Three things we learned this week about IKEA, sports fans and why eclipses are popular

Bill Church
·4 min read

Happy Halifax Resolves Days weekend, which is a thing.

The thing happened on Friday 248 years ago when a bunch of frat guys in wigs high-fived and chest-bumped, declaring it was time to move out of the house from their boring Brit parents. Someone from the North Carolina Provincial Congress shouted “Don’t Tread on ACC basketball,” and … swish … North Carolina became the first colonial government to call for independence.

Two years later, we have the Declaration of Independence, and now Ralph Lauren provides snazzy outfits for the U.S. Olympics teams.

This is a revisionist version of what happened in Halifax, NC. (I’m not a historian, but who doesn’t like finding bobbleheads at historical-place gift shops.)

We have a lot of lifelong learners in the Triangle. Best part of my job is learning new stuff each workweek.

Here are three didn’t-know-then-but-know-now moments from last week:

1. We’re too cool for IKEA

The News & Observer’s Brian Gordon is a former teacher who brings perpetual curiosity to his top-notch reporting. Brian likely was the kid in class who politely raised his hand again and again.

Last week, Brian’s NC Reality Check revealed why IKEA, the Swedish furniture and households giant, doesn’t have the Triangle in its expansion plans. Jeremy Petranka, an economics professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, told Brian that the Triangle might not be an ideal place to land a traditional IKEA.

We may be Austin’s classically cool cousin, but apparently we’re too suburban.

Ouch.

Oh, this hasn’t kept IKEA from flirting with our hearts. They looked in Cary, but decided not to swipe right. This was the headline from a 2018 N&O story, and it still stings: “IKEA shocker: Popular furniture store is not coming to Cary after all.”

But that’s IKEA’s loss, not ours.

Y’all probably know about IKEA’s wordless how-to instruction sheets that have the charm of M.C. Escher illustrations — if he had been uncaffeinated and bored.

Do a bit of math and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the Triangle has 25,126 residents in architectural or engineering fields and 2,676 designers or art creators. (We also have 240 floral designers, which proves our classically cool rep.)

All of those right- and left-brainers, enjoying life in the ‘burbs, and available to build better instruction guides.

We could have helped, IKEA.

2. Y’all liked it, y’all really liked it

Sports coverage is tricky in the Triangle. Everyone has the right opinion on what’s wrong. And what’s too much.

The News & Observer posted 176 stories during the college basketball tournament twists, and those stories accounted for about 40% of the N&O’s overall subscriber page views during that three-week span.

Thanks for your interest. We felt it.

It’s why we’re publishing a commemorative book highlighting North Carolina State’s historic run to the Final Four. We’ll have 144 pages covering the tournament stories for both the Wolfpack men and women. (You’ll find ads in the N&O print edition or click the order link on digital devices.)

One of my favorite moments happened before the season started when The N&O’s Kaitlin McKeown photographed NC State’s DJ Burns, being, well, DJ. His tilted sunglasses brought out that big personality and inspired Raleigh-based artist Sean Kernick.

N.C. State’s D.J. Burns poses for a portrait during the Wolfpack men’s basketball media day on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, in Raleigh, N.C.
N.C. State’s D.J. Burns poses for a portrait during the Wolfpack men’s basketball media day on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, in Raleigh, N.C.

Kernick drew from Kaitlin’s image to create a mural for the Free Expression Tunnel at NC State’s Wolf Plaza. Avi Bajpai profiled Kernick and the story behind the mural as part of The N&O’s coverage.

A mural of NC State’s DJ Burns Jr. spans a section of wall at an entrance to the Free Expression Tunnel on the university’s main campus on Thursday, April 4, 2024 as the men’s basketball team readies for the Final Four game on Saturday.
A mural of NC State’s DJ Burns Jr. spans a section of wall at an entrance to the Free Expression Tunnel on the university’s main campus on Thursday, April 4, 2024 as the men’s basketball team readies for the Final Four game on Saturday.

I doubt the North Carolina Provincial Congress thought about commemorative books and inspiring murals when they pushed for independence and democratic freedoms 248 years ago. But you’ve got to love the back story.

3. We’re over the moon about the eclipse

I blame pollen head for not picking up on why our local Publix had a sale on mini MoonPies — the gooey snack that should be its own food group.

But it all made sense on Monday.

We didn’t get totality in the Triangle, but The N&O’s Travis Long captured the local joy of the classically cool moon outshining its older sibling sun.

A composite image of the solar eclipse as seen during a watch party at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at UNC-Chapel Hill on Monday, April 8, 2024.
A composite image of the solar eclipse as seen during a watch party at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at UNC-Chapel Hill on Monday, April 8, 2024.

Josh Shaffer also wrote a sweet Uniquely NC profile on Johnny Horne, a retired Fayetteville Observer photographer who has witnessed six eclipses worldwide since 1970. Horne was in Austin for No. 6: ““They’re the top. They’re the Super Bowl. There’s really nothing quite like them.”

The Triangle will have its total eclipse experience on May 11, 2078.

That’s 54 years from now.

Imagine…

Halifax Resolves Days celebrating its 302nd anniversary by announcing the Washington National are relocating next to the Historic Halifax State Historic Site.

The N&O offering a commemorative book highlighting the Wolfpack’s tourney run with star player DJ Burns IV.

And Zebulon opening its second IKEA.

Bill Church is executive editor of The News & Observer.