INDY Print Edition Dec. 10, 2025

Raleigh | Durham | Chapel Hill

6 Recent deportation sweeps have added urgency to an ongoing split between the Durham Association of Educators, DPS administration, and school board members over policies regarding immigration agents. BY CHASE PELLEGRINI DE PAUR

8 Enloe High School students are on track to raise $200,000 for Note in the Pocket, enough to hire two new staff members. BY JANE PORTER

10 This year, Triangle residents took to the streets, headed to the polls and rallied to support one another. Here are the news stories that defined 2025. BY JUSTIN LAIDLAW, JANE PORTER, AND SARAH WILLETS

17 INDY BEST OF THE BEST OF THE TRIANGLE 2025 BY INDY READERS AND INDY STAFF

33 Looking back at INDY's 2025 Culture Coverage. BY SARAH EDWARDS

35 Several months out from Tropical Storm Chantal, longstanding arts organizations in Saxapahaw take stock of what's been lost—and what the future holds. BY ANDREA RICHARDS

38 Talking to John Darnielle about his new book, This Year: 365 Songs Annotated. BY SHELBI POLK

41 Chloé Zhao’s emotional Hamnet, Elizabeth Olsen in afterlife romantic comedy Eternity, and more movies coming to local theaters. BY GLENN MCDONALD

43 Lunch Money: A visit to a longtime Durham deli. BY LENA GELLER

Bohl Contributors

Mariana Fabian, Jasmine Gallup, Desmera Gatewood, Tasso Hartzog, Elliott Harrell, Brian Howe, Jordan Lawrence, Elim Lee, Glenn McDonald, Nick McGregor, Gabi Mendick, Cy Neff, Andrea Richards, Barry Yeoman

UDO Rewrite Is Not the End of Land Use Regulations in Durham

A city council member on how rewriting the Unified Development Ordinance will—and won’t—change development in Durham.

BY CARL RIST backtalk@indyweek.com

In a growing city like Durham, some of the most debated issues are planning and zoning decisions. Right now, at the top of that list are the proposed revisions to Durham’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Under the white-hot spotlight of election season, the UDO rewrite took on outsize significance, with some critics suggesting that, if approved, the proposed changes to the UDO would mean huge handouts to for-profit developers and result in citizens losing the right to public hearings to weigh in on proposed rezonings. So, what’s the reality?

What is the UDO, and why is Durham considering changes to the UDO?

The UDO is a legally binding set of rules regulating how physical development of land is allowed to occur in both the city and county. Changing the UDO is an important first step to implement the vision and actions in our new Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan), which passed in October 2023 with the approval of the planning commission, city council, and county commissioners. The vision in our plan includes a number of key objectives residents overwhelmingly support, including increasing density within an urban growth boundary (UGB), prioritizing housing affordability and diversity in all places, and supporting a more walkable and bikeable city.

What would the proposed changes to the UDO do?

Create new zoning districts All comprehensive plans include both general guidance on how land should be used in the future (in Durham, these are called Place Type Maps) and a zoning map, which divides land into specific districts with detailed rules for current development. The revised UDO would create all-new zoning districts, resulting in a rezoning of the entire county. This would proactively change the zoning of many, but not all, parcels. All of this is necessary to align the new Zoning Map with the Comp Plan’s Place Type Map.

Increase allowable density in certain districts. In order to implement the Comp Plan, the proposed changes to the UDO would increase the allowable density in most residential zoning districts across the city and county (and within the UGB), while aligning higher-density development within areas designated as Transit Opportunity Areas. This means, compared to the old zoning districts, the proposed zoning districts could increase residential units by 47% (from approximately 136,000 to over 200,000). For example, the old RS-10 (Residential Suburban) district allowed four units per acre, while the new, comparable R-D (Residential Neighborhood) district would allow eight units per acre. But not all zoning districts, including some rural districts, would allow increased density. Increasing density in most residential

zoning districts is good because it helps us meet the goals of the Comp Plan by decreasing sprawling single-family development and concentrating growth and mixeduse development within the UGB. It also creates the conditions necessary for private and nonprofit developers to build housing, which will increase the supply of residential units and stabilize housing costs. It’s worth noting that dense, infill housing often creates housing opportunities for households that make too much money to qualify for housing subsidies but too little to afford other market-rate housing. All of this is critical in Durham County. Based on a recent study commissioned by the N.C. Chamber Foundation, we currently have a supply gap of 32,992 rental and for-sale units.

Cut red tape and lower housing costs Most Durham residents aren’t against growth— they just want good, smart growth. To get there, we need clear, fair rules that allow good development without endless special approvals. Time is money, and by removing the uncertainty, time, and financial burden of a rezoning process, the new UDO helps achieve the Comp Plan’s vision. Allowing more by-right development may sound unnerving to some, but housing experts at think tanks like the Urban Institute recommend this approach as one important way to increase housing affordability. That’s because going through a rezoning can cost $150,000 and take as long as 18 months. Those costs get passed on to home buyers.

What’s more, local builders—who know our city and care about its future—typically cannot take on that kind of risk. That leaves the field to big national, publicly traded companies. Ironically, some council members who say they’re “anti-corporate” are creating just the opposite—a system that pushes out local builders and invites larger developers.

What would the proposed changes to the UDO not do?

Changes to the UDO would not eliminate rezonings nor make all development “by right.” Rezonings are an important part of the planning and zoning process. Any effort to alter what is intended for a zoning district should be reviewed by a democratically elected body. Staff expect that the number of rezonings will decline, but only slightly, after the adoption of the new UDO. There still are many situations that would require a hearing, including all future development of unincorporated (county) land inside the UGB that needs water and sewer service from the city. Moreover, any suggestion that all development would be “by right,” meaning all property could be developed without special approval, is patently incorrect. The new UDO would still classify all properties into zoning districts with detailed rules for development. The allowable density would increase in most residential districts, but this would help align the interests of private developers, large and small (who build the vast majority of housing in this

ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE

country), with the Comp Plan’s vision of denser development in Durham within the UGB. Any proposal that falls outside the rules in a particular zoning district would require a public hearing.

Changes to the UDO would not automatically make all housing affordable. Estimates from our regional transit planning organization predict that the population of Durham County will grow by 50% between 2020 and 2055 to a total of more than 460,000 people. To house all of those people, we will need housing of all types. Recent data that show a decline in multi-family rents in the Triangle over the past year point to the importance of increasing housing supply to meet demand. But solutions based on increasing housing supply (i.e., increased zoning capacity) cannot replace other interventions needed to ensure housing affordability. As a community, we will need to continue to support investments in affordable housing, such as financial assistance to cost-burdened renters, downpayment assistance for first-time homeowners, future affordable housing bonds, the creation of a Housing Trust Fund, and more.

The new UDO is a tool to help us achieve the shared goals of our new Comp Plan. Overblown and false rhetoric about the new UDO signaling end of land use regulations in Durham and the end of public hearings on development plays on fears about growth and change in Durham and distracts from the real challenges of managing growth in a rapidly growing region. Interested residents still have time to engage in the UDO rewrite process before the final votes from our public bodies. Check out engagedurham.com for more info. W

Carl Rist is an at-large Durham City Council Member serving in his first term. Prior to joining the council, he spent almost 30-years working for the DC-based nonprofit, Prosperity Now, on issues of economic opportunity, financial security and wealth-building.

BACKTALK

Last month, Chase Pellegrini de Paur reported that Durham Public Schools (DPS) has seen its largest enrollment drop since the COVID era, with about 1,000 fewer students than the year before. While the district doesn’t have a definitive answer for where each student went, Chase reported on some of the factors at play. Readers shared their thoughts and theories.

From Facebook user TAMARA BRADY:

I wonder if some of the drop might have to do with the massive lay offs, and grant reductions and closures in RTP from that doge b/s? Along with all the other defunding that’s happening. Where did all those people go?

From Bluesky user JOE VILAS:

Dammit. Every charter that opens takes money from public schools. I’ve been to a private school—a theoretically religious one. It sucked.

We’re a democracy. We need education to make sure kids grow up smart enough to know how to vote. It’s simple: just send your kids to public schools.

An excerpt from Reddit user TOP_STUFF4200:

Long-time high school English teacher, parent with a child who has been a DPS student for 8 years.

Given the means, I would absolutely have moved my son to Duke School or Carolina Friends. Charter schools are a big part of the reason why DPS and NCPS are in such poor shape, and even knowing that, I would have moved my son to a charter if I believed there was one in Durham that was doing better.

I’m significantly happier with my son’s current school, DSA [Durham School of the

Arts]. To some degree, that school seems to be insulated from some of the most disastrous decisions and policies that undercut Club [Boulevard Elementary School]. I’m almost universally impressed with the people working in that building. With that said, I don’t have any faith in the board or district administrators, and in the long term, I’m not optimistic about the fate of DSA (especially given the baffling, self-defeating decision to shutter the existing campus and move the school to a smaller suburban site).

Following his death in October, Sarah Edwards wrote a rich reflection on the life of Durham artist and gay rights activist Allan Troxler and his body of work, which is archived at Duke. Appreciation for the story—and for Troxler—flooded in. Here are some reactions to the story and memories of Troxler.

From Bluesky user MEEKER:

I first met Allan at a house party visiting Durham in spring of 2016. I was struck by his gentle nature, rootedness in moral conviction, way of seeing beauty in the world, and generosity. Grateful to have know him his final decade. Thanks @eddysarah.bsky. social for this lovely tribute.

From Bluesky user MICDWY:

great @eddysarah.bsky.social on the work of Durham artist & gay rights activist Allan Troxler: his paper cuts w titles like ‘Earth Heart’ & ruminations like “Seems to me that one big difference between the revolutionary and the fascist is that one tries to understand his own heart and one doesn’t.”

From Instagram user JULIANCPHELPS:

Back when I worked at the ups store on ninth in 2014-2016, Allan was a nice regular, he’d ship his art/letters and we shared small stories of our art interests. He would always say “I’ve been meaning to get an art website”

And finally, as Border Patrol agents swept the Triangle last month, we published an op-ed from Italo Medelius, the attorney for one man detained in Durham, calling for the state to activate its civilian defense militia to protect members of the community and their rights. We got a response from the North Carolina State Defense Force.

From reader BILL HARRISON by email:

We are still here in NC. Self activated during Helene. SDFNC.ORG Not waiting on activation, but funding would be greatly appreciated. Ready for our NC neighbors in need.

Carl Rist CITY OF DURHAM

Credible Fears

Last month’s deportation sweeps animated an ongoing debate over what Durham Public Schools’ policies regarding immigration enforcement should be. Under pressure from the Durham Association of Educators and some families, the school board is expected to vote on a policy this week.

BY CHASE PELLEGRINI DE PAUR chase@indyweek.com

On November 18, when Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents arrived in the Triangle, about 20% of Durham Public Schools’ (DPS) 30,000 students stayed home as parents worried about agents showing up to schools, bus stops, and pickup lines.

There was no confirmed activity at schools—but with a federal administration that has been set on increasing deportation numbers, in part by targeting liberal cities, DPS families have been on edge.

The majority-member Durham Association of Educators (DAE) says teachers are not prepared in the event agents return.

“The fact of the matter is when CBP/ICE came to town, frontline staff never received training on what to do if CBP/ICE came to the door or approached our students or coworkers. This is a big failing on the [DPS] adminis-

tration’s part,” DAE President Mika Twietmeyer told the INDY via email.

Last month’s deportation sweep added urgency to an already inflammatory debate between DPS’s administration, educators, and families: What can the district, with a large immigrant community and a 35% Hispanic/Latino student population, plan to do if targeted by a vicious federal administration? And who should know about those plans?

Superintendent Anthony Lewis has argued that principals know the procedures and that publicizing those plans would make them less effective and could even bring more unwanted attention to Durham. And the board of education has indicated that it can only go so far in trying to protect students from a vindictive executive branch that may decide to target immigrants in Durham.

But educators and some families have said they would feel safer if the district had a more public-facing policy.

“A private policy doesn’t give us any assurances,” Megan McCurley, a DPS parent with family members who are immigrants, told the INDY at a meeting between DPS and DAE before CBP’s arrival in the Triangle. “It doesn’t tell us what to expect, and it doesn’t give us any tools to hold accountable or to know if the principal of our school is doing what they’re expected to do.”

The DPS board of education, clearly spooked by November’s enforcement surge, has started moving closer to the DAE’s requests and nudging Lewis to move with them. That’s a familiar dynamic in the district—the board’s elected officials are trying to prove that they are listening to community members, while the superintendent’s team is trying to safeguard the district.

Several board members have indicated that they would like to vote on some policy additions at the board’s December 11 meeting, even if they then revisit them in January.

The policy and procedures in question are not just about theory and values—there are real risks to DPS families.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has said it does not intend to raid schools, but in January, the administration rescinded a policy that discouraged ICE agents from carrying out enforcement activities in “sensitive locations” like courthouses, hospitals, and schools.

ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE

Prior to the arrival of federal immigration agents in November, Durham has previously been singled out by the Trump administration. Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security labeled Durham a sanctuary jurisdiction, though Durham officials denied the characterization. Durham’s city council also declared the city a “Fourth Amendment Workplace,” which made national headlines.

The DAE is trying to push the superintendent and the board to try to protect students even outside of school grounds— including on their daily commutes to and from school. That’s partly prompted by memories of the 2016 arrest of Wildin Acosta, an undocumented then-Riverside High School senior who was detained by ICE (under the Obama administration) as he headed to school.

“What is the protocol if ICE were to come near or on campus?” DAE representative Allison Swaim asked the superintendent and his team at a recent meeting. “What do we do if [ICE doesn’t] have a warrant and they are wanting to come on campus? How might we recognize suspected immigration enforcement vehicles?”

While many educators have said that they would physically intervene if their students were targeted, the superintendent has been adamant that the district cannot and will not ask staff to put themselves at risk.

“Dr. Lewis and the Board of Education continue to carefully consider a wide range of issues related to federal law enforcement activity and have a detailed plan to vet warrants and ensure FERPA compliance,” DPS Chief Communications Officer Sheena Cooper told INDY via email.

Lewis has also said publicly that he is worried about drawing more attention to Durham. At a meeting in October, Lewis even convinced the DAE to cut off the ongoing livestream, meant to allow greater accessibility for those who couldn’t make it to an in-person meeting on a Tuesday night.

“I will not put any student or any family or this district or this county in jeopardy by having a conversation like this that’s being broadcast and recorded,” Lewis said. “I simply will not do that.”

(The superintendent also left the conference table to ask the INDY, the only recognizable news outlet in the room, to stop recording and to not report on that portion of the meeting, arguing that it wasn’t a public meeting. The meeting, a “meet and confer” session with DAE representatives, was convened under board policy 7215, which states that meet and confer sessions will be open to the public in compliance with NC Open Meetings Law. The INDY declined.)

The superintendent’s fears are not entire-

ly unfounded—in the next-door Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system, the superintendent and board chair have been summoned to a North Carolina House of Representatives oversight hearing after the rabble-rousing “Libs of TikTok” posted a clip of board of education Chair George Griffin discussing the district’s decision to say “no thanks” to parts of the N. C. General Assembly’s “parent’s bill of rights.”

On November 20, the Durham school board unanimously passed a resolution that details that any requests by immigration officials to enter schools should be reviewed by the superintendent, the district shall provide families with information about their rights, and the superintendent shall “ensure training for all school personnel on the district’s protocols for responding to requests from immigration authorities.”

Several of those provisions were actually already in a DPS policy passed in 2017 (“I think we can lead the way here in letting other districts know this is how we protect our students,” said then-board member Mike Lee at that 2017 meeting).

But at some point between 2017 and 2020, that policy was revised without a vote. The board is supposed to have sole policymaking power, but that policy was apparently unintentionally stripped of several provisions by a bureaucratic shuffle of policy reordering and consolidation.

With a series of crises (teacher pay, transportation, and now an enrollment drop), the

board has been playing a game of whack-amole rather than doing much proactive policy planning. The board’s newly formed policy committee has been eyeing the policy regarding immigration enforcement for revision, but only took it up this month after spending recent meetings wordsmithing a draft for a state-mandated school-day cell phone ban that the legislature requires districts to have in place by January.

At the December meeting of the policy committee, board members discussed reinstating those 2017 provisions, though Deputy Superintendent Tanya Giovanni said that they are already a part of DPS procedure. Board members, though, likely feeling pressure from the public, said that putting them back into policy could serve as a good starting point for further revisions.

Lewis also indicated that he is more inclined to consider the DAE’s suggestions than he was prior to the CBP sweeps. The district, Lewis says, has started to procure thousands of so-called red cards, which outline people’s rights if they are approached by law enforcement, and will soon make them available to students and families.

Twietmeyer, the DAE president, called the resolution “a good first step” but added that “we are not confident that DPS administration will act to protect our students and colleagues short of the [board] mandating it through policy.”

The DAE has floated a draft of an updated policy with provisions and protections that go far beyond the 2017 version. The

draft states that “non-local law enforcement . . . are not permitted to arrest any students on school premises or at a school event. This includes parking lots, bus stops, on buses, sporting events, meetings, dances, field trips, in any part of the school building, classrooms, traveling to and from school/a school event, etc.”

Even with pressure from educators and families, board members have indicated that they are unlikely to try to extend a broad bubble of protection beyond school buildings. In conversations around the recent resolution and policy changes, members repeatedly asked the board’s lawyer how legally sound the language was and backed away from anything they saw as potential overreach. Cooper, the district’s communications officer, told INDY that the district is “carefully reviewing the policy changes with our legal counsel” and “will communicate openly with staff and families and provide resources to help navigate these changes.”

At the December 11 meeting, the board will consider updating its policy with the 2017 provisions and the administration will, somewhat reluctantly, bring an update on the district’s procedures—though administrators have promised that the update will be sufficiently vague.

Board members say that some movement is better than none. “The community wants to see progress,” board member Natalie Beyer said at a December meeting. “Not perfection.” W

DPS and DAE representatives discuss immigration enforcement during an October meet and confer session PHOTO BY CHASE PELLEGRINI DE PAUR

The Big Dance

Dozens of Enloe High School students participate in organizing the impressive, monthslong annual fundraising endeavor; since 2004, students have raised nearly $2 million for local groups.

BY JANE PORTER jporter@indyweek.com

I

n its 20-year history, the Enloe Charity Ball, Enloe High School’s annual student-led fundraising initiative and nonprofit, has never missed a fundraising goal.

Seniors Noe Roark and Shailen Fofaria, Enloe Charity Ball’s vice president of publicity and vice president of outreach, respectively, said this year’s goal of $200,000 is daunting, but they are on track to reach it with continued support from the community and a strong final fundraising push this week. If the students of the southeast Raleigh high school reach the goal for their chosen beneficiary, Note in the Pocket, they’ll mark Enloe Charity Ball’s 20th anniversary having raised more than $2 million total for local nonprofit groups in the last two decades.

“I’m staying optimistic,” Roark told the INDY in an inter-

view at Sir Walter Coffee the week before Thanksgiving, joined by Fofaria, who is Enloe High School’s student body president. “But the pressure is on.”

In 2004, Enloe student Rachel Escobar launched the first charity ball event and raised $2,000 in one night. Since then (skipping 2020 due to the pandemic), Enloe Charity Ball has grown to incorporate as a nonprofit led by five student council representatives known as “the Big 5.”

The Big 5 students chair committees for publicity, outreach, finance, volunteering, and day-of logistics, with each committee composed of more than a dozen students. Fundraising events take place beginning in October and culminate in the dance held each year at Marbles Kids Museum in mid-December that some 1,500 people attend.

All Wake County high school students are invited to the ball, and the public can purchase tickets. Anyone and everyone is welcome to make a donation to the fundraising, which is managed by the North Carolina Community Foundation. Last year, Enloe Charity Ball raised $186,000 for affordable housing nonprofit CASA.

This year, the students chose Note in the Pocket out of 13 community nonprofits who went through Enloe Charity Ball’s application process. Note in the Pocket, which is also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, provides local students facing clothing insecurity full wardrobes of clothes with dignity and love. Each student gets 10 tops, five bottoms, brand-new socks and underwear, a pair of shoes, and a coat—enough to last two weeks.

Social workers identify students in Wake and Durham County schools who are in need of clothing and submit requests to Note in the Pocket with the personal preferences of the student. Trained volunteers choose clothing for each child as if they’re choosing gifts for them, a detail that Roark, who toured Note in the Pocket’s north Raleigh facility with other students in the fall, found touching.

“Every bag of clothes that they give to a child is handpicked by a real person who’s received information about the child,” Roark explained. “So the child’s favorite color, or some things they like, if they like dinosaurs, or if they have an event coming up and need a fancy dress. . . . Each piece is personalized to the child, and they feel like they’re not just getting hand-me-downs but something they’d be truly excited to wear.”

Meg Carpenter, Note in the Pocket’s development director, said $200,000 will go a long way for the nonprofit

Enloe High School’s annual Enloe Charity Ball has raised more than $2 million total for local nonprofit groups in the last two decades. PHOTOS COURTESY ENLOE CHARITY BALL

at a time when the cost of living for local families continues to rise. They’ll be able to add two staff members to their 18-member team who will help fill a growing number of requests, cover operating expenses, and buy clothes when needed (most clothing is donated, though some specific sizes and styles are hard to keep in stock).

“Families are trying to make their clothes last as long as possible, but that’s really hard for kids whose feet grow really fast, who just grow really fast in general and are running out of clothes to wear,” Carpenter said.

Roark noted that the 27610 ZIP code in southeast Raleigh, where Enloe is located, is Note in the Pocket’s most-served ZIP code.

“This organization is operating within our school, within our middle schools, within our elementary schools,” she said. “And we actually had no idea, because all of this work . . . is happening so subtly.”

Throughout the fundraising season, Enloe students volunteer with Note in the Pocket twice a week. They also participate in several school events to raise money in increments that make sense for high school students, explained Fofaria.

To raise money this year, Enloe Charity Ball hosted basketball, kickball, and pickleball tournaments, a tournament based around the popular video game Clash Royale, a Trunk or Treat event, and an alumni social in honor of the ball’s 20th anniversary, among other events. After the ball, Enloe students will host a miniball

for the students at Hunter Elementary School, a southeast Raleigh school that feeds into Enloe.

“We were thinking, ‘What’s a fun way to get people who normally may not want to participate, and what’s something that’s so fun that they’d be doing anyway?” Roark said of planning the fundraising events. “So that’s what we came up with.”

This week, students will sell coffee and hot chocolate in the mornings before school ahead of the ball on Saturday. And while small donations add up, the Enloe Charity Ball attracts its share of big-swing donors who contribute thousands of dollars. All the donors are recognized with a big check at the main event, and this year, the students will open the giant Moneypalooza piggy bank at Marbles, a popular request from attendees in years past.

“There is a lot of corporate outreach, reaching out to alumni, so we hit different target audiences and our support comes from the masses,” explained Fofaria. “We don’t have one specific place or a person [donating], but we make a lot of money off tickets and some fundraising events. It’s really cool to see how every year differs. It’s always cool to try different outreach and see what works out.” W

The ball takes place this Saturday, December 13, at Marbles Kids Museum from 7 to 11 p.m. To make a donation or purchase tickets to the ball, visit enloecharityball.org.

INDY Stories That Stood Out in 2025

The local impacts of federal policies, a skating renaissance, and Democratic wins—these are the news stories that stood out to us this year. Plus, local nonprofits doing on-the-ground work.

BY JUSTIN LAIDLAW, JANE PORTER, AND SARAH WILLETS backtalk@indyweek.com

This year, we published more than 500 stories written by INDY staff, not to mention the work of the INDY’s freelance contributors. We wrote about salvaging Duke students’ discarded treasures, attempting to take the train between Raleigh and Durham, and everything in between. But beyond our biggest hits, looking back through this year’s stories, some broader themes emerged. Some were perennial: continued challenges of growth and affordability, elections that shook up local leadership. Others were distinctively 2025: devastating federal funding cuts, looming threats of deportations.

As the year draws to a close, here are the stories that defined 2025 in the Triangle. And if these stories stood out to you, too, we’ve also included some local nonprofits working on related causes that you can support.

Strife at Saint Augustine’s

Toward the end of 2024, it was clear that Raleigh HBCU Saint Augustine’s University (SAU) was in trouble. Its accreditation was threatened, it held tens of millions of dollars in debt, and it had to slash its workforce by half in order to shore up its finances. Last December, reporter Chloe Courtney Bohl was first to cover a Hail Mary-type land lease deal that the HBCU negotiated with a Florida-based real estate investment firm that would have resulted in a $70 million cash infusion. Local stakeholders regarded the deal with suspicion, and in January, Chloe reported that SAU rejected an offer from a credit union for a low-interest loan that was contingent on the resignations of two SAU board of trustees members, including

its chair, Brian Boulware. As SAU’s accreditation hearing loomed, the INDY and The Assembly published a detailed investigation into the state of the university’s finances and management by the board of trustees. Saint Augustine’s lost its accreditation appeal in March for the second time in two years and pursued an arbitration process in an attempt to remain accredited. But in July, after the university graduated a class of just 25 students, SAU’s accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, pulled the university’s accreditation for good. Saint Augustine’s leaders immediately appealed to alumni to raise money for litigation, and in August, SAU held on to its accreditation again with a court injunction. Boulware stepped down from the board of trustees’ chairmanship, though he remains

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE; ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE, DUKE PHOTOS VIA WIKIPEDIA; PHOTO COURTESY NATALIE SELF

a trustee, and SAU President Marcus Burgess resigned as well after two years in the role. Under the leadership of the board’s new chair, Sophie Gibson, and new president, Verjanis A. Peoples—SAU’s eighth president in a decade—Saint Augustine’s signaled its interest in joining the Trump administration’s higher education Compact for Academic Excellence, the first and only HBCU in the country to do so. Benefits of joining the compact include preferential funding for universities that participate. SAU held online-only classes this fall.

Deep Cuts

North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, which includes Durham and Orange Counties as well as portions of Chatham and Wake, was the district hardest hit by cuts to federal funding in the country, losing more than 180 federal grants totaling in the millions within the first few months of this year.

The slashed grants mostly came from USAID, NASA, the EPA, and the National Institutes of Health—hitting Research Triangle Park and local universities especially hard. Research institute RTI International reportedly was forced to lay off a third of its workforce. FHI 360, a global health nonprofit, laid off more than a quarter of its workers. Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced they would cut millions from their budgets, including by eliminating positions. All told, hundreds of Triangle residents have lost their jobs, education programs and critical research have been jeopardized, and life-saving programs abroad were cut off.

At the INDY, we looked at this major economic news

via our neighbors: A kindergarten teacher at a low-performing school in Wake County who lost tuition assistance after the Department of Education canceled grants it said promoted critical race theory and DEI. A Durham resident who had been tracking outbreaks of diseases like anthrax and avian flu before she was furloughed as part of the gutting of USAID. A Navy veteran who coordinated a PTSD treatment study at the Durham VA but couldn’t keep her job amid a hiring freeze.

For many locals, federal funding cuts were among the topics that motivated them to hit the streets in protest of the Trump administration. This year, the INDY spotlighted the ways residents pushed back, big and small, from the Hands Off and No Kings protests that drew thousands to a lone protester on a South Durham street corner sounding the alarm over rising fascism, a 73-year-old who walked 300 miles to D.C. to personally deliver dozens of Triangle residents’ concerns to lawmakers, and a gaggle of Raging Grannies protesting through song.

Wheels of Fortune

In a year when it often felt impossible to escape the bad news emanating from our devices and screens, the Triangle’s kids (and kids at heart) found a better way to spend their time: on wheels, in recreational third spaces. In March, Lena Geller wrote about the reopening of Wheels Fun Park, the roller-skating rink-slash-Durham institution that Lena likened to a blast from the past: “It’s disorienting in the best way possible,” she wrote of opening night at the newly restored skating rink, “like somebody took my childhood memories, ran them through the

wash, and handed them back to me pristine.” The next month, we published a feature about a group of Raleigh skateboarders on a mission to find a new space to build and skate after their beloved DIY skate park, Graveside DIY, was bulldozed to make way for townhomes. The skaters are in talks with city officials and it seems like their vision for a new DIY skate park partnership could soon become a reality. In other DIY skate park news, Justin Laidlaw reported in August on Durham’s emerging Lakewood DIY skate park, which uses repurposed equipment from Wheels and will feature the Bull City’s first public miniramp. And over in Apex, we reported on the efforts of a group of kids from the Charleston Village neighborhood to get the town to sign off on a bike trail that would feature jumps and other obstacles after their own DIY bike jumps were torn down. “Imagine future kids discovering this spot, building their own friendships, learning teamwork, and finding the same joy and sense of belonging that we have,” one of the kids said of their vision at an August town council meeting. In the Triangle, where pressure to commercialize any vacant property seems ever-present these days, there’s always the possibility that recreational third spaces could disappear. Triangle residents experienced this with the mountain bike trails at Lake Crabtree County Park, despite their best efforts to get county leaders and the RDU Airport Authority to leave the trails undisturbed. This spring, the trails closed to the public, and the Airport Authority is soliciting input for a “recreation and wellness destination” for the hilly, wooded parkland along the shoreline of Lake Crabtree. Residents are asking the Airport Authority to keep the land “as green as possible.”

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PHOTO BY JENNY WARBURG; PHOTO BY ANGELICA EDWARDS; PHOTO BY NATHAN WELLISH

No Place Like Home

According to statewide study, Durham and Wake Counties are projected to have a housing shortage to the tune of more than 140,000 units through 2029. Housing options for low-income households are particularly hard to come by. While rents remained fairly stable from last year, housing costs are a burden for many anyway: In Wake, 27% of households spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs; in Durham it’s 31%.

Earlier this year, Durham and Orange Counties conducted their routine adjustments of property values. Justin Laidlaw reported on the staggering jump that homeowners in Durham saw as a result and some of the factors that drove the increase, which has been especially difficult for longtime homeowners on fixed incomes to absorb. And in Orange County, Chase Pellegrini de Paur reported that increases were distributed inequitably between white and Black neighborhoods.

That said, there were significant—and in some cases creative—strides made on the affordable housing front in 2025.

In Durham, officials celebrated a milestone in an eightyear effort to build affordable housing on two prime, downtown lots owned by the county, Justin reported. Affordable apartments are now available to rent on one site on the 300 block of East Main Street, and construction is underway at the other site down the street on the 500 block. And the Durham Chamber led an effort to create an impressive dashboard with seemingly all the Durham housing data that exists, helping to ground future policy discussions and decisions (and maybe some Reddit debates) in data.

Over in Wake County, land trusts are having a moment. The Raleigh Area Land Trust was expected to bring 30 units online, after selling two affordable homes in its seven-year existence. And Apex launched its own community land trust, a unique model in that it is town-sponsored and uses town-owned land. In Cary, Greenwood Forest Baptist Church made its foray into what associate pastor Wesley Spears-Newsome referred to as the “yes, in God’s backyard” movement, winning approval to build 62 affordable units on the church’s property, Chloe Courtney Bohl reported.

Despite these highlights, housing affordability will likely continue to be an issue in 2026; some officials in Raleigh and Cary have already publicly indicated willingness to put new affordable housing bond referendums on the ballot.

The Triangle is still behind on the numbers of housing units it needs to meet demand, especially for lower-income families, and folks in the community need a safety net to keep them from falling through the cracks. Housing for New Hope in Durham and Families Together in Raleigh provide rapid rehousing services for individuals and families facing homelessness and work to lead folks toward more permanent stable housing. In addition, participants receive assistance with budgeting and other tools needed when moving into stable housing.

Water, Water Everywhere

On July 6, Tropical Storm Chantal brought record rainfall to parts of the Triangle, causing historical flooding particularly in Orange County and north Durham. INDY staffers jumped into action to cover the immediate aftermath of the storm, which took many by surprise over the long holiday weekend. In a story that captured the chaos of the storm—and what we ask of service workers despite deciding for ourselves that it’s best to hunker down—Lena Geller spoke to INDY contributing writer Andrea Richards about her experience being trapped inside University Mall as the storm unfolded and to a friend of hers who happened to be DoorDashing in the floodwaters just outside around the same time. Justin Laidlaw reported on damage to Eno River State Park and its trails, some of which remain closed five months later. In the months since the storm, displaced residents have struggled to find affordable housing, and artists have worked to rebuild workspaces and collections that were destroyed.

What we saw in July was the product of a singular weather event but also deeper issues: intensifying rainfall due to climate change and inland flooding exacerbated by impervious surfaces. In August, Lena told the story of one couple living in a Chapel Hill floodway who, despite losing nearly everything due to Chantal, had no other options but to stay. In November, Lena chronicled the bureaucratic struggle of a Walltown homeowner whose foundation is being eroded by an open pipe dumping stormwater from nine surrounding acres into her yard; after the story published the homeowner succeeded in getting her property value lowered a second time.

Looking ahead, flooding and climate resilience will continue to challenge local governments as communities recover from Chantal, storms worsen, and funding is cut for key federal agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In the wake of Tropical Storm Chantal, residents suffered losing their possessions, food insecurity, and homelessness. Triangle Mutual Aid brought together hundreds of volunteers to canvass neighborhoods, provide medical support, gut flood-ravaged homes, and remove tons of hazardous debris from park sites and city streets. The group also raised thousands of dollars to purchase protective gear for the volunteers and neighbors affected by the storm. Whether through disaster response, food distribution, or emergency funds, Triangle Mutual Aid mobilizes to support neighbors as needed.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE; PHOTO BY MATT RAMEY; PHOTO BY BETH LOWERY

Digital Footprint

Late this summer, plans for what, in its current iteration, would be the second-largest data center in the state were proposed for a parcel of land near Apex in unincorporated Wake County. In order to build the 300-megawatt data storage facility, the developer, Maryland-based Natelli Investments LLC, needs to annex the 190-acre property into the Town of Apex and secure a rezoning. Community opposition to the proposal was fierce from the get-go, with residents from Jordan Pointe and other nearby neighborhoods raising concerns about the environmental and quality-of-life impacts associated with the project, including potential sound and air pollution and excessive use of power and water (these concerns are not unfounded; reports have shown energy bill increases to customers living near data centers, and the facilities’ water usage has become a problem in communities across the country). Natelli Investments officially filed plans for what it’s calling the New Hill Digital Campus with the Town of Apex in September. In October, the town’s Environmental Advisory Board worked on conditions with the developer to include in its rezoning application, which will go before the town’s planning board and full council in the first quarter of next year. But a community meeting in November—meant to serve as a dialogue between the developer and residents on noise issues—revealed there’s still staunch public opposition to the project. Natelli Investments is making the argument that the data center is the perfect project for that specific parcel of land: It has been zoned for light industrial use in the town’s planning documents for years, and its proximity to a wastewater treatment facility and a nucle-

ar power station make it an ideal site. Apex Town Council members have so far been mum on the data center, citing the risk of opening the town up to a lawsuit if they stake out positions before the proposal officially comes before them for review. But community opposition has not flagged; residents have been showing up to council meetings by the dozens to speak out against the project, and they’re organizing to raise money to hire legal counsel to fight it.

DPS Detente

Last year was a tumultuous one for Durham Public Schools (DPS): Kids missed school due to a bus driver shortage, the district had to walk back planned raises for staff, several top administrators stepped down, and schools closed down as teachers, organized by the Durham Association of Educators (DAE), walked out over all of these issues.

In 2025, the district—and its relationship with DAE—are in a better position, though it’s not all kumbaya.

DPS reorganized bus routes and enlisted more drivers, helping kids get to school on time. It hired a new CFO who seems to be rebuilding confidence in the district’s finances. DAE scored a major win in April when the district agreed to a hard-fought meet and confer policy, the first in the state, which gives educators a seat at the table for district decision-making. The INDY’s Chase Pellegrini de Paur tracked the negotiations closely and was the only reporter in the room when the policy was unexpectedly approved after it appeared DPS and DAE were still at stalemate.

At the same time, the district has discovered not one

but two multimillion-dollar budget shortfalls this year, the latest due to declining enrollment as families continue to choose charter schools or opt out of having kids altogether. From 2024 to 2025, DPS saw its biggest enrollment dip since the COVID era, Chase reported.

And DAE continues to push the district on a number of issues, including pay, leave, and—as Chase recently reported—policies and protocols in case immigration agents show up at schools.

Pride and Prejudice

This year, in the face of attacks on LGBTQ populations from the federal government via funding cuts, health care policy changes, and inflammatory rhetoric, queer residents across the Triangle celebrated Pride with the same vigor and vibrancy as in years past. There were some challenges: In June, an out-of-town concrete company tried, and failed, to weigh down the Town of Morrisville’s Pride in the Park celebration when it showed up as a vendor, only to be walled in and drowned out by rainbow-clad community members holding umbrellas and singing Disney songs. As Wake Forest prepared for its Pride celebration in October, in observance of LGBTQ History Month, former Mayor Vivian Jones introduced, then walked back, a Pride Month proclamation. Public records revealed that the president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the town’s most powerful institutions, had asked Jones not to move forward with the proclamation. Still, Wake Forest’s second annual Pride festival was a success, and in the town’s municipal election last month, Jones, a 20-year incumbent, lost her seat to a sitting town commissioner in what can only be described as a landslide. As is tradition, Durham celebrated Pride Month on the last weekend in September with a host of events and a large parade. We featured interviews and reflections with three ambassadors of the LGBTQ Center of Durham, and INDY contributor Desmera Gatewood wrote about what it means to stand in solidarity with queer people during a second Trump presidency: “Love for queer folks requires resistance—bold, outspoken, disruptive, resistance against every pillar of the monster that is fascism,” Gatewood wrote.

The LGBT Center of Raleigh and the LGBTQ Center of Durham are essential pillars of the community, and in the face of federal policy changes and loss of funding, both organizations remain steadfast in providing resources and a sense of belonging to hundreds of individuals across the Triangle. The two sister organizations are a central hub for educational workshops and support groups, including mentorship programs for youth, and counseling for queer folks who have experienced physical and psychological violence. Not to mention, they each host a raucous Pride party weekend—Raleigh in the spring, and Durham in the fall.

ALL: ILLUSTRATIONS BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE; BOTTOM RIGHT: PHOTOS COURTESY OF SUBJECTS

Blue Wave

It’s not a stretch to say that on Election Day last month, voters across the Triangle, especially in Wake County, made their dissatisfaction with the policies and actions of the federal government known. Though these were local elections for town board and mayoral seats—all officially nonpartisan—the fact that Democrats swept races in nearly all municipalities, and ousted three conservative mayors, is impossible to ignore.

The Cary Town Council election is perhaps the best example of how reactions to national politics played out at the local level; there was no overlooking the fact that the town’s District A, District C, and at-large races each pitted a Republican against a Democrat. With the exception of a misleading mailer designed to imitate official Town of Cary correspondence, the races were civil and candidates mainly focused on local issues. Still, come Election Day, all three Democrats won handily, a trend we saw repeated in Apex, in Morrisville, and across the Triangle.

Speaking of trends and local issues, how to manage growth was a big focus this election cycle in some of the nation’s fastest-growing towns; Chloe Courtney Bohl reported on this dynamic from Wendell in eastern Wake County. And we saw Chinese American candidates emerge as a formidable electoral force, with Sue Mu and Bella Huang dominating fundraising—and vote-getting—in Apex and Cary Town Council races, respectively.

In Wake Forest, a long-serving mayor lost her seat after fumbling a Pride Month proclamation, and Republican mayors in Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina were ousted by Democratic challengers as well. These towns represent some of the last conservative holdouts in Wake County; it will be interesting to see what the midterms have in store for Republican candidates in 2026, and whether they’ll be able to win back any lost ground in the years to come. In already blue Durham, there was no blue wave this fall, but voters did choose challengers over incumbents in two city council races, issuing their own call for change (well, some change—one council member and the mayor were re-elected). As in other towns, housing and growth dominated Durham’s at-times heated elections; candidates were frequently labeled as either pro-developer or antigrowth. And campaign finance loomed large: Candidates quickly began swearing off “dark money” contributions after Lena Geller reported on a mysterious new 501(c)(4) with a tie to one candidate. But, in the end—with winning candidates’ fundraising totals ranging from $5,700 to $76,000—dollar amounts raised didn’t neatly correlate to votes cast.

Hunger Pangs

As the longest-ever federal government shutdown dragged from October into November, national and local experts warned of a worsening hunger crisis. As Justin Laidlaw reported, more than 125,000 Triangle residents were on the brink of losing food assistance benefits known as SNAP as government funding ran out. While the Trump administration was eventually forced by a judge to put money toward SNAP, payments to recipients were delayed and incomplete—and as Justin found, disruptions to SNAP were just one factor adding to food insecurity in the Triangle.

Food banks in the area were already struggling with cuts to federal grants that helped them put food on their shelves, fewer donations in a tough economy, and the added needs of federal workers who lost their jobs earlier in the year. The government shutdown created even more demand as additional federal workers went unpaid and as SNAP recipients looked to supplement their grocery budgets.

But food insecurity was an issue in the Triangle before the shutdown—and continues to be. According to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, more than 45,000 Durham County residents, nearly 140,000 in Wake, and 20,000 in Orange face hunger.

Triangle residents and institutions are stepping up to meet the need by donating to food banks, stocking community fridges, and volunteering to help with food distributions. And in November, INDY intern Kennedy Thomason reported Durham County officials were launching an effort to map food access and create a 10-year strategic plan for addressing food insecurity.

“Once you know that almost 50,000 people are food insecure in this community that has so much brain power and so much wealth, you cannot turn a blind eye,” Miguel Rubiera, who founded Emanuel Food Pantry in Durham with his wife Margaret, told Andrea Richards for a November story in the INDY. “It’s almost inconceivable that this was such a hidden issue for so long.”

The government shutdown may be over, but food security remains a pressing issue. Dozens of grassroots organizations in the Triangle have stepped up to meet the moment. Durham Community Fridges, in addition to managing its own fridges, maintains a comprehensive list of other organizations in the network of community fridges that offer food assistance. In Cary and Apex, NeighborUp mobilizes hundreds of volunteers to provide food assistance as well as workforce training and personal coaching through a partnership with Wake Tech Community College, helping folks build a foundation of shortterm stability and long-term success.

Agents of Chaos

Since Trump’s inauguration in January, many Triangle residents have taken to the streets to protest, among other things, the President’s immigration agenda. In November, that agenda made its way to North Carolina; first in Charlotte with “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” which resulted in hundreds of detentions. Our partners at The Assembly began to hear from sources in the legislature that Raleigh would be next. INDY was the first to report confirmation from Raleigh’s mayor that agents were expected to be “active” in the area, breaking statewide news. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents appeared in Raleigh, Durham, Garner and Cary the next day, sweeping up more than a dozen people, including at least one U.S. citizen, who was detained at a construction site in Cary and later left in a parking lot after he says agents saw his ID. Meanwhile, INDY staffers reported scenes of panic and protest as agents fanned out across the area, the resulting hits to local businesses and school attendance as scared families stayed home, and the massive volunteer efforts to monitor agents’ activity and protect residents.

Now, immigrant rights group Siembra NC reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are stepping up their activity across the state, including in the Triangle.

Local organizations have been forced to mobilize against the invasion of federal immigration agents swiftly and with equal force. Siembra NC has been at the forefront of the resistance, training thousands of volunteers to monitor immigration agents and distributing vital information to individuals and businesses about their 4th Amendment rights. Similarly, Brava NC coordinated community defense teams to respond to Border Patrol activity; year-round the organization advocates for immigrant rights and helps connect the Latino community with resources and voter information. El Futuro provides critical bilingual mental health and substance abuse services in Durham, as well as community engagement.

ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE, PHOTOS COURTESY OF SUBJECTS

PHOTO BY A.M. STEWART FOR THE ASSEMBLY

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If the INDY has even just once served you we ask that you support the local writers thatʼll never stop working to unearth injustice, shine a light on inequity, and foster community.

This year, we reported how LGBTQ residents have faced erasure and the closure of key community spaces. We wrote about costly and stark inequities in home values in Orange County and police misconduct in Wake County. We covered the

legacy of slavery in Durham, and detailed the diversity that defines the city. At the center of it all is our devotion to community: By showing how you might help your neighbors affected by flooding, or by pointing out places, spaces and causes offthe-beaten path that are worthy of your support, we hope to have a hand in making life better for all Triangle residents.

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WINNERS!

Our readers have spoken—here are the very Best of the Best of the Triangle (or, the BOBOTTs, as we’ve come to call them in the newsroom).

This year, once again, the INDY spread its beloved reader poll across three county-level contests: Durham, Orange/Chatham, and Wake. Finally, the winners in those categories squared off against each other for dedicated, discerning readers like you to determine which would be crowned the Best of the Best of the Triangle.

Here you’ll find those winners across categories spanning from restaurants and bars to dentists and yoga studios, museums and parks, and local politicians and nonprofits. These businesses, people, and institutions truly make the Triangle the best of the best places to live.

Keep an eye out next year for your chances to vote in the 2026 contest; we’ll be asking for your favorites again soon. Use the QR code below to sign up for exclusive Best Of information. And remember, shop local to support your favorites in the Triangle community this holiday season and year-round.

Thanks to our readers for taking the time to share their input, and congratulations to all of our 2025 BOBOTTs!

Contributors: Chloe Courtney Bohl, Sarah Edwards, Lena Geller, Justin Laidlaw, Chase Pellegrini de Paur, Jane Porter, and Sarah Willets STAY INFORMED!

FOOD & BEVERAGE

BEST ALCOHOLIC COCKTAILS

The Velvet Hippo – Durham

Runners-up: The Crunkleton – Orange/ Chatham, FOUNDATION – Wake

BEST BAGEL

Isaac’s Bagels – Durham

Runners-up: Brandwein’s Bagels – Orange/ Chatham, Benchwarmers Bagels – Wake

BEST BAKERY

Guglhupf Bakery & Restaurant – Durham

Guglhupf is one of those places I will always bring my out-of-town visitors to showcase a little bit of Durham’s charm. With excellent brunch offerings and a big shaded outdoor seating area, it’s hard not to leave the German bakery and restaurant with a smile. On weekdays, there’s also space inside for the hybrid-work laptop crowd if your apartment walls are starting to get a bit "Yellow Wallpaper"-y. For a more casual bakery experience, check out their bakeshop in Chapel Hill’s Eastgate, which is back open after flooding during Tropical Storm Chantal. —CP

Runners-up: Guglhupf Bake Shop – Orange/ Chatham, Boulted Bread – Wake

BEST BARBECUE

Q Shack – Durham

Runners-up: The Pig – Orange/Chatham, Longleaf Swine – Wake

BEST BEER RETAIL STORE

Beer Study – Durham

Runners-up: Beer Study – Orange/Chatham, State of Beer – Wake

BEST BISCUITS

Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: RISE – Durham, State Farmers Market Restaurant – Wake

BEST BREWERY

Ponysaurus – Durham

Runners-up: Steel String Brewery –Orange/ Chatham, Trophy Brewing – Wake

BEST BRUNCH RESTAURANT

Guglhupf Bakery & Restaurant –Durham

Runners-up: Breakaway Cafe – Orange/ Chatham, Irregardless – Wake

BEST BURGER

Al’s Burger Shack – Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Bull City Burger – Durham, Neuse River Brewing & Brasserie – Wake

BEST CATERING

Mediterranean Deli – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: Dames Chicken & Waffles –Durham, Sassool – Wake

BEST CHEAP EATS

Cosmic Cantina – Durham

Runners-up: Carrburritos – Orange/ Chatham, Char-Grill – Wake

BEST CHINESE RESTAURANT

Jade Palace – Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Shanghai – Durham, Imperial Garden Chinese Restaurant – Wake

BEST COFFEE SHOP

Cocoa Cinnamon – Durham

Runners-up: Caffe Driade – Orange/ Chatham, NoRa Cafe – Wake

BEST DESSERTS

The Parlour – Durham

Runners-up: Guglhupf – Orange/Chatham, Hayes Barton Cafe & Dessertery – Wake

BEST DRAFT SELECTION

Beer Study – Durham

Runners-up: Wooden Nickel Pub – Orange/ Chatham, Raleigh Beer Garden – Wake

BEST ETHNIC GROCERY STORE

Li Ming’s – Durham

Runners-up: Mediterranean Deli – Orange/ Chatham, Grand Asia Market – Wake

BEST FOOD TRUCK

Chirba Chirba – Durham

Chirba Chirba food truck was founded in pursuit of childhood food memories, and what better way to wrap yourself in the warm embrace of comfort food than a steamy, doughy dumpling. Chirba Chirba—which translates to “eat eat” in Mandarin—prides itself on using authentic folding techniques and quality ingredients, offering classic dumplings and seasonal specials for omnivores and vegetarians alike (owner Nate Adams spent 14 years in Taiwan before launching the bright yellow truck). You can follow the truck, which roves around the Triangle, via social media or a calendar on the business’s website. —SW

Runners-up: Chirba Chirba Dumpling –Orange/Chatham, Mr. Burro Breakfast + Coffee – Wake

BEST

HOT DOG

Snoopy’s Hot Dogs & More –Wake

A wise person once told me that a hot dog is best enjoyed two times a year. Sound advice, to be sure, but that nutritional savant, unlike me, clearly does not live in a hot dog city like Raleigh. And in a city spoiled for hot dog choice, one place rises to the top: Snoopy’s Hot Dogs and More. The original Snoopy’s, a converted gas station, opened in 1978 in the Wake Forest Road location, and the brand has added three more locations since. The hot dogs are best described as Eastern North Carolina style, served with mustard, onion, and chili in a steamed bun, though you can order yours any way you

like. Your best bet is to show up on a Tuesday for half-price hot dogs. Go for the dogs, stay for the pithy witticisms on the scrolling marquee; at Snoopy’s, you’ll become a hot dog habitué in no time. —JP

Runners-up: Sup Dogs – Orange/Chatham, QueDogs – Durham

BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT

Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Viceroy – Durham, Lime & Lemon Indian Grill & Bar – Wake

BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT

Gocciolina – Durham

It feels like giving away the bag to write about Gocciolina, a fairy-tale restaurant tucked in an entirely unassuming Guess Road plaza, but it’s not like this Italian restaurant is any secret—it’s topped this list for Best Italian Restaurant in the Triangle year after year, in addition to garnering lots of other praise. For good reason: Owner-chef Aaron Benjamin trained in northern Italy before bringing his spaghetti carbonara and small-plate offerings to north Durham. Gocciolina is the kind of place you should seek out for something special: a birthday, an anniversary, a celebration of good news. You’ll feel transported and will leave with a full stomach. —SE

Runners-up: Pizzeria Mercato – Orange/ Chatham, Vic’s Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria – Wake

BEST JAPANESE RESTAURANT

M Sushi – Durham

Runners-up: Akai Hana Japanese Restaurant – Orange/Chatham, Waraji Japanese Restaurant – Wake

BEST LATE NIGHT MEAL –PAST 10 P.M.

Queeny’s – Durham

Runners-up: Cosmic Cantina – Orange/ Chatham, Cook Out – Wake

BEST MEXICAN

RESTAURANT

Mezcalito – Durham

Runners-up: Fiesta Grill – Orange/Chatham, Gringo A Go Go – Wake

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR

The Velvet Hippo – Durham

Runners-up: Wooden Nickel Pub – Orange/ Chatham, FOUNDATION – Wake

BEST NEW RESTAURANT

Wedgewood Cheese Bar – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: QueDogs – Durham, Brodeto – Wake

BEST NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

The Velvet Hippo – Durham

Runners-up: Wooden Nickel Pub – Orange/ Chatham, Cha House – Wake

BEST PIZZA

Pizzeria Toro – Durham

With its perfectly crispy wood-fired pizzas and bustling, neighborhood vibe, Pizzeria Toro is the perfect unfussy yet impressive spot to bring out-of-towners for a taste of Durham. Chef-owner Gray Brooks serves up inventive seasonal specials alongside crowd-pleasers like homemade cannoli and a truly exceptional kale salad topped with shaved Parm and Calabrian chiles. Hot tip: Order the burrata and arugula pesto starter alongside your pizza of choice (I love their classic Margherita). Devour as much as you can of both. Then use your leftover pizza crusts to mop up every last drop of that bright, creamy pesto. *Chef’s kiss.* —CCB

Runners-up: Pizzeria Mercato – Orange/ Chatham, Oakwood Pizza Box – Wake

BEST SEAFOOD

SaltBox Seafood Joint – Durham

Runners-up: Tom Robinsons Seafood –Orange/Chatham, N.C. Seafood Restaurant at the Farmers Market – Wake

BEST SMALL PLATES/TAPAS

Mateo – Durham

Runners-up: Glasshalfull – Orange/ Chatham, Barcelona Wine Bar – Wake

BEST SOUTHERN FOOD

Succotash – Durham

Runners-up: Acme Food & Beverage –Orange/Chatham, Big Ed’s City Market Restaurant – Wake

BEST SUSHI

M Sushi – Durham

Runners-up: Akai Hana Japanese Restaurant – Orange/Chatham, Waraji Japanese Restaurant – Wake

BEST THAI RESTAURANT

Thai Cafe – Durham

Runners-up: Cham Thai – Orange/Chatham, Lemongrass Thai Restaurant – Wake

BEST VEGETARIAN EATERY

Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Pure Soul – Durham, Irregardless – Wake

BEST WINE LIST

Glasshalfull – Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: LouElla Wine Bar – Durham, Angus Barn – Wake

BEST WINE RETAIL STORE

Wine Authorities – Durham

Going to one of Wine Authority’s weekly free wine tastings (Tuesdays from 5 to 7 and Saturdays from 12 to 3) feels like being let in on a little secret. Even if you’re not a wine connoisseur per se, being guided—tastings are usually done by region—alongside a group of strangers by someone who really knows what they’re doing is a distinct pleasure. Tucked in the Rockwood Shopping Center (with another location in Raleigh), this shop features wines at a range of price points, including affordable under-$15 bottles, with the grapes all grown on estates and farms. Friendly, knowledgeable staffers make the shopping experience feel special by sending you off with your bottle of choice wrapped in heavy paper and accompanied by tasting notes. —SE

Runners-up: Rocks + Acid – Orange/ Chatham, Total Wine & More – Wake

BEST WINGS

Heavenly Buffaloes – Durham

Runners-up: Wooden Nickel Pub – Orange/ Chatham, Woody’s Sports Tavern & Grill –Wake

PLAC ES

BEST ALCOHOL-FREE VENUE

Durham Farmer’s Market – Durham

Runners-up: Carrboro Town Commons –Orange/Chatham, Marbles Kids Museum – Wake

BEST ARBORETUM OR GARDEN

Sarah P. Duke Gardens –Durham

A few weeks ago, I went to Duke Gardens for a mum show. These weren’t your standard stubby bushes but heirloom chrysanthemum varieties. Think head-sized flowers with curly petals in delectable shades of pastel, like something out of The Lorax rather than a grocery store parking lot. While the flowers themselves were stunning, the experience was made all the more enjoyable by discovering them tucked along the intimate, winding paths of the gardens' 55 acres. Whether you’re trying to occupy out-of-town guests, see some flowers (or take in the elusive cherry blossoms), or simply take a quiet break in the middle of the day, Duke Gardens has you covered. —SW

Runners-up: North Carolina Botanical Garden – Orange/Chatham, JC Raulston

Arboretum – Wake

BEST BIKE TRAIL

American Tobacco Trail –Durham

Despite the ongoing hard work of many residents, the Triangle is not quite a cyclist's dream. The American Tobacco Trail, though, comes as close as possible to meeting that standard. With a wide, paved, path and long straightaways with minimal road crossings, the ATT’s 22.6 miles are a lovely stretch for a weekend bike ride. As the Triangle’s preeminent rail trail (along an abandoned rail route built for the tobacco factories), it’s also an excellent example of how a dedicated group of people with a dream can build a public space that will benefit future generations (whether on training wheels or otherwise) for years to come. —CP

Runners-up: Occoneechee Loop – Orange/ Chatham, Greenway Trail – Wake

BEST COWORKING SPACE

Durham Main Library – Durham

When the seasons change and the fancy $100+-a-month coworking spaces of the Triangle have long since declined into quiet economic ruin, the Durham County Library will still be standing strong. With fast internet, friendly staff, space for quiet or noisy work, and a $0 monthly membership, the public library remains the Triangle’s best coworking space. Whether you’re working on job applications, getting your startup off the ground, or just doing some homework, you’re welcome to join us, and hundreds of your neighbors, in the stacks. —CP

Runners-up: Raleigh United Mutual Aid Hub (RUMAH) – Wake, Carolina Coworking –Orange-Chatham Counties

BEST DANCE VENUE

The Fruit – Durham Runners-up: Cat’s Cradle – Orange/ Chatham, Legends Nightclub – Wake

BEST GOLF COURSE

Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club –Durham

Runners-up: Lonnie Poole Golf Course –Wake, Old Chatham Golf Club – Orange/ Chatham

BEST HOTEL

The Umstead Hotel and Spa –Wake

A serene lakeside setting surrounded by woods. A super-relaxing spa. A Forbes Five-Star restaurant. These are all the elements you need for a memorable stay, and you’ll find them all at the Umstead Hotel in Cary, the Triangle’s premier world-class luxury hotel. Book a massage, facial, or mani-pedi, then lounge by the pool or stroll around the hotel grounds. Chill in the meditation garden or unwind in the steam room and sauna. Enjoy a meal or two at Herons: It’s open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus brunch on the weekends and afternoon tea Wednesday through Sunday. Whether you’re traveling in from out of town or enjoying a staycation, the Umstead Hotel will always offer an unforgettable experience. —JP

Runners-up: The Carolina Inn – Orange/ Chatham, Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club – Durham

BEST HOTEL LOUNGE

Rooftop at Durham Hotel – Durham

Runners-up: The Carolina Inn – Orange/ Chatham, The Longleaf Hotel and Lounge – Wake

BEST KARAOKE PLACE/EVENT

Pinhook – Durham

Runners-up: Speakeasy Carrboro – Orange/ Chatham, Neptunes Parlour – Wake

BEST PARK

West Point on the Eno –Durham

This summer, Tropical Storm Chantal caused record flooding along the Eno River. At West Point on the Eno, the river topped its banks and spilled into nearby neighborhoods. I don’t know about you, but after the flood I sorely missed access to Eno River trails, especially West Point on the Eno, where I had spent many mornings trodding familiar trails and sitting on my favorite rock by the makeshift waterfall near the park’s historic mill. The site of the annual Festival for the Eno, a popular swimming hole, hiking trails, historic buildings dating back to the late 1700s, and the Hugh Mangum Museum of Photography, the 404-acre park is a gem just a few miles north of downtown Durham. —SW

Runners-up: William B. Umstead State Park – Wake, North Carolina Botanical Gardens – Orange/Chatham

BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE WATCH

Weaver Street Market –Orange/Chatham

As a student at Carrboro High School, I spent many afternoons at Weaver Street Market and can attest to its people watching bona fides. Of course you can glimpse folks walking through the heart of Carrboro, but there’s so much to see on the market’s lawn—provided the grass isn’t sleeping (iykyk). On any given day, you might find a family playing games, lovers having a picnic, some barefoot stranger quietly hugging a tree, or a gaggle of swaying Hula-Hoopers (I stored two in the trunk of my Honda for such occasions). Make a plate from the outstanding hot bar, grab a copy of the INDY, and settle in for hours of entertainment. —SW

Runners-up: Durham Farmers Market –Durham, Downtown Raleigh – Wake

BEST PLACE TO TAKE A FIRST DATE

Duke Gardens – Durham

Runners-up: North Carolina Museum of Art – Wake, Ackland Musuem of Art – Orange/ Chatham

Best Arboretum or Garden: Sarah P. Duke Gardens - Durham WIKIPEDIA

BEST PLACE TO TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWNER

Duke Gardens – Durham

Runners-up: North Carolina Museum of Art – Wake, Ackland Musuem of Art – Orange/ Chatham

BEST PRESCHOOL/EARLY EDUCATION PROGRAM

Carolina Friends School –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Schoolhouse of Wonder –Durham, Temple Beth Or Preschool and Kindergarten – Wake

BEST SPORTS BAR

Bull McCabe’s – Durham

Bull McCabe's, the Irish pub with a prime triangle of lawn real estate in downtown Durham, seems like a bit of an odd selection for best sports bar—it doesn’t have a wall of TVs, it doesn’t have any wings specials that I’ve heard of, and its frequent live Irish rock performances would drown out any ESPN analysis. But there is no better spot to be during gametime. The Guinness tap hardly gets a break during big soccer matches, and Duke fans have been known to pack the lawn during March Madness. And if you’re more into academic sports, try Arturo’s Wednesday night trivia! —CP

Runners-up: Wooden Nickel Pub – Orange/ Chatham, The Players Retreat – Wake

BEST SUMMER CAMP

Camp Chestnut Ridge –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Schoolhouse of Wonder –Durham, Raleigh Little Theatre – Wake

BEST TRIVIA BAR/EVENT

Hammered Trivia at Durty Bull –Durham

Runners-up: Lanza – Carrboro – Thursday night trivia – Orange/Chatham, Raleigh Brewing Company – Wake

BEST WEDDING/EVENT VENUE

Museum of Life and Science –Durham

Runners-up: The Umstead Hotel and Spa – Wake, The Parlour at Mann's Chapel –Orange/Chatham

BEST CHEF

PEOPLE & MIS C.

Vimala Rajendran – Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: Carrie Schleiffer – Alley Twenty Six – Durham, Ashley Christensen – Wake

BEST DJ

DJ Ayo VIP – Durham

Runners-up: Luxe Posh – Wake, DJ Wilder –Orange/Chatham

BEST DRAFT-SLINGER

Bella – Steel String Brewery –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Tom Fisher – Queenys –Durham, Cailin Peterson @ Clouds Brewing Raleigh Taproom – Wake

BEST KIDS NONPROFIT

Note in the Pocket – Wake

In 2005, a Wake County kindergarten teacher noticed some of her students didn’t have warm clothes as the winter months approached, so she and her mother scoured sales racks and thrift shops for coats, sweaters, and jackets. They sent the clothes home with needy kids, and when parents tried to return them the next day, the teacher packed notes with the students explaining that the clothes were gifts, laying the groundwork for the nonprofit Note in the Pocket. Note in the Pocket has provided high-quality clothes to kids for 20 years, and since 2013, it has delivered 780,000 clothing items to more than 64,000 kids. Now, from its new facility in Raleigh, Note in the Pocket provides clothes to kids in all 12 Wake municipalities and in Durham County, and has launched a clothing distribution model for counties across North Carolina. Check out noteinthepocket.org for volunteer opportunities or ways to support them financially or through donations. —JP

Runners-up: Emily K Center (Emily Krzyzewski Center) – Durham, Camp Chestnut Ridge – Orange/Chatham

BEST LOCAL ACTIVIST GROUP

PORCH Chapel Hill – Carrboro –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Bike Durham – Durham, Raleigh United Mutual Aid Hub (RUMAH) – Wake

BEST LOCAL BAND

Sylvan Esso – Durham

A band the caliber of Sylvan Esso has likely graduated from “local band” status. The duo has performed on Fallon and Colbert and toured the world many times over. But what distinguishes SE from other megastar performers is their presence in the city they call home. When they’re not on tour, Nick Sanborn and Amelia Meath can be found picking out vegetables at the farmers market, or headknockin’ in the back of the Pinhook supporting other local acts. Sylvan Esso remains loyal to the community that fueled their launch into stardom, and the affection remains mutual. —JL

Runners-up: Dan Davis Group- Wake, Chiroptera – Orange-Chatham Counties

BEST LOCAL INFLUCENER

Valerie Foushee – Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Naomi Dix – Durham, Kiara Ruth (@the.bananamoon) – Wake

BEST MIXOLOGIST

Will Swart-Alley Twenty Six –Durham

Runners-up: Emma @ Lantern –Orange/Chatham, Kyle Hankin @ Foundation – Wake

BEST NONPROFIT

PORCH Chapel Hill–Carrboro –Orange/Chatham

PORCH swept multiple categories this year, including best activist group and best professional development organization. The recognition is well deserved: Since 2010, the nonprofit has provided more than “$6.5 million in hunger relief to residents of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community,” per its website, with a host of programs that stock local food pantries, drop off food directly to families, and help local schools feed kids. And the work PORCH is doing couldn’t be more urgent: North Carolina’s high rates of food insecurity are deepening with SNAP and Medicaid cuts. There are plenty of ways to plug into PORCH’s work, from donating food or money to acting as a neighborhood donations coordinator.

—SE

Runners-up: TROSA – Durham, Second Chance Pet Adoptions – Wake

BEST PERSONAL LIFE COACH

iHealth Integration 629 – Durham

Runners-up: Carolina Poole – Orange/ Chatham, Envision Today – Life Coaching with Rachel Crawford – Wake

BEST POLITICIAN

Roy Cooper – Wake

The Roy Cooper fan club spans the political spectrum—and decades of North Carolina politics. Since first running for public office in 1985, Cooper is undefeated in his pursuit of state seats in the N.C. House of Representatives and as attorney general and governor, winning races regardless of which party captures the presidency. Cooper, who announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate in July, is well regarded by peers and constituents who appreciate his grandfatherly warmth and commitment to bipartisan collaboration, even if it is a dying art form. —JL

Runners-up: Nida Allam – Durham, Valerie Foushee – Orange/Chatham

BEST REASON TO LEAVE THE TRIANGLE

Republican State Politicians – Wake

Runners-up: Housing prices – Durham, High cost of living – Orange/Chatham

BEST REASON TO LOVE THE TRIANGLE

Community – Durham

Runners-up: Parks and Green Spaces –Wake, Nature access – Orange/Chatham

BEST USE OF PUBLIC MONEY

Affordable Housing – Wake

There’s a reason why everyone wants to live in the Triangle: schools, weather, college sports—check this list of Best Of winners for hundreds more. But a booming population plus a limited housing supply means local real estate is pricey. As our region grew, Triangle residents collectively decided we didn’t want our hometowns to become playgrounds for rich people, and we’re willing to put our money on it. We elect local leaders who champion housing affordability and we (usually) vote in favor of affordable housing bonds. We’ve made good progress: Public-private partnerships have financed thousands of affordable units, and our tax dollars support models such as community land trusts and affordable housing on publicly owned land. We’ve still got work to do, but for all its growth, we should be proud our tax dollars have kept the Triangle a relatively mixed-income destination. —JP

Runners-up: Durham Public Schools –Durham, Parks and trails – Orange/Chatham

BIGGEST WASTE OF PUBLIC MONEY

Republicans Fighting Allison Riggs’ Legitimate Win – Wake

Before a federal judge finally ordered the State Board of Elections to certify Allison Riggs’ 734-vote state Supreme Court victory in May, her opponent Jefferson Griffin and his N.C. Republican allies spent six months contesting it. Their effort to overturn the election result spanned two recounts, hundreds of county-level protests initiated by Griffin, and state and federal court cases. Griffin challenged 60,000 individual ballots including some cast by overseas voters, military voters, and voters with two last names (including yours truly). It would be tricky to calculate the public worker-hours eaten up in pursuit of this lost cause, but we can safely say it was too many. —CCB

Runners-up: Charter Schools & Private School Tuition Vouchers from the GA –Durham, “Flood control” for massive new development in our creeks’ small watersheds – Orange/Chatham

BEST ACUPUNCTURE PRACTICE

A New Day Integrative Health and Wellness – Wake

Runners-up: Southern Village Acupuncture & Herbology – Orange/Chatham, Bull City Acupuncture – Durham

BEST BARBER SHOP

Rock's Bar & Hair Shop – Durham

Runners-up: Snip-Ish – Orange/Chatham, The Herr Cutter – Wake

BEST CAT VETERINARIAN

Eno Animal Hospital – Durham

Runners-up: Carrboro Plaza Veterinary Clinic – Orange/Chatham, Care First Animal Hospital – Wake

BEST CHILDCARE

Schoolhouse of Wonder – Durham

Runners-up: Chapel Hill Cooperative Preschool – Orange/Chatham, Children’s Lighthouse of Raleigh – Wake

BEST CHIROPRACTIC PRACTICE

Oak City Chiropractic – Wake

Runners-up: Chapel Hill Family Chiropractic – Orange/Chatham, Carolina Pain & Performance – Durham

BEST DENTAL PRACTICE

Holman Family Dental Care –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Durham Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics – Durham, Riccobene Associates Family Dentistry – Wake

BEST DERMATOLOGICAL PRACTICE

Chapel Hill Dermatology – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: Triangle Dermatology –Durham, CLARA Dermatology – Wake

BEST DOG VETERINARIAN PRACTICE

Carrboro Plaza Veterinary Clinic –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Eno Animal Hospital – Durham, Care First Animal Hospital – Wake

BEST GYM

Duke Health and Fitness Center –Durham

Runners-up: FIT Carrboro – Orange/ Chatham, Oak and Iron Fitness – Wake

BEST HAIR SALON

Tone Hair Salon – Wake

Runners-up: Rock Paper Scissors – Durham, To The Woods – Orange/Chatham

BEST HOLISTIC MEDICINE

Carolina Hemp Hut – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: A New Day Integrative Health and Wellness – Wake, Duke Integrative Medicine – Durham

BEST MASSAGE THERAPIST

Kathryn Kager Massage and Bodywork – Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Hayley at Auroraflow –Durham, Laura Gries @ Awakenings Health – Wake

BEST PEDIATRIC PRACTICE

Chapel Hill Pediatrics – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: Duke Pediatric Primary Care –Durham, Durant Road Pediatrics – Wake

BEST PHYSICAL THERAPY PRACTICE

Bull City Physical Therapy – Durham

Runners-up: Raleigh Orthopaedic – Wake, Kenny & Associates Physical Therapy –Orange & Chatham County

BEST SPA

Blue Water Spa – Wake

Runners-up: Hillsborough Spa and Day

Retreat – Orange/Chatham, Blue Water Spa Brier Creek – Durham

BEST URGENT CARE FACILITY

Duke Urgent Care – Durham

Runners-up: UNC Urgent Care – Orange/ Chatham, Wake Med – Wake

BEST

Chapel Hill Ob-Gyn – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: Chapel Hill OBGYN – Durham, Wilkerson Obstetrics And Gynecology –Wake

BEST YOGA STUDIO

Franklin Street Yoga Center –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Blue Point – Durham, YoBa Studio – Wake

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BUSINESS

BEST ATTORNEY

Cara Gibbons- Sterling Law – Wake

Runners-up: Sam Coleman – Orange/ Chatham, Law Offices of James Scott Farrin – Durham

BEST AUTO MECHANIC

Precision Tune Auto Care – Wake

Runners-up: Auto Logic – Orange/Chatham, Wasp Automotive – Durham

BEST BRIDAL SHOP

Vow'd Raleigh – Wake

Runners-up: Gavin Christianson Bridal –Durham, Carolina Bridal World – Orange/ Chatham

BEST CBD/HEAD SHOP

Carolina Hemp Hut – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: MagikCraft Bull City Magic –Durham, Hempie’s – Wake

BEST CLOTHING CONSIGNMENT

Rumors – Durham

Runners-up: My Secret Closet – Orange/ Chatham, MODE Consignment Boutique –Wake

BEST DANCE STUDIO

Ninth Street Dance – Durham

Runners-up: Hillsborough Cheer and Dance – Orange/Chatham, Stage Door Dance Productions – Wake

BEST DOG BOARDING

Eno Animal Hospital – Durham

Runners-up: Doggie Dude Ranch Kennel –Orange/Chatham, Dog Diggity Daycare & Boarding – Wake

BEST DOG GROOMING

Elliotte’s Pet Spa – Durham

Runners-up: Top Dog Training and Resort – Orange/Chatham, Pawfection Salon NC – Wake

BEST DOG SITTING

Go Dog – Durham

Runners-up: Walk & Wag – Orange/ Chatham, Dog Diggity Daycare & Boarding – Wake

BEST DOG TRAINING

Pawsitive Empowerment – Durham

Runners-up: Top Dog Training and Resort – Orange/Chatham, Sally Said So! Professional Dog Training – Wake

BEST DOG WALKING

Kate’s Critter Care – Durham

Runners-up: Pack&Pride – Wake, Walk & Wag – Orange/Chatham

BEST ELECTRICIAN

Dynamic Electric (Sarah Fulcher) –Durham

Runners-up: Bonneville Electric – Orange/ Chatham, Chris Lee Electric- Inc. – Wake

BEST FLORIST

Ninth Street Flowers – Durham

Runners-up: Victoria Park Florist – Orange/ Chatham, Victoria Park Florist – Orange/ Chatham

BEST GAME STORE

Atomic Empire – Durham

Runners-up: Hidden Block Games – Wake, The Gathering Place – Orange/Chatham

BEST HVAC COMPANY

Boer Brothers Heating & Cooling –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Alternative Aire – Durham, Comfort Monster Heating & Air – Wake

BEST INSURANCE COMPANY

Farm Bureau Insurance – Wake

Runners-up: Bonnie Rose – NC Farm Bureau – Orange/Chatham, Mike Embree Insurance Agency – Durham

BEST JEWELER/JEWELRY STORE

Jewelsmith – Durham

Runners-up: Melissa Designer Jewelry –Orange/Chatham, Bailey’s Fine Jewelry –Wake

BEST LANDSCAPER

TROSA Lawn Care – Durham

Runners-up: Jessica Davis – Roots & Sproots – Orange/Chatham, Four Seasons Landscaping and Maintenance- Inc. – Wake

BEST LOCAL BOOKSTORE

Flyleaf Books – Orange/ Chatham

There’s an almost witchy deception to the way the low-slung yellow building on Chapel Hill’s MLK Boulevard opens up to reveal the surprisingly large Flyleaf Books. If you’re looking for the newest and buzziest books, you don’t need to go any farther than the front room. If you have the time to get lost in the stacks for an hour or two, keep going straight to find the used books room. Feel free to spend a few minutes in their comfortable reading chairs to make sure that the book you picked up is exactly what you’re looking for, and don’t forget to check out their expansive list of author events. —CP

Runners-up: Quail Ridge Books – Wake, Regulator Bookshop – Durham

BEST MEN'S CLOTHING STORE

Scrap Thrift – Durham

Runners-up: Julian's – Orange/Chatham, Raleigh Denim Workshop + Curatory –Wake

BEST

NEW BUSINESS

Aaktun Coffee – Restaurant and Bar – Durham

In the front, Aaktun is a cozy coffee shop where you can grab a breakfast sandwich and an horchata latte. But the true magic happens in the restaurant’s subterranean back room, where tropical flora, sultry lightning, salmony velvet upholstery, and myriad recessed niches conjure an undersea-tiki-bar vibe. James Beard-nominated chef Oscar Diaz (the brains behind Little Bull and TaTaco as well as Aaktun) fuses influences from Mexico, Chicago, and the American South on the menu. The result is decadent, colorful, and not too serious: Your salmon comes on a bed of tender calamari, and your cocktail comes in a giant ceramic coconut. —CCB

Runners-up: PRESS Coffee Crepes Cocktails – Wake, Say it With Glass – Orange/ Chatham

BEST PAINTERS

Gonzalez Painters & Contractors Inc – Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Zarazua Painting – Durham, Alvarez Painting – Wake

BEST PLACE TO BUY LOCALLY MADE CRAFTS/ART

Durham Farmers Craft Market –Durham

Runners-up: Peel Gallery + Photo Lab –Orange/Chatham, Bayleaf Market – Wake

BEST PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION

PORCH Chapel Hill Carrboro –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: TRIAVA (Triangle Association of Volunteer Administrators) – Durham, Legacy Wealth Strategies – Wake

BEST REAL ESTATE COMPANY

Inhabit Real Estate – Durham

Runners-up: Inhabit Real Estate – Orange/ Chatham, Raleigh Realty – Wake

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BUSINESS

BEST ATTORNEY

Cara Gibbons- Sterling Law – Wake

Runners-up: Sam Coleman – Orange/ Chatham, Law Offices of James Scott Farrin – Durham

BEST AUTO MECHANIC

Precision Tune Auto Care – Wake

Runners-up: Auto Logic – Orange/Chatham, Wasp Automotive – Durham

BEST BRIDAL SHOP

Vow'd Raleigh – Wake

Runners-up: Gavin Christianson Bridal –

Durham, Carolina Bridal World – Orange/ Chatham

BEST CBD/HEAD SHOP

Carolina Hemp Hut – Orange/ Chatham

Runners-up: MagikCraft Bull City Magic –Durham, Hempie’s – Wake

BEST CLOTHING CONSIGNMENT

Rumors – Durham

Runners-up: My Secret Closet – Orange/ Chatham, MODE Consignment Boutique –Wake

BEST DANCE STUDIO

Ninth Street Dance – Durham

Runners-up: Hillsborough Cheer and Dance

– Orange/Chatham, Stage Door Dance Productions – Wake

BEST DOG BOARDING

Eno Animal Hospital – Durham

Runners-up: Doggie Dude Ranch Kennel –Orange/Chatham, Dog Diggity Daycare & Boarding – Wake

BEST DOG GROOMING

Elliotte’s Pet Spa – Durham

Runners-up: Top Dog Training and Resort – Orange/Chatham, Pawfection Salon NC – Wake

BEST DOG SITTING

Go Dog – Durham

Runners-up: Walk & Wag – Orange/ Chatham, Dog Diggity Daycare & Boarding – Wake

BEST DOG TRAINING

Pawsitive Empowerment – Durham

Runners-up: Top Dog Training and Resort – Orange/Chatham, Sally Said So! Professional Dog Training – Wake

BEST DOG WALKING

Kate’s Critter Care – Durham

Runners-up: Pack&Pride – Wake, Walk & Wag – Orange/Chatham

BEST ELECTRICIAN

Dynamic Electric (Sarah Fulcher) –Durham

Runners-up: Bonneville Electric – Orange/ Chatham, Chris Lee Electric- Inc. – Wake

BEST FLORIST

Ninth Street Flowers – Durham

Runners-up: Victoria Park Florist – Orange/ Chatham, Victoria Park Florist – Orange/ Chatham

BEST GAME STORE

Atomic Empire – Durham

Runners-up: Hidden Block Games – Wake, The Gathering Place – Orange/Chatham

BEST HVAC COMPANY

Boer Brothers Heating & Cooling –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Alternative Aire – Durham, Comfort Monster Heating & Air – Wake

BEST INSURANCE COMPANY

Farm Bureau Insurance – Wake

Runners-up: Bonnie Rose – NC Farm Bureau – Orange/Chatham, Mike Embree Insurance Agency – Durham

BEST JEWELER/JEWELRY STORE

Jewelsmith – Durham

Runners-up: Melissa Designer Jewelry –Orange/Chatham, Bailey’s Fine Jewelry –Wake

BEST LANDSCAPER

TROSA Lawn Care – Durham

Runners-up: Jessica Davis – Roots & Sproots – Orange/Chatham, Four Seasons Landscaping and Maintenance- Inc. – Wake

BEST LOCAL BOOKSTORE

Flyleaf Books – Orange/ Chatham

There’s an almost witchy deception to the way the low-slung yellow building on Chapel Hill’s MLK Boulevard opens up to reveal the surprisingly large Flyleaf Books. If you’re looking for the newest and buzziest books, you don’t need to go any farther than the front room. If you have the time to get lost in the stacks for an hour or two, keep going straight to find the used books room. Feel free to spend a few minutes in their comfortable reading chairs to make sure that the book you picked up is exactly what you’re looking for, and don’t forget to check out their expansive list of author events. —CP

Runners-up: Quail Ridge Books – Wake, Regulator Bookshop – Durham

BEST MEN'S CLOTHING STORE

Scrap Thrift – Durham

Runners-up: Julian's – Orange/Chatham, Raleigh Denim Workshop + Curatory –Wake

BEST NEW BUSINESS

Aaktun Coffee – Restaurant and Bar – Durham

In the front, Aaktun is a cozy coffee shop where you can grab a breakfast sandwich and an horchata latte. But the true magic happens in the restaurant’s subterranean back room, where tropical flora, sultry lightning, salmony velvet upholstery, and myriad recessed niches conjure an undersea-tiki-bar vibe. James Beard-nominated chef Oscar Diaz (the brains behind Little Bull and TaTaco as well as Aaktun) fuses influences from Mexico, Chicago, and the American South on the menu. The result is decadent, colorful, and not too serious: Your salmon comes on a bed of tender calamari, and your cocktail comes in a giant ceramic coconut. —CCB

Runners-up: PRESS Coffee Crepes Cocktails – Wake, Say it With Glass – Orange/ Chatham

BEST PAINTERS

Gonzalez Painters & Contractors Inc – Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Zarazua Painting – Durham, Alvarez Painting – Wake

BEST PLACE TO BUY LOCALLY MADE CRAFTS/ART

Durham Farmers Craft Market –Durham

Runners-up: Peel Gallery + Photo Lab –Orange/Chatham, Bayleaf Market – Wake

BEST PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION

PORCH Chapel Hill Carrboro –Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: TRIAVA (Triangle Association of Volunteer Administrators) – Durham, Legacy Wealth Strategies – Wake

BEST REAL ESTATE COMPANY

Inhabit Real Estate – Durham

Runners-up: Inhabit Real Estate – Orange/ Chatham, Raleigh Realty – Wake

BEST REALTOR (INDIVIDUAL'S NAME)

Dara

Shain – Durham

Fun fact: Dara Shain, of Durham-based Inhabit Real Estate, is also an INDY alum. She sold ads for our storied publication for 15 years before taking her talents to the Triangle housing market, where she’s been working as a real estate agent for the past nine. Dara’s Zillow profile describes her as “a lover of people and stories”—that checks out—and her clients and friends “appreciate her honesty, quick wit, and relaxed manner.” Dara has a five-star rating on the site, and reviewers who’ve worked with Dara say she’s “insightful and responsive,” “never pushy or impatient,” and “a pro” who’s helped many first-time and seasoned buyers find their dream homes. Dara’s local knowledge, expertise, and negotiation skills are unrivaled; she comes highly recommended from dozens of local clients, so if you’re in the market for a new home, you’d do well to give her a call. —JP

Runners-up: Shelby Bishop – Orange/ Chatham, Gracie Goins – Wake

BEST ROOFING COMPANY

Pickard Roofing Company – Durham

Runners-up: Artisian Roofing – Wake, On Tops Roofing – Orange/Chatham

BEST TRAVEL AGENCY

Arrow Travel – Durham

Runners-up: Sequel Travel – Wake, Cruise Planners Deborah Shah – Orange/ Chatham

BEST VINTAGE STORE

Rumors – Orange/Chatham

Two years ago at Rumors, I bought—and this is not an exaggeration—the best pair of pants that I have ever owned. I would easily rank them among the best-value purchases of my life, comparable only perhaps to the money that my parents spent on braces to align my middle school buckteeth. For a thrifting newbie, the secondhand clothing scene in the Triangle can feel a bit overwhelming. Rumors makes it easy, filling its Chapel Hill and Durham locations with genuinely high-quality clothing. Check out their active and engaging social media channels for some outfit inspiration. —CP

Runners-up: TROSA Thrift Store – Durham, Cheshire Cat Antique Gallery – Wake

BEST WOMEN'S CLOTHING STORE

Scrap Thrift – Durham

Runners-up: The Flourish Market – Wake, Julian's – Orange/Chatham

Best Women's Clothing Store: Scrap Thrift - Durham PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

The Hub for Jazz in the Triangle

Downbeat Magazine has recognized the Sharp 9 Gallery as a Top 100 Jazz Venue Worldwide (2024 & 2025). 140 concerts a year featuring regional and international jazz artists. The Durham Jazz Workshop also runs an educational program year-round for adult and youth students.

Thank you for nominating us for Best of the Triangle 2025!

BEST COMEDY CLUB/EVENT

Goodnights Comedy Club –Wake

Goodnights Comedy Club, located in a newish underground space in the Village District, feels just right. Goodnights owner Brad Grossman modeled the comedy club, which opened in its current home in 2023, on his very first business venture, the underground Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia. Catch stadium-sized talent in an intimate venue at a modest ticket price. Or polish your own comedy act with a stand-up or improv

BEST ELECTRONIC CONCERT VENUE

Cat’s Cradle – Orange/Chatham

In 2018, I treated myself with a ticket to see Kikagaku Moyo, an obscure Japanese psych-rock band from Tokyo, who performed to about 80 people at Cat’s Cradle Back Room the day after my birthday. The following year, the band made the voyage from Tokyo to Carrboro again, this time performing in front of me and about 500 other people in Cat’s Cradle’s main hall. Two days later, Durham legend and Japanese-American rapper G Yamazawa rocked the same stage. Very few venues can offer that blend of international flavor and home cookin’ at that scale, let alone in the —JL

Runners-up: Mettlesome Theater – Durham, Yonder – Orange/Chatham

BEST DRAG SHOW/EVENT

Vivica C. Coxx Music Bingo at The Velvet Hippo – Durham

Runners-up: The Lavender Social's Queer Cabaret at Speakeasy, Legends Nightclub –Wake

Runners-up: The Fruit – Durham, Red Hat Amphitheater – Wake

BEST FILM THEATRE VENUE/EVENT

Carolina Theatre – Durham

In a post-COVID era when the average person is buying fewer movie and concert tickets, movie theaters and music venues are struggling to find an audience. Anyone at the Carolina Theatre will tell you they have taken their lumps, too, but the historic venue–which celebrates 100 years in 2026–has managed to stay adaptable in the face of a changing landscape. Check the marquee and you’ll find blockbusters, indie flicks, comedy shows, concerts, and local programming that showcases the region’s extraordinary performers. Personally, I’m making CatVideoFest a can’t miss next year.—JL

Runners-up: Chelsea Theater – Orange/ Chatham, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Raleigh – Wake

Best Comedy Club/Event: Goodnights

Comedy Club - Wake PHOTO BY BRETT VILLENA

Orange/Chatham ticket Japawho Cat’s my band Carrfront people in later, Japanese-American same that home the Hat

VENUE/EVENT average conmusic audience. tell too, celebrates to changing you’ll comedy programming extraordimaking —JL

BEST LOCAL/REGIONAL PODCAST

Embodied – Durham

Launched in 2019, WUNC’s Embodied is hosted by Anita Rao and touches on topics relating to sex, intimacy, health, relationships, and identity—essentially, any topic that might make for a taboo dinner-table topic. Within that paradigm and guided by Rao’s curiosity, the show has covered an expansive range of topics, with recent episodes focusing on the death care industry, dyslexia, erotica, sex in nursing homes, and period pain. Intrigued? Embodied has won more than INDY reader awards, including first and second place awards from the Public Media Journalists Association, this past year, and three Edward R. Murrow regional awards. —SE

Runners-up: Embodied – Orange/Chatham, Level Up Artists – Wake

BEST MURAL

Pauli Murray – Durham

Runners-up: All Are Welcome 428 S McDowell St – Wake, The Power of Persistence – Orange/Chatham

BEST MUSIC FESTIVAL

Festival for the Eno – Durham

Runners-up: Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival – Orange/Chatham, Hopscotch Music Festival – Wake

BEST RADIO STATION SERVING IN THE TRIANGLE

WUNC – Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: WUNC – Durham, WUNC – Wake

BEST SCIENCE/HISTORY MUSEUM

Museum of Life and Science –Durham

Red wolves and butterflies and black bears, oh my! For decades, the Museum of Life & Science has provided a mix of exceptional exhibitions and hands-on programming to adventurous youth and adults alike. Whether you want to walk on the moon or walk amongst the dinosaurs, the Museum of Life & Science is the perfect place to bring your family or take a date and explore the natural world. And Durham County recently invested nearly $14 million to enhance the experience, so go take advantage of your tax dollars at work. —JL

Runners-up: North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences – Wake, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center – Orange/ Chatham

BEST THEATRE COMPANY

Playmakers Repertory Company – Orange/Chatham

The Triangle’s theater scene is known to punch above its weight, with UNC’s PlayMakers Repertory Company at the fore of much of that dramaturgic punching. The company was established in 1976— though UNC’s theatrical tradition goes back farther, with famed playwrights like Paul Green leading the drama program—and produces plays that draw on both local and Broadway talent. The 2025-2026 season features a range of works, from contemporary playwright Sarah DeLappe’s award-winning work, The Wolves, earlier this fall, to classics like Macbeth and Steel Magnolias next spring. —SE

“One of America’s leading theatre companies” -American

A Broadway-quality experience created right here in Chapel Hill. Dynamic, intimate spaces keep you close to the action!

Coming up in 2026:

Runners-up: Raleigh Little Theatre – Wake, Durham Regional Theatre – Durham

BEST UNPLUGGED CONCERT VENUE

Cat’s Cradle – Orange/Chatham

Runners-up: Pinhook – Durham, Koka Booth Amphitheatre – Wake

BY EBONI BOOTH

BY

BY ROBERT HARLING

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

The Big Picture

Across a year of arts and culture coverage, a few persistent themes unspool.

BY SARAH EDWARDS sedwards@indyweek.com

I

n the culture section, we try to produce a blend of reporting on the things people are talking about and the things we think people should be talking about—the polished new restaurant, yes, but also the mom and pop eatery that deserves more shine. Ditto across coverage of books, music, plays, movies, and the like.

Many of the stories we published this year leaned into that blend and were big on color. We wrote about new restaurant openings, art exhibitions, and album releases. We wrote about a plucky adult talent show, an $8,887 Bloody Mary, a true crime podcast with unexpected ties to a legendary local restaurant, and a magician traveling to the “Olympics” of magic competitions.

That’s the fun stuff, but 2025 also saw memorials, closures, and dramatic slashes in funding to the arts—threads

we’ll continue to follow into the next year. In looking back and saying goodbye to another year, here are some of the stories and themes that stuck out.

Eating for Cheap

Over the years, we’ve wrestled with how to consistently do food coverage that escapes the container of restaurant award cycles, openings and closings, and fancy steak dinners that the average person can’t afford. Those remain topics of interest, but one solution we found was writer Lena Geller’s Lunch Money series, a bi-weekly column in which Lena attempts to dine out for less than $15, tip included. The challenge—harder than you might imagine,

with inflation—is an excuse to visit hole-in-the-wall spots around the Triangle, many of them immigrant-owned and/ or run by families. Over the past year, Lena has dined at a wide range of spots, from Big Bob’s in Hillsborough to Global Suq in Durham, Yagg Sii Tenn in Apex, to the Filipino Express in Raleigh. It’s been a very fun project, one that has evinced above-average engagement from readers, many of whom have emailed to share their favorite lunch spots. On that note: We plan to continue finding innovative ways to expand food coverage and plan to continue Lunch Money in 2026. Send us your tips, tricks, and ideas, please.

The Future of Arts Funding

In a tough time for artists and cultural programming, both Durham and Wake County are charting ambitious, multi-year plans for the arts. This fall, Justin Laidlaw and Jane Porter explored what the pain points are for the arts in each county, respectively; what artists and cultural leaders say they need more of, and how these plans may work to address needs. In Wake County, Jane reports, 300 nonprofit arts organizations “generate $103.7 million in revenues annually and $1.5 billion in creative industry earnings and support more than 51,000 creative jobs.”

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PHOTO BY ANGELICA EDWARDS; ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE, PHOTO BY LENA GELLER

Nevertheless, the collaborative draft plan found that the county’s 41¢ per capita arts funding falls well below its peer counties, and arts leaders are urging elected officials to address this disparity. In Durham, meanwhile—where a final draft of the master plan is scheduled to be adopted in 2026—Justin writes that local creatives are calling for a new department dedicated to arts and culture, as well as investments in public art and special events. Artists in both cities emphasize that, in addition to increased municipal and county investment in the arts, collaborations with, and greater contributions from, the private sector would greatly benefit the cultural ecosystem.

Open Books

Here at the INDY, staff are dedicated patrons of our local library systems and feel that they are sites of struggles and stories, beyond those found in the books on the shelves. This time last year, we promised special coverage of Triangle libraries in 2025.

The year began with a feature on the Stanford L. Warren library in Hayti, which had just reopened after a three-year closure—a deeply historic space that mirrors the resilience of the community around it. “The great thing about our library system is that it has its own uniqueness,” Larry Daniels, the branch manager at Stanford L. Warren, told the INDY. “North Regional is our rural library, and it has a uniqueness to it as well—you’ll see all the trees, the forestry. With this one, when you walk in, it feels like church.”

In West Raleigh, Jane Porter reported on the tug-of-war around Athens Drive Community Library, currently housed in an area high school and scheduled to be relocated from

its unorthodox space as part of the county’s $142 million libraries bond package. Residents want the library to stay in the neighborhood; county staff want to keep options open. In an update from September, the county is currently weighing two proposed sites.

Also in Raleigh, Jasmine Gallup reported on how rising rates in area homelessness have caused libraries to increasingly become sites of shelter. Staff at Richard B. Harrison and Oberlin Regional, the two biggest libraries in downtown Raleigh, spoke honestly and empathetically about how the dimensions of their jobs have changed and steps they’ve taken to support unhoused patrons.

There are a million stories to tell about libraries, but the biggest this year—one that we will continue to follow and report on—is the massive federal cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Gutting the agency is a symbolic blow with national ramifications: On a local level, the cuts are felt through lost funding to special programming and initiatives, particularly in rural areas. Libraries are also facing increased pressure from the Trump administration to fly under the radar and cut down on programming and material that champions diversity. As we go into a new year, we plan to continue to spotlight library stories, and to champion them as spaces that should reflect the community around them.

Literary Life

The Triangle is rife with writers of all stripes, a fact that can be easy to miss—literary coverage is thinning, nationally, after all, and often isn’t the top priority at regional publications. This year, we took extra lengths to spot-

light local writers and the rich topics they’re exploring, from Bridget Bell’s raw, lyrical poetry about postpartum depression to Nnenna Freelon’s improvisational writing about loss to Adam Sobsey’s work exploring the “elusive boundaries of Jewish identity.” (In this issue, too, don’t miss our interview with writer and musician John Darnielle on page 38.) Other literary features have touched on science fiction, student advocacy, coastal romances, dystopian short stories, and keen writing about the natural wonders of the South.

Analog Is Back (Again)

A fun part about year-in-reviews is stumbling upon story themes we didn’t realize existed. One such theme: An appreciation of physical media that spans generations. Take Skip Elsheimer, the guy behind the A/V Geeks 16mm Films YouTube channel, who told the INDY that people are nostalgic for physical media, a form that is “important, but it’s not always convenient.” (Noteworthy context: Elsheimer has 37,000 rare films stashed between his house and seven storage units.) Or: See the boost that amateur (“ham”) radio has seen, following natural disasters and other moments requiring off-the-grid communication channels, as writer Lena Geller covered in a piece about a packed introductory session to ham radio at the Durham County Library. And if you want to go really analog, follow along with a Nick McGregor feature on Joseph Giampino, a traditional painter in Raleigh who has left his old-fashioned, one-of-a-kind mark all across the Triangle. Who knows, maybe in 2026 we’ll see more flip-phones, CDs, and other welcome markers of the contemporary Luddite.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BOOK ART COURTESY OF PUBLISHERS;

PHOTO BY ANGELICA EDWARDS; ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE PAJOR MOORE

At the River’s Edge

Several months out from Tropical Storm Chantal, two longstanding arts organizations in Saxapahaw take stock of what was lost—and how they’ll adapt to what lies ahead.

BY ANDREA RICHARDS arts@indyweek.com

Early in this year’s hurricane season—if such a designation still exists, given the increase in frequency and severity of storms—Tropical Storm Chantal swept into central North Carolina with devastating, record-setting rainfall. Four counties—Alamance, Chatham, Orange, and Moore— declared states of emergency, and at least six people died in storm-related deaths. The seemingly relentless rain fell fast, saturating some areas with nearly 12 inches of water in 24 hours. The Eno and the Haw both rose to levels not seen since 1996’s Hurricane Fran.

In Saxapahaw, a revitalized mill town of about 1,300 people, Caitlyn Swett, like many of her neighbors, watched the Haw River’s rising waters through the night. At the time, she lived in the Rivermill Apartments, a renovated former cotton mill that consists of two big buildings, one a former spinning mill, the other a dyehouse, both of which are located on the river’s banks. She had recently been injured

in a car wreck, so a friend evacuated her by piggyback through floodwaters.

A dancer and sound artist, Swett is the managing and development director at Culture Mill, a performing arts organization that has been part of the Saxapahaw community since the nonprofit was founded in 2017. The Culture Mill Lab, located across the street, was on higher ground than her apartment, so Swett went there with other evacuees, texting updates on the storm to friends and colleagues.

One of those friends was Lea Clayton, whose partner is Paperhand Puppet Project’s executive director and co-founder Donovan Zimmerman. From her vantage point, Swett could see Paperhand’s studio, which lies even closer to the river’s edge than Swett’s mill apartment. “I called and told them the river was rising, and they said, ‘Let us know if it reaches the door,’” said Swett.

“I texted them a picture and said, ‘I’m so sorry, it reached

the door,’ which meant water was in their space.” By the time Zimmerman arrived, the river had crested and the waters began to recede. People were already at the studio, moving wet puppets out of the mud and into the parking lot, hoping they’d dry in the sun. Made of papier-mâché, cardboard, bamboo, and other delicate materials, these puppets are not only works of art but essential components of Paperhand’s large-scale, multidisciplinary performances.

“We lost a lot of tools, a lot of fabric, and a lot of the older puppets we were planning to reuse,” said Zimmerman. “We also lost some of the ones that were going to be in our new show—a show about rivers and the power of water.”

That show, Paperhand’s 25th annual summer performance at Chapel Hill’s Forest Theatre, was just a little over a month away. Entitled The Gift, the show centers on grandmothers and women guardians of waterways, invok-

The Haw River Ballroom overlooks the Haw River in Saxapahaw, NC PHOTO BY MATT RAMEY

ing the movement, spirit, and power of water with awe-inspiring puppets that include a 60-foot ocean goddess, a river, and an illuminated whale.

“None of it was lost on us about how close to home it all was,” said Zimmerman.

The storm damage forced both Culture Mill and Paperhand Puppet Project to vacate their long-held studio spaces.

Fortunately for Paperhand, plans for a move were already in the works before Chantal. The communal scale of Paperhand’s art and the number of volunteers necessary to make it—not to mention the archive of past puppets—needed more room. The new space, a warehouse still in Saxapahaw but a bit farther out, was secured, but the move wasn’t to take place until after the big summer show.

Of course, that, like so many things, changed with Chantal.

“The timing couldn’t have been more difficult,” said Heather LaGarde, who serves as president of Paperhand Puppet Project. LaGarde, who owns the Haw River Ballroom, located in the mill’s former dyehouse, is well known for her active role in supporting the arts in Saxapahaw (she and husband Tom LaGarde started the popular Saturdays in Saxapahaw series) and for providing a center for relief efforts after Chantal. (And yes, she’s a friend of this writer—good luck finding an arts reporter in the area who doesn’t know Heather!)

Paperhand’s move was difficult and rushed, with volunteers and staff evacuating what they could from the old

space as quickly as possible so they could get back to working on the new show. And despite the chaos, come August, The Gift took place as planned.

“Watching people reach up for the lit-up whale puppet as they came up the steps of the Forest Theatre was incredible. ... Little kids that parents are holding up, older people, teenagers, all had this look of amazement on their faces. ... I am just so grateful we were able to keep Paperhand in Saxapahaw—it would have been terrible if the flood had driven them out,” said LaGarde. “To be able to pivot like that and speak to real climate disaster and resilience when it has actually completely impacted you and all your work for the whole year is one of the gifts of art.”

At Culture Mill, meanwhile, the question of real estate became, well, more of a question. Since 2017, the nonprofit has rented its space, using it as a creative laboratory for practices, rehearsals, offices, programs, and artists’ residencies. The building’s dampness, which had always been a concern (“I would tell people the walls cry when it rains,” Swett joked), after the storm felt—and smelled—like it needed major remediation.

For Tommy Noonan, who serves as co-director of Culture Mill with his partner Murielle Elizéon, staying in the space felt like an uphill battle. With climate change, more severe rain and floods would come, and making the building safe would require resources, especially if there was health-hazardous mold, which seemed to be the case. “We can’t ethically practice community care and invite

folks into the space—or use it ourselves—if that’s the situation,” said Noonan.

Instead of rushing to find a new space, the organization opted to do what is at the core of their mission: create the conditions for artistic practice by being in the body and the present conditions of a place.

“Even inside of this decision-making, it’s a process-based practice. Instead of jumping into the conclusion, we need to lean into the unknown. We don’t know yet what is coming, but we know what we are committed to,” said Elizéon.

Taking time to decide what the organization most needed to continue its work, which includes several ongoing collaborations with longtime partners such as the American Dance Festival and Carolina Performing Arts, and to secure its future in an increasingly perilous world due to both environmental catastrophe and the defunding of the arts, Culture Mill came to an interesting conclusion: give up a physical space entirely.

“A physical space is not the core of what we are as Culture Mill,” said Noonan. “It’s been an important anchor, a way to anchor our values, but it’s not what we’re based on. ... We’re based on the work that we do and our relationships.”

As of December 1, Culture Mill is nomadic. Instead of having a designated space for their work—and their resident artists—they will be operating out of the spaces of their many collaborators.

Being nomadic and working intermittently out of the Haw River Ballroom is, for Culture Mill, a return to the organization’s origins. When the group first began, it had its headquarters in the ballroom. An early project was

Clockwise from top left: Heather LaGarde, the president of Paperhand Puppet Project; Paperhand moved into a new warehouse after their former space was flooded; relocated Paperhand puppets PHOTOS BY MATT RAMEY

called “Trust the Bus,” wherein audience members would board a donated, renovated school bus for site-specific music and dance performances at undisclosed locations. Getting locals to participate was part of the project—and together, artists and audience would share an experience of art and geography that helped join them as a community. The ride sounds not unlike where Culture Mill is now, only instead of trusting the bus, they have to trust the network of support they’ve built around them over the last decade.

“We have always been rooted in the place of Saxapahaw but also in this fluid movement between Saxapahaw and international collaborations—artists coming here, us going elsewhere,” said Noonan. That sense of fluidity, along with the organization’s demonstrated ability to remain flexible in difficult times, will be useful as it moves forward without a fixed address.

Prioritizing people and envisioning relationships as a resource more important than real estate is Culture Mill’s response to Chantal—and cultivating that “community of care” is part of the organization’s work. This fall, they began a new series of workshops that are held at the Haw River Ballroom and focus on building community resilience. The first workshop was entitled “Processing Chantal: Embodied Integration of the Flood.”

As any ecologist can tell you, the health of one ecosystem impacts the ones around it—and that sort of interconnectedness has long been part of life in Saxapahaw. The folks at Culture Mill often use the word “ecosystem”

to describe the work they do, envisioning their role to be that of a mill (hence the name), operating with a circular exchange of bringing in many components—people, ideas, resources, and energy—and then sharing them. Art, as they see it, isn’t a linear transaction but rather a relational one grounded in the community that creates it.

To cover the costs incurred from the storm’s damage and the unplanned move, Paperhand created a GoFundMe campaign to raise $100,000 and was able to make that goal. Even though community support swelled during storm recovery, LaGarde, who sits on the board of directors for Culture Mill as well as Paperhand, is worried that both organizations will have a difficult year ahead of them. Storm recovery aside, all arts organizations and nonprofits are feeling the economic pinch of the federal government’s massive cuts.

“With Paperhand, it feels like, OK, they’re in a space, they’re safe ... they’ve had to adjust and there’s been a lot going on, but it should work out for the best. With Culture Mill, it’s still unknown where or how they will land,” LaGarde said. ”They are having to navigate these waters very differently.”

Navigating the waters is something we all have to get better at—it’s a necessary skill beyond arts nonprofits in river towns.

After Chantal, the N.C. State Climate Office at North Carolina State University published an account of the storm activity that ends with this sentence: “Climatology tells us that the Coastal Plain is a common target for hurricanes, and after last fall’s hard hit from Hurri-

cane Helene in the Mountains and Chantal’s heavy rain and flooding in the Piedmont and Sandhills, it’s clearer now than ever that nowhere in the state is immune to tropical impacts.”

Nowhere in the state is immune, and if you haven’t already been affected by a storm, you probably will be soon. Resilience is the ability to adapt to adversity, but what is recovery? Is it simply a matter of repairing old buildings and putting people back in them, or is it recognizing that the landscapes around us have irrecoverably changed and maybe we need to do things differently?

For both Culture Mill and Paperhand Puppet Project, Chantal’s destruction of their physical space brought hardship along with complex feelings of grief and uncertainty, and renewed appreciation for the safety and support of their community. It wasn’t about reassembling to re-create what existed before, or throwing out a few puppets and moving on, but instead has become an ongoing opportunity to grow and change in new ways.

“We are left feeling strong and supported and held by our community here—and that’s a good place to move from when you’re doing art on a communal scale like this,” Zimmerman said. “Before the flood, we had more than 300 volunteers come by the studio to help papier-mâché and sew and do other projects. I see that number only increasing as we go forward in the new space.”

Ultimately, Zimmerman said, he came to view the experience as “the river sort of reaching up and teaching us.”

“Teaching us a hard lesson, but a powerful one,” he continued, “that letting go is just a part of the journey.” W

Above: Tommy Noonan and Murielle Elizéon pose for a portrait in Cup 22, a coffee shop in the Haw River Ballroom. Right: A park next to the the Haw River in Saxapahaw, NC is still closed due to the destruction caused by flooding during Tropical Storm Chantal in July 2025 PHOTOS BY MATT RAMEY

Language Arts

Talking with Durham musician John Darnielle about This Year: 365 Songs Annotated, a close read of some of The Mountain Goats’ most legendary lyrics.

BY SHELBI POLK arts@indyweek.com

John Darnielle, founder and frontman of the band The Mountain Goats and National Book Award-nominated novelist, did not at first find the idea of a lyric book very compelling. His agent pitched the idea during the doldrums of 2020, assuming it would be a good pandemic project.

But Darnielle knew he wasn’t going to put his name on a simple copying and pasting of the lyrics to his songs. “A lot of those are just the lyrics printed, and that seems weak to me,” he said over a Zoom call from his home in Durham. “Even if you’re a good lyricist, that’s all on the internet. And if you’re a great lyricist, I can hear it too.”

So, instead of taking the easy route to a new book, Darnielle unpicked the structure of collected lyrics as a form and landed on something more akin to a devotional. The result, which took Darnielle years of writing and refining to even find his way into, is This Year: 365 Songs Annotated: A

Book of Days, published this month, less than four weeks after The Mountain Goats’ 23rd studio album, Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan

Once he found a structure on which to hang his work, Darnielle chose 366 songs (the title, precise as it is, doesn’t account for the presence of an entry for February 29) from his dozens of albums, as well as decades of notebooks of unreleased or unrecorded work. Each song comes with some kind of commentary. There’s everything from craft notes and autobiographical anecdotes to nods to the author’s love for trees and the many subjects of his songs. The book is a playful, discursive, loosely linear journey through decades of Darnielle’s writing. INDY spoke to Darnielle about the process of putting This Year together, the line between fiction and memoir, affordable housing, and God. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

INDY: In the intro, you mention the structure came at least in part from a Psychedelic Furs album. Were there also some nods to medieval books of hours?

JOHN DARNIELLE: Yeah, I was thinking about that sort of thing—something that you consult. I was thinking about the way that my first bassist, Rachel, when she introduced me to Rumi, she had a Coleman Barks translation, and whoever had given her the book had said, “Oh, you open this book wherever and the one that you find is talking about where you’re at now.” I don’t know where they got this idea, but it was cool, right? It was fun. It felt real. I love that kind of thing. So, you can consult this on your birthday, on your anniversary, the day you sign your divorce papers.

In the preface, you talk about selecting and arranging the songs. You say, “The shape they trace now together resembles me; the songs beside which they first appeared would form a different view of the same person, but this one seems truer.” Can you talk about that distance there?

I hired a research assistant from Duke to get all of [my songs] to me, and when I looked at the ones that I hadn’t picked, I was like, “No, my instinct was right.” Those are the parts of me that I’ve shed, in some ways. Not all of them,

John Darnielle PHOTO BY LALITREE DARNIELLE

CAT'S CRADLE

DECEMBER

12/12 FR: EILEN JEWELL + AMANDA ANNE PLATT & THE HONEYCUTTERS

12/13 SA: SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS W/ DALLAS TETNUS

12/19 FR: HOLIDAY HOOTENANNY III HE IS LEGEND W/ ASG, VANNA, THOUGHTCRIMES, VALLETTA

12/30 TU: COSMIC CHARLIE W/ LIQUID GARCIA

12/31 WE: COSMIC CHARLIE NYE BASH W/ THE AIN'T SISTERS

JANUARY

1/10 SA (4 PM): ABBEY ROAD LIVE (BEATLES TRIBUTE) FAMILY MATINEE

1/10 SA (8 PM): ABBEY ROAD LIVE SOLD OUT W/ RADIO FREE ATHENS (REM TRIBUTE)

1/17 SA: MAGIC CITY HIPPIES W/ SUPERTASTE

1/20 TU: 54 ULTRA W/ ORCA

1/23 FR: CONGRESS THE BAND W/ BENNY G

1/27 TU: THE FLOOZIES/ TOO MANY ZOOZ: TOO MANY FLOOZ TOUR

FEBRUARY

2/1 SU: BRONWYN KEITH-HYNES

2/5 TH: FANCY GAP AND LUA FLORA

2/7 SA: JONAH KAGAN W/ ANNA GRAVES

2/10 TU: ELECTRIC GUEST W/ SNACKTIME

2/11 WE: LANGHORNE SLIM

2/21 SA: PETER MCPOLAND

2/22 SU: BRISCOE W/ JACK BLOCKER

2/26 TU: STS9

2/28 SA: MICHAEL SHANNON, JASON NARDUCY & FRIENDS PLAY

R.E.M.’S LIFES RICH PAGEANT

MARCH

3/3 TU: GOLDIE BOUTILIER

3/5 TH: NOTHING

3/6 FR: THE NUDE PARTY W/ SIX FOOT BLONDE

3/7 SA: DIRTWIRE (ANDMOREAGAIN PRESENTS)

3/11 WE: PUMA BLUE

3/15 SU: THE EARLY NOVEMBER AND HELLOGOODBYE

3/21 SA: BENEE W/ BAYLI

3/30 MO: MADISON CUNNINGHAM W/ ANNIKA BENNETT

3/31 TU: INDIGO DE SOUZA APRIL

4/14 TU: SARAH KINSLEY W/CHARLIE BURG

4/15 WE: KISHI BASHI: SONDERLUST 10TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR W/ BAYONNE

4/16 TH: MARTIN SEXTON (SEATED SHOW)

4/18 SA: ELIZA MCLAMB: GOOD STORY TOUR

4/20 MO: THE MOSS W/ HOTEL FICTION MAY

5/6 WE: UNPROCESSED W/ ALT, MIDWINTER OCTOBER

10/18 SU: BENJAMIN TOD & THE INLINE SIX CAT'S CRADLE BACK ROOM DECEMBER

12/12 FR: ROBERT LESTER FOLSOM W/ LILY SEABIRD

12/13 SA: MAGNOLIA & JOHNSON SOLD OUT ELECTRIC CO.

12/14 SU: SCHOOL OF ROCK CH END OF SEASON SHOWCASE

12/19 FR: CY&I W/ ADAM XAVIER AND CHIROPTERA

12/20 SA: JOHN HOWIE JR. & THE ROSEWOOD BLUFF W/ RAMONA AND THE HOLY SMOKES

12/27 SA: THE MERCH HOLIDAY PARTY (FREE SHOW)

12/31 WE: NEW YEAR'S EVE HOOTENANNY THE RATTLETRAPS, DELIA-H, KIT MCKAY JANUARY

1/3 SA: KINDA NICE, LARRY, CHICKEN RANCH ROAD

1/10 SA: TURTLE SMASH LIVE BAND POP PUNK EMO TRIBUTE!

1/12 MO: GRACE LUCIA, LENA TRAYNHAM, LILY HAN, SHELLEY STAR & THE GALAXY

1/16 FR: THE BAND SOLSTICE W/ THE WALLABIES

1/23 FR: JON SPENCER

1/24 SA: GREG FREEMAN SOLD OUT W/ COLOMB

1/26 MO: DAFFO W/ EARTH 2 TIFFANY FEBRUARY

2/2 MO: FRIENDSHIP W/ NATALIE JANE HILL

2/4 WE: MATT PRYOR W/ WITH LOVE AND SMALL UNCLE

2/5 TH: BAD BAD HATS W/ SMUT

2/14 SA: AMELIA DAY W/ MAIA KAMIL

2/19 TH: THE JACK WHARFF BAND W/ MAX ALAN

2/23 MO: NUOVO TESTAMENTE W/ DARK CHISME

2/26 TU: TYLER RAMSEY & CARL BROEMEL CELESTIAL TOUR

2/28 SA: NEP MARCH

3/4 WE: COMA CINEMA W/ TRACE MOUNTAIN

3/11 WE: LOS STRAITJACKETS & DEKE DICKERSON

3/13 FR: SURFING FOR DAISY

3/14 SA: ANDMOREAGAIN PRESENTS: TWEN 3/16 MO: SKULLCRUSHER

3/19 TH: PRESSING STRINGS AND DRIFTWOOD

3/25 WE: MODEL W/ ACTRIZ

3/28

but some of them, I’d go, “Oh yeah, there’s a reason to write about this other one off of this tape, and not this one.” But also, what I’m talking about there is how, when I was first doing this, if people would suggest that what I was doing was confessional in any way or was self-disclosure of any kind, I was very, very resistant to this idea. I now think of things differently. I think you can write a story about a mermaid who builds a spaceship, and you’re still talking about yourself. Any story you tell, you wind up telling on yourself in some way, right? This has informed which stories I choose to tell, actually, which I think, in turn, then shapes you. I used to be much more interested in dark stories where people have dark motives. And I mean, look, I still write novels that are incredibly violent, and that’s in me, right? But the choices you make about what you write about do shape you and wind up presenting you with a picture of yourself. They present other people, also, with a picture of you—but that’s a different picture, because they bring their own stuff to it. And quite often, that can be about a 51% balance of what they’re bringing to what they see. So that’s also an interesting thing.

I think that the more I read, the more I believe all fiction is autofiction to some degree and all memoir is also fiction.

I think that’s true. If you read Defoe, Defoe doesn’t think he’s writing memoirs, but he’s telling you a lot about Daniel Defoe. I find that interesting. To me, that would mean “Good. Now we don’t have to write memoirs anymore,” but most people feel different from me on that.

You do say at one point, “This isn’t a memoir, unless it is.” How would you define memoir?

Part of that is just me bitching about a thing that people who know me know that I’m constantly bitching about. I get galleys, right? And for about two years there, it felt like three out of four were a memoir. And that’s never going to the front of the queue for me. I want to hear fun made-up stories. I care about people. If I meet people, I do want to hear their stories. But if I’m reading, I want to read something amazing that you made up, and then I’ll actually learn more about you than in your curated and self-presented version of yourself.

So many of the memoirs will be like “Warts and all, he really lets you know what a piece of shit he was before he became good.” Yeah, but you’re picking the parts of that that you can stand to tell me, or you’re playing them up to look tough, right? My other problem with memoir is that identity and self are malleable over time, and they’re huge, right? They’re huge. I think fiction does a better job of presenting the self by letting you have all these multiple selves that you made up doing various things [rather] than attempt[ing] to just basically put on your makeup and say, “Here’s what I look like when I describe myself.”

So both of your artistic mediums, music and storytelling, are traditionally very experiential art forms. They weren’t physical things for so long. Is there any dissonance for you between making these things that are meant to be experienced with people and having to force them into physical things?

That’s a great question, and I will eat up the rest of the interview on it. So here’s the thing: What you’re asking intersects with one of my hobbyhorse questions about the notion of spontaneity and what’s “real.” Big old scare quotes around that. Everything’s curated, everything’s gathered and organized, right? Language does that also. Language is a performance of something that, before it becomes language, is formless. And so storytelling replicates what we do when we speak at all. It takes a bunch of chaotic notions and organizes them into a picture that we can both look at and have different reactions to. In making the book, what was interesting about it is how that stuff seemed to be then, versus looking at it now.

To bring up another one of your asides . . . I would love to open the floor to anything you have to say about mixed-use residential housing, perhaps in Durham, North Carolina, specifically.

Oh my God, you really want to hear it?

I do. I’ve only lived here for five years, and this city is unrecognizable. It’s crazy.

Yeah. I mean, look. We moved to Durham in 2003. We moved to Durham because we could not afford to move to Chapel Hill. We had looked at houses in Chapel Hill, and they were out of our price range. And so we moved to Durham, and it was hip as hell. You would not recognize what downtown was. And Durham had this feel of like, nobody was quite sure what they were going to do with it, so empty buildings would remain empty buildings. Mixed-use residential is only good if it contains an affordability component, and the affordability component should not be the one unit that we settled on so that we could say we’re making housing affordable. Affordable housing in Durham—anybody who drives 885 can see at the off-ramp, we need affordable housing. There are people who have no place to live in our affluent town, right? And new construction is inevitable, but we should be building affordable housing. That’s what we need in this town. And we should be building places with walkable space. We should always be putting sidewalks in. All this stuff is important, but [they’re] making money instead, and that is a choice. And people don’t actually like the results of that choice, except for the people who take the money home.

You’ve talked both in the book and more generally about God and your radical politics. I’m also dealing with progressive faith in the age of MAGA and just wanted to ask: How are you doing?

Yeah, it’s funny. So, I’m a Jesus guy too, and—I don’t think my wife will mind me sharing this anecdote—I was bewailing these people who would put, like, “The science isn’t in on whether vaccines cause autism” on the CDC website. And my wife, rather witheringly, says, “Yeah, but these people believe in God.” She had me dead to rights on that. It’s an absurd proposition, right?

But I’m fine, is the thing. When you have enough privilege to be fine, you should state that first. Like, when I’m scared, am I scared for myself? Well, next year I’m traveling internationally. I don’t know how that’s going to go when I come back in. But I’m not scared like the 20% of families that stayed home from Durham Public Schools today. And I’m angry about that. I’m angry that there are people whose children don’t get to go play with their friends today. Young children, 5-year-olds. If you’ve taken kids to kindergarten and preschool, you see them playing, and you go, “Oh God, we’ve ruined the world. That’s what we should be doing, playing together and supporting each other, the way that classes of kids do.” And instead, they’re literally saying, “You can’t go to school today, and I can’t go to work today.” This is a horrible state of affairs. We should be very angry. People will say, “Well, what are you doing?” I can’t do anything. I’m just a person. We can only do things collectively. What I do, what I say, is only meaningful in the sense that I have a bit of a platform, so maybe some people will hear it. But until we unify and take collective action, we can’t do anything. Nothing. Individually, we are nothing. Collectively, we are strong. And we know this, right? The bad guys know this, too. They wouldn’t put it that way, but they know this. So, yeah, that’s where I do feel hopeful.

I went up to Compare Foods, and there was a group of people who looked like me, younger, but they looked like me. And they were there to bear witness and protect people if they were trying to shop at Compare or work at Compare and were getting hassled by fascists. And that was beautiful. That was collective action, so I’m seeing that in my community. It’s beautiful to see Durham affirming that it is who we say it is. It’s a place where we’re trying our best to come together to protect our people. The privilege to see that and to be part of that in whatever small way. We need to keep that carrying forward, to protect every disenfranchised class, you know, from immigrants to trans people to whoever else you can name, who’s on the receiving end of abuse from this administration.

Like anybody else, once I get started about this, there’s so much to say. The backwards gift of this is you’re learning what your politics are right now. If you didn’t want to think about him, that’s too bad. You can’t really Pollyanna this moment. And you see this in the comments of the stories, where you see a bunch of people saying, “He’s doing what I put him in office to do.” Yeah, there’s some bad people out there. We have failed to reach them. We have failed to persuade them of the gospel. You know, we have failed to present to them the Jesus that we believe will liberate them from anger and their fear. I can go on about this a lot, because I think it’s a moment in which God is challenging us to communicate our values in a meaningful way. W

INCOMING!

FEATURE SPOTLIGHTING INTERESTING FILMS COMING TO LOCAL THEATERS

Existential Comedy, Historical Drama, and Hitmen vs. Monsters

Chloé Zhao’s emotionally devastating Hamnet, Elizabeth Olsen in afterlife romantic comedy Eternity, and more movies coming to theaters near you.

BY GLENN MCDONALD arts@indyweek.com

Lots of typical holiday fare in the multiplexes this season—sequels and profitable IP investments like Wicked and Avatar, and the new Knives Out mystery. But if you squint hard enough at the local listings, you can find a few theaters still telling new stories.

The indie afterlife comedy Eternity looks like fun and poses some interesting metaphysical questions. Elizabeth Olsen stars as a very recently deceased woman who must decide whether to spend her afterlife with her first husband (Callum Turner) or her second husband (Miles Teller). Heaven also comes with afterlife coordinators (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and a wide selection of theme-park-style forever destinations, like Studio 54 World: “Where the party never ends, and the AIDS crisis didn’t ruin everything.” Eternity is backed by the reliable indie distributor A24 and has earned adoring early reviews. The movie promises a new spin on an old story template and should be a pretty safe PG-13 family outing for holiday gatherings. This can be important in December.

Historical fiction enthusiasts looking for a weepier time at the movies will want to flag Hamnet, which tells the story of Agnes and William Shakespeare, their young son, and the tragedy that inspired Shakespeare’s greatest play. Filmed on location in London and Wales, the movie promises to be one of those truly transporting experiences—the kind that big-budget productions can really do well—with artful historical re-creations of a distant time and place. Advance word is that the story is emotionally devastating, in a good way, and that leads Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal give astonishing performances. Hamnet is based on the 2020 novel of the same name, which is unbelievably good and won a shelf full of awards. But here’s the best part: The film is directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), who co-wrote the script with novelist Maggie O’Farrell. That kind of direct collaboration bodes well.

If you’re in the market for something completely different, seek out the delightfully wrong “family horror film” Dust Bunny, in which a desperate 8-year-old girl hires her hitman neighbor to kill the monster under her bed.

Find the trailer online to get a sense of this one, which clearly regards genre fidelity as dubious advice, best ignored. Writer-director Bryan Fuller (TV’s Pushing Daisies) mashes up elements of family drama, crime fiction, urban fantasy, black comedy, and supernatural horror into a pulpy and ambitious storytelling experiment. The professionally menacing Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen plays the hitman, and the great Sigourney Weaver drops in as another oddball heavy. Important note: This one is not for little kids!

QUICK PICKS

Will Arnett and Laura Dern headline the comedy-drama Is This Thing On? concerning marriage, divorce, and the healing powers of open-mic nights in the NYC comedy scene.

When You’re Strange, the 2009 music documentary on The Doors, is getting a 4K digital restoration and theatrical re-release in honor of the band’s 60th anniversary. It’s playing at the Alamo in Raleigh, and it’s worth checking out if all you’ve seen is Oliver Stone’s batshit 1991 biopic.

The fabulous story-in-a-story Kiss of the Spider Woman previously a novel, stage musical, and brilliant 1985 film— has been reinvented once again by director Bill Condon, starring Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez. The movie opened in October (and disappeared quickly), but is getting a welcome second run over at the Cary Theater.

Fans of Quentin Tarantino’s martial arts operas will be happy to hear about Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

a repackaging of the two original films into one four-hour presentation with a 15-minute intermission. Rumor is there are some extra scenes, too.

You Got Gold: A Celebration of John Prine is an intriguing documentary/concert film built around a 2022 Nashville tribute show for the late and beloved songwriter. In the mix: Bonnie Raitt, Dwight Yoakam, Brandi Carlile, Tyler Childers, Lucinda Williams, Bob Weir, and Jason Isbell.

The Chelsea Theater in Chapel Hill has a nice slate of festival favorites and holiday counterprogramming in December, including the 1970s Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent; director Josh Safdie’s oddball Ping-Pong sports drama Marty Supreme (with Timothée Chalamet); and the entirely bananas DIY slapstick comedy Hundreds of Beavers. You’ll want to Google that. W

Jessie Buckley, left, and Paul Mescal in Hamnet FOCUS FEATURES

Diego Luna, left, with Jennifer Lopez in Kiss of the Spider Woman ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS

FOOD & DRINK

Tuna Salad on a Hoagie at the Blue Ridge Deli & Cafe

A cheerful crowd and a lone paper snowflake at a low-key, longtime Durham deli.

BY LENA GELLER lgeller@indyweek.com

IThis story is part of a column, Lunch Money, in which staff writer Lena Geller visits restaurants in the Triangle in an attempt to dine out for less than $15.

drove past the Blue Ridge Deli & Cafe recently and wondered how I’d never seen it before, given that I’ve lived in Durham my whole life (with the exception of college) and the place looks well-worn: white paint cracked like dry skin, red patio umbrellas faded to the color of pencil erasers, a single decorative snowflake stuck to the window.

The deli sits on the corner of South Alston Avenue and East Cornwallis Road—a low-key oasis in the restaurant desert between North Carolina Central University and Research Triangle Park.

Inside, the decor consists of gentle imitations—brick-patterned wallpaper, fake flowers sprouting from wall-mounted baskets— that somehow make the place feel more welcoming, as if someone turned their dining room into a sandwich shop and didn’t want to change too much.

Like any good deli, the Blue Ridge has coolers overflowing with bottled drinks— Jarritos, Arizona teas, Celsius, and dozens of other juices, seltzers, and sodas— and shelves stocked with Miss Vickie’s and Lay’s.

I’m here for an early lunch at 10:30 a.m. Breakfast hour at the restaurant has just ended. The menu board behind the counter showcases classic sandwich options (roast

and corned beef, meatball and Italian subs, tuna and chicken salad) alongside salads (Greek, Caesar), burgers, and hot dogs. Everything is under $11.

Tuna salad is what I make at home when I don’t want to think too hard about lunch, and in this homey atmosphere, it feels like the right choice. I order tuna salad on a hoagie roll with lettuce and tomato for $8.99.

When I ask to add fries ($2.79), the woman at the register tells me that the kitchen can’t make that addition since they’re still prepping lunch items. But then a window slides open behind her, revealing the kitchen, and a man leans through—the owner, I gather later, based on how regulars greet him.

“I’ll put ’em on,” he says of the fries, and the window slides shut. My total with tax, tip, and a surcharge is $15.50.

It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving, objectively a downer day, but the mood in the restaurant is light. A steady stream of customers filters through the space, each one cheerful even in the face of minor disappointments: A man who discovers breakfast ended ten minutes ago pivots to a burger without a hint of complaint. Another asks hopefully about tater tots, and when told they don’t have any, responds

with “No worries, you guys are awesome.”

After a few minutes, the cashier brings my food out in a styrofoam box. The sandwich, wrapped in wax paper and foil, weighs more than I expected. The bread is fresh and spread thick with mayo. It cradles a tuna salad that sparkles with celery bits but avoids the compulsive additions— onions, olives, capers—that restaurants often throw in.

The fries are dusted with what looks like

paprika and shaker parsley. They’re perfectly crisp, and I’m grateful the owner made the extra effort.

I finish my lunch and head out, passing that snowflake in the window again.

Later, while looking at photos that reviewers have posted online, I realize that the snowflake has been in the window, year-round, for at least six years straight. Some things are just waiting for you to notice them.

Tuna salad on a hoagie

PHOTO BY LENA GELLER

The Blue Ridge Deli & Cafe PHOTO BY LENA GELLER

C U LT U R E C A L E N D A R

WED 12/10

MUSIC

Set It Off: The Self Titled Tour 6 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.

STAGE

Carolina Ballet presents: The Nutcracker Dec. 5-24, various times, Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Center Theater Company’s production of A Christmas Carol Dec. 5-21, various times. Center Theater Company, Carrboro.

Cinderella Dec. 5-21, various times. Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh.

Here in America Dec. 4-21, various times. Murphey School Auditorium, Raleigh.

Miss Bennet: Christmas At Pemberley Dec. 9-20, various times. De Ann S. Jones Theatre, Raleigh.

The Monti StorySLAM: The Moment I Knew 7:30 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Sammy Obeid 6 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh.

Stone Soup Theatre Co. Presents “Every Brilliant Thing” Dec. 6-13, various times. Mettlesome Theater, Durham.

THUR 12/11

MUSIC

Algernon Cadwallader 8 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Feyleux, Corpse Dust, Cold Choir, Tiger Knives 7 p.m. Chapel of Bones, Raleigh.

Hairy-Legged Women

Album Release Party 7:30 p.m. Rubies, Durham.

Holiday Jazz On The Roof 7 p.m. The Durham Hotel, Durham.

Jazz Night at Tandem Thursdays at 6 p.m. Tandem, Carrboro.

Joe Troop’s Whirlwind 7:30 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.

Saving Escape with Touchdown Jesus, Emerson Bruno 7 p.m. The Pour House Music Hall, Raleigh.

Thursday Jazz at Yonder Thursdays at 8 p.m. Yonder, Hillsborough.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: The Ghosts of Christmas Eve 7 p.m. PNC Arena, Raleigh.

STAGE

Triangle Youth Ballet Presents: The Nutcracker Dec. 11-13, various times. Carolina Theatre, Durham.

SCREEN

Love Actually 7 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

FRI

12/12

MUSIC

The Caribbean, Day for Night, Lalitree Darnielle 8 p.m. Shadowbox Studio, Durham.

Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle: Dreams & Prayers 7:30 p.m. The Fruit, Durham.

The Connells, The Vanguard 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

David Hazeltine Trio Dec 12-13, 7:30 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.

the dead ringers, Manic Third Planet, Superintendo 7:30 p.m. Cannonball Music Hall, Raleigh.

Dean Johnson, Esther Rose 7:30 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Eilen Jewell, Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

The Front Bottoms: 10 Years of Back On Top 7 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.

Gimmie Gimmie Disco 9 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Jake Xerxes Fussell 8 p.m. Haw River Ballroom Saxapahaw.

Karola & Papera 9 p.m. Ambis 1 Nightclub, Raleigh.

Luxe Posh, Gay Agenda 10 p.m. Rubies, Durham.

NC Symphony: Holiday Pops 8 p.m. Dec. 12-13. Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

Rakim Under w/ Ian Stewart 10 p.m. The Fruit, Durham.

Robert Lester Folsom 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

TYNAN 9 p.m. The Pour House Music Hall, Raleigh.

STAGE

The ComedyWorx Show Fridays at 8 p.m. ComedyWorx, Raleigh.

The Harry Show Fridays at 10 p.m. ComedyWorx, Raleigh.

Steve Rannazzisi Dec. 12-14, various times. Raleigh Improv, Raleigh.

Crush - Tribute Band

9:30 p.m. Hangout Bar & Grill, Cary.

The Durham Symphony Holiday Pops Concert 8 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

An Evening With Magnolia & Johnson Electric Co. 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

Futurebirds, Patton Magee 8:30 pm Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

Happy Bday Jonas: JULIA. with Pink Beds, Cherry Motel 7 p.m. The Pour House Music Hall, Raleigh.

The Lavender Social’s Queer Cabaret & Dance Party! 7 p.m. Speakeasy, Carrboro.

SAT

12/13

MUSIC

Adulting: Ugly Christmas Sweater Party 7:30 p.m. Rubies, Durham.

Annual Christmas Concert: “O Holy Night: Darkness into Light” 4 p.m. Trinity United Methodist Church, Durham.

Chatham County Line Holiday Tour 2025 8 p.m. Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw.

Necromancy Goth Night: Krampusnacht 8 p.m. Chapel of Bones, Raleigh.

Southern Culture on the Skids 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

Wailin’ Storms, Tooth, Treasure Pains 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

The Wusses: Holiday Show 7:30 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

STAGE

Heavy Hitters: Stand-Up Comedy Night 8 p.m. Bond Brothers Eastside, Cary.

SUN

12/14

MUSIC

Phil Allen Octet Christmas Concert 5 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.

The, Raleigh Ringers Dec. 14-15, various times. Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh. Rubies Fest 2 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.

Russell Lacy Music Showcase 3:30 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

SCREEN

Home Alone Sundays in December, 3 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh. Raleigh. MON 12/15

SCREEN

The Muppet Christmas Carol 7 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

TUES 12/16

MUSIC

The Callous Daoboys 6:30 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

FIND

NCJRO Holiday Jazz Concert with Kathy Gelb 7:30 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.

SCREEN

It’s a Wonderful Life Dec. 16-17, 7 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

WED 12/17

MUSIC

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones: Jingle All The Way 8 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham.

Silverstein: 25 Years Of Noise 6 p.m. The Ritz, Raleigh.

STAGE

Disney On Ice Various times. PNC arena, Raleigh.

Tidings, Titties & Trombones 8:30 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

THUR 12/18

MUSIC

DINO, Saman Khoujinian, Big Chuck 7:30 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

Gown EP Release Party 7:30 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.

SCREEN

Elf 7 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh. FRI 12/19

MUSIC

All Out NC: A Benefit for Onyx 8 p.m. The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop, Raleigh.

All Your Friends: The Indie Party 9 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

CY&I 8 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

He Is Legend Hootenanny 3 6 p.m. Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro.

NC Symphony: A Candlelight Christmas Dec. 12-23, various times. Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh.

NCCU Faculty Holiday Concert with Joey Calderazzo 9 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.

Yarn, The Dune Dogs 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

STAGE

The ComedyWorx Show Fridays at 8 p.m. ComedyWorx, Raleigh.

The Harry Show Fridays at 10 p.m. ComedyWorx, Raleigh.

SAT

12/20

MUSIC

Dillon Fence, The Mayflies USA 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh.

John Howie Jr. & the Rosewood Bluff 7 p.m. Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro.

Kobie Watkins Grouptet 7 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.

Only1brewskie Presents: A Night on Mt Olympus 10 p.m. Rubies, Durham.

STAGE

A Holly Jolly Nightmare 3: A Holiday Drag & Burlesque Show! 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

SUN 12/21

MUSIC

Grace Lucia, blankstate., Bedroom Division, Nicole Tester 7:30 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

SCREEN

Home Alone Sundays in December, 3 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York 3:30 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 7 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

MON 12/22

SCREEN

Die Hard 9:15 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

The Grinch 3 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

WED 12/24

MUSIC

Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols 11 p.m. Duke Chapel, Durham.

SCREEN

It’s a Wonderful Life 1 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 4:30 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh.

FRI 12/26

MUSIC

Nabin Bhattarai 7:30 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

SCREEN

Black Christmas 7 p.m. The Rialto, Raleigh. SAT 12/27

MUSIC

Rebirth Brass Band 9 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Spice: A Dance Party With Flavor 10:30 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

STAGE

Dov Davidoff Dec. 27-28, various times. Raleigh Improv, Raleigh.

SUN 12/28

MUSIC

Cry of the Forgotten, Walt McClements, Dead Elephant Bicycle 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

WED 12/31

MUSIC

2000’s Dance Party: Nye Bash! 9:30 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham.

Alien Prom 9 p.m. Rubies on Five Points, Durham.

NYE Party/Fundraiser with Kate McGarry and Friends 9:00 p.m. Sharp 9 Gallery, Durham.

NYE Psychedelic Rodeo 9:00 p.m. The Fruit, Durham.

Overly Loaded: DJ Himbo, DJ Most Wanted, DJ Ayo Vip, Femi The Femme 10 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham.

STAGE

Eric Eaton 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Raleigh Improv, Raleigh.

New Year’s Eve with Alonzo Bodden 5 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh.

SU | DO | KU

© Puzzles by Pappocom

Difficulty level: MEDIUM To download a pdf of this puzzle or view its solution, visit indyweek.com/puzzles-page

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’re stumped, find the answer keys for these puzzles and archives of previous puzzles (and their solutions) at indyweek.com/puzzles-page or scan this QR code for a link. Best of luck, and have fun!

Los Angeles Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle

BY

JOHN ANDREW AGPALO

“The Count of Monte Cristo”

Gallagher of Oasis

we just see this?”

Meat dish topped with mashed potatoes

Ohio border lake

Compensation for those expecting bad outcomes?

Like some parks: Abbr.

Coat flaps

Receipt fig. 27 This evenin’

Quick chats?

Iguana, to some 32 Gem that’s been photoshopped?

LuPone of “Agatha All Along”

Croc, but not gator

Jalapeño kin

Front covers?

Poetic contraction 47 Browning’s “__ Lippo Lippi”

Class that teaches the science behind flair bartending?

Periods of inactivity

95 Smell 97 Glinda, to Elphaba, at first

Snare

Secondary thread

Ikebana vessel

Gleefully spiteful

Genetic makeup of a Trojan war hero?

LASIK target

Lennox of R&B 114 Hindu god with the head of an elephant 116 Create a narrative out of reality show footage, e.g.

117 Message to a graduating class at an occult school?

124 Tibetan monk

125 Sine qua nons 126 Kevin McHale’s “Glee” role

127 Serpents on sarcophagi

“The Not Taken”

Edited by Patti Varol

129 Race goal, sometimes

Damp

Nation:

Japanese consumer electronics brand 5 __ turtle 6 Source of grief

Skater Midori 8 Org. with bombsniffing dogs

9 One spelling of an Asian gambling hub 10 Column that’s beside the point?

11 Bee fore?

12 Actor Cage, casually

13 Hand motions 14 McCartney’s songwriting partner

15 Application for dubious advice

16 Wee

17 Email ancestor

19 Irish speakers, e.g.

20 Press rooms?

23 “Isn’t that something”

28 Visual style that tricks the eye

29 Card table declaration 30 __ syrup

32 Greedy choice

33 Depend (on)

34 Wee 35 Rapper Dr. 37 Front-wheel alignment

39 Occur 42 Brynhild’s beloved, in Norse myth

44 Find out

45 Places for small herb gardens

48 Option for a library book

49 Invite for 51 More meddlesome

52 African capital

Contents of college blue books

Tattle (on)

Tiltrotor military aircraft

Writer Bombeck 80 Boondi __: spiced yogurt dish 82 Dead Scrolls

Alleviate 87 With all judges present 90 Well-worn long tops? 94 Opposite of paleo-

SUDOKU

CLASSIFIED

HEALTH & WELL BEING EMPLOYMENT

Supplier Quality Engineer

Siemens Industry, Inc. seeks a Supplier Quality Engineer in Wendell, NC to ensure and improve the supplier quality in the assigned area. Bach deg or foreign equiv in Elec Eng, Sys Eng, Mech Egn & 5 yrs rel exp. Hybrid work permitted. To apply, go to: https://jobs.siemens.com/en_US/externaljobs/ JobDetail/485984

Director, IT Operations

Director, IT Operations @ Enact Mortgage Insurance Corporation (Raleigh, NC) F/T Ensr tht IT strtgs nd dlvrabls algn wth Enact’s IT cpablts nd ovrl biz gls. Pstn rqrs a Bchlr’s dgree, or frgn eqvlnt, in IT, Biz Admnstrtn or rltd fld flwd by 7 yrs of prgsvly rspnsbl exp in the job offrd, as Strtgc Prgm Anlyst, Mgr Drctr of Ops, or rltd. Altrntvly, emp wl acpt a Mstrs’s deg, or frgn equi, in IT, Biz Admnstrtn or rlt nd 5 yrs of exp in the jb offrd or as Strtgc Prgm Anlyst, Mgr, Dirctr of Ops or rltd. Ful trm of exp must inclde each of the fllwng: Excutng back-end IT prjcts; Mortgag insrnc opratnal fnctns such as delnqncy reprtng, invstgtns, hom retntn/loss mitigtn prgrms, undrwritng, financl & anlytcs, frnt end webste, and intgratns, & strtegs, and claims; Plnning & ldng mortgag insrnc IT & opratnal prjct implmentatns; IT & Oprtns prdct modl; Applyng anlytcs & financl modlng methdolgs; Desgng SaaS solutns for mortgag busnss procss mngmnt, financl modlng & anlytcs, financl rportng, prductvty & wrkflow, & imagng pltforms; Devlopng multi-tiered tchnlgy stacks basd on Servce Orientd Archtectre; Desgning financl srvces systms for mortgag insrnc prodcts; Agile, Waterfall, SDLC, SOA and SaaS methdologs; Initl set ups, data integrtn, rates & guidelins tstng, & nw applcatn dsgn for financl srvcs systms; and, Usng PMP & Six Sigma prjct mngmnt methdologs to manag, cntrl & dlvr prjcts withn timing & budgt spcfcatns. ER wll acpt any stbl cmbntn of edu, trng or exp. WFH is avlbl 2 tms per wk. Mst rsde wthin Raleigh, NC metrpltn area/ nrml cmmte area. Less than 10% trvl rqrd. Email resume to GNWRecruitement@genworth.com. Ref: GNA- 8554542.Lead Software Engineer First Citizens Bank seeks a Lead Software Eng in Raleigh, NC to dev & support core banking solutions. Reqs: BS in in CompSci, Eng, or rel + 6 yrs or GED/High School Diploma + 12 yrs. Remote role, may be hired in several mkts across US. Base pay gen b/w $169,125 to $222,583/yr. For more info & to apply, go to https://jobs.firstcitizens.com/jobs & ref Job #31756.

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