Editor’s note: Halweil is the CEO of Legacy Event Planners, a non-profit organization involved in planning the Hillsborough Street Renaissance.

On Saturday, March 14th, 2009 Hillsborough Street will be closed from Gardner Street to Enterprise Street for an all-day green arts and music festival featuring ReDress (an eco-friendly fashion show), an organic cook-off, an alternative fuel vehicle showcase and live local music, including Brooks Wood Band and Inflowential. Beyond providing a fun and educational event, the Festival will prove that Raleigh students can work towards building a better, more sustainable community environment.

The goal of the Hillsborough Street Renaissance is to create a better place for the Raleigh community to live, work and socialize together. Students from our very own North Carolina State University as well as Meredith College, Peace College, Shaw University, St. Augustine’s University and Wake Tech College are working to prove that the skills we currently are acquiring can be used to affect positive change. It is our hope that in a little over five months, the Hillsborough Street Renaissance will help make these goals a reality.

Hillsborough Street is about to undergo a major revitalization. Beginning in the spring of 2009, planned improvements for the street include adding trees, extra parking, underground power lines, two roundabouts and wider sidewalks. The festival will showcase these renovations and bring much-needed advertising and revenue to struggling businesses in this area. The event will also promote green technologies and projects that can benefit the Raleigh community. Beyond showcasing Hillsborough’s physical facelift, the Festival will be raising money for various non-profit organizations including North Carolina State University’s very own Engineers Without Borders Chapter and MorLove charity.

We need to breathe new life into this once thriving area and reestablish Hillsborough Street as a place for the Raleigh community to live, work and play. In order to do this, we need your help! We need to plan an event so amazing that it is remembered for years to come, an event so monumental it becomes a Raleigh tradition. Mark your calendar — we are going to make this something you will not want to miss.

As the CEO of Legacy Event Planners (the non-profit organization working to plan the Hillsborough Street Renaissance) as well as the Director of Operations for the Festival, itself, I encourage you to become involved with the planning of this event. The goal for this festival is to raise $150,000. This may seem like a lot of money at a time when the economy is in a recession and students are piling up loans, however many other non-student run festivals have raised even more than this.

Thanks to City Council’s approval, the street is ours for the day. Let’s make the most of it. Let’s show the world what we can accomplish with a little bit of work and a whole lot of creativity, proving that we can rise to the task of becoming leaders while having an incredible amount of fun.

Footnote: For more information on how to become involved with the planning of this event please join the Facebook group: the Hillsborough Street Renaissance and check out the Web site: www.legacyeventplanners.org.