If you think this is going to be a legitimate list of “hot spots” in Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs, then you’ve clearly never been to Fuquay-Varina/Holly Springs come to the right place. Ready for a list of the hottest venues in town? Grab that ticonderoga pencil and your monogrammed notepad, and start taking notes. FVM is basically the Stefon of the Triangle, and this is your WEEKEND UPDATE.
The Walmarts
Notice I made this plural, because as most of you know, there’s a Walmart in both Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina, and they both have their own unique brand of NOPE excitement and joie de vivre. For a classier night out, head to the Holly Springs Walmart to view the local wildlife (vultures and dump chickens) as you stroll through the oversized parking lot in your crocs and completely forget where you parked your car. For a more cultural experience, head to Fuquay by day to see residents in their daily uniform (cookie monster PJs), or visit the parking lot around 1 a.m. to watch teenagers drag race with RC cars.
Starbucks
If you’re into monster trucks but you can’t afford Monster Jam tickets this year, look no further than the Starbucks drive-thru line in both Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs! Enjoy your beverage of choice while watching Janet and Karen hurl their minivans over the curb, destroying their tires in an endless quest for a decent flat white.
South Wake Landfill (The Dump)
Not everyone in town appreciates the South Wake Landfill, particularly when they’ve bought a house right next to it, but trust me, this place is LIT. Just last year I took a free dump tour and reviewed it in this very column. If you think I was the only one on the tour, you’d be WRONG. You’d have better luck finding true love at The Brick than you’d have scoring some last minute tickets to tour the dump. That tour bus was packed full of bird enthusiasts, homeschoolers, random old people, Prius drivers, Whole Foods addicts AND MORE.
AMC DINE-IN Holly Springs 9 (Formerly Known As Ovation)
In case you are new here, this is the only movie theater in the Holly Springs/Fuquay area. Remember the days when we all had to drive to Cary or Apex to watch a film on the big screen? Those days are gone, and we now have a fancy-shmancy movie theater that we can smuggle free snacks into. This isn’t a Blue Ridge one dollar special, y’all. This place has reclining pleather seats. If you’re lucky enough to snag one that doesn’t make embarrassing fart sounds during the crucial part of a movie, then you’re really living the dream.
Hilltop Needmore Town Park and Preserve
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, or you’re simply blissfully ignorant, the creation of this brand new park in Fuquay-Varina was harder than my dog’s poop when I finally find it up on the third floor behind the couch. It didn’t come easy, but Fuquay now has a pretty little park that could make Cary residents jealous (and that’s saying something). As I write this, the park is not yet open, but the signs have been installed and trespassers eager residents are walking the trails and taking beautiful sunset pictures for Facebook. What a time to be alive.
The Fuquay-Varina Arts Center
Also known as The Farts Center by literally no one but me, Fuquay is now A TOWN OF THE ARTS AND CULTURE (as evidenced by the rest of this issue), and we have the building to prove it. Originally a Belk department store, this modern, art deco-inspired space includes an art gallery; offices; digital, painting and dance studios; classrooms and a 294-seat theater — apparently 300 seats is just tacky. Pretend you’re in NYC while you take in a show and browse the gallery, DAHlings, but remember to hide your dollar-store bags in the car.
Fuquay’s Action Park
According to teenagers in town, sports aren’t the only reason this park is called ACTION park. Yep, let’s all take a moment to get over the dry heaves. Every town has a place where teenagers go to make out, and apparently a 14-acre park with a baseball/softball field and a playground is a place of romance and intrigue, because THIS IS FUQUAY, PEOPLE. (Oh, Kaedyn would never do something like that? Okay, Karen.)
Bojangles
If you thought for a minute that I was going to get through this whole list without mentioning Bo Time, then you’ve clearly never followed my Facebook page, you uncultured swine. According to sources (of which I have none), Fuquay-Varina is the proud owner of the busiest Bojangles in the state of North Carolina. Oh, you don’t think that’s accurate? Drive by Bojangles one morning, and see for yourself. The only fast-food restaurant in town that can compete with the sheer amount of cars in a drive-thru would be …
Cook Out
Okay, allow me to clarify. Cook Out on a Friday night is packed full of squatted trucks and jeeps with green and purple underglow, so if you really have a hankering for a strawberry milkshake, be sure you get there before 6 p.m. Exaggeration, you say? NOPE. Cook Out tends to be a teenage hotspot, but any redneck can enjoy the smell of hotdogs and the sounds of engine revving, if they play their cards right.
Target
In some areas Target would just be considered a store, but in Holly Springs, Target is considered a lifestyle. Oh, you haven’t seen your wife in 24 hours? She’s at Target. Worried your teenagers are vandalizing parks all over town? Nope, they’re just wandering in and around Target, popping wheelies in the bike section. Target is a siren’s call to every resident of Fuquay-Varina, too, especially classy folks who shop in leggings instead of sweats.
- Explore the Arts
- Knowledge and Inspiration with the Fuquay-Varina Arts Council
- Flair for the Dramatic with Stageworks Theatre
- Strike Up the Holly Springs Community Band
- The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park in Wilson
- The Dogwoods of Winter
- Laurel Bar + Food at Cellar 55
- Art in the Ordinary
- Art & Education
- Woman At Work
- In Healing Color
- Moonlight Excursion Baltic Porter from Mason Jar Lager Company
- FVM’s 10 Hottest Spots in Fuquay-Varina & Holly Springs
