Durham · Chapel Hill · Raleigh · September 25, 2026

A $10 Million Gift for Chapel Hill 🌳s

⚡ Quick Hits

🌳 Chapel Hill gets a $10 million gift for parks and greenways
🎸 The free Carrboro Music Festival takes over downtown Carrboro Sunday afternoon.
⚖️ The Faith Hedgepeth murder trial begins Monday in Durham.

First Up

Durham Pride Week starts Sunday, and the LGBTQ Center of Durham has put something on every day of it: a food truck rodeo at Durham Central Park, free STI testing at the Center on Monday, a family picnic at Duke Gardens on Tuesday, a group bike ride from Crank Arm on Wednesday, and a queer history tour of downtown on Friday (waitlist only). It all builds to the protest and parade on Duke's East Campus next Saturday, Oct. 3, from noon to 2.

📰 Around the Triangle

Chapel Hill got a $10 million gift for parks and greenways: Britt Foundation money will build an indoor pavilion at Cedar Falls Park and extend two greenways. (Chapelboro)
The Faith Hedgepeth murder trial begins Monday in Durham: 14 years after the 19-year-old UNC student was found dead in her apartment. (9th Street Journal)
A man was shot and killed near a downtown Durham bar early Friday: police were called to Rigsbee Avenue and West Corporation Street, and no arrests have been made. (WRAL)
Durham's elections board is recruiting Republicans to work the polls: state law wants a partisan balance, and Republicans hold about 10% of the 4,180 shifts filled so far. (INDY Week)
Durham has had more than 141 water main breaks this year: Raleigh had more than 107 over the same stretch, per an I-Team count prompted by the Cary break. (ABC11)
The owners of Teets and Lucky B's want to rezone for 40 stories on Glenwood South: the two Canes bars sit on land zoned for seven, and the request hadn't been filed as of Thursday evening. (WRAL)

📅 Plan Your Week

🎺 Friday, September 25 (Today)

Buena Vista Social Club: DPAC, Durham, 7:30 p.m. The Tony-winning musical, through Sunday. From $55. (Details)
The Ethics of Now with Erica Armstrong Dunbar: Durham County Main Library, 7 p.m. The historian and "The Gilded Age" co-executive producer on telling the country's complicated past. Free. (Details)
Poetry on the Porch: Kevin Young: Love House, Chapel Hill, 5:30 to 7 p.m. The New Yorker's poetry editor reads from his new book. Free. (Details)
Movie on the Lawn: Toy Story 5: Halifax Park, Raleigh, 6:30 p.m. Bring a blanket, and pre-register. Free. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)

🍺 Saturday, September 26

Shrektoberfest: DSSOLVR, Durham, noon to 5 p.m. A free block party, and yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. (Details)
NC Oktoberfest "Prost Y'all": Fayetteville Street, Raleigh, 1 to 8 p.m. Craft beer, food trucks, live music. Free to get in, drink tickets extra. (Details)

🎸 Sunday, September 27

Pride Vendor & Food Truck Rodeo: Durham Central Park, noon to 4 p.m. Forty-plus trucks, sixty-plus vendors, and a Drag Story Hour to open Pride Week. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)
Carrboro Music Festival: all over downtown Carrboro, starting at 1 p.m. The 29th year, and still free. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)

📚 Monday, September 28

Storytime on the Roof: The Durham Hotel, 10:30 a.m. Durham County Library brings books, music, and movement to the rooftop. Free. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)
Ackland Film Forum: "Dog Day Afternoon": The Lumina Theater, Chapel Hill, 7:30 p.m. Pacino and Cazale in Sidney Lumet's 1975 bank-robbery classic. Free, RSVP required. (Details)

🌿 Tuesday, September 29

Queer Ecology Family Picnic: Duke Gardens, Durham, 5 to 6:30 p.m. Bring a picnic for story time with Stormie Daie and a make-a-creature table. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)
Tift Merritt, Thomas Wolfe Prize: Moeser Auditorium, Hill Hall, Chapel Hill, 7:30 p.m. This year's prize winner performs. (Details)

Save the date: Former U.S. Women's National Team player Joanna Lohman hosts an Amazing Race watch party at The Boot Room in Durham on Thursday, Oct. 1. Meet-and-greet at 8:30, the show at 9:30. RSVP, but it's first-come, and space is limited. (Details)

That's the short list. Everything else we're tracking, weeks out, lives on the calendar.

💬 Heard Around Town

r/bullcity has spent the week fighting over Dampf Good BBQ, the truck headed for the old Pit space, and its owner's politics. He has answered back in videos on Facebook and Instagram, and somebody already made a parody account. (Thread)
Cary's Town Council voted unanimously to keep two town-owned parcels near downtown as permanent natural open space instead of selling them. (Thread)
A neighbor has now passed the man with the cheerful sign near Main and Duke streets twice and would like to know his story. (Thread)

🏡 Triangle Pulse

📊 Stat of the brief: Wake County homes are moving fastest in the Triangle right now — a median of 58 days on the market in August, against 61 in Durham and 64 in Orange. (Realtor.com research data, August 2026)

Before You Go

There's a grassy median in the Lakewood Shopping Center parking lot that's about to smell like somebody's grandmother's garden. Tiffany Griffin, who makes perfumes and candles at Bright Black in the same center, is planting a scent garden there called Proud Roots, honoring the people who raised Pauli Murray a mile away in West End. About 30 volunteers broke ground on Sept. 13. The plant list so far includes lavender, sweetgrass, fig, Carolina roses, and thornless blackberries.

🧠 Brain break: today's Daily Fury is live. Five questions, the same five for everyone. Defend the Triangle's honor.

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