Alfresco Alley set to return in downtown Cary

For a third straight year, a small section of downtown Cary will be closed off in the spring for “Alfresco Alley,” a space for outdoor dining.

The village Board of Trustees voted to approve the road closure during its meeting on Tuesday.

“Residents really seem to enjoy the alley,” said Courtney Sage, assistant to the village administrator. “We’ve received lots of positive feedback.”

The past setups have included picnic tables, string lights and planters in the street, accommodating dining and live music events.

The strip, which occupies roughly 200 feet along Spring Street between West Main and Cary streets, would go up from April to October this year, seven days a week. The city also applied for a grant to add additional amenities to the alley for this year.

Sage said the impact on traffic in the past was negligible. However, a streetscape project scheduled for the fall might cause the alley to be closed a little earlier, according to the agenda packet.

The streetscape work, including repaving the sidewalk and replacing the existing lighting with something like hanging lights over Main Street, is designed to bolster the downtown area’s role as a community gathering space.

The village also approved the creation of a downtown social district last November, where residents can drink publicly outdoors. The alley is one of four streets outlined in that measure.

The alley originally was created in 2020 after the state restricted indoor dining during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It allowed some of the village’s popular restaurants to stay open during that time.