

Women-owned and operated, black-owned, LGBTQ+-owned, and a veteran lead company

Finalists: Big Ed’s, First Watch, Brig’s

Guglhupf Bakery–Cafe & Biergarten

Guglhupf Bake Shop

Chef Queen Precious-Jewel and Chef Jacqueline “Jay” drew from their experience as chefs and created these spices to take your food to the next level.

Trophy Brewing Company

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BEST BURGER IN DURHAM COUNTY

Bull City Burger and Brewery

BEST BURRITO IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST CHEAP EATS IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST CHEF IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST CHINESE RESTAURANT IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST COCKTAIL BAR IN DURHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Ex-Voto, La Vaquita Taqueria, NuvoTaco

Finalists: Elmo’s Diner, Cook Out, Queeny’s

at Vimala’s Curryblossom Café

Finalists: Jade Palace, Red Lotus, Hunam

BEST CHEAP EATS IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Christian Patterson, Aaron Vandemark, Brandon Sharp

Finalists: Kingfisher, Bar Virgile, Corpse Reviver Cocktail Bar

BEST CHINESE RESTAURANT IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Cosmic Cantina, Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen, Time Out, Blue Dogwood Public Market

BEST CHEF IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Beansprout, Taipei 101, Chuan Cafe

The Crunkleton

BEST CHEAP EATS IN WAKE COUNTY

of AC Restaurants

BEST CHOCOLATE IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: Hawthorne & Wood, Belltree Cocktail Club, Lime & Lemon Indian Grill & Bar

Cosmic Cantina

Finalists: Only Burger, QueenBurger, Burger Bach

BEST BURGER IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Al’s Burger Shack

BEST BURRITO IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Carrburritos

Finalists: Wooden Nickel, Hawthorne & Wood, Buns

BEST BURGER IN WAKE COUNTY

Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar Finalists: Char-Grill, MoJoe’s, Five Guys

Finalists: Cosmic Cantina, Fiesta Grill, Monterrey

BEST BURRITO IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Armadillo Grill, Dos Taquitos, Dank Burrito, Baja Burrito

BEST CARIBBEAN OR CUBAN IN THE TRIANGLE Finalists: Boricua Soul, Spanglish, Carmen’s

June 15, 2022

Carrburritos

Gringo A Go Go Guasaca

COPA

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Cosmic Cantina

INDYweek.com

Finalists: Char grill, Gym Tacos, MoJoe’s

BEST CHEF IN DURHAM COUNTY

Carrie Schleiffer

at Alley Twenty Six Finalists: Ricky Moore, Matt Kelly, Michael Lee, Steph Bell

Vimala Rajendran

Ashley Christensen

Finalists: Cheetie Kumar, Scott Crawford, Sunny Gerhart

BEST CHINESE RESTAURANT IN DURHAM COUNTY

Happy China Finalists: Shanghai, Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant, Orient Garden

Gourmet Kingdom

Five Star

Videri Chocolate Factory Finalists: Escazu Chocolates, Matthew’s Chocolates, Miel Bon Bons

Alley Twenty Six

BEST COCKTAIL BAR IN ORANGE/CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST COCKTAIL BAR IN WAKE COUNTY

Foundation Finalists: Dram and Draft, Bittersweet, The Blind Pelican, SideBar

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

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BEST COFFEE SHOP IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST DELI IN THE TRIANGLE

Mediterranean lucettegrace Finalists: Bittersweet, Deli

Cocoa Cinnamon Finalists: Joe Van Gogh, Bean Traders, Cloche Coffee

BEST COFFEE SHOP IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Caffe Driade Finalists: Cup A Joe, Open Eye Cafe, Grey Squirrel

BEST COFFEE SHOP IN WAKE COUNTY

Cup a Joe Finalists: Sola Coffee Cafe, Jubala, NoRa Cafe

BEST CUPCAKE IN THE TRIANGLE

Smallcakes

Gigi’s Cupcakes, The Cupcake Shoppe, Taylor Street Sweets

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BEST DESSERTS IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Neal’s Deli, Ideal’s, Deli Edison

BEST DESSERTS IN DURHAM COUNTY

Guglhupf Bakery—Cafe & Biergarten Finalists: The Parlour, Rose’s NoodlesDumplings- and Sweets, Mad Hatter’s, Sweets by Shayda

BEST DESSERTS IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Guglhupf Bake Shop

Finalists: Weaver Street Market, Hawthorne & Wood, Coco Espresso Bistro & Bar

INDYweek.com

BEST DRAFT BEER SELECTION IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Beer Study

Bonafide Bakeshop & Cafe, Kandy Apples by K

Finalists: Wooden Nickel, House of Hops Pittsboro, Old East Tavern

BEST DISTILLERY IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST DRAFT BEER SELECTION IN WAKE COUNTY

BEST FRIES IN THE TRIANGLE

Bull City Burger and Brewery

Finalists: Al’s Burger Shack, Heavenly Buffaloes, Queeny’s

Raleigh Beer Garden

BEST FROZEN TREATS IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: Mystic Farm & Distilling Company, TOPO, Young Hearts Distilling Company

Finalists: The Flying Saucer, Cellar 55, Beer Garden

Finalists: Two Roosters, LocoPops, Goodberry’s

BEST DONUT IN THE TRIANGLE

Chirba Chirba

Durham Distillery

Monuts

Finalists: Duck Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Baker’s Dozen Donuts

BEST DRAFT BEER SELECTION IN DURHAM COUNTY

Beer Study

Finalists: Growler Grlz, The Glass Jug Beer Lab, Pour

BEST FOOD TRUCK IN THE TRIANGLE Finalists: Epic Vegan Food Truck, Cousins Maine Lobster Truck, Stairway to Veggin’

BEST FRENCH RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

Vin Rouge

Finalists: Rue Cler, Coquette, Jolie

The Parlour BEST GREEK/MEDITERRANEAN RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe Finalists: Lime & Lemon Indian Grill & Bar, Viceroy, Sitar Indian Cuisine– Durham, Indian Monsoon

BEST IRISH PUB IN THE TRIANGLE

Bull McCabe’s

Finalists: The Hibernian, James Joyce, Trali Irish Pub

BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

Mediterranean Gocciolina Deli Finalists: Neomonde, Sassool, Kipos Greek Taverna

Finalists: Mothers and Sons Trattoria, Cucciolo Osteria, Osteria Georgi

BEST HOT DOG IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST JAPANESE RESTAURANT IN DURHAM COUNTY

Snoopy’s

Finalists: King’s Sandwich Shop, Roast Grill, Accordion Club

M Sushi

Finalists: Dashi, Kanki, Yamazushi, Kurama

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

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BEST JAPANESE RESTAURANT IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Akai Hana

Finalists: Iza Whiskey & Eats, Spicy 9, OiShii

BEST JAPANESE RESTAURANT IN WAKE COUNTY

Waraji

Finalists: Kanki, City Market Sushi, OSHA, Ajisai

BEST LATIN AMERICAN RESTAURANT IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST LOCALLY MADE MEAD IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: La Vaquita, Luna Carrboro, Boricua Soul

Finalists: Honeysuckle Tea House, Starrlight Mead, Moon dog Meadery

BEST LATIN AMERICAN RESTAURANT IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST LOCALLY MADE WINE IN THE TRIANGLE

Honeygirl Alpaca Chicken Meadery

Luna Carrboro

Juicekeys

Finalists: Monterrey Mexican Grill, Fiesta Grill, El Restaurante Ixtapa, O’Ya Cantina

Finalists: Raleigh Raw, Kwench Juice Cafe, Clean Juice

BEST LATIN AMERICAN RESTAURANT IN WAKE COUNTY

BEST JUICE BAR IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST KID FRIENDLY RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

Elmo’s Diner

Finalists: Pompieri Pizza, Kwench Juice Cafe, Blue Dogwood Public Market

BEST LATE NIGHT MEAL IN DURHAM COUNTY

Cosmic Cantina

Finalists: Motorco– Parts & Labor, Heavenly Buffaloes, Queeny’s

BEST LATE NIGHT MEAL IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Cosmic Cantina

Gonza Tacos y Tequila Finalists: Guasaca, Centro, SOCA

BEST LOCALLY MADE CIDER IN THE TRIANGLE

Bull City Ciderworks Finalists: Botanist & Barrel, Ponysaurus, Dingo Dog Brewery

BEST LOCALLY MADE CRAFT BEER IN THE TRIANGLE (BEER NAME AND BREWERY)

Trophy Wife—Trophy

Finalists: Time-Out, Northside District, Buckets in Chapel Hill

Finalists: Rocket Science IPA–Fullsteam Brewery, Hop on Top–Lynnwood Brewing, Dad Fuel x Steel String brewery

BEST LATE NIGHT MEAL IN WAKE COUNTY

BEST LOCALLY MADE LIQUOR IN THE TRIANGLE

Cook Out

Finalists: My Way Tavern, MoJoe’s, Buckets at Chapel Hill

Durham Distillery– Conniption Gin Finalists: Durham Distillery–Conniption Navy Strength Gin, The Brothers Vilgalys– Krupnikas, Bedlam Vodka

Botanist & Barrel

Finalists: Melanated Wine, Chatham Hill Winery, Cloer Family Vineyards, Iron Gate Winery

BEST LOCALLY OWNED FRANCHISE IN THE TRIANGLE—FOOD

Alpaca Peruvian Chicken

Finalists: Rise, Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken, Guasaca, Al’s Burger Shack

BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT IN DURHAM COUNTY

La Vaquita

Finalists: Chubby’s Tacos, NuvoTaco, Dos Perros

BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Carrburritos

Finalists: Monterrey Mexican Grill, Fiesta Grill, El Restaurante Ixtapa

BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT IN WAKE COUNTY

Gonza Tacos & Tequila

Finalists: Centro, Totopos, Los Tres Cary Park

BEST MIDDLE EASTERN RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

Mediterranean Deli Finalists: Neomonde, Sitti, Sassool, Tallulah’s

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B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST NEW RESTAURANT IN DURHAM COUNTY

PRESS Coffee Crepes Cocktails

BEST PIE IN WAKE COUNTY

Angus Barn

Finalists: bittersweet, Slice Pie Company, Bonafide Bakeshop & Cafe

Finalists: Ideal’s Sandwich and Grocery, Queeny’s, Monsoon Indian Restaurant

BEST PIZZA IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST NEW RESTAURANT IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Hutchins Garage, Tomato Jake’s, Pompieri Pizza

Hawthorne & Wood

Finalists: Lime & Lemon Indian Grill & Bar- Chapel Hill, Osteria Georgi, Coco Espresso- Bistro & Bar

BEST NEW RESTAURANT IN WAKE COUNTY

Pizzeria Toro

BEST PIZZA IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Pizzeria Mercato

Finalists: Napoli Pizzeria & Gelateria, Italian Pizzeria III, Coronato

BEST SANDWICH IN WAKE COUNTY

Village Deli Finalists: union special bread, Bonafide Bakeshop & Cafe, State of beer, Ish Deli

BEST SEAFOOD RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

Saltbox Seafood Joint Finalists: Saint James Seafood, 42nd Street Oyster Bar, Locals Seafood

BEST SMALL PLATES/TAPAS IN THE TRIANGLE

Mateo Tapas Finalists: Taberna, Barcelona Wine Bar, Catalan Tapas Bar

Element Gastropub

BEST PIZZA IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Pure Vegan Cafe, Fine Folk, Catalan Tapas Bar, Hank’s Downtown Dive

Finalists: Trophy Brewing Company, Oakwood Pizza, Pizzeria Veritas

BEST SOUTHERN FOOD RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST RESTAURANT IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: Dame’s Chicken & Waffles, Picnic, Lucky 32

BEST OUTDOOR DINING IN THE TRIANGLE

Guglhupf Bakery—Cafe & Biergarten Finalists: Namu, Wye Hill, Hawthorne and Wood

BEST PIE IN DURHAM COUNTY

Foster’s Market

Finalists: Bean Traders, Phoebe Lawless Snack Service, The Refectory

BEST PIE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Weaver Street Market Finalists: Kim’s Bake Shop, New Hope Market, Cup-A-JOe

Lilly’s Pizza

M Sushi

Finalists: Mateo, Angus Barn, Hawthorne & Wood

BEST SALAD IN THE TRIANGLE

Happy + Hale Finalists: Cava, Toast, The Spotted Dog

BEST SANDWICH IN DURHAM COUNTY

Eastcut Sandwich Bar Finalists: Parker and Otis, Toast, Ideal’s Sandwich and Grocery

BEST SANDWICH IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Merritt’s Grill Finalists: Neal’s Deli, The Spotted Dog, Deli Edison, Coco Espresso Bistro & Bar

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

Mama Dip’s BEST SPORTS BAR IN DURHAM COUNTY

Tobacco Road Finalists: Bull McCabe’s, The Boot Room, Dain’s Place

BEST SPORTS BAR IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Carolina Brewery

Finalists: Hickory Tavern, Carolina Ale House, Old East Tavern

BEST SPORTS BAR IN WAKE COUNTY

Players Retreat

Finalists: Carolina Ale House, My Way Tavern, Woody’s at the City Market

BEST STEAK IN DURHAM COUNTY

NanaSteak

Finalists: Vin Rouge, Metro 8, Gocciolina, The Restaurant at The Durham

BEST STEAK IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Bin 54

Finalists: Hawthorne & Wood, Stoney River, Farm House Steaks- Chapel Hill, Acme

BEST STEAK IN WAKE COUNTY

The Angus Barn

Finalists: Stanbury, Sullivans, Vinnie’s Steakhouse, Capital Grille

BEST SUNDAY BRUNCH IN DURHAM COUNTY

Guglhupf Bakery—Cafe & Biergarten

BEST SUSHI IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST VEGGIE BURGER IN WAKE COUNTY

Akai Hana

Finalists: Spicy 9, Elements, HTOO Asian Fusion

BEST SUSHI IN WAKE COUNTY

Waraji

Finalists: City Market Sushi, Sushi Thai, Kai Sushi and Sake

The Angus Barn

BEST VEGAN-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT IN DURHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Glasshalfull, LouElla Wine, Beer & Beverage, Hawthorne & Wood

Refectory Cafe Finalists: Pure Soul, Earth to Us, Dos Perros

BEST VEGAN-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

The Spotted Dog Finalists: Sage, Vegan Flava Cafe, Coco Espresso Bistro & Bar

BEST SUNDAY BRUNCH IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Irregardless, Pure Vegan Cafe, Element Gastropub

BEST SUNDAY BRUNCH IN WAKE COUNTY

Irregardless Cafe Finalists: Coquette, Wye Hill, Element Gastropub

BEST SUSHI IN DURHAM COUNTY

M Sushi

Finalists: Shiki Sushi, Sake Bomb, Sushi Love

BEST WINGS IN DURHAM COUNTY

Heavenly Buffaloes

Finalists: Tomato Jake’s, Chicken Bee, Pie Pushers

BEST VEGAN-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Acme Food & Drink, Venable, Kipos Chapel Hill, Coco Espresso Bistro & Bar

Finalists: Element Gastropub, Pure Vegan Cafe, MoJoe’s

BEST WINE LIST IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: Elmo’s Diner, Jack Tar & the Colonel’s Daughter, Vin Rouge, Alley Twenty Six

Carolina Inn

Fiction Kitchen

Fiction Kitchen BEST VEGGIE BURGER IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST WINGS IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Heavenly Buffaloes

Finalists: The Wooden Nickel, The Spotted Dog, Armadillo Grill

BEST WINGS IN WAKE COUNTY

Woody’s

Finalists: Lynnwood Grill, MyWay Tavern, Wingin It

Bull City Burger and Brewery Finalists: Pure Soul, Only Burger, QueenBurger, Elmo’s Diner

BEST VEGGIE BURGER IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

The Spotted Dog

Finalists: Al’s Burger Shack, Wooden Nickel, Buns

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Thank you for choosing us again!

HEALTH & BODY BEST WOMEN’S HEALTH PRACTICE IN DURHAM COUNTY

Durham Women’s Clinic

Vivian Makar, M.D. Julio Martinez, M.D. Andrew Miller, M.D. Hunter Moore, M.D. Maxine Murray, M.D. Stephanie Rand, M.D. Anna Ruderman, M.D. Jessica Schwartz, M.D. Sarah Stephens, M.D. Kyne Wang, M.D. Gladly accepting new patients

North Durham 4022 Freedom Lake Dr, Durham 919-477-2202

Sutton Station

Durham Women’s Clinic played a huge role in bringing me into this world—a midwife from the practice literally pulled me out of the birth canal with a vacuum—and now, it’s helping me live in it: I’ve seen Dr. Nichelle Satterfield, who won our category for Best Women’s Health Practitioner in Wake County (where she also works), for annual gynecological exams, STI screenings, and birth control access, and her care has been about as personalized, friendly, and compassionate as you can imagine. Founded in 1941 by the first woman to ever receive a four-year medical degree from Duke University, Durham Women’s Clinic has a long history of listening to women’s needs, and the practice is playing an especially vital role these days, as women’s access to comprehensive medical care hangs in the balance.

(The clinic doesn’t provide abortion services but offers a list of references to anyone who calls.)—LG

BEST ACUPUNCTURIST (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE

Dr. Adam Gries

Finalists: Austin Dixon, Carmela Mager, Janet Shaffer

BEST AESTHETICIAN (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE

Sarah Evenson— Refined Wax Studio

Finalists: Chapel Hill Ob-Gyn–Southpoint, Durham OB-GYN

Finalists: Erin Carver, Angela Hugghins, Winnie Li–Regenesis MD

BEST YOGA STUDIO IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST BARBER SHOP I N THE TRIANGLE

Franklin Street Yoga Center Located off of Chapel Hill’s main drag, Franklin Street Yoga is walkable for UNC-Chapel Hill students and downtown Chapel Hill residents alike. A spacious, clean studio offers space for a wide range of classes that walk the line between sweat-inducing workouts and more meditative spiritual sessions; Kundalini Yoga classes also recently became available in Spanish. For those hesitant about rejoining an exercise facility during the pandemic, thoughtful public health protocols—a mask requirement, smaller classes, limited adjustments—offer reassurance; some classes are also offered virtually. Discounted newcomer specials make for an easy entry point for beginners just starting out a practice, too. —SE

Finalists: Thousand Petals Yoga, Loving Kindness Yoga School, Joy of Movement Studio

Rock’s Bar and Hair Shop Finalists: The Bar Ber Shop of Wake Forest, Dennis Best Men’s Hair Salon, Ego Barber Lounge

BEST CHIROPRACTOR (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE

Dr. Cheyne Ashline Finalists: Dr. Kim McCorkle, Chas Gaertner, Regan Buck, Mitchell Osborne–DC

5832 Fayetteville Rd, Ste 113, Durham 919-544-2049 30

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B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

THANK YOU for once again voting Signature Smiles as Best Dental Practice in Wake County!

We are honored to be your locally-owned, trusted family dental practice, and we are committed to providing every patient a safe, educational, relaxing, and fun dental experience. You deserve it.

Dr. Archie Cook, Jr. signaturesmiles-nc.com | 919-803-0168 BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

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BEST COUPLES THERAPIST (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE

Dr. Anna Smith

Finalists: Consuela Chapman LCSW, Jacqueline Beech, Nathan Sawyer, Adina Middleman

BEST DAY SPA IN THE TRIANGLE

The Umstead

FOUR TIMES IN A ROW— THE BEST OF THE TRIANGLE FOUR YEARS RUNNING

Thank you for voting us as Best Dental Practice in Orange/Chatham County for the fourth year in a row!

Finalists: Smoothe LLC, Wellville Massage & Healing Arts, Refined Wax Studio, Regenesis MD

BEST DENTAL PRACTICE IN DURHAM COUNTY

Durham Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics Finalists: Dr. Stephanie Jenkins, Milltown Family Dentistry, Turning Point Dental and Aesthetics

BEST DENTAL PRACTICE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

THE HOLMAN DIFFERENCE When you combine holistic oral health care with a passion to deliver a distinctive dental experience, the results are remarkably different from your average dental practice.

Holman Family Dental Care Finalists: Ellis Family Dentistry, Milltown Family Dentistry, Meadowmont Dentistry

BEST DENTAL PRACTICE IN WAKE COUNTY

Signature Smiles Cary Finalists: Wells Family Dental Group, Main Street Family Dentistry, Dr. Cook and the Signature Smiles

BEST DERMATOLOGIST (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE 18 3 6 M A R T I N L U T H E R K I N G J R . B LV D C H A P E L H I L L , N C 2 7 514 | ( 919 ) 9 3 2 - 7 811 h o l m a n f a m i l yd e n t a l c a r e . c o m

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Dr. Mark Fradin

Finalists: Garrett Bressler, Aesthetic Solutions, Family Dermatology (Kelly Blount)

BEST GYM IN DURHAM COUNTY

The 360 Approach

Finalists: The BodyGames Center, Fit Lab Durham, Burn Boot Camp - North Durham

BEST GYM IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

UNC Wellness Center Finalists: O2 Fitness, CrossFit 15-501 Chapel Hill, The Coalition

BEST GYM IN WAKE COUNTY

Oak & Iron Fitness

Finalists: AKtivate Fitness, ARise, Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken Athletics, Renu Health and Fitness

BEST HAIR SALON IN DURHAM COUNTY

Vent Salon Finalists: Rock Paper Scissors Salon, Willow Hair Studio, Fuss and Bother

BEST HAIR SALON IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Syd’s Hair Shop

Finalists: To the Woods, Lavish Beauty Lounge, Purple Coffin Hair Studio

BEST HAIR SALON IN WAKE COUNTY

BEST MARTIAL ARTS STUDIO IN THE TRIANGLE

Master Chang’s Martial Arts Finalists: Chapel Hill Quest Martial Arts, Joy of Movement–Pittsboro, Bushiken Karate–Saint Cyr Dojo

BEST MASSAGE THERAPIST (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE

Toby Matthews, LMBT

Finalists: Castle Frame LMBT, Carole L Pope LMBT, Allan Stevens LMBT

BEST NATURAL HAIR SALON IN DURHAM COUNTY

Taji Natural Hair Salon— Durham Finalists: Willow Hair Studio, Moshi Moshi, Alfa Jae Salon

BEST NATURAL HAIR SALON IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

To the Woods Finalists: Minas, Great Clips

BEST NATURAL HAIR SALON IN WAKE COUNTY

Taji Natural Hair Styling

Prickly Pear Salon

Finalists: Wake Forest Natural Hair Salon, Moss Raleigh, Little Shop of Hairdos NC

Finalists: Alfa Jae Salon, Moss Raleigh, Little Shop of Hairdos, Tone Hair Salon

BEST OPTOMETRY PRACTICE IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST HOLISTIC MEDICINE IN THE TRIANGLE

Renovo Natural Health Finalists: Duke Integrative Medicine, UNC Wellness, InsideOut Body Therapies

Academy Eye Associates Finalists: Carrboro Family Vision, Triangle Vision, Dr. Catherine Mauro at Costco in Durham

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST PEDIATRIC PRACTICE IN THE TRIANGLE

Regional Pediatrics Associates

BEST PILATES STUDIO IN THE TRIANGLE

InsideOut Body Therapies

BEST TANNING SALON IN THE TRIANGLE

Alietha’s Sunkissed Tans

Finalists: Chapel Hill Pediatrics, Duke Children’s Primary Care Brier Creek

Finalists: Barre-Up Raleigh, Club Pilates, Alexander Pilates, Base Moves

Finalists: Oak City Sunless, Sun tan city, Alfa Jae Salon

BEST PERSONAL TRAINER (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST PRIMARY CARE PRACTITIONER (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST THERAPIST (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE

Adrien King Finalists: Chan Little, Giannina Tessener, Sarah Amodeo

BEST PHYSICAL THERAPIST/ CLINIC IN THE TRIANGLE

Bull City Physical Therapy

Finalists: InsideOut Body Therapies, BYoung Physical Therapy & The Running PTs, Evolution Physical Therapy and Wellness

Susan Blackford, MD Finalists: Mary Holmes NP, Dr. B Todd Granger, Dr Bhavna Vaidya-Tank, Lea Lott PA-C

BEST PSYCHIATRIST (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN THE TRIANGLE

Dr. Mona Gupta

Finalists: Matthew Conner–MD, Dr. Toby DeWitt, Evanthia Garza–PA

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

Henriette WilliamsAlexander

Finalists: Heather Steele, Deni Urda, Lisa Henning

BEST WOMEN’S HEALTH PRACTICE IN DURHAM COUNTY

Durham Women’s Clinic

Finalists: Chapel Hill Ob-Gyn–Southpoint, Durham OB-GYN

BEST WOMEN’S HEALTH PRACTICE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Chapel Hill OB-GYN

Finalists: Women’s Birth and Wellness Center, Avance Care Chapel Hill

BEST WOMEN’S HEALTH PRACTICE IN WAKE COUNTY

Durham Women’s Clinic

BEST WOMEN’S HEALTH PRACTITIONER (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Melinda Everett

Finalists: Dr. Sonya Williams, Joshua Hardison– MD, Dr. Pat Chappell

BEST WOMEN’S HEALTH PRACTITIONER (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Arbor OBGYN, Dr. Bhanva Vaidya Tank

Dr. Nichelle Satterfield

BEST WOMEN’S HEALTH PRACTITIONER (INDIVIDUAL’S NAME) IN DURHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Stacie Diette CNM WHNP, Dr. Bhavana Vaidya

Melinda Everett, WHCNP

Finalists: Dr Nichelle Satterfield, Dr. Joshua Hardison, Dr. Birgit Reher

BEST YOGA STUDIO IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Franklin Street Yoga Center Finalists: Thousand Petals Yoga, Loving Kindness Yoga School, Joy of Movement Studio

BEST YOGA STUDIO IN WAKE COUNTY

Barre-Up Raleigh Finalists: Bliss Body Yoga, YoBa Studio, Alchemy Hot Yoga

BEST YOGA STUDIO IN DURHAM COUNTY

Threehouse Studio Finalists: Global Breath, Yoga off East, Durham Yoga Company, Joy of Movement Studio

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David Price

What does it say about the state of American politics when the most popular politician in town is a guy who’s retiring from politics?

That’s not to say U.S. Representative David Price isn’t beloved or deserving. A thoughtful and reliable progressive, the 81-year-old lifelong Democrat has represented North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District for more than three decades after he was first elected in 1986. (He lost his congressional seat in 1994 but won it back two years later.)

In Washington, he opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, shaped legislation to make student loan interest payments tax-deductible, and championed a host of democratic reform bills targeting the insidious influence of special-interest and dark money in politics.

An author, a scholar, and a statesman, he served the Triangle well.—GW

LOCAL COLOR

NC State Fair

Munjo Munjo

This Raleigh-based design studio bills itself as a seller of “collaborative goods for overgrown children.” Most distinctive are its anime-inspired T-shirts, pins, and stickers, but the company has sold everything from mugs and plants to dog treats while promoting the work of local artists, especially women and BIPOC artists.

That ethos and delivery help explain why Munjo Munjo is a past winner in our “Best Local Brand” category. This year, the shop’s social media branding garnered love from voters.

It’s hard to know exactly what readers enjoy most about the studio’s Instagram account. But honestly, any feed offering a steady stream of adorable dog photos has a leg up. But aside from cuteness, the shop’s IG has a nice mix of event posters, thoughtful product layouts, and just plain funny memes.

We’re fans.—GW

Finalists: Bites of Bull City, NC Small Towns Local Love, @carrboro-chapelhillfoodies, Hillsborough Gallery of Arts

Bites of Bull City In the increasingly depressing and divisive cesspool that is Twitter, the Bites of Bull City account, with its mouthwatering food photos and tidbits of restaurant news, is a breath of fresh air. Each tweet is like a spoonful of sorbet, sweetening your day and cleansing your palate from the hostility of the digital public square, and unlike most news-centric accounts, Bites of Bull City unifies the community instead of polarizing it. The account is an outgrowth of Amber Watson’s Bites of Bull City blog, which has covered Durham’s booming food scene for the past seven years. Food bloggers usually reserve their content for visual mediums like Instagram or Pinterest, so Watson’s win in this category speaks to the fact that she’s not your run-of-the-mill 34

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PHOTO BY BEN MCKEOWN

Finalists: Deborah K. Ross, Councilor David Cox, Erin Paré

Affordable Housing

influencer—she’s a talented writer and reporter, providing crucial, comprehensive coverage for businesses hit hardest by the pandemic.—LG

Finalists: @durhamnc, Durham Mom @mom_had, @majorthebull

Eno River State Park While the Triangle isn’t home to many towering mountains or mountainous terrain, the Eno River State Park is the best destination for a scenic hike—especially if you want to follow it with a refreshing river swim! Eno River State Park has almost 28 miles of trails winding right through it—enjoy a hike up Cox Mountain or a walk on the Bobbit Hole Trail, which leads to one of the most breathtaking spots on the river. Occoneechee Mountain also makes for a great, steep hike along the river that culminates in a fantastic view at the top. Make the Eno your Everest this summer as you hike, swim, hike, and repeat!—HK

Finalists: William B. Umstead State Park, Duke Forest, Al Buehler Trail

NC State Fair Forget the glowing Ferris wheel, mouth-watering funnel cake, and dazzling drop tower. While the lit-up, deep-fried sights of the NC State Fair are arguably some of the best autumn attractions, the fairground has an even more intriguing (and less costly) spectacle to witness: the people. Whether they’re eating, riding, paying, laughing, waiting, or eating again, the North Carolinians who attend the state fair are one of a kind. So grab a donut-burger (it’s a burger between two donuts), find a bench right in the middle of the hustle and bustle, locate your first victim (maybe it’s the lady who’s wearing what looks like a wedding dress as she tries fruitlessly to win a stuffed animal, or the kid who’s tackling an entire turkey leg on his own), and watch.

You’ll learn something new about the people around you, the culture of our state, and the simple but beloved traditions that drive us to buy a fair ticket year after year.—HK

Well, Meta is coming to town. Apple too, and Google is already here. Last week, a local real estate expert said we could expect to see California-level housing prices in the Triangle in the next 10 to 15 years, and if that’s not incentive enough for our local municipal and county leaders to start planning to invest far more heavily in affordable housing, I don’t know what would be. Historic underbuilding in cities across the country for the past several decades has led to a severe housing shortage and an affordability crisis. It’s no different in one of the nation’s fastest-growing metros, but arguably, we’re feeling the effects here more severely. The people who live in the Triangle already want more housing that they can afford, that much is clear. And if we don’t want cities full of the uber-rich, the only kind of people who may, one day, be able to afford to live here—not to mention a lot more unhoused people than we have currently—we better start making those serious public investments now. Otherwise, we’ll have more in common with Silicon Valley and the Bay Area than just the pleasant climate.—JP

Finalists: transportation options, Raleigh greenways, bike and pedestrian safety

Finalists: American Tobacco Campus, RDU airport, The Raleigh Market, Riverwalk Hillsborough

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST LOCAL ACTIVIST GROUP

Eno River Association

Finalists: Livable Raleigh, Durham Beyond Policing, Democracy North Carolina, The Successful Business Women

BEST LOCAL BAND/MUSICIAN

Stray Volts

Finalists: Sylvan Esso, Sadie Rock and the Mad Ryans, Gnarley Nick

BEST LOCAL DO-GOODER

Wanda Hunter Finalists: Greg Bell, Jamie Tripp, Meme Bernholz

BEST LOCAL FACEBOOK PAGE

Chapel Hill Carrboro Foodies

Finalists: Bites of Bull City, Livable Raleigh, @ BullCityEscape

BEST LOCAL INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT

Munjo Munjo Finalists: Bites of Bull City, NC Small Towns Local Love @carrborochapelhill-foodies, Hillsborough Gallery of Arts

BEST LOCAL POLITICIAN IN NEED OF A REALITY CHECK

Thom Tillis

Finalists: Mark Robinson, Mary-Ann Baldwin, Phil Berger

BEST LOCAL RADIO STATION

WUNC 91.5

Finalists: 88.1 WKNC, 95.7 FM That Station, 97.9 WCHL

BEST LOCAL RESIDENT AUTHOR

Lee Smith

Finalists: Allan Gurganus, Monica Byrne, John Claude Bemis

BEST LOCAL TWITTER FEED

Bites of Bull City

Finalists: @durhamnc, Durham Mom @momhad, @majorthebull

BEST LOCAL-INTEREST/ WEBSITE BLOG

INDY Week Finalists: Livable Raleigh, Bites of Bull City, Today in the Quay

BEST PLACE TO HIKE

Eno River State Park

BEST POLITICIAN IN O RANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

David Price

Finalists: Graig Meyer, Jen Weaver, Danny Nowell

BEST POLITICIAN IN WAKE COUNTY

David Price Finalists: Deb K. Ross, Councilor David Cox, Erin Pare

BEST REASON TO LEAVE THE TRIANGLE

Cost of Housing

Finalists: Overdevelopment, Traffic, Gentrification

BEST REASON TO LOVE THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: William B. Umstead State Park, Duke Forest, Al Buehler Trail

The People and Community

BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE WATCH

Finalists: Arts and Culture, Diversity, Nature

NC State Fair Finalists: American Tobacco Campus, RDU airport, The Raleigh Market, Riverwalk Hillsborough

BEST PLACE TO RUN

American Tobacco Trail Finalists: Umstead Park, Al Beuhler Trail, Bolin Creek Trail

BEST PLACE TO TAKE VISITORS FROM OUT OF TOWN

Finalists: Transportation options, Raleigh Greenways, Bike and Pedestrian safety

BEST-KEPT SECRET

Gregg Museum of Art & Design

Finalists: NCMA, The Raleigh Market, Munjo Munjo

BIGGEST WASTE OF PUBLIC MONEY

Finalists: Nida Allam, Mike Woodard, Jillian Johnson

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

This is the Haw River Assembly’s 40th Anniversary working to protect the Haw River and Jordan Lake – and we couldn’t have done it without all our supporters!

Affordable Housing

Duke Gardens

David Price

JOIN US AT WWW.HAWRIVER.COM

BEST USE OF PUBLIC MONEY

Finalists: Munjo Munjo, Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center, Lady Kathana- bard

BEST POLITICIAN IN DURHAM COUNTY

Thanks to everyone who voted for us as the Best Nonprofit in Orange/ Chatham County!

Tax breaks for Developers Finalists: Police, New Raleigh Municipal Building, Wake County Public School System INDYweek.com

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OUT & ABOUT BEST OUTDOOR MUSIC VENUE IN THE TRIANGLE

Red Hat Amphitheater PHOTO BY JADE WILSON

slab of a wooden bar. There are picnic tables out back and strings of orange Chinese lanterns gaily festooned overhead.

“We get loads of people from the neighborhood,” Brigg says. “A lot of the teachers from the elementary school next to Cocoa Cinnamon are also regulars.”—TM

Finalists: Growler Grlz, Pinhook, Queeny’s

BEST OUTDOOR MUSIC VENUE IN THE TRIANGLE

Red Hat Amphitheater

BEST COMEDY CLUB IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR IN DURHAM COUNTY

My love for Goodnights is well chronicled in the INDY Week archives, and I have to say, it’s been an emotional year for fans of the venerable comedy club. But while we’re losing a piece of history, we still do have a lot to look forward to. When Goodnights turns down the lights for the last time at its long-standing Morgan Street location (in that grungy, quirky, 1920s Art Deco–style building that’s slated for demo) on July 31, I’ll be sad, though I can’t wait to catch future shows in its new home in the Village District. First, Goodnights will take over the now-defunct former K&W space. Then, depending on how long it takes to get construction permits and supplychain-stalled building materials, the club will open in its final form, an 11,000-square-foot lair located underneath what used to be the Bargain Box but will soon be a Shake Shack.

Cool? Yes. Suitably wacky? Also yes. Friends, the building may be gone, but the laughs— and the legacy—shall live on.—JP

“Hey bartender, let me get a roll of toilet paper.”

Now that’s a question that’s never come up in bartending school, but during the height of the pandemic, the Accordion Club had rolls of two-ply for sale.

Dive bar sensibility notwithstanding, the Accordion in Durham’s NoCo District is about the closest thing the Bull City has to an English pub. And it screams community. It’s a place where a young Black man, after a meaningful conversation over beer and a cigarette with an older white guy, declares such a conversation would never happen in Brooklyn.

The Accordion, with a white fluorescent sign that promises “cold beer” and “hot dogs” along with a list of mostly locally brewed beers, is the consummate neighborhood bar.

“There’s a guy named Grant down the street who does our Homebucha,” says Simon Briggs, a cook at the club. “A local woman does our Spicy Hermit Kimchi.”

The Accordion has red-brick interior; green, high-back wooden chairs; cylindrical lighting that once hung in a church; and a worn, thick

Goodnights

Finalists: Raleigh Improv, ComedyWorx, Bull City Laughs 36

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Accordion Club

When it comes to the Triangle’s concert venues, there’s many I’d tip my hat to— but only one that would tip its right back.

Whether you’re seeing Rex Orange County for the first time or Goo Goo Dolls for the 21st time, Red Hat Amphitheater is sure to give you a night you’ll never forget. From the lawn area to the pit, this huge outdoor venue provides the ultimate Raleigh outdoor music experience with concession stands, stunning concert lighting, a beautiful view of downtown Raleigh, and open lawn space practically begging for your picnic blanket to rest on it. This summer’s lineup contains a multitude of genres from EDM to country and pop so that everyone in the Triangle can find at least one artist on their concert bucket list.—HK

Finalists: Koka Booth Amphitheatre, NC Museum of Art, The Kraken

BEST PLACE TO HEAR ROCK ’N’ ROLL IN THE TRIANGLE

Cat’s Cradle

Cat’s Cradle, a small, bare-bones music venue in Carrboro, has been making names in the music world since 1969, helping launch indie rock bands such as Superchunk, Ben Folds Five, Whiskeytown, Polvo, and Archers of Loaf. If you want a cheap weekday or weekend concert featuring your favorite name from Spotify, Cat’s Cradle is the place for you. The venue doesn’t pretend to aspire to greatness. The sticky floor and cash-only

bar are what make it a favorite stop for college students and veteran concertgoers, who can enjoy a close-up interaction with their favorite musicians. The black box stage is the first stop for non-mainstream bands coming through the Triangle, including some rappers, soul singers, and noise/electronica artists.

But seating is scarce, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes.—JG

Finalists: Motorco, Lincoln Theater– Raleigh, Carolina Theatre of Durham, The Kraken

BEST PLACE TO SHOOT POOL IN THE TRIANGLE

The Green Room

It’s late Thursday night, and the Green Room has a respectable crowd of folk whose deliberative choreography around the handsome green-felt pool tables is accompanied by the crack of ivory cue balls and the scrick, scrick sounds of chalk being applied to the tips of cue sticks.

All of the tables in the 3,300-square-foot room are occupied, and the old bar is doing a steady business too.

“We have good music, bad film, and good beer,” the pool hall’s owner Michael Dearing says. “We have bad movies every night. It’s an ode to Wesley Snipes tonight.”

The Green Room first opened in the 1950s and was known back then as the Broad Street Sport Shop before it was renamed in the 1980s.

Dearing bought the place in 2005, years after he first started hanging out in the venerable pool hall during high school. He fell in love with the spot.

“People from all over the world come here and tell me how much they like the place,” he says. “I tell them, ‘Be careful. You might just end up owning it.’”—TM

Finalists: Zog’s, Sharky’s Place, The Kraken

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST ART GALLERY IN THE TRIANGLE

Artspace

Finalists: Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, Peel Gallery + Photo Lab Carrboro, Lump, Visual Art Exchange

BEST BARTENDER/MIXOLOGIST IN DURHAM COUNTY

Shannon Healy–Alley Twenty Six

Finalists: MJ Weber– Corpse Reviver, Bear at Growler Grlz, Kacey Liebes

BEST BARTENDER/MIXOLOGIST IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

James Peery at The Kraken Finalists: Zach White, Elena–Nash Street Tavern, Darrick Long

BEST BARTENDER/MIXOLOGIST IN WAKE COUNTY

Joshua Self at The Blind Pelican

Finalists: Jenny at Players Retreat, Kyle Hankin–FOUNDATION, Lucius Cyrus–Person Street Bar

BEST COMEDY CLUB IN THE TRIANGLE

Goodnights Finalists: Raleigh Improv, ComedyWorx, Bull City Laughs

BEST COMMUNITY EVENT IN THE TRIANGLE

Festival for the Eno River Finalists: Drag Queen Story Hour Triangle, Beaver Queen Pageant, Centerfest, Dix Park InterTribal Pow Wow

BEST DRAFT SLINGER IN DURHAM COUNTY

Bear at Growler Grlz Finalists: Nolan at Beer Study, Georgette at Fullsteam, Colby Singleton

BEST DRAFT SLINGER IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Cynthia Burkins at Gizmo Brew Works

Finalists: Kacie Walker, Elena McCarry, Dave from House of Hops Pittsboro

BEST DRAFT SLINGER IN WAKE COUNTY

Joshua Self at The Blind Pelican Finalists: Alison Williams, Rusty at The Green Monkey, Zach Neuman at Crank Arm

BEST LGBTQ+ BAR IN THE TRIANGLE

Pinhook

Finalists: Ruby Deluxe, Arcana, Flex

BEST GOLF COURSE IN THE TRIANGLE

Hillandale Finalists: Hope Valley, Umstead Pines, Pine Hollow Golf Club

BEST INDOOR FUN BUSINESS IN THE TRIANGLE

Boxcar Bar & Arcade Finalists: Over The Moon Play Space, Bull City Escape, Dogwood Country Club

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

BEST KARAOKE IN THE TRIANGLE (PRODUCTION CO./VENUE)

Pinhook

Finalists: All King Karaoke, Flex Karaoke, Kingdem Karaoke

BEST LIVE THEATER COMPANY IN THE TRIANGLE

Playmakers Repertory Company

Finalists: Raleigh Little Theatre, Burning Coal Theatre, Theatre in the Park

BEST LIVE THEATER VENUE IN THE TRIANGLE

Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC)

Finalists: Playmakers Repertory Theatre, Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Burning Coal Theatre

Carrboro Plumbing is a locally owned, full service plumbing company.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: It is always guaranteed!

919-265-4026

BEST LOCAL PODCAST

Criminal

Finalists: Girls Who Do Stuff, NC F&B, The Bob and Lu Show

BEST MUSEUM IN THE TRIANGLE

Museum of Life and Science

Finalists: North Carolina Museum of Art, The Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Nasher Museum of Art

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR IN DURHAM COUNTY

Accordion Club Finalists: Growler Grlz, Pinhook, Queeny’s

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BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST PLACE TO GET SPECIALTY COCKTAILS IN WAKE COUNTY

BEST PLACE TO HEAR ROCK ’N’ ROLL IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: Orange County Social Club (OCSC), Zog’s, The Belltree

Finalists: Bittersweet, The Blind Pelican, SideBar

Finalists: Motorco, Lincoln Theater–Raleigh, Carolina Theatre of Durham, The Kraken

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR IN WAKE COUNTY

BEST PLACE TO HEAR BLUEGRASS IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: MyWay Tavern, The Blind Pelican, Hero’s

Finalists: Shakoori Hills Festival, Community Church Concerts, The Kraken

The Kraken Mahalo to our Aloha Plus ‘Ohana for voting us

Best Cannabinoid Store —Eric & Zach

Person Street Bar AlohaPlusNC.com

BEST OUTDOOR MUSIC VENUE IN THE TRIANGLE — a project of the community church of chapel hill, uu — 106 purefoy road, chapel hill, nc, 27514

Best Place to Hear Bluegrass in the Triangle 2021-2022 INDY Week Award Finalist

2022-23 Season Tickets Now Available. Single Concert tickets available July 1.

The Kruger Brothers | Darin & Brooke Aldridge The Ruta Beggars | The Special Consensus

For more information and tickets, visit www.communitychurchconcerts.org

Red Hat Amphitheater Finalists: Koka Booth Amphitheatre, NC Museum of Art, The Kraken

BEST PLACE TO DANCE IN THE TRIANGLE

The Blue Note Grill

Finalists: The Kraken, Shakoori Hills Festival, Community Church Concerts

Finalists: Pinhook, The Fruit–Durham, Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

Finalists: Blue Note Grill, Local506

Finalists: Kingfisher, Corpse Reviver, Arcana

BEST PLACE TO GET SPECIALTY COCKTAILS IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

The Crunkleton

Finalists: Belltree, Bowbarr, Yonder, Orange County Social Club (OCSC)

INDYweek.com

BEST PLACE TO HEAR BLUES IN THE TRIANGLE

The Blue Note Grill

Alley Twenty Six

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The Blue Note Grill

BEST PLACE TO HEAR HIP-HOP OR SOUL IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST PLACE TO GET SPECIALTY COCKTAILS IN DURHAM COUNTY

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Foundation

Cat’s Cradle BEST PLACE TO HEAR JAZZ IN THE TRIANGLE

Blue Note Grill Finalists: C. Grace, Carolina Theatre of Durham, Kingfisher, Sharp 9 Gallery

BEST PLACE TO HEAR NOISE/ ELECTRONICA IN THE TRIANGLE

Cat’s Cradle

BEST PLACE TO HEAR WORLD OR INTERNATIONAL MUSIC IN THE TRIANGLE

Duke Performances Finalists: Carolina Theatre of Durham, Cat’s Cradle, The ArtsCenter

BEST PLACE TO SHOOT POOL IN THE TRIANGLE

The Green Room Finalists: Zog’s, Sharky’s Place, The Kraken

BEST THEATER TO SEE AN INDIE FILM IN THE TRIANGLE

The Chelsea Theater

Finalists: Carolina Theatre of Durham, Rialto Raleigh, Alamo Drafthouse

BEST TRIVIA NIGHT IN THE TRIANGLE

Tomato Jake’s Finalists: Growler Grlz, Durty Bull Trivia (by Hammered Trivia w/ Thor), Hammered Trivia at Ruckus Mission Valley

Cat’s Cradle Finalists: The FruitDurham, Nightlight, Ruby Deluxe

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

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SERVICES BEST EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING FACILITY IN WAKE COUNTY

Temple Beth Or Preschool From classes for one-year-olds to pre-K, Temple Beth Or provides lessons that encourage trust, confidence, communication, and independence. Class sizes are no larger than eight students per teacher to foster a tightknit environment where all students have the chance to get one-on-one, specialized attention from teachers. As students get older, they play with art materials and toys, learn basic scissor skills, draw and paint, and start to build on their growing literacy. Temple Beth Or’s classes aren’t restricted to Jewish students—they’re for anyone who wants their child to learn in a playful, inclusive environment.—HK

Finalists: Jordan Child & Family Center, Childcare Matters

BEST EVENT/PARTY/WEDDING SPACE IN WAKE COUNTY

NC Museum of Art

It’s everyone’s favorite Ben Stiller movie come true: the North Carolina Museum of Art can offer you your very own Night at the Museum. The museum is already a prime destination for a gallery walkthrough, concert, outdoor movie showing, or quaint picnic … but why not consider it for a major event or party? With its massive grassy area filled with life-sized and much larger than life-sized art installations, NCMA is a picturesque and peaceful place to share a special moment with friends, family, or significant others. The museum also has a large indoor venue for special events like weddings or bar mitzvahs, and the staff is accommodating and helpful— making you feel less like the host and more like a guest at your own party.—HK

Finalists: Pavilions at the Angus Barn, Dix Park, The Pavilion at Nicks Road, Chatham Station 40

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BEST NONPROFIT IN WAKE COUNTY

SAFE Haven for Cats–Raleigh

Here at the INDY, we love our cats (and dogs, too, of course). So, it warms our hearts that readers chose this Raleigh institution as the best nonprofit in Wake County.

The no-kill shelter is a beloved refuge for stray and abandoned cats, who receive full medical attention and all the tender loving care they deserve while the organization seeks to place the kitties in permanent homes. Aside from helping strays find new families, SAFE Haven also provides low-cost spay/neuter services through its specialty clinic, which has been benefiting our feline friends for over 25 years and counting.—GW

Finalists: Meals on Wheels of Wake County, Note in the Pocket, DEGA Mobile Veterinary Care

BEST PET GROOMER IN WAKE COUNTY

Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming Speaking for INDY Week’s personal office dog, Penny, Woof Gang Bakery deserves a round of a-paws. Not only does it give your pets a much-needed summer trim and have them prancing out in a stylish bandana, but it also sells pet supplies and food to make it a one-stop shop for its four-legged customers and their friends. With seven locations in Wake County, customers have options—but the care each groomer takes with your pet is consistent no matter which store you visit.—HK

Finalists: City Pet Grooming, Mosa Pet Spa & Resort, All About Pets

BEST AD AGENCY IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST AUTO REPAIR IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Pulley Media, McKinney, The Splinter Group

Elite Auto Repair, Automotion

BluePrint Chapel Business Hill Tire Communications Finalists: AutoLogic,

BEST ARCHITECT / ARCHITECTURE STUDIO IN THE TRIANGLE

Shaw Design Associates

Finalists: Ellen Cassily Architect, ARX Design Company, Duda Paine

BEST ATTORNEY IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST AUTO REPAIR IN WAKE COUNTY

Johnson Auto Body Finalists: Bimmer Performance Center, 64 auto, Garner German Garage, Reliable Import Service

BEST BANK IN THE TRIANGLE

Cara Gibbons State at Jackson Law Employees Finalists: Billie Guthrie, Credit Union Kendall Page, Pennington Brienzi

BEST AUTO DEALERSHIP IN THE TRIANGLE

Hendrick Southpoint Finalists: Leith Cars, Sport Durst Automotive, Anchor Auto Outlet

BEST AUTO REPAIR IN DURHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Coastal Federal Credit Union, Self Help Credit Union, Pinnacle Financial Partners

BEST BED & BREAKFAST IN THE TRIANGLE

Colonial Inn Finalists: Heights House, Arrowhead Inn, Teardrop Inn Hillsborough, The Inn at Bingham School

Massey Brothers

BEST CATERER IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: Chapel Hill Tire–Woodcroft, Wasp Automotive, Payne’s Service Center

Finalists: The Travelling Cafe, Rocky Top Catering, Indulge Catering

Med Deli

BEST CHARTER SCHOOL IN THE TRIANGLE

Central Park School for Children Finalists: Raleigh Charter, The Woods Charter School, Research Triangle High School, Expedition School

BEST DANCE STUDIO IN THE TRIANGLE

Ninth Street Dance Finalists: Breathe Studio, Fred Astaire Dance Studio at Apex, Empower Dance Studio, Barriskill Dance Theatre School

BEST DOG TRAINER IN DURHAM COUNTY

Durham Dog Training Center Finalists: Dog Training Camp USA, Red Earth Thunder, Callas Wanderlust

BEST DOG TRAINER IN ORANGE/CHATHAM COUNTY

Haven Dog Training

Finalists: Dog Training Camp USA, Red Earth Thunder, Durham Dog Training Center

B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST DOG TRAINER IN WAKE COUNTY

Jeff Millman Dog Training Finalists: Haven Dog Training, Dog Training Camp USA, Red Earth Thunder

BEST EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING FACILITY IN DURHAM COUNTY

Montessori School of Durham Finalists: Harvest Learning Center, Primary Colors, Children First

BEST EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING FACILITY IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Emerson Waldorf School Finalists: Learning Outside, The Lupine School, Childcare Matters

BEST EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING FACILITY IN WAKE COUNTY

Temple Beth Or Preschool Finalists: Jordan Child & Family Center, Childcare Matters

BEST ELECTRICIAN IN THE TRIANGLE

Bonneville Electric Finalists: NC Electric, NCHomeElectric.com, Alexander Services

BEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST EVENT/PARTY/WEDDING SPACE IN DURHAM COUNTY

Museum of Life + Science Finalists: The Cotton Room at Golden Belt, The Pavilion at Nicks Road, Durham Arts Council

BEST EVENT/PARTY/WEDDING SPACE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Lavender Oaks Farm

Finalists: Pavilion at Nicks Road, Coco Bistro & Bar, The Rigmor House

BEST EVENT/PARTY/WEDDING SPACE IN WAKE COUNTY

NCMA

Finalists: Pavilions at the Angus Barn, Dix Park, The Pavilion at Nicks Road, Chatham Station

BEST EVENT/WEDDING PLANNER IN THE TRIANGLE

Amanda Blair

by Design

Go2Girls

Finalists: Carpe Diem Cleaning, Ana’s Cleaning Durham, Lucie’s Home Services Inc.

BEST HOUSE CLEANERS IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Maria’s House Cleaning Service Finalists: Go2Girls, Amanda’s Queens Cleaning Services LLC, Shiny Clean

BEST HOUSE CLEANERS IN WAKE COUNTY

Go2Girls

Finalists: Maria’s House Cleaning Service, Dust and Mop, Sunny Spot Cleaning co.

BEST HOUSE PAINTER IN THE TRIANGLE

Zarazua Painting

Finalists: Dogwood Gatherings and Events, Tiffany Tan–Weddings

by Tiffany, Folie a Deux Events

Finalists: Gonzalez Painters & Contractors, Anderson Painting, Fresh Coat Painters Cary, Hansell Painting–Durham, NC

BEST HIGH SCHOOL IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST HVAC COMPANY IN THE TRIANGLE

Durham School of the Arts Finalists: Emerson Waldorf School, Chapel Hill High School, Enloe Magnet High School

BEST HOTEL IN THE TRIANGLE Emerson Waldorf School The Umstead Finalists: Carrboro Elementary, Lakewood Elementary, Thales Academy Raleigh

BEST HOUSE CLEANERS IN DURHAM COUNTY

Finalists: 21c Durham Museum Hotel, The Durham, Unscripted

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

Boer Brothers Finalists: Alternative Aire, Andrew’s Heating and Air, Alexander Services

BEST INSURANCE AGENT IN THE TRIANGLE

Amanda Hagood State Farm Finalists: Christine Walorz, Burt Lawson, Ola Stinnett

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BEST LANDSCAPE COMPANY IN THE TRIANGLE

TROSA Lawn Care

Finalists: Landscape Logic, Hensley’s Lawn and Landscaping, Thomas Babb Lawncare

BEST LICENSED CONTRACTOR IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Little Corner Construction

Finalists: Hollow Rock Construction, Pope Builders Inc., Actual Size Builders

BEST LICENSED CONTRACTOR IN DURHAM COUNTY

Little Corner Construction Finalists: BuildSense, G. Crabtree Spaces, Gateway Building Company

BEST LICENSED CONTRACTOR IN WAKE COUNTY

Little Corner Construction Finalists: Big Monkey Renovation & Repair, BuildSense, One Team Restoration, Artisan Quality Roofing

BEST MOVING COMPANY IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: Two Men and a Truck, Miracle Movers of Raleigh, Movin On Movers

BEST MUSIC LESSONS IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST REALTOR IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

BEST SUMMER CAMP IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Doggie Spa, Love Overboard, Cole Park Veterinary

Finalists: Green Beagle Lodge, Rachel McNeil, Kimie’s Kritters LLC

Finalists: Martha Newport Realty Group– now alignmint, Justin Burleson, Sivertsen Real Estate

Finalists: Camp Kanata, Piedmont Wildlife Center, New Life Camp

BEST PET BOARDING IN WAKE COUNTY

BEST PET-SITTING SERVICE IN WAKE COUNTY

Green Beagle Django Haskins Lodge Finalists: High Strung School of Music, Triangle Music School, Chapel Hill School of Musical Arts, Wall of Sound Music Center

BEST NONPROFIT IN DURHAM COUNTY

TROSA

Finalists: Book Harvest, The Community Empowerment Fund, Kidznotes

BEST NONPROFIT IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Haw River Assembly

Finalists: Beautiful Together Animal Sanctuary, Learning Outside, Our Wild Neighbors

Rise, Southern SAFE Biscuits & Haven for Righteous Cats–Raleigh Chicken Finalists: Meals on BEST MIDDLE SCHOOL IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST PET-SITTING SERVICE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

TROSA Moving Green Beagle and Storage Lodge

BEST LOCALLY OWNED FRANCHISE BEST NONPROFIT IN THE TRIANGLE–SERVICES IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Duck Donuts, Neighborhood Barre

BEST PET BOARDING IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Wheels of Wake County, Note in the Pocket, DEGA Mobile Veterinary Care

BEST PET BOARDING Emerson IN DURHAM COUNTY Waldorf School Camp Bow Finalists: McDougle Wow North Middle School, Martin, The Woods Charter Durham School

Finalists: The K9 Kabana, Happy Puppers, Dog Diggity

BEST PET GROOMER IN DURHAM COUNTY

Pampered Pooch

Finalists: Green Beagle Lodge, Eno Animal Hospital, Elliotte’s Pet Spa

BEST PET GROOMER IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Green Beagle Lodge Finalists: Hair of the Dog, Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming Chapel Hill, Love Overboard

BEST PET GROOMER IN WAKE COUNTY

Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming Finalists: City Pet Grooming, Mosa Pet Spa & Resort, All About Pets

BEST PET-SITTING SERVICE IN DURHAM COUNTY

Kate’s Critter Care Finalists: Camp Bow Wow North Durham, Bull City Pet Sitting, dogwalk

Kate’s Critter Care

Pack&Pride

Finalists: Happy Puppers, Furbaby Pet Sitters, The K9 Kabana

BEST PLACE TO ADOPT A PET IN THE TRIANGLE

Saving Grace Finalists: SPCA of Wake County, APS of Durham, Hope Animal Rescue

BEST PLUMBER IN THE TRIANGLE

Carrboro Plumbing

Finalists: NCWaterHeaters.com, Greene Hunt, Alexander Services

BEST REALTOR GROUP IN THE TRIANGLE

Premier Agents Network Finalists: Martha Newport Realty Group– now alignmint, Core Realty Advisors, Debra Wynne

BEST REALTOR IN DURHAM COUNTY

Debra Wynne Finalists: Martha Newport Realty Group– now alignmint, Emily Jo Roberts, Charles Bulthuis

Joan Mueller

BEST REALTOR IN WAKE COUNTY

Justin Burleson

Finalists: Martha Newport Realty Group– now alignmint, Chip Barker, Sivertsen Real Estate

BEST RECORDING STUDIO IN THE TRIANGLE

Schoolhouse of Wonder

BEST TATTOO STUDIO IN THE TRIANGLE

Inkvictus Studios

Finalists: Dogstar Tattoo Company, Welcome Tattoo, Sacred Mandala

BEST VETERINARY PRACTICE IN DURHAM COUNTY

Willow Oak Merge Records Veterinary Finalists: Soapbox Hospital Records, Osceola, Bunkersound Studio

BEST RETIREMENT COMMUNITY IN THE TRIANGLE

Carolina Meadows

Finalists: Carol Woods, Carolina Preserve, Cypress, Homes at Aversboro–Garner

BEST SUMMER CAMP IN DURHAM COUNTY

Schoolhouse of Wonder Finalists: Museum of Life and Science, Piedmont Wildlife Center, Camp Shelanu

BEST SUMMER CAMP IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Carolina Friends School Summer Programs

Finalists: Eno Animal Hospital, Southpoint Animal Hospital, Carver Street Animal Hospital

BEST VETERINARY PRACTICE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Healing Paws Veterinary Hospital

Finalists: Carrboro Plaza Veterinary Clinic, New Hope Animal Hospital, VCA Legion Road, Meadowmont Animal Hospital

BEST VETERINARY PRACTICE IN WAKE COUNTY

Shiloh Animal Hospital Finalists: Oak Heart Veterinary Hospital, Care First Animal Hospital, Town and Country Veterinary Hospital

Finalists: Piedmont Wildlife Center, Learning Outside, Schoolhouse of Wonder

Finalists: Sunny Acres, Eno Animal Hospital, The Pet Wagon

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B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

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B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

SHOP BEST ART/CRAFT SUPPLY STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

The Scrap Exchange

When the Scrap Exchange first opened 30 years ago at Northgate Mall, the storefront location featured about 3,000 square feet of retail space, with five employees and a $6,000 annual budget.

Over the years, the Triangle’s foremost nonprofit advocate of creative reuse of scrap materials moved to two different locations in downtown Durham before settling into an old cinema at Lakewood Shopping Center.

Today, the Scrap Exchange location sits on a 2.5-acre campus, with 10,000 square feet of retail space, a thrift store, nearly 20 employees, and an annual budget of $500,000.

The place hums with activity. Last week, a volunteer sorted beads inside of the pink, white, black, and gray room of the Scrap Exchange’s Cameron Gallery. Meanwhile, in an adjoining room, a group of workers eschewed their respective offices and sat together at a table, decorated with flowers fashioned from eggshell cartons, working on different projects. “One of the things we decided to do [after the pandemic shutdown ended] was to no longer be in our offices,” says Sandy Marshall, director of programs and education with the nonprofit. “So we sit around the table and work and that way we can all have input.”—TM

Finalists: Jerry’s Artarama, Freeman’s Creative, Craft Habit

BEST CBD SHOP IN WAKE COUNTY

Aloha Plus Cannabinoids

How great is this place? Well, my stepmother is a regular customer—and she lives in Florida.

Luckily, you live in the Triangle, so there’s no need to pay for shipping to enjoy Aloha’s delicious cannabinoid array of premium edibles, juices, gummies, tinctures, and more.

Just hop on over to the Northwest Raleigh storefront on Leesville Road.

Aloha’s tasty goodies alone would be enough to take the top prize here, but what really separates Aloha is the customer service. The staff is knowledgeable and welcoming, and its owner, Eric Garcia, could easily be a finalist for “Nicest Person in Raleigh” if we had that category. So, whether you have a refined cannabinoid tongue or you’re simply curious about all the hubbub, go here. You’ll be in good hands.—GW

Finalists: Medicine Mama’s Farmacy, Trek CBD (Wake Forest & Holly Springs)

BEST CONSIGNMENT/THRIFT SHOP IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Rumors

Rumor has it … that this store’s funky decor, wide selection, and one-of-a-kind pieces are more than just hearsay. Tucked away at the end of Franklin Street, Rumors’ allure speaks for itself. Even through the pandemic and with a strict in-store capacity policy, the shop consistently brought a daily line of 10–20 shoppers waiting excitedly outside the door for their turn. The mannequin outside—always stylishly adorned with a vintage sweater and complementary skirt—is just a hint of what the store has to offer. Once inside, shoppers can browse every section: old-timey jackets, dresses, shirts, pants, shoes, and a robust earring collection. While the selection is fashionably curated, prices are reasonable and well worth the value of the clothes. The store’s no-plastic policy and no-judgment employees make it a sustainable and welcoming space where everyone can find something— if not 20 things—that they like.—HK

Finalists: PTA Thrift, My Secret Closet, Communityworx Carrboro

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

BEST ART/CRAFT SUPPLY STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

The Scrap Exchange PHOTO BY JADE WILSON

BEST GIFT SHOP IN WAKE COUNTY

DECO Raleigh

Where do I go when I need to buy a Christmas tree ornament for my brother-in-law, a fun and educational puzzle or game for my niece, some practical jarware for my coworkers, or a locally made piece of jewelry for my friend for her birthday? I go to DECO in downtown Raleigh, of course (and yes, I have made all these purchases there in the last two years—absolutely no regrets). Whether it’s Target or Trader Joe’s, I feel like I can’t get out of any store these days without spending $100. So at least when I shop at DECO, I know it’s money well spent: I’m supporting a local business and the local retail scene; I’m getting fun, unique, and often locally sourced gifts for everyone on my list or (let’s face it) myself; and I’m not battling crowds and accidentally ramming into people with shopping carts. It’s just an overall far-superior shopping experience and a testament to the store’s staying power—DECO has been open in a brickand-mortar location in downtown Raleigh for 10 years. I hope it’s got many more.—JP

BEST JEWELRY STORE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Light Years

Just a tiny building nestled next to Varsity Alley on Franklin Street, this jewelry store is easy to miss, but it’s a gem that jewelry lovers don’t want to miss out on! With everything from earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and charms to cards and socks, this shop makes the perfect place for gift shopping for a friend, family member, or even just yourself. The jewelry is creative and affordable, and staff members are always happy to lend their advice or, in my case, spend 30 minutes trying to figure out my ring size. Both eclectic and fashionable, Light Years is sure to have you walking out of the store with a new piece of jewelry that will light up your whole year.—HK

Finalists: Womancraft Fine Handcrafted Gifts, Melissa Designer Jewelry, Carlisle & Linny Vintage Jewelry

Finalists: Edge of Urge, Bless Your Heart Boutique, Little Details INDYweek.com

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BEST NEW BUSINESS IN DURHAM COUNTY

Queeny’s

Last year, right when Cosmic Cantina’s back was about to break from 25 years spent single-handedly carrying Durham’s latenight food scene, Queeny’s sprang up to relieve some of that pressure and broaden the options for midnight snackers in the Bull City. The downtown restaurant has the vibe of your cool friend’s living room, with comfy mismatched armchairs and a Polaroid-plastered corkboard, and its menu, offered nightly until two a.m., balances greasy American classics with healthy and global options like kale salad, roasted veggies, and Israeli eggplant sandwiches. There’s a wide variety of draft beer, wine, and cocktails on the bar menu, but if none of the drinks strike your fancy, you can head downstairs to Kingfisher, a quaint craft cocktail bar owned by the same folks.—LG

Finalists: Part & Parcel, Zanobia Sewing Alterations, Z Koretizing Cleaners

BEST TOY/KIDS STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Ali Cat Toys

At Haven Dog Training we understand that each dog is a unique individual and should be trained accordingly. We believe the best can be brought out in any dog and strive for a balance of obedience and happiness.

Obedience should never come at the cost of happiness and upon completion of any training program our goal is to have a happy dog that will also listen to all commands.

Oh no! You suddenly remember your niece’s birthday party is in the morning, and you never got a gift! What do you do? I mean, what store could possibly have, say, some kind of unicorn love floaty key ring, turtle eugy, watercolor hearts slap watch, or glow in the dark mini fidget tubes in stock at this hour!?

Well, good news. There’s a place on earth with all that and more, and it’s Ali Cat Toys—home to just about any kind of cool, crafty, fun, kid-friendly thingamabob a mind can imagine.

Not only are the toys one of a kind, but Ali Cat’s website makes the store incredibly easy to navigate and captures nice, clear images of each toy. But where’s the fun in that?

This is the place to go for in-person, hands-on browsing to find that special gift—or maybe just release your inner child.—GW

Finalists: Learning Express, Tiny, LILYMAES

TO US, THAT IS DOG TRAINING. CALL US AT 919-360-6817 TO SCHEDULE YOUR FREE CONSULTATION! 46

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B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST ART/CRAFT SUPPLY STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

The Scrap Exchange

Finalists: Jerry’s Artarama, Freeman’s Creative, Craft Habit

BEST ARTISAN MARKET/SHOP IN THE TRIANGLE

WomanCraft Gifts

Finalists: Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, Peel Gallery, The Artisan Market at 305, Curate

BEST BIKE SHOP IN DURHAM COUNTY

BEST CBD SHOP IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Cannabliss

Finalists: Carolina Hemp, Whippoorwill Herb Co at the Eno River Farmers Market

BEST CBD SHOP IN WAKE COUNTY

Aloha Plus Cannabinoids Finalists: Medicine Mama’s Farmacy, Trek CBD (Wake Forest & Holly Springs)

BEST CD / RECORD STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Schoolkids Durham Cycles Records Finalists: Bullseye Bicycle, Seven Stars

BEST BIKE SHOP IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Back Alley Bikes Finalists: None

BEST BIKE SHOP IN WAKE COUNTY

Oak City Cycling Finalists: Cycle Logic, Inside Out Sports

BEST BOOKSTORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Flyleaf Books Finalists: Quail Ridge Books, The Regulator Bookshop, Letters Bookshop

BEST CBD SHOP IN DURHAM COUNTY

MagikCraft Bull City Magic Finalists: Heal Tree CBD, Hemptender

Finalists: Hunky Dory, Chaz’s Bull City Records, Carolina Soul Records, Volume

BEST CHILDREN’S CLOTHING SHOP IN THE TRIANGLE

Tiny

BEST CONSIGNMENT/THRIFT SHOP IN WAKE COUNTY

Dorcas Ministries

Finalists: Father & Son, North Raleigh Ministries Thrift Shoppe, Revolver, Trunkshow

BEST ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY BUSINESS IN THE TRIANGLE

The Scrap Exchange

Finalists: Fillaree, Trunkshow, @zkcleaners

BEST EROTIC GIFTS IN THE TRIANGLE

Cherry Pie Finalists: Adam & Eve, Frisky Business Boutique

BEST FABRIC STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Cary Quilting Company

Finalists: Beanstalk, Pattywhacks, Peek-a-Boo Grins

Finalists: Joann Fabrics, Mulberry Silk, Freeman’s Creative

BEST COMIC BOOK STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST FLORIST IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: Ultimate Comics, Peel Gallery

Finalists: Pine State Flowers, Victoria Park Florist, Blossom and Bone Florals

Fallon’s Atomic Empire Flowers BEST CONSIGNMENT/THRIFT SHOP IN DURHAM COUNTY

TROSA Thrift Store

Finalists: The Scrap Exchange, Rumors, Pennies for Change

BEST CONSIGNMENT/THRIFT SHOP IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Rumors

Finalists: PTA Thrift, My Secret Closet, Communityworx Carrboro

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

BEST FURNITURE STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

TROSA Thrift Store Finalists: Heavner, Area Modern, Trunkshow

BEST GARDEN STORE IN DURHAM COUNTY

For Garden’s Sake Finalists: Stone Brothers, Durham Garden Center, Barnes Supply Co.

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BEST GARDEN STORE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Southern States

Finalists: For Garden’s Sake, Fifth Season, Piedmont Feed & Garden

BEST GARDEN STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Logan’s Garden Shop Finalists: For Garden’s Sake, Garden Supply Company, Durham Garden Center

BEST GARDEN STORE IN WAKE COUNTY

Logan’s Garden Shop Finalists: Garden Supply Company, The Zen Succulent, Fairview Garden Center

BEST GIFT SHOP IN DURHAM COUNTY

Parker & Otis Finalists: Vaguely Reminiscent, Zen Succulent, Bull City Fair Trade, The Artisan Market at 305

BEST GIFT SHOP IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

WomanCraft Gifts

Finalists: This & That Gift Gallery Carrboro, SallyMack, My Muses Card Shop

BEST GIFT SHOP IN WAKE COUNTY

DECO Raleigh Finalists: Edge of Urge, Bless Your Heart Boutique, Little Details

BEST HARDWARE STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST NEW BUSINESS IN DURHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Fitch’s Lumber, Burke Brothers

Finalists: Part & Parcel, Zanobia Sewing Alterations, Z Koretizing Cleaners

BEST INTERNATIONAL MARKET IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST NEW BUSINESS IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Triangle Ace Hardware

Li Ming’s Global Mart

Finalists: Grand Asia Market, One World Market, Bull City Fair Trade

BEST JEWELRY STORE IN DURHAM COUNTY

Jewelsmith Finalists: Light Years, Womancraft Gifts, Hamilton Hill

BEST JEWELRY STORE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Light Years

Finalists: WomanCraft Gifts, Melissa Designer Jewelry, Carlisle & Linny Vintage Jewelry

BEST JEWELRY STORE IN WAKE COUNTY

Bailey’s Fine Jewelry and Gifts Finalists: Holland’s Jewelers, The Vintage Bee, Lily Mae’s, Wake Forest Jeweler

BEST LITERARY ORGANIZATION IN THE TRIANGLE

Book Harvest

Finalists: Read and Feed, Orange County Literacy, NC Writers Network, Redbud Writing Project

BEST LOCAL BRAND IN THE TRIANGLE

TROSA

Queeny’s

Peel Gallery

Finalists: Coco Bistro, Iberia Boutique & Flowers, Tar Heel Escapes

BEST NEW BUSINESS IN WAKE COUNTY

Remedy Cocktail Company

Finalists: Element Gastropub, Trunkshow, RedCheck Pest Solutions

BEST PET SPECIALTY STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Phydeaux

Finalists: Unleashed, Paws at the Corner, Oliver’s Collar

BEST PLACE TO BUY LOCALLY MADE ART IN DURHAM COUNTY (TIE)

Durham Farmers’ Market AND Durham Craft Market

Finalists: Durham Art Guild, Artisan Market at 305, MagikCraft Bull City Magic

BEST PLACE TO BUY LOCALLY MADE ART IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Hillsborough Gallery of Arts Finalists: WomanCraft Gifts, Peel Gallery, Joyful Jewel

Finalists: Runaway, Munjo Munjo, OutpostLE.com 48

June 15, 2022

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B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2022

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MONDAY–FRIDAY: 8AM - 5PM B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

BEST PLACE TO BUY LOCALLY MADE ART IN WAKE COUNTY

Artspace

Finalists: DECO Raleigh, Munjo Munjo, Curate

BEST PLACE TO BUY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN THE TRIANGLE

High Strung Violins & Guitars

Finalists: Harry’s Guitar Shop, Guitar Center, Triangle Strings, 2112 Percussion

BEST RETAIL BEER SELECTION IN DURHAM COUNTY

Sam’s Bottle Shop

Finalists: Beer Study Durham, The Glass Jug Beer Lab, Durham Co-op Market

BEST RETAIL BEER SELECTION IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Beer Study

Finalists: Weaver Street Market, Wooden Nickel Bottle Shop, House of Hops Pittsboro, Casual Pint

BEST RETAIL BEER SELECTION IN WAKE COUNTY

State of Beer

Finalists: Peace St Market, Bottle Revolution Lake Boone Trail, Cellar 55, BottleMixx

BEST RUNNING STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Fleet Feet Finalists: Bull City Running Co., 9th Street Active Feet, Pace Yourself Run Company

BEST SALVAGE / RE-USE BUSINESS IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST WINE SHOP IN WAKE COUNTY

Finalists: Habitat reStore, TROSA Thrift Store, Trunkshow

Finalists: The Raleigh Wine Shop, Cellar 55, BottleMixx

BEST STORE TO BUY EYEGLASSES IN THE TRIANGLE

BEST WOMEN’S BOUTIQUE IN DURHAM COUNTY

The Scrap Exchange

Warby Parker Finalists: Carrboro Family Vision, SPECS, Spectacle

BEST TOY/KIDS STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Ali Cat Toys

Wine Authorities

Vaguely Reminiscent Finalists: Dolly’s Vintage, Vert & Vogue, Smitten

BEST WOMEN’S BOUTIQUE IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Finalists: Learning Express, Tiny, Lily Mae’s

Sofia’s Boutique

BEST VINTAGE / ANTIQUE STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Finalists: WomanCraft Gifts, New Horizons Downtown, Thirteen West Carrboro

TROSA Thrift Store Finalists: Bull City Vintage, Gibson Girl Vintage, Trunkshow

BEST WINE SHOP IN DURHAM COUNTY

Wine Authorities Finalists: Total Wine, LouElla Wine, Beer & Beverage, Hope Valley Wine & Beverage

BEST WINE SHOP IN ORANGE / CHATHAM COUNTY

Weaver Street Market

BEST WOMEN’S BOUTIQUE IN WAKE COUNTY

Bless Your Heart Boutique

Finalists: Possibilities Boutique, Carolina Roots Boutique, Little Details, Trunkshow

BEST YARN STORE IN THE TRIANGLE

Hillsborough Yarn Shop Finalists: Great Yarns, Freeman’s Creative, Downtown Knits

Finalists: Chapel Hill Wine Company, Hillsborough Wine Company, Wooden Nickel Bottle Shop

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B E S T O F T H E T R I A N G L E 2022

SC R E E N MEMORIA

Screening at the Chelsea Theater, Chapel Hill | Friday, June 17–Thursday, June 23

Tilda Swinton in Memoria

~~

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEON

Sound Bites Elusive indie film Memoria makes a stop at the Chelsea Theater this week. It may be your only chance to ever see it. BY GLENN MCDONALD arts@indyweek.com

H

eads up, film nerds: the Chelsea Theater in Chapel Hill will be hosting a series of special screenings, June 17-24, of the new film Memoria, from award-winning Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

This turn of events is intriguing on several levels. Weerasethakul is a deeply admired filmmaker in world cinema circles, winner of the prestigious Cannes Palme d’Or prize, among others. Memoria is the first film he’s made outside Thailand and features an international cast led by the inimitable Tilda Swinton.

Then there’s the story itself: Swinton plays a Scottish expat in Colombia who experiences a kind of perpetual auditory hallucination—a rolling explosion that seems to come from deep within the earth. Her obsessive investigation digs into Central American history, topographical anomalies, psychic trauma, and the collective unconscious. She also recruits help from a person who may not actually exist. Google the trailer for a sense of the deliciously eerie tone.

As an old-fashioned, in-the-theater moviegoing experience, Memoria offers another

enticement: this may be the only chance we’ll get to see it. Memoria is being rolled out like a traveling art exhibition, playing in limited theaters across North America week to week. The Chelsea screenings are the final stop for North Carolina, and there are no plans to shuttle the film to online markets or streaming services.

It’s an oddly refreshing approach, pushing back against contemporary distribution models of making everything available everywhere, on all devices, always. Memoria has the feeling of an event, a destination.

The exhibition strategy also chimes with the film’s overall vibe, which will be familiar to devotees of the literary microgenre known as weird fiction. The goal in weird fiction isn’t so much to present a narrative as to deliver an experience—a feeling, a mood, a glimpse of the numinous.

Which is all to say: a pretty good option for a night at the movies! Bonus tip: before each screening, the Chelsea will present a video introduction to the work of Weerasethakul by Duke film scholar Miguel Rojas Sotelo. W

Looking for Answers?

Follow @INDYWeek on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for breaking news.

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53

M U SIC

REVELATORS SOUND SYSTEM: REVELATORS

[June 17; 37d03d]

Shapeshifters MC Taylor and Cameron Ralston’s new project, Revelators Sound System, basks in the collective power of creativity.

BY AMANDA WICKS music@indyweek.com

I

n the late spring of 2020, as the pandemic stretched past its initial crisis-filled months and produced a longer reality shift, the Durham-based musician MC Taylor began recording a series of new guitar loops to channel his grief, among other burbling emotions.

The abstract sounds didn’t quite fit the groove-structured indie-folk he normally creates as Hiss Golden Messenger—it was, at first, simply one artist processing the moment. But eventually, those loops called for something more. Taylor could hear different instruments and arrangements swirling around his initial ideas and, realizing it wasn’t a task he could execute alone, he approached Cameron Ralston, the bassist at Spacebomb Records in Richmond, Virginia.

The two first crossed paths in 2014, discovering an easy camaraderie that extended to both their influences and intellect. They began discussing the emotions taking shape in Taylor’s new music and seeking out musicians to flesh out each rudimentary track’s feeling. The result became Revelators Sound System. The band’s forthcoming album, Revelators (out June 17 via 37d03d), transformed Taylor’s solitary grief into a communal outpouring about loss, adaptation, and, perhaps most importantly, the beauty and necessity of quiet, collective celebration.

Taylor and Ralston didn’t set out to shape or release the music as a project, but it became too expressive a statement to keep silent. Taken together, the four tracks— some winding past 10 minutes in length—are an acid jazz tapestry, weaving together saxophones, clarinets, strings, psychedelic effects, synths, and more.

“Grieving” traces the serrated spikes of that persistent emotion, following its downshift into more subdued—but no less painful—waves, while the more tranquil “Bury the Bell” ripples easily and fluidly, like water after a stone has displaced the surface. Revelators Sound System is at turns cacophonous, at others reverent, but ultimately it’s a testament to the collective power of emotion when a community rises up to speak.

Ahead of the project’s release, the INDY spoke with Taylor and Ralston about how things started, how they evolved, and the community they found along the way.

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MC Taylor and Cameron Ralston of Revelators Sound System INDY WEEK: What was the genesis of this project?

MC TAYLOR: I started creating these impressionistic

sound pieces that were based on treated guitar loops. I reached a point where I knew I wanted to hear certain things on these recordings, but I couldn’t really accomplish them myself. I was thinking that Cameron would be a good collaborator—someone I could bounce ideas off and vice versa. It started out as me working through these complicated feelings in a very solitary way and then soon realizing that I was actually craving connection—and this was a method of connection. When Cameron became involved, the initial ideas changed quite drastically. For the better, I think. I can’t say it would exist in the same way had I continued on my own.

Hiss music tends to follow a groove, and here you said you were following a feeling. How did that manifest?

CAMERON RALSTON: The stuff that Mike [Taylor] shared

with me were ruminations. As I became more involved in the project, our conversation was always about the emotion of the music and it being instrumental music. When you think of instrumental music, the first thing that comes to my mind is groove-based music, like Booker T. and the

PHOTO BY TENDER WIZARD

MG’s or The Meters, where rhythm plays such a huge role.

That stuff was secondary. Each piece has a feeling to it.

TAYLOR: I found myself, during the pandemic, listening to a lot of Miles [Davis’s] later stuff, like On the Corner through Get Up with It. I was really drawn to what sounds at first like cacophony. I think what was actually drawing me to it was the sort of articulated anger and frustration that is present on those records. It felt like such a fitting soundtrack to a world that feels like it’s filled with so much static. We’re forced to press through the static to find the melody.

Each of the songs has such different timbres. How did you decide which instruments led these feelings?

RALSTON: That was more instinctive. I think a lot of

that was determined by the personalities we wanted on the record and what instruments they played. Mike had a lot of great ideas. He’s like, “I’m really hearing this, and I want to send this to my friend Stuart [Bogie], who plays clarinet.” Community was always a big touchstone.

It seemed like we were imagining the people. I’ve always loved that about band leaders: Miles Davis and these guys who were masters at putting groups together because of the voices.

How did you identify the people you wanted involved?

TAYLOR: Some of it was asking musicians

that I’m friends with. JT Bates is a very special drummer with a very unique feel.

I asked him for one thing, and what he sent back was quite different but with an explanation that made sense. The longer I lived with it, the more I loved it and it was hard to remember what I had asked him for originally. It’s an important lesson for me to live with that type of collaborative spirit, because I’ve been leading my own band for so many years that I think I know what the music needs and sometimes I don’t. It’s good to be reminded of that. Anybody that we could’ve asked was game because it wasn’t the music business.

Did you record it live or was it layered piece by piece?

TAYLOR: It was both.

RALSTON: Ultimately, it’s a collage.

Different things were being recorded at different times. Mike was recording at his home, all the stuff I did on my end was at Spacebomb studio, and some of that was live in the room with a few people in the room and other stuff was tracked over months. The orchestra was recorded live.

The timing of it all is very … everything is sort of happening at the same time. The high majority of recording sessions I’ve been involved with have been very linear.

TAYLOR: These weren’t linear.

RALSTON: These were more like a multiverse, and sonically that gets reflected in the music. It’s got a unique vibe and time feel to it all.

TAYLOR: There are only four pieces on the record and each one is quite different, but they’re all sort of spiritually connected.

That was an important part of the process.

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Were you surprised about the direction these songs took?

RALSTON: I’m still surprised by it. It’s life-

affirming for me. Like Mike said, the music business was not a part of making this at all. For both of us that’s very rare for any endeavor we’re involved with, especially in terms of creative output. It was a quiet space to find creatively in a world that was chaotic and noisy and loud and harsh.

There was some sense of solitude that we were both finding working on this music.

I think not having any of those external pressures, commercially, was a real blessing. We were just making the thing until the conversation started happening and people [started] getting involved. It’s been a really neat, inspiring, affirming kind of journey. W

the Triangle’s Arts & Culture Newsletter

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STAGE

IN THE HEIGHTS | HHHH1/2

Raleigh Little Theatre | Run extended, through June 26 | raleighlittletheatre.org

New Heights Raleigh Little Theatre’s production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking musical is a sparkling, spirited pinnacle of community theater.

BY BYRON WOODS arts@indyweek.com

P

atrick Torres knew he was witnessing a cultural hinge moment one night in June 2008, as he watched In The Heights sweep the Tony Awards, taking four awards—first for best orchestration, then best choreography, then best score, and finally, best musical. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking musical fused hip-hop lyrics and salsa with more conventional Broadway song forms, as it probed the stories of three generations of Latinx emigrants in the tightly knit neighborhood where the composer grew up, in north Manhattan’s Washington Heights.

“I remember being emotionally overwhelmed that a musical featuring people that looked like me was on Broadway,” Torres recalls. He also sensed a dawning opportunity for change in an art form that historically had mainly reflected the concerns and sensibilities of the dominant culture. “It was just this moment, seeing—‘Oh, it can be different,’” he says. “And I really hadn’t thought about that before.”

Six years later, after being named Raleigh Little Theatre’s artistic director in 2014, Torres knew he wanted to stage Miranda’s optimistic drama here.

He also knew that he and his company were nowhere nearly ready to do so. Having just moved from Austin, Torres would have to connect and develop his own relationships with the Triangle’s Latinx community. And Raleigh Little Theatre, which had never staged work by a Latinx playwright in its first 80 years, would have to have a reckoning with its own past.

“We’re all very proud of our history as a company,” Torres says. “But we also had to be willing to say our history has largely existed in white culture. We knew there had

to be a moment where there’s an intentional invitation, an intentional opening up— saying we recognize these are the stories we’ve been telling, and we want to tell new and different stories.”

The community theater would also have to reexamine and redefine its relationships with communities in the area it had historically ignored.

“We had to internally be ready to invite a cast predominantly of people of color into an organization,” Torres notes. “They had to feel safe, to be able to be vulnerable and do all the things it takes to put on a play.”

Initiatives in diversity, equity, and inclusion, including adoption of the Chicago Theatre Standards, had to be created to make policies that would allow people of color “to come here and feel like they can be who they are. If we’re going to put a show onstage that is celebrating this culture, the people putting that onstage have to feel the organization has their back.”

That would also involve forging deep partnerships with local Latinx community advocacy group El Pueblo.

“Oftentimes, arts groups say they want to work with the Latino community, and say, ‘Here’s some tickets,’” executive director Iliana Santillán says. “But the way RLT has developed this partnership really speaks to their core values.”

“They chose a show that goes beyond the surface cultural aspects of Latinas,” Santillán says. “They took a deep dive into understanding and listening to how interconnected we all are.”

Members of the group helped translate audition notices and spread the word throughout the Latinx community.

Nicholas Claudio as Usnavi and Ingrid Santiago as Nina in Raleigh Little Theatre’s production of In the Heights PHOTO BY JEANNINE BORZELLO “We couldn’t have done that on our own,” Torres says.

Nicholas Claudio’s energy and optimism radiate from the Sutton Theatre stage as he syncopates protagonist Usnavi’s tricky hiphop lyrics, flinging out rhymes in the show’s opening number: “Practically everybody’s stressed, yes! / But they press through the mess / bounce checks and wonder what’s next.”

After acting in shows ranging from Agamemnon and Little Shop of Horrors to The Little Mermaid and The Secret Garden, the up-and-coming 28-year-old actor, a recent Chicago transplant, says, “I can’t even think of one named Latinx person in any of those shows.”

“I’m not some little Yorkshire boy from the hillsides of England,” Claudio says. “I’m a Nuyorican: half Polish Ukrainian, half Afro-Latino. My mother grew up in Brooklyn; my father grew up in Queens. And I don’t often act roles that are this personal to me.”

Carolina Kavanaugh’s work as Camila, mother of struggling student Nina, is equally polished, despite it being her first time onstage.

“The cast and crew is such a pinnacle of what I believe community theater is,”

Torres says, “folks that have done it forever, right alongside people in their very first play. That’s what community theater should do, because then they get to create a community and learn from one another.”

Cristina Duchesne-Rivera sparkles as love interest Vanessa, and Tippy Thornton brings authority and heart to the neighborhood’s abuela, Claudia. In their midst, Gabriel Cortez’s stand-out solo turns give grace and gravitas to the community’s Piragua Guy, alongside arresting cameos

by Ryan Vasconcellos, Mairym Azcona, and Davyous Melvin.

As Michael Santangelo’s band and James and Peiwei Cobo’s culturally accurate choreography builds to a fever pitch in “Carnaval del Barrio,” it hits you: the diversity on stage also extends to body types not often seen in musicals. “Often, if you watch Telemundo or ABC, you see this personification of Latinx community members who are very thin,” Santillán says. “To see people of different colors in different shapes and sizes, dancing and enjoying— that’s really meaningful.”

In a work whose rare energies have made this RLT’s strongest show since the pandemic, the neighborhood onstage is looking a lot more like our own. It’s about time. W INDYweek.com

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E TC. Beaver Queen contestant Emily Cox (stage name: “Bevabundancer”) PHOTO BY MADDIE WRAY

Crowning Glory At the 18th annual Beaver Queen Pageant in Durham, camp reigns supreme.

BY ANA YOUNG

arts@indyweek.com

A

t Camp Bushy Valley, the word “camp” is an understatement.

A Victorian beaver—in a red burlesque skirt under a black dress, a sequined sailor’s cap, steampunk glasses, and a sunflower umbrella—marches with a parade. Eliza DuBose, a fish-tailed beaver in seaweed beads, flamingo sunglasses, and an aquamarine octopus hat, prances around the campground. Another beaver wears rainbow sunglasses, a green fedora with flowers, and a butterfly shirt. The setting looks and feels like a scene from Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.

It’s June 4, and the Beaver Queen Pageant, a fundraiser for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association, is celebrating its 18th birthday. Hundreds of neighbors, volunteers, and visitors come together for an afternoon in the meadow at Duke Park to celebrate the pageant’s first year in person since 2019. It’s one large village party featuring parades, dancing, environmental 58

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INDYweek.com

activism, and an actual pageant crowning the newest Beaver Queen.

Long before the queen is chosen, bubbles blow from an entrance tent and funk music plays from the speakers while the crowds make their way toward an amphitheater. Food trucks quickly line Acadia Street next to the park. The line for a Durham staple, LocoPops, extends at least 20 feet.

Early in the afternoon, entourages representing the pageant’s contestants walk around asking attendees to “bribe” the judges so their beaver can win. Votes cost $5 each. Charlee Halpheen and Susan Bowker carry a Tinder-themed photo booth and ask people to vote for Tinder Beaver. Others simply encourage pageant-goers to head to the voting tent, where those who vote at least 20 times can choose a home-crafted beaver tail to keep.

Mike Shiflett, a Durham resident since 1984, talks to neighbors from a tent labeled “Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association.” Dressed in a red long-sleeve but-

ton-down with the label “steward,” the white-haired, retired business owner passes out pamphlets offering information about Ellerbe Creek. He explains how the pageant came to be.

“They were widening [I-85], and one of the things that they were trying to do is mitigate flooding. And who causes flooding? Beavers,” says Shiflett, a longtime volunteer with the association. “So this neighborhood, Duke Park, found out that the North Carolina Department of Transportation was going to trap beavers. And when you trap beavers, you end up killing them.”

Residents were outraged, he remembers. Standing nearby, an old friend, Barry Ragin, president of the Duke Park Neighborhood Association at the time, chimes in.

“We discovered that the state has a beaver management program,” Ragin recalls. “We got the county commissioners to vote to join the beaver management program. The beavers were saved.”

“They ended up moving behind the Compare Foods—the shopping center just on the other side of [I-85],” he says.

“So there’s a huge beaver lodge there. One of the biggest on the East Coast.”

A year after saving the beavers, the neighborhood hosted its first Beaver Queen Pageant at the meadow. However, it wasn’t until its second year that the Beaver Queen Pageant became a fundraiser.

“There was a 14-year-old who competed,” Ragin says.

“Her dad, the late Bill Anderson … went to a number of the judges and said, ‘Here’s $1—vote for my daughter to be the queen.’

“And at the end of the day, we had something like $10 or $15. And we didn’t know what to do with it. So we gave it to Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association. And then the next year, we decided we would actually try to raise some money, and we raised closer to $100. And then the third … raised closer to $1,000. And now, I understand it’s getting close to $30,000 a year.”

Shifflet and Ragin aren’t the only longtime pageant supporters in attendance. Bill Anderson’s daughter, Jill Anderson, is one of this year’s pageant’s head organizers, along with Greg Palmer. The very first Beaver Queen, Beverly Woody—whose real name is Richard Mullinax— also attends, dressed in scrubs and a name tag that says OGBQ (Original Gangster Beaver Queen). The former Beaver Queen walks around the campground, offering male and female condoms and lube to hundreds of people watching the stage.

“Here’s some lubrication,” says Mullinax, who now lives in California. “Make sure and keep the wetlands wet, and make sure and protect the wetlands. You know we want to share—we also want to make sure we protect the wetlands for future use.”

Raleigh's Community Bookstore

Latest on Bookin’ Available

6.13

Alexandra Lange, Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall Events

WED

IN-STORE

6.15

B.A. Shapiro, Metropolis

7PM

IN-STORE

Annie Krabbenschmidt, Fred: An Unbecoming Woman in conversation with Adam Hollowell

TUE

6.21 7PM

IN-STORE

FRI

6.24 7PM

Young onlookers at the Beaver Queen pageant.

In the foreground, the show begins as the Bulltown Strutters lead a parade, marching down toward the stage from a hill. People in the crowd dance along with the train as the emcee makes his way toward the microphone. He’s wearing a 1960s-esque Boy Scout counselor uniform with a homemade beaver tail. Soon enough, he introduces another emcee who calls himself Dante.

Before the actual contest can begin, Dante leads the crowd in “The Blessing of the Kits.” He calls upon all families with children to make their way to the stage. He then leads the children in an environmentally focused prayer.

“To Mother Nature, we pray for the planet,” the blessing begins. “Breath of life, from whom all order was created. The whole of creation bears witness to you. Teach us to respect all creatures and all people and increase our gratitude for your loving providence.”

“Put a Little Love in Your Heart” by Jackie DeShannon plays as the crowd dances along. Then the six judges—each representing a brewery sponsor—come out dressed as historical figures and pop-culture characters, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Tooth Beaver Ginsburg) and Julius Caesar (Chewlius Caesar). Each judge states what they’re looking for in a Beaver Queen.

Finally, it’s time to meet the contestants: Satine Bieber, Beavabundancer, Tinder Beaver, Pawryshnikov Gnawjinski (a.k.a. Ballet Beaver), and Velour Gnawsett Peltenham Riverdancer West (a.k.a.

Velo, the Bicycling Beaver).

Next comes the talent segment. One contestant blends a smoothie using a

PHOTO BY MADDIE WRAY

bicycle. Another performs Janelle Monae’s “Pynk.” Tinder Beaver sing-raps a song full of puns about dating apps. Another beaver dances while spraying perfume.

Ballet Beaver dances to Swan Lake (of course). The judges deliberate and count the votes.

In the end, each beaver receives a title.

Satine Bieber has the Best Tail and Costuming, and Pawryshnikov Gnawjinski is the Best Talent. Beavabundancer is the Craftiest Beaver, Tinder Beaver is Miss Hygeniality, and Velour Gnawsett Peltenham Riverdancer West has the Best Stage Presence.

A prima donna ready to find a hunky beaver to settle down with takes the biggest prize: Tinder Beaver, with a social score of 533 and $2,590 raised, is voted queen.

She receives her crown—a pink bucket hat with felt pointy edges, sequins, and hand-sewn animals. Then the song “Dancing Queen” by ABBA plays. Instead of “digging the dancing queen,” some organizers sing “digging the Beaver Queen.”

For the children in the audience, the win is out of a fairy tale. They run up to Tinder Beaver to hug and congratulate her. She embraces them and the other contestants, smiling with surprise and shock.

“I was so out of breath because my heart was going a million miles a minute,” says Tinder Beaver, whose real name is Alisa Hassinger. The first time she performed or practiced her talent was during the show, she explains.

“It was very surprising—but it was so much fun,” she exclaims.

Then she heads back into the crowd to dance again. W

TUE

6.28

6-8PM

Matt Browning, The Definitive Golden Girls Cultural Reference Guide in conversation with David Matthews MEET & GREET

Kendra Adachi, The Lazy Genius Kitchen

Register for Quail Ridge Books Events Series at www.quailridgebooks.com. www.quailridgebooks.com • 919.828.1588 • North Hills 4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road, Raleigh, NC 27609 Offering FREE Media Mail shipping and contactless pickup!

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June 15, 2022

59

C U LT U R E CA L E NDA R

Please check with local venues for their health and safety protocols.

Arlie performs at Motorco Music Hall on Friday, June 10.

art

music

NCMA Emerging Artisan Series 2022 Wed, Jun. 15, 5:30 p.m. NCMA, Raleigh.

An Evening with Goose $35. Wed, Jun. 15, 6:30 p.m. Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh.

Beyond the Surface: Collage, Mixed Media and Textile Works from the Collection Thurs, Jun. 16, 10 a.m. The Nasher, Durham.

Betcha / Savannah Conley $12. Wed, Jun. 15, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

Museum Park Tour Jun. 17-18, 9:30 a.m.

NCMA, Raleigh.

Guided Tour: Modern Black Culture: The Art of Aaron Douglas Fri, Jun. 17, 1:30 p.m.

Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill.

Fault Lines Exhibition Store Maker Event: Recycled Jewelry with Bold Standard $50. Sat, Jun. 18, 4:30 p.m. NCMA, Raleigh.

Oddville Art Festival $10. Sat, Jun. 18, 7 p.m. The Fruit, Durham.

What’s That Sculpture? Sat, Jun. 18, 10:30 a.m.

NCMA, Raleigh.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MOTORCO MUSIC HALL

stage Assassins $12+. Jun. 2-19, various times.

Titmus Theatre at Frank Thompson Hall, Raleigh.

American Dance Festival Jun. 3–Jul. 20, various times.

Various venues, Durham.

Jesus Christ Superstar $30+. Jun. 14-19, various times.

DPAC, Durham.

Live Jazz with Marc Puricelli and Friends Wed, Jun. 15, 7 p.m. Imbibe, Chapel Hill.

Cody Johnson $49+. Thurs, Jun. 16, 6:30 p.m. Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh.

Horizontal Hold $8. Thurs, Jun. 16, 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Pleasure House $7. Thurs, Jun. 16, 9 p.m. Local 506, Chapel Hill.

Arlie $15. Fri, Jun. 17, 9 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Greylan Hall and the Nasty Kings $10. Fri, Jun. 17, 8 p.m. Local 506, Chapel Hill.

Lovell Bradford Trio $15+. Fri, Jun. 17, 8 p.m. Sharp Nine Gallery, Durham.

Mariah the Scientist: The Experimental Tour $28. Fri, Jun. 17, 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

Neha Kakkar $49+.

Fri, Jun. 17, 8 p.m.

Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Spider Bags $12.

Fri, Jun. 17, 10 p.m.

Rubies on Five Points, Durham.

Tan and Sober Gentlemen $12. Fri, Jun. 17, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

5th Annual Triangle Community Band Day Sat, Jun. 18, 5:30 p.m. Durham Central Park, Durham.

Anvil $20. Sat, Jun. 18, 7:30 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Garcia Peoples $15+. Sat, Jun. 18, 8:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

Jphono1 / Secret Monkey Weekend / It’s Snakes $10.

Sat, Jun. 18, 8 p.m.

Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

Kid Rock: Bad Reputation Tour $33+. Sat, Jun. 18, 7 p.m. Coastal Credit Union Music Park, Raleigh.

Queer Agenda! $5.

Sat, Jun. 18, 11:55 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Reggae Bash & Irie Vibes: Mickey Mills & Steel $12.

Sat, Jun. 18, 8:30 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

Ron Brendle Quartet $25. Sat, Jun. 18, 8 p.m.

Sharp Nine Gallery, Durham.

Cumgirl8 $10. Mon, Jun. 20, 8 p.m. Local 506, Chapel Hill.

Live Jazz with Danny Grewen & Griffanzo Mon, Jun. 20, 6 p.m. Imbibe, Chapel Hill.

Failure $25. Tues, Jun. 21, 7 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

Flogging Molly / The Interrupters $24+. Tues, Jun. 21, 6 p.m. Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh.

Live Jazz with the Brian Horton Trio Tues, Jun. 21, 9 p.m.

Kingfisher, Durham.

Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threauxdown $50+.

Tues, Jun. 21, 6:30 p.m. Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary.

Fenton Live! Music Series Tues, Jun. 21, 6:30 p.m. Fenton, Cary.

Tune Up Tuesdays with Charly Lowry Tues, Jun. 21, 8p.m.

The Pinhook, Durham.

Flasher $15. Tues, Jun. 21, 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

Weatherday $10.

Tues, Jun. 21, 8 p.m.

Local 506, Chapel Hill.

Game Grumps Live: Tournament of Gamers $38+. Wed, Jun. 15, 8 p.m. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

page B. A. Shapiro— Metropolis Wed, Jun. 15, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh.

Linda Villarosa— Under the Skin Wed, Jun. 15, 5:30 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.

The Monti StorySLAM $12. Wed, Jun. 15, 7:30 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Marc Maron: This May Be the Last Time Tour ’22 $45+. Fri, Jun. 17, 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Bull City Comedy Festival $10. Sat, Jun. 18, 5 p.m. James Joyce Irish Pub, Durham.

Comedy Queen Mo’Nique & Friends $40+. Sat, Jun. 18, 8 p.m. Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Yuks 4 Bucks: A Stand-Up Comedy Event Benefiting MCI $10+. Tues, Jun. 21, 6:30 p.m. Suite Four, Durham.

Storytime in the Garden Wed, Jun. 15, 10:30 a.m. NCMA, Raleigh.

Annie Krabbenschmidt— Fred Tues, Jun. 21, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh.

Why I Write What I Write Tues, Jun. 21, 5:30 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.

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C U LT U R E CA L E NDA R

PAINT & BODY • PERFORMANCE OIL CHANGES (AMSOIL) HIGH-END DETAILING • VEHICLE RESTORATION PERFORMANCE MODIFICATIONS & UPGRADES aplusclassicrestorations.com | (919)-662-4163 Ackland F.A.M.: Juneteenth Celebration PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ACKLAND ART MUSEUM

etc.

Juneteenth Events Juneteenth Celebration Block Party Wed, Jun. 15, 2 p.m. Durty Bull Brewing Company, Durham.

Juneteenth Celebration Fri, Jun. 17, 1 p.m. Hayti Heritage Center, Durham.

screen Making Mr. Right $8. Wed, Jun. 15, 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Juneteenth Joy: A Celebration of Freedom and Gospel Music $50+.

Fri, Jun. 17, 7 p.m.

NCMA, Raleigh.

A Father’s Day x Juneteenth Playdate $10+.

Sat, Jun. 18, 1 p.m.

Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Juneteenth Jubilee Fri, Jun. 17, 6:30 p.m.

The Fruit, Durham.

Juneteenth Joy: The Sound, Fashion, and Cinema of Freedom $12. Sat, Jun. 18, 6 p.m. NCMA, Raleigh.

Miss Juneteenth $6. Jun. 17 and 19, various times. The Cary Theater, Cary.

Celebrating Juneteenth Sat, Jun. 18, 9 a.m. Leigh Farm Park, Durham.

Ackland F.A.M.: Juneteenth Celebration Sun, Jun. 19, 1 p.m.

Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill.

Outdoor Film in the Sculpture Garden: Jackie Brown Thurs, Jun. 16, 9 p.m. The Nasher, Durham.

Food on Film Series: Tampopo $6.

Sat, Jun. 18, 7:30 p.m.

The Cary Theater, Cary.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and The Last Starfighter $10. Fri, Jun. 17, 7 p.m. The Carolina Theatre, Durham.

The Mysteries of Vibranium Sat, Jun. 18, 2 p.m. Durham County Library, Durham.

Food on Film Series: City of Gold $6. Sat, Jun. 18, 5 p.m. The Cary Theater, Cary.

The Birdcage Brunch $10. Sun, Jun. 19, 11 a.m.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Raleigh.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Brunch $10. Sun, Jun. 19, 3 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Raleigh.

Watch Durham: A VERY Durham Film Screening Series Tues, Jun. 21, 7 p.m.

Durty Bull Brewing Company, Durham.

WE RECYCLE ELECTRONICS, PLASTICS, CARDBOARD, GLASS, METALS, ETC... www.anythingwithaplugrecycling.com | 919-610-3465

BILL BURTON ATTORNEY AT LAW Un c o n t e s t e d Di vo rc e Bu s i n e s s L a w UNCONTESTED In c o r p o r a t i o n / L LC / DIVORCE Pa r t n e r s h i p MUSIC BUSINESS LAW Wi l l s INCORPORATION/LLC WILLS C o l l e c t i o n s SEPARATION AGREEMENTS Mu s i c

967-6159

(919) 967-6159

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P U Z Z L ES

NEWDED AN S! EXPO R H U

If you just can’t wait, check out the current week’s answer key at www.indyweek.com, and click “puzzle pages” at the bottom of our webpage.

In-Store Shopping Curbside Pick Up www.regulatorbookshop.com 720 Ninth Street, Durham, NC 27705

Hours: Monday–Saturday 10–7 | Sunday 10–6

su | do | ku

this week’s puzzle level:

© Puzzles by Pappocom

There is really only one rule to Sudoku: Fill in the game board so that the numbers 1 through 9 occur exactly once in each row, column, and 3x3 box.

The numbers can appear in any order and diagonals are not considered.

Your initial game board will consist of several numbers that are already placed. Those numbers cannot be changed. Your goal is to fill in the empty squares following the simple rule above.

If you just can’t wait, check out the current week’s answer key at www.indyweek.com, and click “puzzle pages.”

Best of luck, and have fun! www.sudoku.com solution to last week’s puzzle

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June 15, 2022

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6.15.22 INDY CLASSIFIEDS classy@indyweek.com

ur webpage.

C L AS S I F I E D S M I S C.

HEALTH & WELL BEING

919-416-0675

www.harmonygate.com

SERVICES

Timeless Skills to Survive and Thrive Join us in Franklinville for classes, workshops, and skillshares covering everything you need to know to shelter, feed, and equip yourself in any environment Every 3rd Saturday March 2022 - November 2022 www.deepriverfolkschool.com (919) 799-6819

EMPLOYMENT IT PROFESSIONALS Radcom Software Services LLC seeks multiple positions for Durham, North Carolina office: .Net Developer: Design, code, test, implement and support complex software applications utilizing C#, VB.Net, .NET, Microsoft SQL, ASP.NET, Web API, Angular, Azure DevOps, ADFS. Create test environment and test performance of software modules performance tuning and design and delivery of custom-enabled application solutions. Must have Master’s degree in Engg, Comp Sci, Info Sys., Technology or related.

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE Can you imagine a polio-free world?

We are looking for healthy adults, 18-45 years old who have been previously vaccinated against polio to determine if new oral polio vaccines are safe and effective. The study will involve 5-7 study over 6 months, and study participants can earn up to $1670. Please complete the study screener to see if you qualify at https://go.unc.edu/PolioStudy. For questions, contact poliostudy@med.unc.edu or 984-364-7897.

Senior Test Automation Lead: execute and design comprehensive suites of automation test plans, test cases load testing, scenarios, scripts, and procedures using Java technologies for web application, mobile application, and web service test automation.

Participate in establishing QA and testing guiding principles. Must have Master’s degree in Comp Sci, Engg, Info Sys., or related field & 3 years of exp. or Bachelor’s degree in above-mentioned and 5 years of exp.

RPA Developer: design solutions based on functionalities, application and exceptions utilizing RPA tools such as UiPath, Automation Anywhere & Blue Prism. Support business and technical team during robotic projects and mitigate and resolve risks.

Must have Master’s degree in Comp Sci, Info Sys., Engg or related field. All positions may travel and relocate to various unanticipated sites throughout the U.S. Send resumes and cover letter to info@ radcomsoftwareservices.com. EOE.

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