Durham · Chapel Hill · Raleigh · October 28, 2026

Durham's First Fringe Festival

⚡ Quick Hits

🎭 Durham's first FRINGE Festival opens Friday with 50 artists in 25 venues.
🏈 UNC hosts No. 1 Miami at Kenan Stadium on Halloween night at 7:30.
🛒 North Carolina and 19 other states are suing Dollar General for overcharging customers at the register.

🔔 Heads Up

🌫️ Weather: Patchy fog early Wednesday, then dry with highs from 70 to 79 through Sunday and a 50% chance of showers Sunday night. (NWS)
🗳️ Voting: Early voting ends at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at any early voting site in your county, and it's your last chance to register and vote the same day. Bring a photo ID, and find your sample ballot in the Voter Search. (NCSBE)
🏫 Schools: No school Friday for Chapel Hill-Carrboro students, and Durham Public Schools' traditional-calendar students are off Monday and Tuesday, both also marked as inclement-weather reserve days. (DPS)

📌 Top Story

Durham's first FRINGE Festival opens Friday and runs 10 days, with 50 Durham artists in 25 venues from downtown to Golden Belt — about half of the shows ticketed, at $10 to $25. The Carolina Theatre is throwing it for its 100th birthday, and acts were picked partly for how far they strayed from their usual work. Expect dancers in bars, musicians in bookstores, and a potter-and-poets show where you decide whether to keep a clay piece or smash it to read the poem hidden inside.

📰 Around the Triangle

Durham's tree canopy keeps growing: a new assessment puts it at 54.7% of the city, up from 52% in 2016, even after the city limits stretched to take in new development. (INDY Week)
Chatham residents want a statewide pause on data centers: they're asking for two years over water and river worries, while a 750-megawatt project near Moncure moves ahead despite the county's own moratorium. (WRAL)
Pittsboro put Google Fiber on hold: the town issued a stop-work order after contractors hit several existing lines around town. (Chapelboro)
Cary shop owners are fighting an $84 million NCDOT plan: lowering Maynard Road and building a bridge at the Chatham Street railroad crossing could displace longtime stores and restaurants. (ABC11)
North Carolina is suing Dollar General: Attorney General Jeff Jackson and 19 colleagues in other states say the chain charges more at the register than the shelf price. (NC Newsline)
eCourts' builder will settle for up to $1.5 million: the class action covers people arrested or held too long during the state's switch to eCourts, and Tyler Technologies admits no wrongdoing. (The Assembly)

📅 Plan Your Week

🎂 Wednesday, October 28 (Today)

Halloween Cake Art Night: Ment Beverage Co., Durham, 7 to 9 p.m. Paint right onto a big shared cake. $12 with materials and a drink. (Details)
Yoga Under the Stars: Morehead Planetarium, Chapel Hill, 6 to 7 p.m. Laura Terry's class, with space visuals. $30. (Details)

🎺 Thursday, October 29

Halloween Concert: Durham Central Park Pavilion, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Durham Community Concert Band's annual Halloween show. (Details)
Costume Silent Disco: Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Come as an artwork or in any costume; the first 20 get a free drink ticket. (Details)

🎳 Friday, October 30

Rewind the Night: A 1990s Bingo Party: Durham Armory, 6 to 10 p.m. Bucket hats, windbreakers, and neon scrunchies at the Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties' costume fundraiser. $1 to $20. (Details)
BLACK LODGE and BARDO: Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill, 7 p.m. Eerie installations in rarely seen spaces, then a Lynchian goth-rock opera. Costumes encouraged. (Details)

🎃 Saturday, October 31

Durham Farmers' Market Fall Fest: Durham Central Park, 8 a.m. to noon. A vendor costume contest, sack races, face painting, and hot cider. Free. 👨‍👩‍👧 (Details)
Halloween Drag Brunch: Counting House at 21c Museum Hotel, Durham, doors at 11:30 a.m. Drag and a costume contest. $65 with brunch, $25 for the show. 21+. (Details)
UNC vs. No. 1 Miami: Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, 7:30 p.m., on ABC. (Details)

🎻 Sunday, November 1

Jenny Elder Fitch Memorial Lecture: N.C. Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, 4 to 5:15 p.m. Uli Lorimer of the Native Plant Trust digs into ecological horticulture. Free; preregistration required. (Details)
Raleigh Civic Symphony: 1776, Trombone!: Talley Student Union, NC State, 4 p.m. Copland, Jennifer Higdon, and the world premiere of Brian Raphael Nabors' Trombone Concerto. Up to $12. (Details)

There's more on the calendar, and it keeps going well past Sunday.

🍴 Openings & Closings

The Triangle's bagel boom keeps rolling: PopUp Bagels has leased space in Raleigh's Village District, H&H Bagels lists a Cary shop at Waverly Place as coming soon, and Raleigh's Benchwarmers is up to three locations. (Midtown Magazine)

💬 Heard Around Town

Durham neighbors have had it with street racing after midnight. (Thread)
A daily commuter to UNC says this is the first year e-bikes and scooters have become a real problem on campus, with riders ignoring traffic rules. (Thread)
Orange County needs seasonal staff and community help for its Cold Weather Cots emergency shelter program before temperatures drop. (Thread)
A bonded pair of twins up for adoption at the Pet Supplies Plus on Hillsborough Road sat so still that the poster first thought they weren't real. (Thread)

🏡 Triangle Pulse

About ten miles from Siler City, in western Chatham County, a foot-wide bare path forms a perfect circle 40 feet across. Legend says the devil paces it on his nightly walks. When the state Department of Agriculture tested the soil, it found the path sterile from extremely high salt, with natural salt licks nearby. (NCpedia)

Before You Go

Durham's Fluid Community Garage is an auto shop built on the idea that there are no stupid questions about your car. Supporters gave $22,166 on GoFundMe before it opened in May, and 60 to 70 people showed up to clean up a lot that had looked like a junkyard.

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

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