LOCAL FEATURE
By Jennifer Primrose | May 25, 2016
Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown
The new Wendell Falls community feels more like a destination as it offers 10 miles of trails and pathways, outdoor pool, future access to the NC Mountains-to-Sea trail, Grounds Café featuring weekly events such as live music and weekend brunch. Once complete, this community will include up to 4,000 single-family homes.
On Saturday, May 21, Wendell Falls celebrated its 1-year anniversary with a day filled with family-friendly activities, bluegrass music by Old Habits, food trucks (D’Burrito, Wandering Moose, and Little Dippers Italian Ice), model home tours and a Hoedown Showdown celebrity dance competition. Of course, Triangle Around Town was on the scene! Advertising this event as a “barn raising” had me a tad confused so I went to the World Wide Web and did a google search. Did you know? According to dictionary.com, a barn raising is “… a party, usually providing food, drink, etc., for the purpose of assisting a neighbor to put up a new barn.” So, there you have it!
As we arrived we were asked to check-in. Little did I know we would be presented with an exclusive Barn Raising t-shirt and two drink tickets each. So, now we have our official souvenirs for the day and we were off to Grounds Café, located on the premises, to get some lunch as we waited for the Hoedown Showdown to begin.
We have only been to Grounds once and absolutely loved it! Any place that has a “Build Your Own Grilled Cheese” bar gets an “A” in my book. We decided to split The Justin, a pimento cheese with crispy bacon sandwich, and hand in our first two drink tickets. I was very excited to see my favorite cider on tap, Michigan-based Blakes Cider.
The Hoedown Showdown Celebrity Square Dance competition featured six local stars and media celebrities. Those competing for the grand prize of $1,000 towards a charity of their choice were:
- Kathy Hanrahan, editor, WRAL
- Bethany Wright, producer, TWC News 14
- Tina Currin, writer, Indy Weekly
- Grayson Currin, editor, Indy Weekly
- Johnny Whitfield, editor, Eastern Wake News/News & Observer
- Felicia Perry, photographer and CEO of Food-Seen.com
Felicia Perry won the competition donating the proceeds to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
We stayed a little while longer chatting with Bryan from Gizmo Beer Works and watching excited children have their photo taken with Muddy the Mudcat. Had we been able to stay longer, I would have loved to have done some model home tours.
Following the event, Grounds Café, located at the entrance to the development, kept the party going by also celebrating its 1-year anniversary. Besides the “Build Your Own Grilled Cheese,” Grounds also features coffee/espresso, breakfast items and local beer and wine. Check out their menu here.