Each Friday night during the summer, the kind folks at Seaboard Station off Peace Street open up their parking lot for big wheels, beer drinking and live music. As long as the rain stays away, it's a fun, inexpensive and relaxing way to end the week.
A band plays (donations accepted), beer is sold, and kids are welcome to bring their big wheels, tricycles and whatnot for scooting around the parking lot. For parents with small children, its an easy way to spend some adult time with friends while the kids expend their energy.
But because nothing fun can happen in Raleigh without an extensive set of rules about the parameters within which that fun must operate, the event comes with several posterboards filled with written guidelines.
One rule emphasizes the need for parents to keep their children within the part of the parking lot where scooting around is allowed. Older children often begin the safety violations, the sign says.
"The older kids take it up a notch, then another notch. Pretty soon we have a jailbreak."
A jailbreak? On big wheels?
This reminds me of the time the Carolina Hurricanes paraded their Stanley Cup around a parking lot instead of through downtown. Or the time Eddie Money was hired to rock Fayetteville Street.
Raleigh. Where parties sound like a good idea.
But might not be worth the trouble.
Matt Ehlers has worked for The N&O since 2002. As a general-assignment reporter, he writes about a variety of topics.