Hotels across Raleigh selling out ahead of Carolina Hurricanes Championship Parade

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — With 100,000 Caniacs set to fill the streets of downtown Raleigh Saturday for the Carolina Hurricanes Championship Parade, hotels across the city are seeing a huge jump in reservations.

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“This is the largest crowd I think we’ve ever had in Raleigh, period,” Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell said.

“Ninety degrees and hockey jerseys, whoever thought it right? Outside in Raleigh,” said Allen Thomas, president and CEO of the North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association. “I think it’s going to be a real great celebration, the best thing about it, it’s going to be parents and their kids, they’ll be talking about this parade, this celebration for decades just like we did 20 years ago.”

The predicted huge crowds are bringing a big boost to hotels across the city.

“At this point, I think we’re going to be completely sold out of rooms, if we’re not already. Last I heard, it’s just a handful left, which is great,” said Bill King, president and CEO of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.

And it’s not just Caniacs coming from out of town.

“A lot of folks from here in Raleigh themselves are doing ‘staycations,’ they’re getting party rooms, they’re getting here Friday and staying through the whole parade time,” Thomas explained.

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Thomas added that this is also a perfect time for hotels and restaurants to see these types of crowds, with a typical lull between the end of the school year and July Fourth celebrations.

“You never expect this time in June to have this kind of activity,” he said.

All those Caniacs are set to deliver a potentially record-breaking weekend for economic impact for the city.

“People for all these games have been filling the bars, outdoor watch parties, so it’s been a really visible impact already. And obviously this will be incredibly visible,” said King.

In a sign of just how many people will be coming to Raleigh, Mayor Cowell says the Amtrak train set to arrive in Raleigh an hour before the parade is already sold out.

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