Raleigh skaters may have lost their favorite skate space for now (RIP, Graveside DIY), but, an ever-adaptable bunch, they’ve been making do with streets and sidewalks and makeshift ramps in the City of Oaks for decades. This Friday, dive into the city’s history of skating at the City of Raleigh Museum with The Endless Grind: An Archive Photo Exhibit of Raleigh’s Skate History, a partnership between Skate Raleigh, the State Archives of North Carolina, and The News & Observer.
Thousands of photographs and film footage document the history of skating in Raleigh, and photographers Pete Thompson, Chris Facey, and Chris Seward will be on hand to tell some stories behind the archival images, beginning at seven p.m. This is a free (but ticketed) preview for a bigger project on the city’s skate history that Skate Raleigh is working on, so be sure to RSVP and reserve your space. —Jane Porter
If you missed last week’s Biscuit & Banjos, you can still get a taste of festivities this weekend when festival performer Charly Lowry returns to Durham for the first PLAYlist show of the year. Free six-show music series PLAYlist, which is co-sponsored by WNCU 90.7 and Durham Central Park, takes place on the latter’s sprawling lawn and is an opportunity for folks to gather for a casual, dreamy summer evening of music and picnicking. Food trucks (alongside craft beer vendors) open at 6:30, and Pembroke country powerhouse Lowry will begin playing at 7:30 p.m. Future Friday night summer shows bring in a wide range of performers, including the Sam Fribush Organ Trio, Bia Ferreira, and Bungalow Collect. —Sarah Edwards
A man is in love with a beautiful girl he passes daily. He wants to meet her. There’s just one problem: she’s a doll. So goes the plot of 19th-century comic ballet Coppélia, a tale as old as time about a shallow man, the figment of his projection, and his faithful, resourceful village girlfriend, who sets out to show him that the object of his affection is not sentient and is, instead, the creation of local dollmaker Doctor Coppelius.
The story has taken on new dimensions over the years (right now, for instance, it might have resonance with things like AI girlfriends) but has remained steadfast as a light, beloved classic. Cary Ballet Company puts on the full-length ballet for one day only, with performances at 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. —Sarah Edwards
To attend
Greek Festival
Saturday, May 3 & Sunday, May 4, various times | St. Barbara’s Greek Orthodox Church, Durham
This annual event, put on by St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, is a community institution. The festival takes place over two days and has four main prongs. One: tours of the church, a domed, Byzantine-style building, ornately styled in the Greek Orthodox tradition. Two: eating, with plenty of spanakopita, dolmades, and moussaka to eat on location or take home with you (note that the dessert menu is, happily, much longer than anything else). Three: exuberant community folk dancing, with lessons offered and the festival website urging attendees to “follow your inner Zorba!” Lastly: a marketplace offering plenty of Greek wares and crafts to browse and file away for future birthday presents. Partial proceeds go to continued Ukraine and Western North Carolina relief. —Sarah Edwards
“Nestled in the Duke Park neighborhood, Geer Cemetery sits on about four acres of raised land. Many of the people who were buried at the cemetery were born during slavery, and for nearly 80 years, they were forgotten, or, at best, barely remembered,” writer Thomasi McDonald wrote in the INDY in 2021.
A new exhibition, “Unearthing Stories of Geer Cemetery: Using Archaeology to Reclaim, Restore, and Respect Sacred Space,” a collaboration between Friends of Geer Cemetery and the Museum of Durham History, is continuing in the long process of preserving those stories. While the opening party has passed, there are plenty of ongoing opportunities to engage with the material. The exhibit showcases the cemetery’s history, personal biographies of those buried there, unearthed artifacts (including a cast iron kettle), and even a kids’ corner for little folks to engage with big ideas about memory and community. —Chase Pellegrini de Paur
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