SPARKconX – art, music, comedy, geek, and more - Crowd Vibes

More SPARKcon happening on Saturday, September 19. Check out our SPARKcon adventures from Friday night. As Merri Beth and I were getting into Downtown Raleigh, we totally forgot about the Nog Run Octoberfest 8k. When we turned onto Wilmington Street it was gridlock. Total chaos due to multiple street closures. We eventually navigated to the City Center parking deck via side streets and got on our way—but it took us much longer than expected.

Out first stop was Red Hat Annex, where geekSPARK took over with robots, lego’s, 3-D printers, digital showcases, games, and much more. There was a room packed full of kids hacking on Minecraft (learning to code).

As we were heading over to the main drag, we bumped into Craig, the main organizer for swearSPARK. He was freaking out due to traffic and was carrying all the supplies he needed for the event. We helped him deliver the supplies to The London Bridge Pub, where the event was starting at 5:00 pm.

Merri Beth and I began to stroll down Fayetteville Street and took in all the sites. We especially enjoy the artSPARK sidewalk chalk drawings. We saw the giant electric guitar on Davie Street and met our friend Andrea. Then is was time for swearSPARK.

We settled in at the The London Bridge Pub and completed our curse word brackets. Part of comedySPARK, swearSPARK is an NCAA-style field of 64 curse words with the goal to have the crowd select their favorite. The event involves voting with 8-year old beans, dramatic urban dictionary readings, songs, and much more. As we got to the final two words, Mother Fucker and Fuckface, the crowd was given construction paper and crayons to draw their choice for the winner. The champion this year, Fuckface and the drawing were interesting to saw the least.

Next was dinner at Capital Club 16. Andrea, MB, and I walked a few blocks over and were able to get a nice table near the window. Great service, good food. My only complaint is that it’s really loud in there. They need something to absorb some noise.

After some dinner, we were back out into the bowels of SPARKcon. We watched some of the circusSPARK fire circle, with a special tribute to Elvis. Andrea had to leave, while MB and I continued on and stumbled on stand-up comedy at the City of Raleigh Museum (CORE). We bumped into Mary-Ann Baldwin and her husband Jim, and after the comedy show, got back together at the fashionSPARK after party at The Hive at Busy Bee.

Rounding out the night, we ended up at The Pour House to see some of the bands from musicSPARK. On the playlist, The MADD Hatters and The Archbishops of Blount Street. Both were great shows!