Expect a busy weekend in Chapel Hill.

Though the town and university has managed to scale back the formerly nutso Halloween festivities on Franklin Street, it will surely still draw a crowd.

Plus, it's homecoming weekend at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Linda Convissor, UNC-CH's local relations director, has distributed this email to members of the community.

Dear Friends and Neighbors:
 
This will be a busy weekend in Chapel Hill.  It’s Homecoming Weekend, with reunions beginning on Friday and running through Sunday afternoon.
 
On Saturday the Tar Heels will take on the William and Mary Tribe.  Kick-off is at 3:30 p.m. Tar Heel Town will open at 12:30 p.m.,  the Old Well Walk is at 1:00 p.m. and the Marching Tar Heels will play at 2:30 p.m. 

  Even if you are not attending the game, the pre-game festivities downtown and Tar Heel Town on Polk Place are open to everyone.
 
Sunday night is Chapel Hill’s Homegrown Halloween.  You may remember from last year that Chapel Hill is working with the University and downtown businesses to make the Halloween gathering on Franklin Street a safer event for everyone. 

Access to downtown will be limited, parking restricted and bus schedules and routes adjusted.  If you plan to go downtown, please check the Town’s website www.townofchapelhill.org/Halloween for details.

As in past years, the plan this year is to restrict traffic access to downtown Chapel Hill through lane and street closures starting at 9 p.m. Parking essentially will be unavailable downtown. There will be no special event park-and-ride bus shuttles, although Safe Ride buses will operate for Carolina students.

To limit alcohol sales downtown, restaurants and bars will close to new patrons at 1 a.m., and downtown convenience stores that sell alcohol will either close or stop selling alcohol at 1 a.m.

Police will begin to open Franklin Street to traffic at 11:30 p.m. with the expectation that it will be fully opened by midnight.

If you are a neighborhood or community group contact, please share this email with your members.
 
Best for a fun an safe Halloween and of course, Go Heels!
 
Linda

At UNC Chapel Hill, student leaders are bringing back an old tradition: the homecoming parade.

Homecoming is this weekend in Chapel Hill, and Carolina takes on Duke in football at 3:30 p.m. The parade will start at 11 a.m. at the Columbia Street/Cameron Avenue intersection.

As Student Body President Jasmin Jones writes today in the Chapel Hill News, student leaders want the event to be a town/gown initiative.

The last homecoming parade is believed to have been in 1993, according to this Daily Tar Heel report.