WUG is in 2029. That will be a big event for our area.
2 Likes
And Raleigh will launch a replacement festival called the Raleigh Wide Open Bluegrass Festival.
âThe event will be held Oct. 3-4, 2025, and will largely bring a similar experience to the World of Bluegrass from a musical standpointâ
16 Likes
Hell yeah, this is honestly a surprising move but a welcome one. I feel like normally Raleigh would be like âoh, ok, guess weâll just stop doing bluegrass now that IBMA is leaving 
â but finally weâre growing a pair and just launching a similar, competing festival to replace this. Love to see it!
13 Likes
If what I heard is correct, the IBMA (awards ceremony) was always somewhat separate from the wide open world of bluegrass music festival, they collaborated and overlapped in Raleigh. It seemed like one thing, but the festival was organized and managed separately, so keeping it here is actually a fairly easy endeavor. Someone correct me if Iâm wrong
6 Likes
Iâm not a bluegrass-knowledgeable person, but I think youâre onto something there. Iâve heard of a few other different music festivals & associated awards being done in that exact manner. (First one comes to mind is an EDM fest thatâs done in Miamiâand another organization simultaneously has held Award show there the same exact week.)
Thereâs a logic to it, so that it doesnât risk a situation where it appears like artists or bands heavily involved in the festival arenât given a leg-up on winning awards.
1 Like
There is quite a bit more information in this Sept. 2023 article that announced the IBMA shift in venue. Also notes the planned replacement music festival to be hosted by the same org that was hosting the bluegrass festival.
Also references the year that Hurricane Ian forced the bluegrass festival indoors at the convention center. An enlarged CC would more easily handle a future weather contingency plan.
4 Likes
Chattanooga is a way smaller metro and city, and the Chattanooga Convention Center is smaller also.
Chattanooga Convention Center Chattanooga Tennessee 100,800 sq ft (9,360 m2) 160,580 sq ft (14,918 m2)
Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh North Carolina 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2) 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2)
I have a hunch that the leadership of IBMA is so hung-ho in being in Nashville, it failed the first time and theyâve slowly been trying to gain relevancy to move back in. Much like the ACC moved to Charlotte from Greensboro. C-Suites want that C-Suite lifestyle.
1 Like
For the sporty among us, some of the countryâs most elite runners are competing at Meredith tonight in the 2024 Sir Walter Miler. Always a fun event, with an afterparty at Raleigh Brewing.
6 Likes
If the NC Courage & NCFC build a 10k capacity stadium, expandable to 20k, the owner and city need to consider including a track. I think we have the potential to host televised youth and professional track meets.
6 Likes
Seeing what going on in Chicago Raleigh should host a DNC or RNC sometime in its future PNC is the venue we have 17,000 hotels in wake county thatâs more than the 15,000 threshold needed.
In order to host a convention like that, you need most of the hotel rooms either nearby or accessible by transit. Never mind the entire media apparatus that comes along with it. We are a LONG way away from that sort of capability.
Maybe PNC could host when all of that redevelopment is complete, and thatâs only because thereâs a shit-ton of parking around the arena/stadium and itâs adjacent to the fairgrounds. Still hotel rooms in the general/immediate area are a problem.
2 Likes
Count me as one that would prefer not to have either here, ever lol
2 Likes
I wouldnât mind the DNC but I donât think the RNC would do wellâour 5G networks in that part of the city canât handle all the headless profiles suddenly popping up on Grindr. 
11 Likes
So, and as I presumed, I did in fact feel very old.
I had walked through Packapalooza near the end of the day in yearsâ past, but I hadnât ever gone during primetime. Holy shit this thing is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. While I donât know how to count crowds, I would guess that there were tens of thousands in attendance.
Some observations:
- While there was a tent set up to register voters, there really wasnât much happening politically. Given that this is a presidential election year, I sort of expected more. There was one tent for a single local political race (sorry, I canât remember who). All in all, it was refreshingly void of political division. HoweverâŚ
- There were a lot of churches represented in their respective tents, but none of it felt really pushy. There was (and always is) that one guy holding up his sign about going to Hell as he walked around. Like usual, it looked like everyone was just ignoring him. AndâŚ
- There was one tent that was selling homemade food/snacks to raise money for Palestinians. That said, it too was pretty low key and non confrontational. All in all, I was glad that the event didnât have any sort of protest vibe from any side of the political spectrum.
- As expected, there were lots of vendors there to sign up students for bank accounts, cable service, etc.
- Like any outdoor fair, there were people hawking t-shirts, homemade candles, and any other junk that people might buy. I saw a lot of students walking around with small potted plants for their dorm rooms but I didnât see where those were being distributed.
- Fraternities, campus clubs, individual colleges, and Wolfpack sports were all represented. There was even this giant tent that was dedicated to anything artistic from singing groups, performance arts, and even the on-campus art museum.
- There was a corral of food and drink vendors, and folks were allowed to drink beer within the confines of the entire street fair.
- There was a MainStage for music and events. I am guessing most of that was for the evening, but I was gone by then.
- The university had tours that I attended. One was the Hallowed Places tour that explored the 7 that are on the main campus. I took that tour but left early to attend the final indepth tour of the Bell Tower.
- The Bell Tower Tour was terrific and I recommend it to every State alum. You learn more about its history (most of which I already knew), and you get to go inside of it to see its renovation. I had never been inside, as I understand it was a shit show until the renovations were complete a few years ago. As the oldest alum on my tour, I was given the privilege of unlocking and opening the door. The tour was hosted by Dr. Tom Stafford (retired vice chancellor of student affairs). Iâm not saying heâs old (he is), but he was vice chancellor of student affairs when I graduated NC State.
- Lastly, I went to Talley to have Howling Cow Ice Cream before walking home.
@dtraleigh feel free to move this to another topic if you like. I am just following up here because it was requested that I do so.
11 Likes
What is packapalooza? I presume some NCState thing.
3 Likes
It is the âwelcome back to schoolâ party sponsored by NCSU to shut down the former Brent Road party from back in my college days.
6 Likes
Itâs to help all the new students âunpackâ their belongings when they arrive at their dorms.
Itâs a street festival that welcomes and welcomes back State students, and within a festival format consolidates in one place a bunch of resources, clubs, etc. that the students may want to seek out and consider participation. Itâs also a festival that welcomes back alumni, the surrounding neighborhood and anyone that may want to come.
Iâll give you the benefit of the doubt that your question/comment wasnât 
or snarky, but yes it is a NC State âthingâ. 
6 Likes
Yeah did not grow up here or go to NCState. I thought it might be a music type festival. At SC we had a small local music festival put on by the university called Cockstock. 
3 Likes
I suppose that Cockapalooza might be a bit much? 
2 Likes