Durham · Chapel Hill · Raleigh · October 22, 2026

Three Michelin Bibs for the Triangle

⚡ Quick Hits

🍽️ Ideal's in Durham, Tesoro in Carrboro, and Ajja in Raleigh earned Michelin Bib Gourmands.
🐶 Pupalooza fills Durham Central Park with dogs in costume Saturday afternoon.
🎡 Six nonperishable food items get you into the State Fair free on Thursday.

🔔 Heads Up

🌤️ Weather: Sunny and dry through Monday, with highs from 65 to 71 and lows in the low 40s. (NWS)
🗳️ Voting: Early voting runs until 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at any early voting site in your county, and you can register and vote the same day. Bring a photo ID, and find your sample ballot in the Voter Search. (NCSBE)
🎡 State Fair: The fair ends Sunday. On Thursday, six nonperishable items, like canned goods or peanut butter, get you in free at any gate for Hunger Relief Day. (NCDA&CS)

First Up

Durham Parks and Recreation's Pupalooza takes over Durham Central Park on Saturday from 3:30 to 6:30. There will be costume contests with prizes, tie-dye bandanas and flower crowns, a photo station, a pup-up market, food trucks, a beer tent, live music from Miss Mini & the Sandman Band and adoptable dogs will be there too!

📰 Around the Triangle

Three new Michelin Bib Gourmands for the Triangle: Ideal's, the east Durham sandwich shop on Angier Avenue, Tesoro in Carrboro, and Ajja in Raleigh were among 14 new Bibs in the Michelin Guide American South, announced Wednesday night in Nashville. (The Adventurist)
Durham joins a Bloomberg housing pilot: it's one of 30 cities getting $450,000 to $750,000 and expert help to build more accessory dwelling units and other kinds of housing. (WUNC)
A plan for Durham's closed, lead-contaminated parks: the city is paying A1 Consulting Group about $670,000 to lay out cleanup options for Walltown, Lyon, East Durham, and Northgate, parts of which have been closed for three years. (INDY Week)
Duke Energy's $42 monthly credit ends Dec. 31: about 80,000 customers in its assistance program lose it, and proposed rate increases would start Jan. 1 if regulators approve them. (WRAL)
UNC settles 18 federal civil rights investigations: the deal with the Justice Department requires color-blind admissions and mandatory antisemitism training through 2028, and UNC stays eligible for federal funding. (ABC11)
Cary weighs nine fixes after its state audit: the auditor found a "culture of extravagant spending," and the council could act Thursday on steps like restoring the internal auditor job former manager Sean Stegall eliminated. (WRAL)
Chuck Amato has died at 80: the former NC State coach went 49-37 from 2000 to 2006, and his 2002 team's 11 wins are still the program's only double-digit season. (WUNC)

📅 Plan Your Week

🎸 Thursday, October 22 (Today)

Oso Oso: Motorco, Durham, 8 p.m. The Long Beach, N.Y., rock band, with Leisure Hour and Bad Luck. $31. (Details)
Monthly Mahjong: DSSOLVR, Durham, from 6:30 p.m. Free play; bring your 2026 card. (Details)

🎭 Friday, October 23

Kingdom Come: Shadowbox Studio, Durham, 7:30 p.m. A one-actor play about a woman who goes home to Tennessee for her mother's surgery. Early-bird tickets $20. (Details)
Clint Black & Midland: DPAC, 7 p.m. (Details)
Kooky Spooky Halloween Party: Marbles Kids Museum, Raleigh, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Costumes, a monster mash, and mad scientist experiments. $22, $20 for members. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)

🐶 Saturday, October 24

Pupalooza: Durham Central Park, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Costume contests, a pup-up market, and adoptable dogs. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)
Popsicle: Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, doors at 3, music at 4. The Connells, Superdrag, Chuck Prophet, Young Fresh Fellows, and more. (Details)
Raleigh Greek Festival: Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 5000 Lead Mine Road, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and noon to 5 on Sunday. (Details)

💀 Sunday, October 25

Chapel Hill Día de Muertos: 140 West Franklin plaza, noon to 4 p.m. Art vendors, music, and live performances. Free. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)
Chapel Hill Biscuit Festival Chef's Tasting: American Legion Post 6, 2 to 6 p.m. Proceeds go to SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals. (Details)
National Visit a Cemetery Day Tour: Historic Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh, 10 a.m. An hour on who's buried there and how the cemetery fits Raleigh's history. $15. (Details)

🎤 Monday, October 26

Dev Lemons: Motorco, Durham, 8 p.m. The alt-pop songwriter and comedian, with Abby Kenna. (Details)

This is the short list. The rest lives on the calendar, weeks out.

🍴 Openings & Closings

Red Hat Amphitheater's last show is Steve Lacy, Friday at 8: Victoria Monét canceled her Oct. 27 date, and the new amphitheater a block away is due for the 2027 season. (WRAL)

💬 Heard Around Town

Raleigh came out worst among the 50 largest U.S. cities in a car accident study making the rounds on r/raleigh — 29.1 accidents per 1,000 drivers, against a national rate of 17.9. (Thread)
A lifelong State Fair regular says the fair's food side lost its soul this year. (Thread)
Someone parked in a private lot near The Gathering Place in Chapel Hill, missed the signs, and now has questions about car boots. (Thread)
A Chapel Hill cyclist thanked the dog walker at Franklin and Graham who called out a driver trying to turn right across the protected bike lane. (Thread)

🏡 Triangle Pulse

Washington Duke came home from the Civil War to learn that Union soldiers had been happily sampling local Bright Leaf tobacco. He decided to sell it, starting in a small log building on his homestead near Durham, with hand-lettered tags reading "Pro Bono Publico" — Latin for "for the public good." (NC Historic Sites)

Before You Go

Chapel Hill's Joe Welsh designed Making Monsters with his kids and nieces while he was being treated for a rare lymphoma, and it's now Barnes & Noble's 2026 Family Game of the Year. Players are mad scientists building monster squads on a Lazy Susan board, and the family came up with the punny monster names.

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

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