The two-day party to celebrate the opening of Raleigh's new convention center starts at noon today with the official ribbon-cutting. The opening ceremony of "Raleigh Wide Open," in the lobby off Cabarrus Street, will be followed by an international festival and expo and 10 hours of musical performances on three different stages.

Several streets in Downtown Raleigh are closed today so as to accommodate the festivities:

* The 100 to 400 blocks of Fayetteville Street

* Hargett, Martin, and Davie streets between Salisbury and Wilmington streets

* Salisbury Street between Cabarrus and South streets.

These streets will reopen on 1 a.m. Sunday.

Tours of the convention center will be offered between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Among the musical highlights on today's schedule are Arrested Development from 5:45 to 7 p.m. and Chuck Berry from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

A Kids' Zone and Carnival will be set up at Wilmington and Lenoir streets from 5 to 9 p.m., and the movie "Shrek the Third" will play in Moore Square from 8:30 to 10 p.m.

A fireworks display at 10 p.m. caps tonight's activities. Saturday's events start at 11 a.m.

In addition, streets will be closed to accommodate Saturday’s parade that begins at 6 p.m. The parade will assemble at the intersection of Salisbury and Hillsborough streets. It will then proceed south on Salisbury Street to Morgan Street, east on Morgan to Fayetteville Street, south on Fayetteville to Davie Street, west on Davie to Salisbury Street, and then south on Salisbury to the new Raleigh Convention Center for disassembly.

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