WALTER Magazine | December 2024

The Art & Soul of Raleigh

DECEMBER 2024

The Art & Soul of Raleigh

DECEMBER 2024

The Art & Soul of Raleigh

DECEMBER 2024

The The Art Art & & Soul Soul of of Raleigh Raleigh

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I RIS L AW PHOTO GR A P HED IN NEW YO R K CI T Y

S C U LP T E D C A B LE COLLEC T ION

Raleigh | Cary | Rocky Mount | Greenville

CONTENTS

DECEMBER 2024

42 28 OUR TOWN 28 TRADITIONS: Worth the Wait 33 LOCALS: A Storied Overstory 35 MUSIC: Tunes of 2024 38 GARDEN: Go Wild 39 NATURE: Wood Carvers 42 FOOD: A Grand Performance 45 SPORTS: What’s in a Name?

47 ART: Scaling it Down 50 SIMPLE LIFE: Christmas Wishes 52 NOTED: The Day He Came to Town

FEATURES 57 Tracks

by Regina YC Garcia illustration by Jillian Ohl

58 Winter Magic

Behind the scenes at Pullen Park’s Holiday Express

by Susanna Klingenberg photography by Trey Thomas

66 Flora Files

Collecting our natural history at the UNC Herbarium

by Susanna Klingenberg photography by Liz Condo

74 Craftsman Cool

A 1920s bungalow filled with objects of style and beauty

by Ayn-Monique Klahre photography by Trey Thomas

IN EVERY ISSUE 12 EDITOR’S LETTER 16 CONTRIBUTORS 17 YOUR FEEDBACK 19 OUR TOWN 21 DATEBOOK 103 THE WHIRL 112 END NOTE: Upcycled Santa

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On the cover: The Holiday Express at Pullen Park. Photograph by Trey Thomas

10 | WALTER

Liz Condo (OAKWOOD WAITS); Mike Dunn (HUMMINGBIRD); Harsha Sipani (DRINK); Gerry O’Neill (WINE)

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EDITOR’S LETTER CARLOS MIGUEL PRIETO, MUSIC DIRECTOR

CLASSICAL KIDS LIVE!

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Left: A pocket treasure. Right: The WALTER team at Taste of the Wild — Cristina, me, Addie, David, Laura and Julie.

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FRI/SAT, JAN 10-11 | 8PM Anna Rakitina, conductor Stella Chen, violin Elena Langer: Leonora’s Dream Haydn: Symphony No. 101, “The Clock” Dvořák: Violin Concerto

he first time I put on a jacket in the fall, I reach into the pockets to see what’s in there. Sometimes it’s boring stuff, like ChapStick or very old tissues (ew). But just as often, I’m delighted to find a little treasure left over from last year: a perfectly oval acorn with its cap still intact, a cool water bottle sticker, a pin from a museum exhibit, a little crystal, a flattened penny from some road trip.

I’ll admit, some of these treasures have been in my pockets for many years. But how can I toss that pony bead bracelet my daughter made when she was 5, even though she’s long moved on to more intricate crafts? I remember her making it for me with her chubby little fingers.

I get the same thrill when I pull out my winter clothes. We live in an old house with small closets, so the seasonal clothing exchange is necessary. (I’m grateful for our ample, semi-finished crawl space, which operates somewhere between “organized storage” and “black hole.”) Each person in the family has a plastic bin, which we’ll haul up to the second floor to swap swimsuits and sundresses for sweaters and boots.

Sometimes, I’ll find a sweater I bought toward the end of last winter, which feels brand new, since it didn’t get much wear.

Or I’ll pull out a decades-old sweatshirt that’s perfectly broken in, and get excited

to wear it around the house on chilly evenings (if my kids don’t claim it first).

Admittedly, some of the clothes I pull out conjure more of a “I can’t believe I still have this!” and go to the giveaway pile.

Soon after the clothing swap, we’ll open up our bins of Christmas decor, in which we’ve amassed table linens, candles, Santa-shaped doodads and other holiday decorations. Some items in there — a particular poinsettia-themed doily comes to mind — were wedding gifts we didn’t have a place for until we settled into this house. Others, like our set of flickering window candles and a few embroidered pillows, were items Josh and I grew up with, well-loved by our parents before they were passed down to us. Mixed in are craft projects from over the years that the kids are either proud of or embarrassed by, depending on the day.

I love this ritual of pulling out the old, marking a new season with heirlooms from the past. And in a few months, we’ll tuck this year’s memories into the bin to along with all the others.

Ayn-Monique Klahre Editor

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DECEMBER 2024 EDITORIAL

PUBLISHING

Editor AYN-MONIQUE KLAHRE ayn-monique@waltermagazine.com

Publisher DAVID WORONOFF

Creative Director LAURA PETRIDES WALL laura@waltermagazine.com Associate Editor ADDIE LADNER addie@waltermagazine.com Contributing Writers A.J. Carr, Catherine Currin, Jim Dodson, Mike Dunn, Regina YC Garcia, Susanna Klingenberg, Matt Lail, David Menconi, Liza Roberts, Ira David Wood III Contributing Poetry Editor Jaki Shelton Green Contributing Copy Editor Finn Cohen Contributing Photographers Liz Condo, John Hansen Joshua Steadman, Trey Thomas Contributing Illustrators Jillian Ohl, Gerry O’Neill, Lyudmila Tomova

Advertising Sales Manager JULIE NICKENS julie@waltermagazine.com Senior Account Executive & Operations CRISTINA HURLEY cristina@waltermagazine.com Finance STEVE ANDERSON 910-693-2497 Distribution JAMES KAY Inquiries WALTER OFFICE 984-286-0928 info@waltermagazine.com Address all correspondence to: WALTER magazine, 421 Fayetteville Street, Suite 104 Raleigh, N.C. 27601 Interns Samantha Pressly Anna Marie Switzer

WALTER is available by paid subscriptions for $36 a year in the United States, as well as select rack and advertiser locations throughout the Triangle.

Subscribe online at waltermagazine.com/subscribe For customer service inquiries, please email us at customerservice@waltermagazine.com or call 984-286-0928.

WALTER does not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Please contact Ayn-Monique Klahre at ayn-monique@waltermagazine.com for freelance guidelines.

Owners JACK ANDREWS, FRANK DANIELS III, DAVID WORONOFF In memoriam FRANK DANIELS JR. © WALTER magazine. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the copyright owner. Published 12 times a year by The Pilot LLC.

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W R I TE R Susanna Klingenberg is a freelance writer and an editor for environmental researchers. When she’s not chasing a story and helping scholars polish their prose, she’s likely rambling local trails or curled up with a book. For this month’s issue, she wrote about City of Raleigh arborist Anthony McLamb, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Herbarium and Pullen Park’s Holiday Express. “What a perfect mix!

The quiet intensity of Herbarium research couldn’t be further from the over-the-top glee you’ll find at the Holiday Express. But that’s life in the Triangle, right? Community here takes on so many forms.”

W R I TE R The founder and executive director of Theatre In The Park, Ira David Wood III is an award-winning actor, playwright, director and author. His published works include the play Finale and books Confessions of an Eld and The Russian Galatea. His latest novel, The Bittersweet Voyage of the Golden Ship Hatteras, came out in November. Better known to Trianglearea residents as Ebenezer Scrooge from his own musical-comedy adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Wood retired from the role last year after 50 years of continuous performances. This year, his son, Ira David Wood IV, will take over.

“Christmas is obviously a special time for our family. As I grow older, I find myself harkening back to the holidays I used to know.”

TREY THOMAS / P HOTO G R A P HE R Trey Thomas has been photographing architecture and interior design for 13 years and is proud to call downtown Raleigh home.

“Last year, I was fortunate enough to contribute photos of the Angus Barn’s Christmas decorations — which are truly a sight to behold — and this year, the fortune continued. I was tasked with capturing the winter wonderland that is Pullen Park, along with a lovely bungalow in Historic Oakwood.

It was a joy to experience the warmth and cheer at Pullen Park as well as the thoughtful holiday touches applied to the sleek and funky Oakwood home.”

16 | WALTER

LIZ CONDO / P HOTOGR A PH ER Liz Condo is a photographer based in Raleigh. At heart, she is a storyteller driven by curiosity.

In the course of her career she has documented a broad range of subjects, with a passion for exploring our connection to nature. “It was inspiring to spend time with Carol Ann McCormick and the team at the UNC Herbarium. They have a deep appreciation for nature and are working hard to educate the community about its importance.”

Rebecca Necessary (KLINGENBERG); courtesy contributors (ALL OTHERS)

CONTRIBUTORS

FEEDBACK We love to hear from you!

Several people wrote in about Scott Crawford’s essay in the October issue, when he shared the story behind his sobriety: “Toughest, yet fairest chef I’ve ever worked for! When my ex-wife left right before Thanksgiving 2014, he texted me Christmas morning to check in on me. Though I left the culinary world five years ago, I still say ‘yes chef’ when we talk.”

— Matteo Moses

Give your family the best gift of all.

Peace of mind.

“We are so fortunate to have his talent here!”

— ­­ Heather Holocomb

Artist Martha Thorn, who was featured in the November issue.

We got lots of notes for the story about Adam and Lacie Lindsteadt’s recordmaking venture, Pour House Pressing, from our November issue: “Great article. Such a creative way to make your dreams happen. Congratulations on all you’ve accomplished.”

— Vicky Dietz “Great article! You guys are killing it!” ­­— Steve Howell

This holiday season the perfect gift is “having a plan”. A move to The Cypress of Raleigh, a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), may be the most impactful gift you will ever give your family.

It’s a plan that puts you in control and your family at ease.

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THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 17

12 ISSUES

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- Sir Walter Raleigh

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OUR TOWN

Courtesy Wye Hill Brewing

Oh, Happy Day! This month, enjoy holiday performing arts, festive treats, curated shopping opportunities and the return of our downtown ice rink.

HAVE A TIKI HOLIDAY “Coming up with festive cocktails is always a fun challenge for bartenders,” says Jennifer Ashton, food and beverage manager at the rooftop bar 10th & Terrace. “Whether it’s peppermint or gingersnaps, I’m always amazed at how creative they get to incorporate those holiday flavors.” As a nod toward the tiki cocktail trend, several Raleigh bars are putting a tropical spin on their seasonal offerings. 10th & Terrace is offering the Peppermint Bark Dreams: inspired by the traditional Puerto Rican Coquito, it’s a rum drink that tastes like coconut eggnog, finished off with a peppermint rim (616 S. Salisbury Street; 10thandterrace.com). On Wye Hill Brewing’s Sippin’ Santa menu, the Snowball’s Chance in Hilo blends pineapple, citrus, Caribbean rums, winter spices and tiki bitters (201 S. Boylan Avenue; wyehill.com). Or try the Spiked Frozen Cider at Neptunes Parlour, a blend of cider, rum and cinnamon schnapps (14 W. Martin Street; neptunesraleigh.com). — Addie Ladner

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 19

CELEBRATE the

SEASON

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4TH, 6 - 9 PM 1000 SOCIAL 1010 Saint Albans Drive, North Hills

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DATEBOOK courtesy Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts (DESSERTERY); courtesy Red Hat Amphitheater (THE RINK); courtesy NC Museum of Natural Sciences (SPACE)

WALTER’s list of things to see, do and experience this month.

by ADDIE LADNER

THE DESSERTERY

Now - Dec. 23 | Various times It’s the sweetest season of all, especially at The Dessertery. This familyfriendly, pop-up dessert café is hosted inside the Kennedy Theater at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, a convenient spot for a treat before or after your favorite December show.

Your entry ticket gives you access to a lounge full of all-you-can-eat treats, from cupcakes to puddings to cookies to hot cocoa, plus all your favorite toppings (more than 100 choices!), all set on a backdrop of twinkling Christmas trees and holiday tunes. Check the calendar for when Santa might make an appearance! From $29; 2 E. South Street; martinmariettacenter.com

THE RINK

All month | Various times The RINK returns! It’s a winter wonderland in downtown Raleigh — once again, Red Hat Amphitheater has transformed into a festive outdoor iceskating rink. Bring your own skates or rent them there, and you can also enjoy

comfy areas with fires, family games, a hot cocoa station and photo ops.

For an even more elevated trip, round up friends or family and reserve the Private Igloo Lounge for an additional cost — it fits up to eight people and comes with various food package options, including a hot cocoa bar, barbecue sliders, pretzels and holiday cookies. From $15; 500 S. McDowell Street; redhatampitheater.com

JOURNEY TO SPACE

All month | Various times For a transporting experience, visit the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ newest exhibit, Journey to

Space. This highly interactive exhibit offers an overview of the technology astronauts use to stay safe, make repairs, launch and more. Step inside a rotating mockup of the Destiny Lab for a dizzying taste of zero gravity, operate a robotic arm or take a selfie on the space toilet. The exhibit also includes

All information is accurate as of press time, but please check waltermagazine.com and the event websites for the latest updates.

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 21

CELEBRATE THE SEASON

Dec. 4 | 6 - 9 p.m.

Join WALTER at our annual holiday market, an evening of shopping from a curated mix of retailers and artisans in a fun and festive atmosphere. This year’s event will feature more than 20 local vendors offering everything from jewelry to edible gifts to home accessories. For many of these small businesses, it’s a rare opportunity to meet customers face-to-face. Your ticket includes specialty cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a limited-edition tote bag and great company. $35; 1010 Saint Albans Drive; waltermagazine.com

loads of information and artifacts, including a helmet and gloves worn

by Neil Armstrong on his Apollo 11 mission. Free for museum members, from $12 for non-member children; 11 W. Jones Street; naturalsciences.org

THE RAINMAKER

Dec. 5 – 22 | Various times Set on a blistering summer day in the Midwest, this uplifting romantic dramedy follows Lizzie Curry, an aging woman under pressure to find a husband and save her father’s cattle farm from drought.

When a charming man shows up in town promising rain in exchange for money, it tests Lizzie’s faith in herself, her family and her farm. From $20; 224 Polk Street; burningcoal.org

ENCHANTED FOREST FESTIVAL Dec. 5 | 9:30 - 10:30 a.m.

As part of its winter programming,

22 | WALTER

the North Regional Library is hosting a whimsical Enchanted Forest Festival for kids of all ages. Enjoy themed crafts, books and games, including decorating your own fairy door, and a chance to win prizes. Be sure to check out some of the recommended books on the way out. Free; 7009 Harps Mill Road; wake.gov

CINDERELLA

Dec 6 - 22 | Various times For the 40th year, Raleigh Little Theatre will present its traditional holiday musical, Cinderella, which offers a hilarious and festive take on Charles Perrault’s enchanting fairytale. Performed by local talent, this production is fun for all ages — and a great opportunity for little ones to don their finest holiday gear to attend the show. And while Cinderella may technically be the

belle of the ball, keep an eye out for beloved characters like the hapless but well-intentioned fairies-in-training and Cinderella’s awkward, scheming and sometimes crass stepsisters, who offer a unique spin on this charming story.

From $35; 301 Pogue Street; raleighlittletheatre.org

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Dec. 6 - 22 | Various times Theatre In The Park’s locally beloved adaptation of A Christmas Carol is back for its 51st year. Written and directed

by Ira David Wood III, this year his son, Ira David Wood IV, will officially take over the role of Scrooge. This adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens story is known for its comical threads, nods to modern-day life and over-thetop musical numbers. Experience the critically acclaimed performance either in Raleigh at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts or the Durham Performing Arts Center.

From $30; 2 E. South Street, Raleigh or 123 Vivian Street, Durham; theatreinthepark.org

WINTER OPEN HOUSE

Dec. 7 | 4 - 7 p.m.

Anchorlight Gallery is hosting one of its semi-annual open houses this month, where its more than 20 resident artists invite guests into their studios. It offers a rare chance to see the workspaces of creators like abstract painter Martha Thorn and architecturally informed painter Luke Buchanan. Artist Stacey L. Kirby will present her piece Division of Ancestral Deeds as the closing performance, an

John Hansen (CELEBRATE THE SEASON); courtesy Burning Coal Theater (RAINMAKER); courtesy Raleigh Little Theatre (CINDERELLA); Bryan Regan (CHRISTMAS CAROL)

DATEBOOK

courtesy NC MASTER CHORALE (JOY OF THE SEASON); Getty Images (NUTCRACKER)

interactive installation with themes of family ancestry, generational trauma and inner truth. Works will also be on sale with proceeds going towards those in Western North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene. Free; 1401 & 1407 S. Bloodworth Street; anchorlightraleigh.com

Choir, will be performing a wonderful mix of classic Christmas carols, like “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “We Three Kings,” plus lesser-known hymns and winter melodies. Accompanied by a brass ensemble from the North Carolina Symphony, it’s a rousing night — especially when the more than 200 onstage voices join for the crowd-favorite final song, “Joy to the World.”

From $32; 2 E. South Street; ncmasterchorale.org

THE NUTCRACKER

JOY OF THE SEASON

Dec. 10 | 7:30 p.m.

At its annual holiday performance, the North Carolina Master Chorale, along with its Chamber Choir and Youth

Dec. 12 – 24 | Various times Experience this classic holiday dreamland adventure with mesmerizing choreography, stunning sets, costumes and a live orchestra as the soundtrack. The Nutcracker is arguably Carolina Ballet’s most popular production, and though

it changes slightly each year, it always delivers Clara’s journey with timeless charm and magic, says company CEO Zalman Raffael. “Our production of The Nutcracker is set in an undefined Americana era, with an aesthetic inspired by two different influencers, Norman Rockwell and Tim Burton.” Catch this local interpretation of the historic fantasy at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts.

From $25; 2 E. South Street; carolinaballet.com

MAKRS MARKET

Dec. 14 | 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Bring the kids to this interactive holiday shopping market in downtown, hosted by the MAKRS Society, a group that hosts creative pop-ups, farmers markets and other community events.

In addition to more than 100 regional

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THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 23

FLORAVITA

Dec. 1 - 8 | Various times

HOLIDAY ELECTRIC TOUR

Dec. 14 | 7 p.m.

On the heels of touring around the country for their latest album, Hiyo, Raleigh-born roots group Chatham County Line has brought back a fan tradition, their Holiday Electric Tour.

Included on the tour is a stop at The Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw.

Don’t be fooled by the title: this isn’t a Christmas sing-a-long but jam ses-

Kathy Howard (left); Dustin Peck (right)

Amid a busy season, artist Pete Sack has curated an exhibition that calls upon viewers to contemplate the idea of time, and how fast, precious and slow it can feel all at once. Called Floravita, the exhibition on display at Birdland Gallery in Boylan Heights is hosted by The Grid Project, a collective for emerging artists to share their work and connect with other creatives. Included in the exhibition are painter and sculptor Oami Powers, multimedia artist Sally Van Gorder, figure and portrait artist Alia El-Bermani and screenprinter Skillet Gilmore.

Catch the closing reception on Dec. 8.

Free; 706 Mountford Avenue; instagram. com/the.grid.project

vendors and dozens of food trucks, enjoy live music, a DJ, two holidaythemed lounges (accessed at an additional cost) and wrestling matches (that’s right: a Santa vs. Grinch showdown!). Children will particularly enjoy this year’s Kid Zone offerings, which include a petting zoo, face painting and some popular holiday characters like elves and reindeer running around on stilts. Free admission; Fayetteville Street; makrs.com

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Joshua Steadman (OAMI POWERS AND ALIA EL-BERMANI)

DATEBOOK

THE GI FT YOU GI V E YOURSEL F

Eamon Queeney (CHATHAM COUNTY LINE); Trey Thomas (OAKWOOD)

this year.

sion of sorts with the band’s musical friends onstage, including producer and recording artist John Mailander, to sing from its canon of songs. If you take the journey out there, make time to grab a burger and duck fat fries from the Saxapahaw General Store and go for a walk along the Haw River before the show. $20; 1711 Saxapahaw-Bethel Church Road; hawriverballroom.com

HISTORIC OAKWOOD CANDLELIGHT TOUR

Dec. 14 & 15 | 1 - 7 p.m.

Ever wonder what it’s like to live inside some of Raleigh’s oldest homes? Have a peek during the Historic Oakwood Candlelight Tour, a neighborhood walking tour with entry to 10 houses.

Many residences date to the early 1900s and late 1800s, and modern-day inhabitants have made them their own in surprising ways. A tour ticket includes festive refreshments like cookies and cider, and keep an eye out for cheerful holiday entertainment along the way from groups like the Historic Oakwood Second Line Band, the Awesomettes and the Oakwood Waits. From $45; check in at N. Bloodworth Street & Oakwood Avenue; historicoakwood.org

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THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 25 11/4/24 10:03 AM

Tree Anyway, a mixture of Videri hot chocolate, oat milk, vanilla, Benedictine and cayenne. Free; 300 N. Dawson Street; thelongleafhotel.com

A TRIBUTE TO TOM PETTY

NOT SO SILENT NIGHT

Dec. 19 | 7 p.m.

Head to The Longleaf Hotel’s lounge for its fourth annual Not-So-Silent Night of live music and seasonal cocktails in a joyful atmosphere. Enjoy performances by Chelley & The Slay Bells among other bands along with some of the bar’s signature cocktails, like the Jerry Christmas, which includes Sailor Jerry rum, Oak City Amaretto, Alley 26 orgeat and lime, or the It Was an Ugly

MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN

DONATE TODAY. 26 | WALTER

Dec. 20 | 9 p.m.

Don’t back down on your long-time love for the late rock legend Tom Petty. Catch the Triangle-based tribute band The Petty Thieves at The Pour House this month. The group prides itself on bringing the same upbeat energy and songs as Petty did,

but with their own current-day spin.

The band’s origins date back almost 20 years, to when friends Matt Daniels and Will Boone bonded over a love of Petty at local open-mic nights. Now it’s grown into a rollicking six-member group that keeps a full calendar touring locally. From $12; 224 S. Blount Street; pourhouseraleigh.com

HANUKKAH MENORAH LIGHTING

Dec. 30 | 5:15 - 6:30 p.m.

During the eight days of Hanukkah, a menorah at Cary Arts Center in the town’s downtown plaza will be aglow each night. On the sixth night of the menorah lighting, the city is hosting a special evening with kids’ activities, holiday music and dessert at Downtown Cary Park. Free; 327 S. Academy Street; downtowncarypark.com

A sincere thank you to the Police Foundation for purchasing four Recon bicycles for the North and Downtown Districts. The bikes allow us to navigate through crowded or narrow areas – like parks, events, and urban spaces – more quickly than cars or on foot, which can improve response time and presence in high-traffic areas. They also make officers more approachable to the public, which can build trust and increase community engagement. I can't wait to see them in action!

Senior Officer M. H. Winkle, Community Police Officer

courtesy The Longleaf Hotel (SILENT NIGHT); courtesy The Petty Thieves (TRIBUTE)

DATEBOOK

TRADITIONS

Worth the WAIT

A unique singing group traipses through the holiday season

by MATT LAIL photography by LIZ CONDO

28 | WALTER

O

n a chilly night in 1984, Haskell Fitz-Simons had a spur-of-themoment idea. The then-artistic director at Raleigh Little Theatre convinced a few eager souls to don their finest — tuxedos for the men, sequined gowns for the ladies — and head over to Historic Oakwood to sing a few Christmas carols. “Haskell loved to sing. He had to sing,” remembers Lee Baker, his friend and a member of the Oakwood Waits.

“So, he grabbed a few people and said, let’s polish up some carols.”

It was a modest beginning, as far as origin stories tend to go. But that night was the beginning of the Oakwood Waits, a group that, over the past four decades, has become synonymous with Christmas in Raleigh.

The Oakwood Waits are one of the region’s preeminent a capella singing groups. But they are also known for what they wear: authentic-looking Victorianera garb. Not long after the group’s founding, then-member Vicki Olson made the first of the costumes that the Oakwood Waits are known for to this day. “We’re not pretending to be people from the 1800s,” says member Jon Parker Douglas, a bass in the group. “But the Dickens look is already burned into people’s minds of what Christmas looks like — we look like an old Christmas card.”

What started as a quartet on that first night doubled soon after. By Christmas 1993 the Oakwood Waits had added a fourth soprano-alto-tenor-bass quartet, plus an extra soprano. Today there are

Clockwise from top: Jon Parker Douglas and James Austin; Beth Breeden, Josh Stoddard, Liz Danielian and Olive Mckrell; Lee Baker. Opposite page: The Oakwood Waits, before last year’s annual traipse through Historic Oakwood.

still 17 members. The crew has various day jobs, including a lawyer, a therapist, a waiter, a social worker, a coder and an educator. Says Baker: “It’s a bunch of people who just love to sing.”

The term “waits” is — like the clothing its members wear — a throwback to the Victorian era. In those times, waits were street musicians or singers, like night watchmen, who would mark the passing of the hours by singing “all is well.”

Baker, a soprano, was invited to join the Oakwood Waits in 1993. Today she and tenor Eric Ellenburg are the two longest tenured members. Members credit the sense of community for their longevity.

“It feels like my choral arts family,” says Douglas, who joined the group in 2018, two years after moving to Raleigh.

One doesn’t get to be in the Oakwood Waits just because he or she is a great singer — members tend to stay in the group, so there are rarely auditions, and the bar is high in terms of its members’ musicality. “We are a cappella but we are not conducted,” says Baker, “so we have to

More recently, the group has worked on be really well-rehearsed. We rely on eye mastering “Christmas Time Is Here.” “It’s contact and close proximity.” a deceptive little booger,” says Douglas.

The Oakwood Waits also don’t just sing “the hits.” (The familiar carols that “every- “We’ve been spending an oversized amount of time one knows,” accordworking on it.” ing to Baker, are referred to collectively The hours of as “the Chestnuts.”) rehearsal have paid The ensemble sings off. The Oakwood popular carols and Waits have recordnovelty songs, but ed three albums they also sing early (the most recent American shapein 2017), perform note songs and tunes annually at the govin other languages ernor’s Executive like Spanish, LatMansion and have — JON PARKER DOUGLAS in, German and been invited to sing Catalan. The Waits in the East Room maintain an impressive set list of some 150 of the White House three times — the songs. The group will likely perform about most recent time being just last year.

90 of those songs in a holiday season of 25 “It was enchanting,” says Baker, who to 30 performances. has had the honor of singing all three Rehearsals are key for the Waits, partimes at the White House. Last year’s ticularly for lesser-known Spanish carols concert was for the White House’s staff like “Riu Riu Chiu” or more technical and families, which Baker called “a very songs, like “The Shepherd’s Farewell.” big honor.”

“The Dickens look is already burned into people’s minds of what Christmas looks like — we look like an old Christmas card.”

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 29

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TRADITIONS But the Oakwood Waits emphasize that they are just as honored to sing for children, neighbors or residents at local nursing homes. (For years, “Jingle Bells” was the only children’s song the group knew, until around 1998 when it added more. Today the Waits have a solid 30 minutes of children’s songs.) The group, which is a 501(c)(3), hosts a benefit concert each year, with proceeds going to a charity. This year’s concert, to be held Dec. 15 at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, will raise money for Western North Carolina hurricane recovery relief.

The group’s connection to Historic Oakwood remains special. In the early days, most (if not all) of the members lived in or around the neighborhood.

Today, that isn’t the case, but the annual traipse through Oakwood — typically the Saturday before Dec. 23 — remains a homecoming of sorts. On that night the group walks the streets, singing carols among the old homes — some of them Victorian, a fitting backdrop to their period costumes. In the early days, the traipse would start around 6 p.m. and not end until the wee hours of the morning.

“That’s the night where we let our hair down,” says Baker. These days, the Waits tend to complete their singing at a more reasonable time, as many have families to mind or a slate of gigs the next day. They also continue a tradition of performing in the neighborhood during its annual Candlelight Tour of historic homes.

Fitz-Simons passed away in 2013, but the imprint he left from the early days of the group continues on — as do the costumes of a bygone era.

“In an era of ‘cringe,’ when people have a hard time taking things seriously, it feels like a throwback to being genuine and celebrating aspects of Christmas that I love,” says Douglas. “The costumes give people permission to step out of who they are. They let themselves be transported to a less cynical time — even if just for a few minutes.”

Baker adds: “A lot of people will say, it’s not Christmas until we’ve heard you.”

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LOCALS

A STORIED Overstory

City arborist Anthony McLamb

Urban foresters help Raleigh flourish — and honor cherished memories

by SUSANNA KLINGENBERG photography by LIZ CONDO

W

hen was the last time you looked up at the trees in the City of Oaks? I mean, really looked? Appreciated their shade? Considered the way they mark the seasons? For many locals, our city’s canopy is just background scenery — the wallpaper around which life in Raleigh moves forward.

But head city arborist Anthony McLamb begs to differ: “I’m biased, of course, but I think trees make the city.”

The reasons, he says, are many. Mature trees are associated with lower crime rates and better mental health outcomes. They improve air and water quality and reduce heating and cooling costs. They raise property values.

But the most noticeable benefit of a

healthy urban canopy, says McLamb, is the atmosphere it creates: abundant trees make a city feel established, welcoming and flourishing. Try imagining a less verdant Raleigh, he suggests, and you’ll quickly realize that the significance of our trees reaches far beyond a nickname.

McLamb and his team of inspectors, trimmers and arborists are known as urban foresters. While their work flies largely under the radar, the return on their expertise is all around us, from parks to sidewalks to greenways to the infamous “devil strip” — that fickle ribbon of green between roads and sidewalks. “You can’t live a day in Raleigh without passing a city tree,” says McLamb.

Our city arborists play both defense THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 33

LOCALS and offense, depending on the day. After a storm, McLamb and his department have a down-to-the-minute plan for cleaning up fallen trees and branches. When we lose trees to development, it’s McLamb’s team that offsets that loss elsewhere in the city. Their digital map of Raleigh shows every tree planted during McLamb’s long tenure, color-coded by species, with notes on age and health.

In 2023, McLamb’s team planted 450 trees in Raleigh, a number they plan to grow in the future, greening the city (especially in underserved areas) with a native mix that includes maples, magnolias, ginkgos, dogwoods, redbuds and, of course, oaks. “We have a right tree, right spot mentality about planting — we only want to plant what’s likely to thrive into maturity,” explains McLamb. “But since we’re the City of Oaks, if the space is right, we’ll always go with an oak tree.”

While the work of McLamb’s team can be dangerous and physically grueling (it does, after all, involve chainsaws), it also has a softer side. Twenty years ago, Raleigh started a Donor Tree program, in which people can donate a tree to any city park in honor or memory of a loved one.

The donor works with McLamb to choose a tree, one that will thrive in the park they have selected. Then, during fall and spring sessions, donors can participate in digging the hole, installing the young tree and placing a plaque or marker. “It really pulls at my heartstrings, because those trees will keep growing for generations,” says McLamb. “What a way to honor someone.”

Greg Neal met his wife Robin later in life, when he was least expecting it: at an accounting conference. “My world was guys in suits and ties, numbers, accounts and financial people,” says Neal. “And then along came this woman in an orange tie-dye sundress, so creative, soulful and funny.” When Robin died in August 2020, COVID prevented a gathering to honor her memory. Robin’s cousin, an arborist in Massachusetts, suggested Neal look into Raleigh’s tree donation program, and Neal loved the idea. He ended up donating two oak trees in Robin’s memory at Lake Lynn.

34 | WALTER

Clockwise from top left: Oak leaves; pine bark; a Geographic Information System (GIS) map of the roughly 2 million trees under McLamb’s watch, with color codes for their health; pine canopy.

“It was our place,” says Neal.

On a drizzly December day, Neal helped McLamb plant the trees, and he goes back regularly to visit. “What trees signify is pretty universal: shelter, ease and comfort,” he says. “So it’s a fitting way to remember Robin.”

Across town from Lake Lynn, at Fred Fletcher Park, a young ginkgo tree honors the legacy of a beloved teacher at Partnership Magnet Elementary, Mary Hunter Martin. “She was the root of PME’s success,” says Partnership’s senior partner, Michele Tempke. “Twenty-five years ago, Mary Hunter Martin started growing the school’s culture, developing the branches of a strong, supportive and safe community for students and parents.” Because Fred Fletcher is the site of many Partner-

ship events — and the tree is en route to the park from school — students, teachers and staff will get to remember Martin’s cheerleader spirit every time they pass it. “Ms. Martin was always giving to our school, and this tree will keep giving to Raleigh,” says parent Maria RudisellKelly. “What a fitting tribute to years of amazing work!”

In Raleigh, our lives play out under a thriving canopy of trees — overstory, understory and saplings making their way.

These green compatriots help shape our cities, thanks to their caretakers, whether we notice them or not. But to notice them is to give yourself a reminder that a web of life surrounds us, experiencing loss, resilience and growth right alongside us humans.

Getty Images (WOMAN, EARPHONES)

MUSIC

TUNES of 2024 A playlist of songs from North Carolina musicians that capture the spirit of this year

by DAVID MENCONI

N

orth Carolina musicians were close to the center of things on the nation’s musical landscape in 2024, contributing in ways both large and small. Here’s our take on how this year sounded to us, through the work of some of our state’s finest players.

DAUGHTER OF SWORDS “ALONE TOGETHER” Hurricane Helene delivered a staggering blow when it hit Western North Carolina in late September. One of the responses to it was Cardinals at the Window, a 136-track digital album created to benefit relief efforts. The compilation included artists from North Carolina and beyond, like Daughter of Swords, a project from Mountain Man’s Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. Known for for more folksy stylings, the uptempo “Alone Together” is a sonic departure for the artist.

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 35

MUSIC

MJ LENDERMAN “SHE’S LEAVING YOU” While this Asheville singer-songwriter has always been more than solid, his 2024 LP Manning Fireworks is fantastic.

Rough, raw, emotional and catchy, it’s one of the year’s best albums. The chorus — “It falls apart/We all got work to do/It gets dark/We all got work to do” — feels appropriate for his hometown in this moment.

BEYONCÉ “TEXAS HOLD ’EM” Queen Bey almost broke the internet by announcing her country album Cowboy Carter in a Super Bowl commercial in March. The album’s opening salvo — which was nominated for three Grammys this year — was its first single, “Texas Hold ’Em,” with a rippling banjo riff by Greensboro native Rhiannon Giddens on prominent display.

BILL MOORE “JUST A COUPLE OF BLUEBERRIES” New Piedmont Style is Chapel Hill native Moore’s first album, and it sounds like it was made by an artist at the height of the late-1950s folk revival. But Moore was still a teenager when he wrote and recorded this thoroughly convincing set of old-time Piedmont blues, inspired by the likes of Blind Boy Fuller and Charlie Poole. The music lives on.

DAWN LANDES “THE MILL MOTHER’S LAMENT” Chapel Hill singer/songwriter Landes’ latest album is an audacious undertaking, a reimagined version of material from singer/author Jerry Silverman’s seminal 1971 work The Liberated Woman’s Songbook, a collection of folk songs.

Among the songs is 1929’s “The Mill Mother’s Lament,” a labor-union classic that Ella May Wiggins wrote the year she was murdered during a mill strike.

JPHONO1 “GOLDTOP” Carrboro’s John Harrison might be the Triangle’s most prolific musician and artist — 2024’s Beyond Provisional makes nine albums he’s released in less than five years (and he somehow finds time to paint, too). From that album, “Goldtop” pairs a sharp hook with a pulverizing drone to make pure psychedelic-rock goodness.

DEX ROMWEBER “GOOD THING GOIN’” Local legend Romweber’s death from cardiac causes at age 57 rocked Chapel Hill this past February, with tributes pouring in from all over the world.

As shown by his final album, 2023’s Good Thing Goin’, he was never better than at the end. The title track sets his overpowering yowl to an epic full-band arrangement.

36 | WALTER

Le Paris de la Belle Époque

New Paintings by

FABIENNE DELACROIX DECEMBER 5TH, 2024 – JANUARY 4TH, 2025

RAPSODY “3:AM” Snow Hill native Rapsody marked 2024 with another widely acclaimed album, her fourth full-length LP, Please Don’t Cry. Its Grammy-nominated single “3:AM” sports a jazzy feel, accentuated by a cameo from Erykah Badu on the call and response.

CASHAVELLY “MORE THAN GOD” Even as Cashavelly Morrison has shortened her moniker, her music has broadened from Americana into something larger, grander and more conceptual.

“More Than God” is the kickoff track to Meditation Through Gunfire, the secondever release on UNC School of the Arts’ new record label, UNCSA Media, in Cashavelly’s hometown of WinstonSalem.

En Famille, acrylic on panel, 22 x 16 cm, 2024

THE OLD CEREMONY “EARTHBOUND” Durham’s The Old Ceremony has always put forth an elegant sense of mystery, which befits their name (from the 1974 Leonard Cohen album titled New Skin for the Old Ceremony). Their seventh album, Earthbound, might be the group’s best yet, especially the title track’s cool vibraphone riff.

KATHARINE WHALEN’S JAZZ SQUAD “LET’S GET LOST” From Efland, Katharine Whalen first gained notice in the mid-1990s as the banjo player and marvelous singing voice in local hitmakers Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Three decades later, she’s still making music that’s as charming as ever. “Let’s Get Lost” is the title song to her latest album as Jazz Squad, Let’s Get Lost: Songs Chet Sang, an homage to the late great jazz trumpeter Chet Baker.

G A L L E RY C F I N E A R T 540 N. BLOUNT ST 919.828.3165 GALLERYC.NET THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 37

GARDEN

GO WILD “This time of year, my garden looks wild and furry,” says North Carolina State University architecture professor Sarah Glee Queen.

A longtime gardener, Queen keeps chickens and maintains a perennial bed and year-round vegetable garden within her Mordecai landscape. For her, December is the time to take advantage of fewer things to do in her yard and make the most of the plants that are still vibrant. Here are her tips.

TRANSPLANT Now that you have some time off in the garden, Queen encourages transplanting any of your fall perennials that might have outgrown their space. “I move a lot of spider lilies and society garlic,” she says. Certain trees and shrubs, like Dogwood, Sweet Olive, Japanese maple and Plum pine, also prefer to be moved when they’ve gone dormant.

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GATHER NATURAL BEAUTY Winter offers plenty to fill the home with natural beauty, adorn your holiday table or bring as a host gift during the holidays.

Holly and magnolia branches are popular in December, but Queen gravitates toward lesser-known plants with interesting color and texture.

“I love Hearts-a-bustin, a native shrub with a beautiful pod that opens up with bright red berries,” Queen says.

“I also like to let my okra go to seed and dry out — it looks great in arrangements.” If you’re craving color, look for winter-blooming camellias for a pop of red or pink.

—Addie Ladner

Getty Images

GO WILD It can be tempting to give everything a good hack before winter, Queen says, but she encourages us to let plants die on their own and get a little unruly. “Our bird and insect friends will appreciate it for shelter and food,” she says.

She especially loves to see her grasses, like sea oats and dark purple sugar cane, this time of year: “They add a lovely texture and color.”

NATURE

wood CARVERS North Carolina’s eight species of woodpeckers have some cool adaptations… and serve an important role in our ecosystem DOWNY WOODPECKERS are North America’s smallest woodpecker, coming in at a length of about 6 inches. A patch of red on the head indicates you are seeing a male.

T

he first time I paid much attention to a woodpecker was as a boy, while deer hunting with my father. If he heard the loud piping call of a Pileated woodpecker, he would say, “Be still, that wood hen [his name for them] has seen something moving in the woods and it might be a deer.”

Sure enough, over the years, the alarm has alerted me to many things moving through the forest, from deer to hawks to humans.

Nowadays, I see seven of the eight NC species on our property in Chatham County, with the diminutive Downy and the raucous Red-bellied woodpeckers being the most common, as they are regular visitors to our bird feeders. Most of us know a woodpecker

words and photographs by MIKE DUNN

when we see one — they’re often hanging on the side of a tree and are, appropriately, pecking at wood. But a lot of people don’t know much about them.

There are eight species of woodpeckers in North Carolina, and all but one (the Red-cockaded woodpecker), can be seen in the forests and suburban wood lots of the Triangle. Woodpeckers are a keystone species in a forest, as they can have a significant impact on other species and the ecosystem. They create cavities in trees for nesting and as they forage; those cavities can then be used by a host of other creatures for nest and roost sites, as well as dens. Chief among the beneficiaries of woodpecker construction are other cavity-nesting birds like bluebirds, Wood ducks and

small owls, and mammals such as Eastern Gray and Southern flying squirrels.

They are also an important consumer of forest insects, and they may serve as agents of dispersal for various types of fungi, by carrying their spores from tree to tree.

Watching a Pileated hammer away at a tree, you can’t help but wonder how they can do that without getting a concussion — or at least a throbbing headache. So it’s no surprise that woodpeckers share many specialized adaptations for their lifestyle. To help with banging their heads against trees, their large, chisel-like beak penetrate wood easily, and scientists think their relatively small brains can absorb more impact than larger ones.

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 39

NATURE The ability to cling to tree trunks is made easier by two unique anatomical features. Their zygodactyl feet have two toes facing forward and two backward, giving them a better grip (most songbirds have three forward-facing toes and one back). And their pointed tail feathers are stiff and stronger than those in other birds, which allows them to use their tails for support. Watch a woodpecker as it moves up and down a tree — you will see it uses its tail almost like a third leg to brace itself.

A woodpecker’s tongue is another marvel of engineering. Most species have very long tongues for reaching into spaces for food. The tongue is contained within a hyoid bone and its surrounding muscle; it starts at the nostril, runs over the eyes and around the skull before reaching the mouth. (How weird is

that?) Plus, the shapes of woodpeckers’ tongues can be quite different, depending on their diets. A Pileated woodpecker feeds mainly on insects under tree bark or within decaying wood, so its tongue is quite flexible and tipped with backward-facing barbs to hook its prey.

A Northern Flicker feeds mainly on ants in the ground; its tongue is smooth and somewhat sticky for trapping its tiny prey.

Sapsuckers consume a lot of sap and associated insects, so their tongue tips form a bristled brush to efficiently lap up liquid.

I hope this encourages you to get

out this winter to see our woodpecker neighbors. Look for the oval holes created by Pileated pounding or the machine-gun like rows of holes of a sapsucker. Listen for the peeps and rattling calls or the persistent drumming on hollow limbs (or even your gutters) as they communicate with one another. And keep your eyes open for a flash of color in the trees or the undulating flight pattern of one of these master wood carvers of our forests.

Read on for more about the woodpeckers you might see in our area.

RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS confuse some people since the prominent red you typically see is on their heads. But a closer look will reveal a reddish blush on the male’s belly that is more noticeable in the breeding season. Male Redbellied woodpeckers have a red cap from their forehead to the base of their neck. Females have red only on the back of their necks.

RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS are a federally threatened species, so to see them you’ll need to drive a short distance to the Sandhills to their preferred habitat: old-growth pines with sparse understory, like the Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve. This type of habitat was once abundant throughout the southeast, as Longleaf pine forests that were adapted to the frequent fires in the region. This is the only woodpecker that excavates its nesting and roosting cavities in living trees. The “cockade” in the name refers to the faint line of red feathers on the male's head and comes from the popularity of red ribbons worn in hats back in the era when the bird was named.

NORTHERN FLICKERS are more often seen feeding on the ground than in a tree. That’s because their favorite food items are ants. Years ago, a fellow state parks employee said his name for this species was “yellowhammer.” It turns out, for some odd reason, Northern Flickers have more folk names than any other American breeding bird, including hairy wicket, walk-up, wick-up and gawker bird. Many of these names come from their calls, which range from “wick-a, wick-a, wick-a” to a loud “kleer” or “peah.” They are distinctive among our woodpeckers with the overall brownish tints to their feathers with a white rump patch and flashes of yellow on the underwings and tail seen in flight. Males have a bold black feather mustache.

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Woodpeckers are a keystone species in a forest, as they can have a significant impact on other species and the ecosystem.

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YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS have one of the best bird names I know. They nest in our mountains and migrate to our area in the winter months, where they feed on berries, insects, and the sap from trees. They get at that sweet liquid by drilling rows of small holes in the bark (called sapwells) and returning later to lap up the flowing sap. Insects and even other birds are attracted to these holes as a food source.

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HAIRY WOODPECKERS and Downy woodpeckers are often found in similar habitats, but you can identify them based on body and bill size. The larger Hairy woodpeckers have longer bills (about the length of their head), while Downys have short bills, about half the length of their heads (see page 39). Hairys also lack the dark spots on their tail found on the white outer tail feathers of a Downy, but this is a much harder feature to see. Red on the neck indicates it is a male.

RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS are perhaps the most omnivorous of our woodpeckers. Their diet includes all sorts of insects and small invertebrates, nuts (they are particularly fond of acorns), seeds, berries, and even small lizards and the eggs of other birds. They frequently stash food into crevices or under loose bark for later use.

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THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 41

FOOD

A GRAND Performance

Harsha Sipani

Mike Kathrani and Tina Vora, owners of Tamasha.

Tamasha offers modern, varied Indian cuisine in North Hills

by CATHERINE CURRIN

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F

loor-to-ceiling windows frame a shimmering scene: green velvet booths canopied by matte gold arches, chrome pendant lights over a marble bar. This is Tamasha, the brainchild of entrepreneurs Mike Kathrani and Tina Vora, infused with flavor by chef Bhavin Chhatwani. It’s a North Hills restaurant designed to invite guests to explore and expand their palates.

Tamasha means “grand performance,” and both the restaurant’s aesthetic and menu deliver on the definition. Each dish is impeccably balanced — like a slow-cooked Yellowtail Red Snapper finished with coconut curry sauce or the Kodi Vepudu, where fermented rice

and lentil pancakes are topped with spicy fried chicken. Many elements happen tableside for guests to experience: a final dribble of sauce or dusting of spice, a smoke bubble that pops to reveal a cocktail. “We wanted to create something which is truly elevated, not just the food or service, but the whole experience,” says Vora, who designed the space. “Everything is artfully presented.”

Chhatwani calls the menu his “love letter” to India. “Every state in India has its own cuisine, and it’s all a little bit different. We want to broaden our guests’ palates,” he says, noting that the Indian fare most familiar to American diners is centered around the milder,

creamier curries of the state of Punjab Kathrani. “Our vision and our passion in northern India. By contrast, Tamafor the food matched,” says Chhatwani. sha’s menu represents a blend of these Kathrani and Vora, who are married, diverse cuisines, from Delhi to Mumbai were both born in India and came to the and beyond.

U.S. to work in the tech industry, evenBefore helping launch Tamasha, tually starting their own business venChhatwani spent several years working tures. But they felt a fine-dining version in restaurants across the globe, includof Indian food was missing from the ing Michelin-starred Triangle. “From Campton Place in the moment you San Francisco, as well walk in, you have as across India, visa very clear indiiting and working in cation that this the country’s diverse is not an Indian culinary regions. experience that Some of his dishes, you’ve likely had,” like the Oyster 65, says Kathrani. an iconic dish first Tamasha developed for a luxucelebrates and ry hotel in Chennai, elevates the rich Tamil Nadu, and the variation in In— BHAVIN CHHATWANI Hyderabadi Dum dian cuisine. The Biryani, a dish that Tuk Aloo Chaat, dates to the nizams, or kings, of Hyderfor example, nods to Chhatwani’s Sindhi abad, are pulled directly from Chhatroots and what his mother cooked wani’s experience creating cuisine for as he was growing up in Rajasthan, a high-end kitchens in India. state in northern India. Aloo Tukis is Chhatwani says he felt called to create a traditional fried potato dish, which his own concept after working for years he’s offering as a savory snack, infused with spices, onion, ginger and tamarind, under other brands, and then he met

Harsha Sipani

“Indian food is very complex. For one dish, there could be 15 different kinds of spices in it. It’s very difficult to create the bases and standardize everything.”

with a chutney sauce. The Byadgi Chili Shrimps, by contrast, bring the heat from byadgi, a variety of chili pepper from the Haveri region of Karnataka in southern India, balanced with the sweetness of coconut milk. (Tamasha’s menu does offer some more familiar items, like an expertly done Butter Chicken, for less adventurous guests.)

For dessert, there’s North Meets South, a dish that pays homage to traditions from these two broad regions of the country. From the North, ghewar — a honeycomb-like sweet made from ghee and sugar — is paired with payasam, a sweet broth made from condensed milk that’s typical of Southern India. The warm payasam is poured tableside. “I have spent time in both of these broader Indian regions, and I wanted to bring something to the menu that’s a marriage of North and South,” says Chhatwani.

Chhatwani recruited six chefs he’d worked with in India to perfect his dishes, each of whom relocated to Raleigh to work at the restaurant. “Indian food is very complex. For one dish, there could be 15 different kinds of spices in it,” he says. “It’s very difficult to create the bases and standardize everything.

Left: A sampling of dishes at Tamasha. Right: Chef Bhavin Chhatwani.

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 43

FOOD It was important to have other people who understood these techniques.”

Chhatwani and his team use hand-ground spices for all of their mixtures, adding to the time and care put into each dish. “For all of our dishes, we have a different kind of garam masala, which is made in house,” says Chhatwani. Garam masala is a medley of spices like cinnamon, coriander and cardamom. “We dry roast all the spices for a day, then grind it to make the powder.”

Just as “barbeque” can mean something different based on where you grew up, Tamasha allows Vora, Kathrani and Chhatwani to celebrate the subtlety and variation in Indian traditions.

“We love our cuisine,” says Kathrani. “It is vast and rich. We want to take it as far as we can.”

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SPORTS

What’s in a Name?

From Tubby to Choo Choo, the stories behind some of NC’s most colorful sports monikers

by A.J. CARR illustration by GERRY O’NEILL

O

n the day 18-year-old James Augustus Hunter signed a Major League Baseball contract with the Kansas City A’s (later the Oakland A’s; now the Athletics), he got a new name: “Catfish.” It was given to him by colorful A’s owner Charles O. Finley, who was fond of giving nicknames and knew of his promising pitcher’s affinity for fishing in Hertford, North Carolina. “[Finley] asked if he minded being called Catfish,” recalls Francis Combs, Hunter’s Perquimans County High School catcher, who was present at the signing. “Catfish said, You can call me anything you want to, as long as you pay me!”

Beginning in 1965, the precocious pitcher launched a Hall-of-Fame career highlighted with eight All-Star team honors, a perfect game, a Cy Young award and five World Series rings — three with Oakland and two with the New York Yankees. Hunter died in 1999 at the age of 53 after battling ALS, but his fame and nickname are indelibly etched in baseball lore.

Catfish is just one of the interesting nicknames in North Carolina sporting history.

Here are a few of my other favorites.

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 45

SPORTS CHARLIE “CHOO CHOO” JUSTICE Charlie Justice reportedly became “Choo Choo” while playing on the football team at United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge. Someone saw his elusive running style, quipped that he ran like a train and added: “We ought to call him Choo Choo.” A triple-threat tailback, Choo Choo became a two-time All-American at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up who led the Tar Heels to three bowl games between 1946 to 1949 in what is still known as the “Justice Era.” A statue of this legendary Tar Heel stands at UNC today. Choo Choo also played four years in the NFL with the Washington Redskins (now Commanders).

WRAY “THE TRAIN” CARLTON Growing up in Wallace, Wray Carlton was inspired by Choo Choo, his football hero at UNC. In the 1950s, Carlton was an all-around star running back like Choo Choo, though not at UNC. He went to Duke University, set a career rushing record and made the All-Conference and All-American teams. Carlton says he became “The Train” when a teammate saw

1974 NCAA title, and was a three-time All-American, National Player of the Year and a five-time All-Pro. NC State unveiled a David Thompson statue earlier this year.

MICHAEL “AIR” JORDAN Michael Jordan may now be a household name, but this player gained the nickname “Air Jordan” after an All-American career at UNC, in part from his high-flying altitude on the basketball court and incredible skills. After hitting the game-winning shot on UNC’s 1982 national championship team, Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles — with an MVP award each time — and was a 14-time NBA All-Star.

JAMES “BONECRUSHER” SMITH A Magnolia native, James Smith got his nickname as a heavyweight boxing champion in the Army, according to a James Sprunt Community College story.

“I used to rush in on an opponent… break his jaw or rib, sometimes a nose,” James explained in a 2019 post on the college’s blog. “Someone shouted the name ‘Bonecrusher’… the name stuck and I kept it.”

Smith, a James Sprunt and Shaw Univer-

“Catfish said, You can call me anything you want to, as long as you pay me!”

— Francis Combs him break a long run in practice and announced “there goes the night train from Wallace.” The Train kept rambling on the football track after college, playing eight seasons with the Buffalo Bills. A two-time All-Pro, he was a key component on two American Football League title teams (before the NFL-AFL merger in 1970), and ranked among the top 50 Bills of all time.

DAVID “SKYWALKER” THOMPSON David Thompson, with a 44-inch vertical jump and extraordinary talent, played basketball in a stratosphere above the crowd. An all-time great, he led North Carolina State University to the 46 | WALTER

sity graduate, won the professional WBA boxing title in 1986 and 1987. But the man who once knocked people down later helped people up as an ordained minister who worked to steer youth away from crime and drugs.

ORLANDO “TUBBY” SMITH Orlando Smith’s nickname didn’t have anything to do with his physique. One of 17 children, he reportedly found great enjoyment bathing in the family washtub and thus was dubbed “Tubby.” Later, he gained acclaim in basketball, playing and coaching. Smith made All-Conference at High Point University, where he later

coached. Overall, he led five schools to the NCAA Tournament, including Kentucky, which won the 1998 National Championship and 10 conference titles (five tournament, five regular season). Along the way, Tubby and his wife Donna raised three sons who played college basketball. They also started a foundation in Kentucky to assist underserved youth. He’s even won an Olympic medal!

TIM “THE BIG FUNDAMENTAL” DUNCAN One of the best players in basketball history, Tim Duncan was amazingly efficient and productive while applying the fundamentals. At Wake Forest University from 1994 to 1997, he helped Coach Dave Odom’s Demon Deacons win two ACC Tournaments and earned All-America honors and a National Player of the Year award.

During his 19-year professional career with the San Antonio Spurs, he was a two-time NBA Player of the Year, 15-time All-Star and 13-time All-Defensive team selection, three-time NBA Finals MVP and winner of five championships with the San Antonio Spurs.

DEXTER “LOVEBOAT” WILLIAMS Williams, who grew up in Raleigh, didn’t make his high school varsity basketball team, but he never gave up. He developed into a two-time All-American at Clinton Junior College (S.C.), set 3-point shooting records at Hampton University and later traveled with Athletes In Action and the Harlem Globetrotter Legends. “I love people and I want people to see the love of Christ in me,’’ says Williams, who gave himself the nickname. “I wanted to give them a boat load of the love of Christ.” Williams is still doing that, blending his ball-handling tricks before various audiences and serving as an “ambassador” for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes since 2009.

courtesy Hoss Haley

ART

Two of Hoss Haley’s recent sculptures, Ghost (left), and an untitled study.

Scaling it DOWN Hoss Haley, a sculptor known for giant steel pieces, is creating more intimate, personal work

by LIZA ROBERTS

H

oss Haley’s steel sculptures stand like elegant typography on the landscape: giant sans-serif letters, semicolons, exclamation points. Linear, spherical, bold and approachable, many top 6 feet and are meticulously crafted of Corten steel, a weathering steel with a distinct rusted patina.

The Spruce Pine artist ships it in from Alabama 10,000 pounds at a time, hauls it into his studio with a bridge crane, then mashes it in presses he made himself.

That’s the art Haley’s widely known for, large public pieces that form focal points in prominent places like downtown Charlotte, the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Spruce Pine’s Penland School of Craft and North Carolina State University. He’s in the permanent collections of museums including the Mint Museum, the Asheville Art Museum and the North

Carolina Museum of Art, where his striking Union 060719 stands at the entrance, proudly welcoming all guests.

But Haley’s new work is quieter. He’s making white steel branches and trunks that lie tumbled or stand sawn at the tops, no longer alive but reaching, ghostly and elegant. They are a record of nature, he says, not an interpretation.

Making them is also a different process. Instead of pounding the repurposed roofing metal he uses for these works with massive machines, he rivets it together by hand, painstakingly, with thousands of individual rivets. He likens the process to quilting, to his grandmother’s own Depression-era quilts.

“I want to make sure I define the years I have left in the way that I want them,” says Haley, who is in his early 60s. That was true before Hurricane Helene hit his community so hard, THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 47

offered wide-open vistas and a curving before he and everyone around him horizon, broken by the geometry of found themselves without water or fencing and property lines. Also on the power for weeks on end. Before he farm was a metalworking shop, where found himself helping his neighbors, Haley learned to weld and make things. turning a welder into a generator to Including machines; including art. power his refrigerator or clearing miles Today, after about 25 years in North of local roads of fallen trees with his Carolina, his work remains rooted in chainsaw. that past. “It’s an ongoing conversation After that, Haley looked at his tumbetween myself and the machines and bled white branches and saw somethe material and my worldview, and it thing new. A premonition, perhaps, of goes all the way back to that farm in what was to come.

Forest for the Trees, a piece made from Western Kansas,” says Haley. “It’s all in If his process has changed lately, riveted white steel. there. It’s part of this big stew.” what drives it hasn’t. Haley has always invented his own way of working and made his own tools to The stew is constantly evolving. “I’m transitioning a little bit create his art. To fabricate his larger works, he had to figure at my age,” he says. “I’m less interested in the public art scale.” out how to turn 5-foot-square sheets of weathering steel into a One reason is the extensive time involved in making a massive malleable artistic medium. He then had to take these rectilinwork; another is the satisfaction he’s taking in creating on his ear, 90-degree parallel planes and collide and combine them in own, without the four or five assistants needed to create his unexpected and often sudden curves. larger-scale pieces. As for a third, “I’m delving deeper into work“It’s the tension that I find kind of juicy,” he says. That ing alone, but also working towards work, instead of working toplace — where man meets material, where straight and curved wards deadlines,” he says. “I’ve always had a show or installation lines abut and diverge — has fascinated Haley since he was a coming up. Now I’m trying to respond to what’s driving ideas boy. His family’s 3,000-acre wheat and cattle farm in Kansas in the studio, ideas that aren’t being forced by outside pressures.

48 | WALTER

courtesy Hoss Haley

ART

Lissa Gotwals

“Now I’m trying to respond to what’s driving ideas in the studio, ideas that aren’t being forced by outside pressures.”

— HOSS HALEY That’s a huge luxury, and one I’m enjoying. But it’s a little scary.”

“Scary” doesn’t seem to daunt Haley. He’s doubling down on his fresh direction with the construction of a new studio on his property, a “clean space” for drawing and other less messy forms of art. Among the projects he’s planning there is the creation of a “drawing machine,” which he describes as “a way to take myself out of the equation, a way to bring a random component into the process.” With a drawing utensil gripped by a mechanical arm, the machine he envisions would take its directions from nature. The weight of a bird on the various perches of a feeder, for instance, would move the pen or pencil.

Separating himself from the physical act of making art, metaphorically and literally, is something Haley has explored for a long time. He believes the word “craft” is most useful as a verb, and he’s careful to keep it that way, “in service to the idea” rather than the point of it all. “So that if I decide to leave [the mark of] a weld, or take that [mark] away, that decision is based on where I’m trying to go with the work, not that I’m trying to show you some aspect of my ability to make crap,” he says.

It’s been a long time since Haley had to convince anyone of his ability to make art, “crap” or anything else. Some have compared Haley’s work with that of the celebrated, recently deceased Richard Serra, who also made massive, moving works of Corten steel. Haley credits Serra’s work with inspiring him to consider the power of mass and volume in his work. “Serra taught me that sculpture could go beyond the visual experience,” Haley says. “You could actually feel its presence.”

While that’s true in Haley’s large works, it is refined and distilled in his smaller ones. Perhaps that is in part to the inspiration fueling them. “I’ve found myself back in that place where I can forget to stop for lunch,” he says. “As an artist, there’s a reality: Oftentimes, art is just work. It might be inspired work, but a lot of days, you’ve got to get up, go to the studio, make it happen. So this has been fascinating to me, to be in a fresh place where the extraneous stuff has been taken away.”

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 49

SIMPLE LIFE

Christmas Wishes Peace on Earth and pickup trucks

by JIM DODSON illustration by GERRY O’NEILL

L

ate last summer, my wife Wendy asked what I wanted for Christmas this year. She’s a woman who likes to plan ahead.

Figuring peace on Earth and good will toward men were probably not in the cards, a couple options came to mind.

“A wheelbarrow and a new Chevy pickup truck.”

She laughed.

“You’ve wanted a new pickup truck for almost as long as I’ve known you,” she said. “I’m not sure either would fit under the Christmas tree.”

She was right, of course. “But if I had a new Chevy pickup truck,” I pointed out, “we could bring home a really big

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Christmas tree and all kinds of other great stuff.”

“I thought we agreed to start getting rid of stuff we no longer need or want,” she reminded me. “Not bringing more home.”

She was right about that, too. We are de-stuffing our house right and left these days. But an old dude’s perpetual dream of owning a new Chevy pickup truck doesn’t go away easily.

So I asked what she wanted for Christmas this year.

“I’d like to go to a very nice hotel by myself for a night — and just do nothing,” she said.

I’ll admit, this surprised me, but it shouldn’t have.

Wendy is the most organized, generous and busy person I know.

She runs her own custom baking business, keeps the family finances and does the bookkeeping for both our businesses. She also does most of the grocery shopping, regularly gives blood and somehow keeps up with the adventures of our far-flung children. Someone is always asking her to do something — volunteer to make pies for church suppers or donate 10 dozen hand-painted cookies for a charity fundraiser. Family, friends and neighbors routinely turn to her for advice on a range of subjects, and then there’s her egg-headed husband who can never find where he left his car keys,

eyeglasses, lucky golf cap or favorite ink pens. Somehow, she can find these vital items within seconds — just one of her many superpowers.

That’s a lot of stuff to keep up with, I grant you.

Then there was her sweet mom, Miss Jan, who resided at a lovely assisted care facility in town, but spent every weekend at our house. With her dementia growing more apparent by the month, Wendy’s focus on her mom’s comfort and needs ramped up dramatically. Daily visits and doctor appointments filled her calendar, which also included lunches at Jan’s favorite restaurants, plus bringing her mom clean clothes and delicious dinners every evening, even as Jan’s appetite began to ebb.

No wonder she fantasized about a quiet night alone at a nice hotel.

“How about two or three nights at The Willcox Hotel for our anniversary?”

I proposed as the date approached. The Willcox is in Aiken, South Carolina. It’s our favorite hotel, charmingly quaint, blissfully peaceful and just a mile from our favorite golf course.

She loved the idea and promptly booked us a nice long weekend. She even arranged for Jan’s kind caregiver to look in on her every day while we were gone.

Ironically, our anniversary trip to the Willcox didn’t come off because we couldn’t find someone to look after our three dogs and two cats for the weekend.

It was the heart of the summer vacation season, which meant every kennel in town had been booked solid for weeks.

So much for a needed break.

Suddenly, it was mid-autumn and life was speeding up dramatically. Wendy was busy baking for the larger crowds at the weekend farmers market where she sells her goods, and I was finishing revisions of my book on the Great Wagon Road, scheduled for a spring publication, and starting a new Substack column.

More importantly, Miss Jan’s condition was worsening by the week. Her physician advised us that she would probably be gone by Christmas.

Early on the morning of Nov. 1, the eve of All Saints’ Day across the world, Jan quietly passed away.

Suddenly, what either of us wanted for Christmas was completely irrelevant.

Losing a beloved parent puts life in a different perspective. In Jan’s case, her quiet passing brought an end to suffering from an insidious disease that cruelly robs its victims of speech and memory.

But what’s left is a hole in the heart that can never be filled.

Jan’s passing also reminded us that we’re at a stage of life where material things no longer hold much magic. There’s really nothing more we need or want — except more time with each other.

For Wendy, the simple pleasure of the holiday comes from finding the perfect live tree, putting on holiday music, cooking for family and friends and doing small things that make Christmas feel special. Last year, she gave me a sensational pair of wool socks and a nifty garden shovel. I gave her a nice, fuzzy sweater and tickets to a concert, along with a jumbo box of Milk Duds, her favorite forbidden pleasure.

This year, I plan to give my amazingly busy wife two nights at the luxury hotel a few miles from our house, where she can put her feet up, drink very good wine, eat Milk Duds to her heart’s content and maybe find peace and joy in doing absolutely nothing. Miss Jan would wholeheartedly approve.

As for me, well, forget the Chevy pickup truck for now. But I figure a wheelbarrow is a cinch to show up beneath the tree.

LET’S GET SOCIAL! Follow along and don’t miss a thing.

@WalterMagazine waltermagazine.com

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 51

NOTED

The Day He Came to Town Santa visits Enfield, North Carolina

I

t was a beautiful coming-of-winter morning long ago, a time when we believed in things. It was a Saturday, already a special day in Enfield because we didn’t have school.

This Saturday, however, was guaranteed to be head and heels above all the rest.

We were expecting a visit from a bona fide star!

We’d had famous visitors before. The Goat Man, for instance: an eccentric old fellow named Ches McCartney who looked like Gabby Hayes’s older brother.

He drove an iron-wheeled caravan of 30 goats around the United States and had visited Enfield once. That was a pretty big deal.

But the person visiting our town today — though no one dared say it above a whisper — was even bigger than Elvis!

It was the one and only Santa Claus.

That’s right — St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Père Noël, Babbo Natale, Kris Kringle, jolly old St. Nick. And I wasn’t just going to see him; I was going to meet him, sit next to him and even whisper in his ear.

I knew that Santa Claus had helpers, thousands and thousands of them. Most were pretty good imitations. Others… well, at least they were wise enough to hang on to their day jobs.

But on this cold and breathless morning, the real Santa Claus had chosen to visit our little town in Halifax County.

He was traveling all the way from the North Pole to find out what we wanted

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him to bring us on Christmas Eve, which was just a few agonizing weeks away.

I could hardly contain myself with the joyous thought.

0 There was an exhilarating chill in the air, as if the very atmosphere had become electrified. Santa’s visit would take place in the late morning, once the early December sun had time to warm the day just a bit more.

That left just enough time for a hurried breakfast of toast, homemade jam and hot oatmeal (it stuck to your ribs on wintry days). Our parents bundled my younger sister and me up in wool coats, hooded parkas and cedar-scented flannel scarves and hustled us into the family car for the short ride downtown.

Normally, this drive would take only five or six minutes at the most. This morning, it seemed to drag on for an eternity. Our much-anticipated destination was a vacant lot downtown, between the police station and fire department.

Once there, we scrambled out of our Ford station wagon into the chilly air, joining the swelling ranks of children spilling out of automobiles parked along Main Street.

Forty-five minutes passed in agony. I lost count of how many times I shuffled my feet and asked our parents, “How much longer?” But rather than act an-

noyed, their smiles only became broader.

Home-movie cameras whirled and Kodak cameras clicked. This was a photo-op bonanza for Mom and Dad. “Look this way and smile!” they called out. But I was too busy craning my neck for a clear view of the street that led into town from Highway 301. I wanted to be the first to catch the first glimpse of red.

Red, the color of the season. The color of Santa’s wondrous suit and cap, trimmed in white fur. And the color of the huge hook-and-ladder fire truck he’d be arriving on. (That, by the way, was one of the reasons I knew we were going to see the real Santa Claus: those trucks never came out of the fire department’s garage unless there was an emergency… or because Santa was coming to town.)

Doubt began to creep in. Maybe something had happened. Perhaps he wouldn’t come. Santa was so extremely busy this season, and our town was a relatively small one, after all.

But then, suddenly, the wail of a distant siren shattered the hum of young voices.

A reverent silence fell upon the crowd like a load of hardened fruit cakes. Hundreds of young eyes grew bigger than saucers. Necks stretched, jaws sagged in anticipation. And then, in the breathless quiet that seemed to engulf the entire world... I saw him!

Santa was perched high up on the back of that huge red fire truck, resplendent in his fur-trimmed garb, arms upraised in

courtesy Ira David Wood III (TRUCK); Getty Images (SCRAPBOOK)

by IRA DAVID WOOD III

Red, the color of the season. The color of Santa’s wondrous suit and cap, trimmed in white fur.

And the color of the huge hook-and-ladder fire truck he’d be arriving on. a gesture of joyous greeting. His smile, even from a distance, brightened the gray hues of that winter morning.

Harold Burrows, the fire chief, grinned and waved from the vehicle’s driver seat, but we hardly noticed. All young eyes in the crowd were riveted on the man in the wondrous red suit, who continued to wave at us as the fire truck grew closer.

I held my breath as the hushed crowd reverently parted to allow the fire truck to lumber into the gravel yard. It came to a gentle stop.

That’s when my breath caught in my throat as I heard the familiar laugh — “Ho, ho, ho!” — and that warm,

resonant voice boomed out a “Merry Christmas!”

As if on cue, an endless line of children began to form. One by one, the town’s volunteer firemen lifted us up to sit next to Santa, high on that shiny fire truck.

Santa took his time to listen to each child, leaning his ear close to receive every whispered word.

When it was my turn, I reeled off my list, at the top of which was an Official Winchester Saddle Gun that would load and eject plastic cartridges. When I was finished, Santa reached into his huge cloth sack and withdrew a small net stocking filled with hard Christmas candy. With a twinkle in his eye, he placed it

into my trembling hands.

After hundreds of camera shutters had clicked and every soft wish had been shared, that huge fire truck’s engine turned over several times, and I knew: it was time for him to go.

It was a sad moment, but a brief one.

I knew Santa would be back in a few weeks, only I wouldn’t see him then. He would come while my sister and I were fast asleep.

Standing beside my beaming parents, I stoically waved goodbye. I listened to the fading “Ho, ho, ho!”s. The huge red fire truck, its siren still wailing, rounded a corner and disappeared from view.

Later that night, tucked safe in my warm bed, I replayed every minute of that magical day — especially the moment when Santa Claus looked right into my eyes, smiled and called my name! Out of almost four million people born in 1947, he remembered my name!

It was a moment I knew would live in my memory forever. And so it has.

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MERRY MOMENTS

HAPPEN HERE SHOP HOLIDAY HERE

2 0 6 8 C L A R K AV E N U E RALEIGH, NC @SHOPVILL AGEDISTRICT

Tracks

by REGINA YC GARCIA illustration by JILLIAN OHL Just across the tracks on Railroad Street, there lived an old church, fortified in holiness, armed with a cavalry of upturned brown faces, all clearing a path towards Promise Saints, they were at Christmas, stuffing paper brown sacks with love — candy canes, unshelled walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, clumped-tight hard candies, apples, oranges and on Easter Monday, hiding boiled, color-dipped eggs, giving hunt hints and palming our hands with nickels, dimes and quarters but only after we proved ourselves by performing our Sunday recitations — Easter lilies, pure and white, scenting sweetly through dark nights I remember the old songs Mama, Auntie and Grandma taught that lifted us and kept us all — Come along, my friends, come along… nothing on this train to lose, everything to gain — as the railway that split the town shook loudly as the trains rumbled past Regina YC Garcia is a national award-winning poet, language artist and English professor from Greenville, North Carolina. A 2024 Charlotte LitSouth Award finalist, a 2021 National DAR American Heritage Poetry Award Winner and a 2024 Pushcart Nominee, Garcia has been published in a wide variety of journals and anthologies. Her chapbook The Firetalker’s Daughter was published in March 2023 by Finishing Line Press.

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 57

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At the Holiday Express, tradition meets wonder, year after year

WINTER MAGIC

by SUSANNA KLINGENBERG photography by TREY THOMAS

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ALL AGLOW On Holiday Express nights at Pullen Park, it’s lit like a winter wonderland.

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W

hen the air turns crisp, Raleigh’s Pullen Park begins a magical transformation: twinkle lights line its winding walkways, Santa and Mrs. Claus take up residence in the fir-decked Southern Railway Caboose and fire pits dot Lake Howell’s shorelines. The heart of Raleigh’s oldest park turns into a gleeful, gleaming celebration of the holiday season.

The Holiday Express has become a cherished outing for locals and visitors alike, inviting families to slow down and embrace an evening of magic. Now in its 15th year, the event began as a small celebration of the season and has evolved into an immersive, multinight extravaganza, thanks to the imagination of the Raleigh Parks and Recreation staff and the event’s overwhelming popularity. For 17 nights in December, the park embodies holiday wonder, a place where elves mix hot cocoa, kids dizzy themselves on slides and carousel rides and snowball fights reign, no matter the weather.

“I love that in a community as diverse as Raleigh, everybody can enjoy the Holiday Express,” says Lindsey Sosovec, a Holiday Express supervisor. “You don’t have to celebrate Christmas to feel the joy here!”

Pullen Park, a year-round attraction known for its historic carousel and expansive playgrounds, was founded in 1887, making it the first public park in North Carolina. That storied setting gives the Holiday Express a timeless feel, even with tech-y additions like this year’s “Elf-inTraining Mission,” in which visitors use GPS to scout the park for presents reported to have fallen out of Santa’s sleigh.

Classic activities remain some of the most popular, though: roasting marshmallows for s’mores with the Raleigh Fire Department, snipping paper snowflakes at the craft table and chatting with the Clauses in the park’s historic red caboose.

“The Holiday Express is a beloved tradition,” says outgoing Raleigh mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin. “Kids of all ages and their parents and grandparents gather for fun. There’s nothing like the train at Pullen Park, taking you to fantasy land!”

As you step into the park, the aroma THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 61

WINTRY MIX More than 270,000 twinkle lights are used to transform the park, and activities include “snowball” fights and playing in bouncy houses.

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of woodsmoke wafts through the air and gleeful shouts of “Santa!” and “the Grinch!” cut through the jazzy holiday tunes piped around the park. Children bundled in colorful winter gear realize this is a departure from the day-to-day, even a time to break the rules a little — bedtimes are forgotten and sweets are abundant. “I get to throw snowballs at my brother!” said Henry Dolan, age 8, as he was winding up to lob a huge ball of cotton in the “snowball” fight arena last year.

One of the most memorable pieces of the Holiday Express are the abundant lights. “Are there 15,000 lights?” guessed James Wit, age 9. “630?” ventured his sister Emily, age 7. Chimed in their little brother Henry, age 4: “Definitely more than 10. Probably 11.”

In fact, there are over 270,000 lights: every bush and tree in the main park gets trimmed with classic white lights. There are also more than 250 color LED light displays scattered through the park, in the form of everything from reindeer and elves to a Halloween display and a Fourth of July tunnel. The best way to see those lights is to ride the eponymous Holiday Express, the park’s historic C.P. Huntington miniature train, which takes visitors on a 6 ½-minute trip through the displays.

The park’s most senior conductors get nighttime-specific training for the event, where they learn to navigate the tracks by the glow of holiday lights, ensuring visitors enjoy a safe and smooth ride.

Securing tickets for the Holiday Express is not for the faint of heart, as many local families can attest. Released in October through Raleigh’s RecLink, the tickets are just $17 each, but they might as well be gold: with limited numbers and tremendous demand, tickets are a hot commodity. A randomized online ticketing process means that even those who join the virtual queue in its opening moments aren’t necessarily rewarded with a coveted spot.

“We wish we could accommodate everyone who wants a ticket! But the train is the limiting factor,” says Holiday Express coordinator Deanna Ludwick. “Plus, the intimate feel is part of the fun.”

Ticket sales for the event fund Pullen Park improvements, and they have skyTHe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 63

rocketed from 3,279 tickets sold in its first year to 32,000 in 2024. Preparing for such a huge crowd to visit always takes a detailoriented staff and grounds crew, plus a team of nearly 500 volunteers. Volunteers help decorate the park, wrapping trees and setting up light displays in the months approaching the Holiday Express. When the crowds arrive in December, they help visitors get oriented, chat with people waiting in line, transcribe kids’ letters to Santa and run supplies to the various stations around the park. “The volunteers always have a ton of fun,” says Sosovec.

But the fun really begins nearly a year ahead of time, when Sosovec and Ludwick start compiling a vision board of what they’d like to bring to life in the park.

“Sometimes we put impossible ideas on there!” says Sosovec. “But usually, we‘re able to make those impossible things possible, thanks to a lot of help from the community.” Some ideas become yearly staples, like the GPS-guided missions around the park; others, like the presents that spiraled to the ceiling in Santa’s mailroom, shine for just a year and will be replaced next December. Local civic groups, churches and students from nearby North Carolina State University pitch in to start the transformation in October, though tradition dictates that volunteers can’t don their official Holiday Express uniforms (jaunty elf hats) until Nov. 1. But after that, says Sososvec, “It’s similar to running Santa’s workshop: lots of details, tons of coordination, but a really good time, too.”

When the first Holiday Express train pulls out of the station, “the energy shifts,” says Ludwick. Staff and volunteers stop attending to details and focus on being present in the moment. “It’s so much fun to catch their spirit!” says Sosovec.

As night falls on the Holiday Express, Pullen Park transforms again into a scene straight out of a storybook. Lights shimmer their reflections in the lake, people huddle around fires that blaze in the dark and the air quiets even as the clamor of delighted families carries on. For many locals, a night at Pullen Park during the holidays has become a cherished tradition, a moment to reconnect and celebrate the joy of the season together, all within a magical space in the state’s capital.

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TO-DO LIST Families enjoy some of the activites at the Holiday Express, including writing letters to Santa and playing inside a “snow globe.”

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 65

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FLORA files UNC’s Herbarium collects our natural history — and guides our planet’s future.

by SUSANNA KLINGENBERG

photography by LIZ CONDO

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 67

I

f you’ve ever enjoyed a cocktail on The Willard Rooftop Lounge, with its elegant floral mural and skyline views, you’ve sipped in the shadow of our country’s natural history. In the 1880s, this land was a rambling antebellum estate where the bar’s namesake, William Willard Ashe, spent his childhood falling in love with plants and fungi, dirt under his nails and roots in his rucksack. A mural on the wall here by Taylor White nods to this passion, depicting magnolia flowers and other local flora. The Ashe family’s federal-style estate, Elmwood, still stands nearby on Boylan Street.

Described by one biographer as a “congenital naturalist,” Ashe collected more than 4,000 specimens from across the southeast during his lifetime — so many they required a separate house!

— and made numerous contributions to the fields of botany and forestry. After Ashe was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in 1932, Dr. William Chambers Coker, then a botany professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, petitioned the university’s president to acquire Ashe’s prodigious collection. The purchase transformed the botany department’s small collection into an official university project, and the UNC Herbarium became Coker’s life work.

If you’ve never heard the word “her-

68 | WALTER

barium” before, you’re not alone. “There’s a misconception that we only have parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme!” laughs Alan Weakley, the UNC Herbarium’s director. In fact, explains Damon Waitt, director of the North Carolina Botanical Garden, which oversees the herbarium, the definition is much more expansive: “An herbarium is a record of plant biodiversity over time and space.”

An herbarium, then, contains samples of vascular plants, mosses, fungi, algae and lichen over all time and all space, including land and water. The practice of collecting plants, or herbaria, dates to the 1400s. “Back then, if you were a doctor or a priest, you were collecting plants for medicinal use,” says Weakley. “Even today, the majority of medicines we use are based on plant compounds.”

Ashe’s and Coker’s legacies have been joined by the work of other researchers and enthusiasts to create a collection that is worldwide in scope and contains over 800,000 specimens collected over three centuries, with more cataloged every week. (Only Harvard University’s herbarium and a handful of other herbaria are in the same league.) Some of the collection’s fossils date back to the Devonian period, around 416 million years ago — before the dinosaurs!

What brings these specimens to life are their stories. There is, of course, the

story of each specimen’s scientific classification — a real cliffhanger, if you’re a botanist. But for the rest of us, there are also the deeply personal tales of where and how each specimen was collected and by whom. “The stories behind some of the specimens are wild,” says the UNC Herbarium’s curator, Carol Ann McCormick. “There’s drama, swashbuckling, catastrophe and missed connections… for a bunch of dried plant samples, it’s all incredibly human.” Thanks to McCormick’s curious nature and tireless research, the stories of these intrepid phytophiles infuse the herbarium’s collection with life, weaving each fragile clipping into our complicated human history.

Take, for example, the sensational backstory of the specimen Prionitis sternbergii, a red seaweed found in rocky tidepools. It was discovered by Tadeas Haenke, a Czech botanist in the 1790s.

To say his quest for botanical discoveries was ill-fated is an understatement: he missed his departing ship but was able to catch another — which sank. He survived, swimming for his life while holding his most treasured possession: a copy of Linnaeus’s 1753 Species Plantarum.

He then missed another ship and finally trekked solo across the Andes to meet back up with his crew — all in the name of science.

A less dramatic story is that of Becky

Scenes from inside the UNC Herbarium.

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UNC Herbarium’s curator Carol Ann McCormick among the files for samples.

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“The stories behind some of the specimens are wild. There’s drama, swashbuckling, catastrophe...”

— Carol Ann McCormick

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Dill, a present-day, green-thumbed retiree who was exploring her home in Anson County when she spotted a native wildflower not typically seen in the area, the Silphium terebinthinaceum, or prairie dock. Suspecting it was a new specimen for the county, she posted a query and a picture on the iNaturalist app. When her fellow plant enthusiasts confirmed it was a new sighting, she contacted the university — which brought her number of herbarium submissions from Anson County up to 286. To McCormick, who knows the herbarium’s collectors so well she can identify their handwriting, quotidian stories like Dill’s are just as important as the epic ones, just as critical to the ongoing work of scientific discovery.

Visiting the UNC Herbarium feels like time-traveling to a medieval apothecary.

It has the smell of a library and the hush of a museum. Labyrinthine rows of cabinets fill room after room and spill into the hallways, bursting with treasure from far-away places and far-off times. Flower presses preserve delicate clippings from collectors around the world, and needle and thread artfully secure them to sturdy archival paper. Yellowing labels hold beguiling Latin names — Prionitis lyallii, Clematis virginiana, Euphorbia characias — written in faded cursive that few besides McCormick can untangle.

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And while some of these discoveries may be ancient, they can play a role in contemporary research. Recently, scientists discovered that they can extract and sequence DNA from the leaf samples of dried plants. One of the seaweed samples from Haenke’s unlucky 1791 adventure, for example, is the oldest specimen from which UNC plant biologists have successfully isolated DNA. “It’s kind of like 23andMe,” says McCormick. “A scientist can examine the genes in one plant’s DNA, and by comparing those genes to the same genes in other plant samples, determine how closely the plant species are related.” Findings like these may sound purely academic, but in fact they contribute knowledge to an array of fields outside botany, including food science, medicine and conservation.

Today, professional botanists are the main collectors and herbarium contributors, along with a handful of dedicated enthusiasts. Herbarium research associate Bruce Sorrie has been a collector for years, and he still gets a thrill at finding a plant that hasn’t yet been recorded. “When I spot one of those rare things, I say, Hot dog! or some other expletive,” he laughs. “Then I ask myself, Are there enough here that I can take one?”

If so, Sorrie pulls one up by the roots, keeps it moist until he gets home, then

puts it in a simple press to dry. When he delivers it to the herbarium, it will be examined, compared to similar species, and — with any luck — declared a unique specimen and filed away for future researchers.

While the UNC Herbarium has deep roots on Chapel Hill’s campus, it’s working on raising the funds to create room to grow. Plans are in the works for a new UNC Plant Biodiversity Research Center at the NC Botanical Garden that could house up to 3 million specimens, providing a home for an increasing number of orphaned collections across the country.

To minimize the building’s energy footprint and maximize storage conditions, specimens would be filed in a 50-degree Fahrenheit vault accessible only by a robot (similar to the Book Bot at North Carolina State University’s Hunt Library). What the herbarium might lose in apothecary charm, it would gain in scientific impact. “It could create a mecca for botanical research in the southeast United States,” says Waitt, the botanical garden director.

As our planet changes and research pushes new boundaries, the herbarium holds true to its original purpose: helping scientists tell the story of our natural world, as it was, as it is and as it will be in the future.

A few of McCormick’s favorite finds inside the UNC Herbarium.

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A collected home filled with objects of style and beauty

Craftsman

COOL

by AYN-MONIQUE KLAHRE photography by TREY THOMAS

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AN EYE FOR DESIGN Within this 1923 home on E. Jones Street, each room boasts pieces from designers like Knoll and B&B Italia, all found on the resale market and collected over time.

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 75

K

rista Glazewski and Christan McKay’s home reflects a keen eye for design, a love of color and an attraction to statement pieces. “We’re collectors of design furniture and artifacts,” says McKay. But the home also reflects the couple’s commitment to decorating within their university-career budgets.

“Ninety percent of what’s in our home has been found on the resale market, given as a gift or created by us,” says Glazewski. “We can’t afford our taste — to buy new, anyway — so we’ve learned to wait until something comes into our view within our budget.”

The couple moved here last summer from Bloomington, Indiana, where both worked at Indiana University. Glazewski had been offered her “dream job” as executive director of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University; McKay was soon hired as lead librarian for experiential learning partnerships at Hunt Library. They worked with realtor Mary Burr Edwards to find a home downtown,

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targeting Historic Oakwood. “We were interested in living an urban life, being able to walk to things,” says McKay. At Edwards’ recommendation, they bought this 1923 two-bedroom Craftsman bungalow on E. Jones Street, sight unseen. They’d lived in a similar-style home before, “so it felt familiar,” says McKay. They were also excited that it had a fenced-in yard for their dog, Cinder; plenty of room for their teenager, North; and a shed out back to work as a studio for McKay, who is also an artist.

The first thing they did was paint the walls white. They enlisted Sedaris Hardwood Floors to strip off dark stain on the floors to reveal the natural coloration of the white oak and heart pine beneath. Then they populated the space with carefully collected furnishings.

The front room offers an overview of their eclectic, design-informed style. Here, a circa-2005 B&B Italia Tufty-Time sectional is partnered with black-leather 1970s Knoll Model 657 chairs and a vintage Fiam Italia curved glass side table. Hanging from

the ceiling is a Verner Panton MoonLamp, introduced in 1960. The painting on the mantel is actually a “dumpster dive find,” but it’s by Los Angeles artist Jeremy Kennedy, who lived in Bloomington at the same time they did. “It’s all beat up and wonky, and the frame is skewed, but we love it,” Glazewski says.

North was the one who first spotted it, she says, when they were about 2. Near the front door is a bookshelf populated with, among other things, a hummingbird skeleton, shells, some of McKay’s pieces (a mask, bronze tiles, a linocut self-portrait, an etching of a hand) and a lamp nicked from a hotel in the 1950s.

There are just as many storied items in every room of the house — from the USM Haller cabinet in the hallway to a sign from an art exhibit in the Netherlands in the dining room to quilts by Glazewski’s mother on the beds. Combined, they reflect the couple’s fierce ethos of conscious consumerism. Says McKay: “We love beautiful pieces that have lived for a long time and will continue to live on.”

PIECES OF HISTORY The Italian Art Deco mirror in the living room, opposite page, was a gift from McKay’s father that had been in the family for a while.

The portrait of Beethoven in the hallway was made by a Russian painter for a girls’ music school in the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 77

FINE DINING Behind the dining table is a printing block by Nicholas Naughton, a Los-Angeles based printmaker that McKay went to art school with. The piece depicts a migrant worker in a field, as well as a border fence and surveillance equipment. “We keep it in a space where we eat our food as a reminder of how the system is set up,” says McKay.

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RETRO VIBES The kitchen includes a 1950s-era stove. “It only works about twothirds of the time — but it looks great!” says Glazewski. Below: McKay grew up with this painting of a woman, which his grandparents found in a student art gallery in the late ‘60s.

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COZY SPACES Glazewski and McKay fell in love with the green sofa in the den when they saw it on the resale market.

“We were taken by both the form and the color, but it was out of our price range,” says McKay. “It never sold, so they kept dropping the price.

We waited six years, but we got it!”

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UNIQUE CHARM The back half of the house includes the primary bedroom.

“It’s an old house, nothing is plumb or square,” says McKay. The print of the tree was a free find when they lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Glazewski’s mom made all the quilts they use in the home, including the one on their bed and in North’s room (opposite page).

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The Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County Building Excellence Together

Building Excellence Together

The Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County (HBA), with approximately 3,000 members, is the largest local

the National Association of Home Builders. The HBA represents and promotes the interests of the residential building industry on issues that affect their ability to provide housing that is affordable.

Professionals in the Community

Membership in the HBA is voluntary and companies that choose to become involved members of the association believe in high industry standards and a professional commitment to their trade.

Support in Home Ownership

As the economy changes, so does the demand for housing. HBA members respond to the requests and needs of the local population with new homes and communities that are designed to meet current lifestyles. Throughout the year, HBA members showcase new designs and trends to the public through annual tours like the Spring Kitchen & Bath Tour, the Remodelers Home Tour, and the Parade of Homes.

Giving Back to the Community To support homeownership, we first must support our community.

We are committed to several charity and community service events that inckude scholarhips for Wake County Technical College, and industry related events such as fundraising opportunities, Operation: Cominh Home, and charity renovation projects for local non-profits.

www.hbawake.com | 919-233-2033

Celebrate THE SEASON

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THEATRE IN THE PARK PRESENTS...

THEATRE IN THE PARK PRESENTS...

FEBRUARY 20 - MARCH 2

SCAN FOR MORE INFO! theatreinthepark.com (919) 831-6058

HOLIDAYS WITH THE MESSIAH & MORE

Classical Christmas with Carlos THU, DEC 5 | 7:30PM MEMORIAL HALL, CHAPEL HILL

FRI, DEC 6 | NOON & 8PM SAT, DEC 7 | 3PM MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, RALEIGH

Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor Sarah Coburn, soprano Aaron Crouch, tenor North Carolina Master Chorale Celebrate with selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah, including the Hallelujah Chorus.

Ugly Sweater Holiday Pops FRI, DEC 13 | 8PM MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, RALEIGH

David Glover, conductor Don your favorite Christmas sweater (ugly or not) for a fun evening of holiday favorites including Sleigh Ride, Jingle Bells, music from Frozen, and so much more. You might even win the Ugly Sweater contest! Come early to visit Santa in the lobby.

Dates, titles, artists, programs, venues, and prices subject to change.

ALL NEW SHOW!

A Candlelight Christmas

with the North Carolina Symphony Holiday Brass FRI, DEC 20 | 8PM SAT/SUN, DEC 21-22 | 3PM MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, RALEIGH

North Carolina Symphony Holiday Brass North Carolina Master Chorale Youth Choir Share the sounds of the season in the glow of candlelight—including Angels We Have Heard on High, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, selections from The Nutcracker, and more!

Tickets make great gifts!

The Music of Paul Simon, James Taylor, & Neil Diamond Starring Michael Cavanaugh FRI, JAN 17 | 8PM SAT, JAN 18 | 3PM & 8PM MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, RALEIGH

Michael Cavanaugh, vocalist and piano

Don't get left out in the cold— buy now!

Experience the music of Paul Simon, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, and more in this electric celebration of the American Rock & Roll Songbook.

Concert Sponsor: Galloway Ridge at Fearrington

GREATEST LOVE SONGS

The Music of Motown FRI/SAT, FEB 7-8 | 8PM MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, RALEIGH

Chester Gregory, vocalist Shayna Steele, vocalist

ncsymphony.org 919.733.2750

Motown’s best love songs— made famous by artists like Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and so many more!

RALEIGH MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM This holiday season, rediscover the wonder with Carolina Ballet’s enchanting celebration of The Nutcracker.

Our most attended production ever, this beautiful ballet marries the charm of the original with fresh choreography, vibrant sets, and stunning costumes.

919-719-0900 | CAROLINABALLET.COM | TICKETMASTER.COM

Magic Sponsor:

Sponsored by:

Educational Matinee Sponsor: E.T. Rollins, Jr. & Frances P. Rollins Foundation Nutcracker Fund: Established by longtime Carolina Ballet supporter Louise Pariser, this fund is dedicated to the annual restoration of costumes and sets for The Nutcracker. Contributions ensure the enduring quality and tradition of our ballet performances.

FEATURING A LIVE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

SKATER ADMISSION

NON-SKATER ADMISSION $6

PLUS ANY APPLICABLE TAXES, FEES.

N O V E M B E R 2 3 , 2 0 2 4 – J A N UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 2 5 R E D H AT A M P H I T H E AT E R

TICKETS AND MORE INFO AT REDHATAMPHITHEATER.COM

TICKETS AND MORE INFO AT MARTINMARIETTACENTER.COM

BUY ONE ON SHOE AND GET A SECOND PAIR AT 50% OFF*

DON’T MISS THIS AMAZING HOLIDAY PROMOTION!!!

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North Hills 919.821.1556 shop online at: mainandtaylorshoes.com

Tickets Make a Great Gift

January 4

February 15 & 16

March 18 - 23

April 8 - 13

April 29 - May 4

May 10

Hurry for Best Seats

giftLOCAL

The most sought-after holiday goods

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1. DESIGNED FOR JOY Celebrate the City of Oaks with Designed For Joy’s Acorn Bell Ornament. Each is assembled in Raleigh, and provides living wage work for women in crisis. $15 2. IF IT’S PAPER Handmade in Italy, the Sharland England Splatter Jug is paired with Pomegranate Inc. linens. Each is a perfect addition to your holiday table.

From $61

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3. FINK’S JEWELERS The Sabel Collection White Gold Round Diamond Tennis Necklace features 10.31cttw of diamonds to add sparkle to special occasions. $19,195 4. ONWARD RESERVE Look sharp in this Pine Grove Windowpane Sport Coat. The perfect holiday green, this coat is made with merino wool and will have you looking festive. $695 5. NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF HISTORY Toast to freedom with the Constitution Rocks Glass set. Perfect for the whiskey lover, US history buffs and proud Americans everywhere. $32

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6. PAYSAGE HOME These beautiful, unique candles are locally handmade with eco-friendly soy wax, bringing the beauty of flowers and the warmth of candles together in one gorgeous arrangement. $250 7. RELIABLE JEWELRY A knockout 14 kt yellow gold pendant with black onyx inlay, emerald and diamonds pairs beautifully with these emerald and diamond earrings.

Pendant, $2,350; earrings, $3,250

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8. VITIS HOUSE Who wouldn’t love to be more versed in wine, beer or spirits? These gift cards can be used on a variety of classes, certifications and travel experiences. From $99 9. GREAT OUTDOOR PROVISION CO. When it comes to adventure travel, the Patagonia Black Hole Duffel makes packing, schlepping and access easier, with a lifetime guarantee. From $159

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10. WILDERS Delight your loved ones with a Wagyu Subscription Box. Known for its marbling, this 100% fullblood Wagyu beef is raised in Eastern NC. From $100 11. GREEN FRONT FURNITURE These timeless vases add a statement to any room and complement any decorating style with a touch of classic sophistication. $439 each

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THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 95

giftLOCAL

The most sought-after holiday goods

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12. NC SYMPHONY Immerse yourself in A Candlelight Christmas from Dec. 20-22, featuring the North Carolina Symphony Holiday Brass and North Carolina Master Chorale Youth Choir. From $30

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13. SUIJIN LI DESIGNER These expertly hand-crafted pieces in sterling silver and vermeil blend rich textures and subtle contrasts to create striking dimensionality and elevate any style. From $80 14. ELLA’S POPCORN Celebrate the sweetness of the season with a gift box full of holiday popcorn favorites, including Peppermint Cookie O, Hot Cocoa & Gingerbread. $32.99 15. NUTHATCH STUDIO These super-soft, eco-friendly knit blankets feature cheerful colors and whimsical illustrations, perfect for all ages (because adults need cute things, too!). From $100 16. RALEIGH RINGERS Join in on these holiday concerts December 14 and 15 celebrating the music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Adult tickets from $28

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17. BEAUTY ETHICS Give the gift of Raleigh-made skin care! This best-selling, safe-for-all-skintypes Glow Toner exfoliates, stimulates collagen, and restores dewiness. $37.50 18. FINK’S JEWELERS These Sabel Collection White Gold Sapphire and Diamond Stud Earrings are stunners with any outfit. $5,650

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19. GREEN FRONT FURNITURE Don’t forget your furry friends this holiday season! Add these cute dog and cat bowls under your tree. From $10

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20. GREAT OUTDOOR PROVISION CO. This thoughtfully designed and ecofriendly tool set pairs well with seafood celebrations. Made in Charleston, SC, you can trust its coastal instincts! $88 21. CAROLINA BALLET Experience a magical holiday season with Carolina Ballet’s enchanting performance of The Nutcracker, a spectacular celebration that will delight the whole family. From $28

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22. WALTER MAGAZINE Give the gift of great reading! A year’s subscription to WALTER offers 12 beautiful issues full of stories about art and culture in your community. $36

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THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 97

Time to Shine

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Give the Gift of Membership Share the arts with someone you love with a gift of membership to the North Carolina Museum of Art

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11/6/2024 4:00:49 PM

102 | WALTER Lyudmila Tomova

THE WHIRL WALTER’s roundup of gatherings, celebrations, fundraisers and more around Raleigh.

TASTE OF THE WILD On Oct. 9, WALTER hosted its annual Taste of the Wild, a lively dinner celebrating North Carolina food traditions, at The Merrimon-Wynne House.

Our featured chefs were Jamie Davis, the executive chef of The Hackney, and Sam Jones, pitmaster at Sam Jones BBQ, who collaborated on an exclusive unique menu. Special thanks to presenting sponsor Great Outdoor Provision Company, title sponsor WILDERS and supporting sponsors Green Front Furniture and Fox & Bailey for making the evening possible. We were also happy to feature Triangle Land Conservancy; goods from Locals Seafood, Fullsteam Brewery, Westgate Wine and Liberty & Plenty; natural decor from Finch Forest Farm and Garrett Wildflower Seed Farm; and entertaining support from If It’s Paper, Attended Events and Alphagraphics.

Heather Finch enjoys Locals Seafood

Green Front Lounge

Leigh Ann Hammerbacher, Sandy Sweitzer

Sean Lilly Wilson

Emma Jane House, Emily Dawkins, Kelly Crisp

John Hansen

Sarah Millsaps, Chuck Millsaps

Guests at the event

Jamie Davis, Sam Jones

Anna Smith, Jaclyn Smith, Danielle Lantz, Rachel Sims, Jacob Sims

To have your event considered for The Whirl, submit images and information at waltermagazine.com/submit-photos

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 103

THE WHIRL RH RALEIGH UNVEILING Almost 800 guests gathered to celebrate the unveiling of RH Raleigh, The Gallery at North Hills on Oct. 30. The event was cohosted by RH chairman and chief executive officer Gary Friedman, John and Willa Kane of Kane Realty and philanthropists Brenda and Rob Gibson. Guests explored all three levels of the retail experience and got a taste of the offerings at its Rooftop Restaurant and Wine Terrace.

Willa Kan, Lauren Kennedy Brady, John Kane

Liza Roberts, Alex Bernhardt Jr., Gary Friedman, Victor Lytvinenko

Mitchell Silver, Mary Silver, Mike Smith

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Sean Coffey, Amber Rupinta

Scott Mahoney, Molly Mahoney

Jess Vanhook, Maya Freelon

Kelly Flanagin, Jessica Crawford, Carolina Mesa

Linda Duda, Turan Duda

Gary Friedman, David Woronoff

Erin Bell of Bull City Photography

David Molesky, Vivian Howard, Sam Adams

THE WHIRL BEYOND THE PITCH North Carolina FC Youth continued its 50th anniversary celebrations on Oct. 23 with an fundraiser to support youth access to soccer.

Beyond the Pitch, presented by TowneBank, was held at the Angus Barn and raised over $250,000 for NCFC Youth’s Financial Aid Fund.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from JK Transportation Services!

Shelby Lombardo for NCFC Youth

Robin Bachelder, Stephanie Walker, Bryan Bachelder

Patty Scharville, Jamie Corti, Emma Thomson, Guppar Scharville

Shaft Brewer Jr., Olivia Wingate, Bianca St-Georges, Charlotte McLean

JK Transportation has been providing white glove delivery services to the RaleighDurham area since 2020. We partner with Interior Designers for full installations. We offer shipping and receiving in our climatecontrolled warehouse.

Call or email us to get your complimentary quote: (919) 614-9016 James@JKTransportationServicesnc.com jktransportationservicesnc.com

A LOVE LETTER TO THE AMERICAN SOUTH FROM NORTH CAROLINA’S OWN LEO DAUGHTRY It’s 1957, and tobacco is king. Wealthy landowner Gordon Talmadge enjoys the lavish lifestyle he inherited but doesn’t like getting his hands dirty; he leaves that to the two sharecroppers who farm his tobacco but have bigger dreams for their own children. While Gordon takes no interest in the lives of his tenant farmers, a brutal attack between his son and the sharecropper children sets off a chain of events that leaves no one unscathed. Over the span of a decade, Gordon struggles to hold on to his family’s legacy as the old order makes way for a New South.

“Daughtry uses descriptive and prosaic prose that not only transports the reader to North Carolina but paints a picture of the South in a way that is literary, engaging, and visceral.”

— The BookLife Prize

Invite Leo to your digital book club to discuss Talmadge Farm! www.leodaughtry.com angelle@booksforward.com

Benjamin Farrell

AVAILABLE IN PRINT AND EBOOK

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 105

2024 Weymouth Wonderland:

A

Season of Stories

THE WHIRL NC ARTISTS EXHIBITION The 2024 Raleigh Fine Arts NC Artists Exhibition, held at CAM Raleigh, opened on Sept. 29 with over 400 artists, RFAS members and special guests in attendance.

Now in its 59th year, this annual event is the largest juried multimedia show in the state, showcasing both emerging and established artists.

DECEMBER 7 & 8:

Wonderfest & Market Mail Checks To: William Patterson

10:00-5:00 pm Tour the Boyd House decorated for the holidays, buy holiday decor in the Holiday Shoppe, grab a treat and a warm drink from our Bake Shoppe, visit Santa, shop local vendors and artisans, enjoy popular area food trucks, watch live performances from local musicians and dancers.

Fun for the Whole Family!

Customer: Weymouth

Email: Susan@weymouthcenter.org Location: 555 E Connecticut Ave, Southern Pines Delivery/Pickup Date: 08/16/2024 & 08/25/2024 Delivery Contact: Danielle Herbst Description th, 2024 Event

2024 Event

for

*2.9% transaction fee for card payments (This fee is waived for cash or check payments) Remaining Balance

1

$850

1

$ 850

Sanny Kohli, SM Botstein, JP Jermaine Powell, Jason Rosenfeld, Lyn Maness, Liza Williams

courtesy RFAS

910-206-6629 910-334-1060 130 Powerline Dr Rockingham, NC,28379

$850

$ 850

1,700

1 Total $

1,700.

Sponsored by FirstBank and Brooks & Grace Rentals The Boyd House will remain open and available for self-guided tours and to see the decorations from December 9 - December 27.

Boyd House hours are Monday - Friday 10 am - 4 pm. Open to the public.

Shanoon Kohli

Chamber Sessions

Join us on Sunday, December 15, 2:00 pm: Friends of Weymouth Holiday Concert

A guest admires the artwork

Scan the QR code for tickets and additional information!

555 East Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines, NC SM Botstein

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FINE ARTS LEAGUE OF CARY ART BASH The Fine Arts League of Cary (FALC) held its third annual Art Bash to raise money for its Wake Teen Exhibition, which provides funding for young artists and their teachers in Wake County. Last year’s teacher recipient, Tarrah Huff of Heritage High School, spoke and thanked the community for its support of the arts. Local artists had work on display and for sale and there was also a silent auction.

There’s no place like home for the Holidays!

Laura Wall

Harrison Redpath, Sarah Redpath, Susanne Alexander, Rob Alexander, Richard Redpath, Bill Zahn

Laura Benner

Onicas Gaddis

Tarrah Huff, Shawnda Rossi, Dawn Valentino

Tony Davis, Sue Davis

get cozy this holiday season HARD-TO-FIND SIZES AND WIDTHS

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the shoe market

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Linda Starr, Rose Firestone, Vivianne Voyles

David Richards, Yana Slutskaya

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 107

MAKING RALEIGH SMILE SINCE 1899 Our patients receive state-of-the-art care in a warm, professional, safe and friendly environment.

We welcome new patients!

OUR SIGNATURE SERVICES INCLUDE: Comprehensive & Cosmetic Dental Care Same-Day CEREC Crowns SureSmile Clear Aligner Orthodontics Dental Implants Sleep Apnea TMJ Therapy

THE WHIRL RALEIGH RENAISSANCE FASHION SHOW On Oct. 18, Weird Productions hosted the Renaissance Fashion Show, an event that celebrates local design. Community leader Terrance Ruth and Needle & Thread Co. designer Derrick Grant presented custom looks in partnership with Katie Allen of Lifted Millinery, Kathleen Grebe from Bold Standard jewelry and clothing designer Sabrina Lee.

Raleigh Renaissance Fashion Show participants

3201 Glenwood Ave. Suite 301 Raleigh, NC 27612 • 919-782-0801 info@raleighsmile.com

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Kiara Ruth

Emma Jane Livingston

Dasan Ahanu

Derrick Grant, Lindsay Hebert, Terrance Ruth

Mo Dollaz

Guests

Aaron Oates Photography / Corey Truesdale

PROVIDING PREMIER DENTISTRY IN RALEIGH FOR GENERATIONS

DEMENTIA ALLIANCE On Sept. 21, the Dementia Alliance of North Carolina held a gala to raise awareness and funds to improve the lives of those living with dementia in our community. The gala is hosted each year at North Ridge Country Club.

Jeff Phillips, Debbie Hammersla, Mark Steward, Terree Montgomery, Kathy Jensen, Freddie Lee Heath

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Mark Steward

nofo @ the pig | 2014 fairview road | 919.821.1240 | nofo.com

Josh Chapin, Mark Steward, Heather Hooper

Dee Harris, Mark Steward

ENLOE NAMING EVENT On Sept. 17, the Wake County Board of Education approved the naming of the Enloe Magnet High School auditorium as the Freddie Lee Heath Auditorium.

This honor celebrates Freddie Lee Heath’s dedication to the Enloe community and his incredible 40-year impact on arts education.

Mark Steward, Delinda Ramirez Carter, Bo Reese, Freddie Lee Heath, Jacqueline Jordan, Michele Weathers, Diane Petteway, Elena Ashburn, Jeremy Tucker, Cameron Tucker

THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 109

THE WHIRL THE DEPARTURE On Nov. 3rd, The StateView Hotel hosted The Departure, a homecoming brunch for North Carolina State and Shaw Universities. Guests enjoyed chicken and waffles along with signature cocktails.

Music was provided by Oak City Entertainment and DJ Moeskieno.

Laura Wall

Howard Toomer, Sonte Buie

Gift of Golf Enter to win the

Bryan Morton, Wanda Lawrence

This is your chance to win 2 nights and 3 rounds of golf at Pinehurst Resort for you and a guest.*

Iris Vasquez, Joan Gorley

SCAN TO ENTER

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Enter before December 15th DJ Moeskieno

110 | WALTER

Quentin Whidbee / Survivor Friendly Foundation

SURVIVOR FRIENDLY FOUNDATION GALA Survivor Friendly Foundation’s mission is to support uninsured cancer survivors and thrivers by providing free post-mastectomy and lymphedema products and other essential items. Its first fundraiser event was an evening filled with good food, entertainment and a silent auction.

Charlotte Llanos, Sheri Knight, Barbra Christmas, Nusrath Khambaty, Lisa Andrews, Stacy Mueller

Christmas CANDLELIGHT Tour Saturday, December 14th 5:00 PM-8:00 PM

Tickets $25

& Special Christmas in Peachtree Bluff Events with Kristy Harvey!

A group of guests at the event

DINNER AT BEAUFORT GROCERY Wednesday, December 11th 6:00 pm

SPECIAL BUS TOUR Thursday, December 12th 1:30 pm

Guests at the event

beauforthistoricsite.org • 252-728-5225 THe Art & Soul of Raleigh | 111

END NOTE

Upcycled Santa A quirky annual display in North Ridge

by AYN-MONIQUE KLAHRE photography by JOSHUA STEADMAN

F

or 25 years, Joel Haas has been delighting his neighbors with a quirky holiday sculpture in his front yard. He calls it Santa Claus and the Eight Tiny Rimdeer. Yes, “rimdeer,” not reindeer, because their bodies are made from the rims of old wheelbarrow wheels — and Santa’s sled is made from an old wheelbarrow bed.

Inspiration struck at a blacksmith convention nearly three decades ago.

“Someone had a box of extra parts and tools, and I picked up a wheelbarrow bed, and thought, this would make a great sleigh,” Haas says. Each rimdeer has a wheel rim for its body, the front fork of a bicycle for its nose and antlers, lug nuts for eyes and hooves, and scrap steel and springs for the legs and neck. Their tails are made from the inside of garden trowel handles. Each has its own personality; some are looking up and others gaze at the viewer.

“I have a figurative background, so it was important to me that they all have their own expressions,” says Haas.

Santa is made from a large Freon can and a grain scoop, with a funnel for a hat and a beard made from old

112 | WALTER

electric parts. His shoes are little bulldozer teeth. “I say they’re Italian boots, because they’re stamped ‘made in Italy,’” laughs Haas. The display spans up to 20 yards long, with each of the pieces connected by twinkle lights.

Haas, who is in his 70s, has long been making sculptures from found objects. He grew up in Raleigh, the child of a mother who ran a theater supply store and a novelist father.

“With those two as parents, it was unlikely I’d grow up to be an accountant,” he says.

Historically, he’s worked a lot with steel, but now he often uses lighter materials like wood and plastics for his pieces. “I think in scraps — I’ll have an idea for a project, then decide what to make it from,” says Haas.

Haas leaves the display up in front of his house, which is near the intersection of Spring Forest and Falls of Neuse Roads, until the end of Serbian Christmas in early January (his wife is Serbian). “We have people who come by to see them every year, they’re very positive,” Haas says.

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