Chavis Park carousel today, photo by John Morris

Having lived in Raleigh for about ten years now, I feel sheepish to admit that my first visit to Chavis Park occurred about a week ago. Originally conceived as part of the Works Progress Administration, the Park opened in 1937 during segregation for Raleigh’s African American citizens. Named after John Chavis, a prominent black preacher and teacher alive in the late 18th and early 19^th centuries, the Park provided a destination spot for black families from all over the state.

Easily accessible from Martin Luther King Blvd., the 37-acre park is equipped with a swimming pool for the summer, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, picnic areas, a playground, expanses of fields for soccer and other sports, and of course, the original Chavis Park Carousel.

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King’s Barcade rejoined Downtown Raleigh a few weeks ago, and with that reopening saw the newest muppets to arrive to Salisbury Street area.

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The photoSPARK traditional gallery.

This past weekend’s fifth annual SPARKcon was an amazing event showcasing our local arts and creativity. The cool thing about SPARKcon is that it’s ‘for the people by the people’, so it is only possible through donations and volunteer work. This year’s event had a lot of great new additions, thus making it the largest and most successful SPARKcon! One very exciting new addition was the first ever photoSPARK. In the past, photography may have been included in some artSPARK shows, but this year local photographers really got a chance to stand out and shine in their very own show.

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