DURHAM (Sept. 25, 2018) - At this year’s Art of Cool Festival, only musicians will be blowing horns if enough festivalgoers use three GoDurham and GoTriangle park-and-ride lots to avoid having to drive and park in downtown Durham during the two-day concert extravaganza.
For the first time, the transit agencies are providing extended bus service to the festival, which offers 25 bands over two days at six downtown venues. The event, in its fifth year, is this weekend.
“Parking is limited downtown, so this is a big chance to try to find a solution,” says Cicely Mitchell, festival co-founder. “We thought, let’s not even have people park downtown. I really, really hope people will use this opportunity. It’s a minimal fee, but you can ride all day. They can be dropped off at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park easy-peasy.”
From 6 p.m. until 1 a.m. on Sept. 28 and 29, GoDurham will operate Route 10 and GoTriangle will operate Route 700 every 20 minutes into and out of downtown Durham. This will enable Triangle residents and visitors to use three park-and-ride lots to access the festival.
Those lots are:
- Regional Transit Center, 901 Slater Road, Durham. A free 100-space park-and-ride lot. Requires $4.50 for a day pass to enable round-trip transportation; 25-minute trip to downtown Durham.
- Parkway Plaza, 4201 University Drive, Durham. A free 37-space park-and-ride lot. Requires $2 for a day pass to enable round-trip transportation; 30-minute trip to downtown Durham
- Patterson Place, McFarland Drive and Witherspoon Boulevard, Durham. A free 77-space park-and-ride lot. Requires $2 for a day pass to enable round-trip transportation; 40-minute trip to downtown Durham.
Park-and-ride users will need exact change to buy passes on the bus. Passes can be bought in advance at Durham Station or the Regional Transit Center or online at gotriangle.org/fares-and-passes.
“I feel like this is going to be a lifesaver and a game-changer in how people experience large events in downtown Durham,” Mitchell says. “I hope our festival can be a catalyst for that, that it will change people’s minds about how they go to the DPAC and other entertainment that’s happening in downtown Durham.”
The Art of Cool Festival’s hip hop, R&B, jazz and soul music shows will be spread among the Beyu Caffe, Carolina Theater, Durham Armory, Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Motorco and Pinhook. Find a schedule of the music events here.
“The idea behind the festival is kind of two-fold, and one is, of course, to connect musicians in black American music with the community,” Mitchell says. “And for those people who aren’t familiar with downtown Durham, we have this wonderful event where you hop around from venue to venue, enjoy downtown in a fun environment and fall in love with downtown Durham. We hope you don’t only enjoy the music at our authorized music venues but discover a cool ice cream shop or unique bar around the corner from the venue. It’s a cool calling card for downtown Durham.”
For more information about riding the bus to the festival, please see godurhamtransit.org/artofcool.