Why you should come to downtown Raleigh’s free Fan Fest even if you’re not a hockey fan

If you haven’t noticed the five-story Carolina Hurricanes players plastered on Raleigh skyscraper windows or breathlessly followed the icing of Carter-Finley Stadium, you might have missed that Raleigh has whipped itself into a hockey-fueled tizzy.

On Saturday night, the city hosts the latest installment of the NHL Stadium Series — unique partly because one city gets it per year, but mostly because it’s played outdoors. Money generated by the game alone is expected to top $12 million.

Then there’s the week-long hockey buildup, finishing on Friday with Fan Fest, a free, all-day party on Fayetteville Street downtown, involving 14 live bands ranging from Kooley High to Superchunk, 33 food trucks offering cheese curds to cheesecake — not to mention 200 drones performing a synchronized light show over the Capitol.

For four hours Friday afternoon, anybody downtown can get a picture with the Stanley Cup.

“It’s huge,” Hurricanes spokesman Mike Forman said. “It puts the spotlight on Raleigh.”

Though hard to believe, there are people in Raleigh who only care about Carolina Hurricanes when they blow into town and drop trees on their minivans.

The city still holds a handful of people who think the Stanley Cup is made of red plastic and keeps drinks cold at a tailgate party.

And stranger still, a sizable percentage of North Carolina’s capital never says the word “hockey” without first saying “bull.”

So why participate in the citywide hockey frenzy, especially on an otherwise perfect Friday afternoon, if you count yourself in any of these categories?

Read on, with this Fan Fest preview for all non-puckheads.

More than hockey

One week out, tickets for Saturday’s game at Carter-Finley were selling for $240 apiece at the cheapest. Throw in $40 for parking.

Fan Fest, though, is free from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Without trying very hard, a spectator could skip the hockey theme altogether.

Despite this, the Canes are hoping for a crowd topping 10,000 for their 25th anniversary in the state.

Music runs all day on two stages, with all NC-based acts starting with Ashley La Rue Band and finishing with Toubab Krewe. There’s a Ferris wheel running on Fayetteville Street, possibly offering a rooftop view.

Any mascot from every sport will be shaking hands: the Canes’ own Stormy, of course, plus Wool E. Bull and Muddy the Mudcat, Eddie the Eagle from N.C. Central University, Sir Minty from Charlotte FC soccer.

Special appearances only get more eclectic: the Stampede of Love miniature horses, Mop Top the Hip Hop Scientist ...

“This is an event in downtown Raleigh that is really going to set the bar,” Jennifer Martin, executive director of Shop Local Raleigh said. “You’ve got pickle ball, miniature horses, 200 drones synchronized to do a lighted display, fireworks from the Capitol grounds, which has never been done.”

‘Hockey sprinkled throughout’

Raleigh did score the Stadium Series in the same year as the Canes’ 25th anniversary, and the team’s season is on a tear.

So the Fan Fest offers a chance to get player autographs, meet Stormy the ice hog and watch a street hockey scrimmage downtown.

Live ice sculpture carving adds to the winter sports atmosphere, as do the beer stations.

The NHL takes over the stadium property for the game’s duration, which shifted the fan celebration downtown. Raleigh is only one of two or three NHL teams without a downtown arena, Forman said, so the Canes were looking for ways to boost interest.

“It’s under our umbrella, but there’s so many aspects that have nothing to do with hockey,” Forman said. “There’s a Ferris wheel. But yes, we’ll have hockey sprinkled throughout.”

Hockey outdoors?

Downtown fun aside, the spectacle capping off this week is outdoor ice hockey in front of a stadium-sized crowd, requiring a frozen field. The idea captivates as much as a basketball game on an aircraft carrier, which UNC fans will recall from 2011.

As much buzz as it generates, ice hockey started out on lakes and ponds, and still gets played there in far-off states where the ice gets thick enough.

In fact, the first recorded indoor ice hockey game dates to only 1875 in Montreal, and true to form, according to the Daily British Whig, “shins and heads were battered” in a post-game fight.

Shin-battering in Raleigh is discouraged.