Name: Two major music festivals will not return to Raleigh, how that impacts the city’s local economy
Uploaded: 2024-12-12T21:58:14+00:00
Duration: 1 min 50 s
Description: Raleigh's vibrant music scene faces a significant shift as the IBMA Bluegrass Festival and Dreamville Festival announce their departures, impacting the city's economy that benefited from a combined $233.9 million in recent years.

Raleigh's vibrant music scene faces a significant shift as the IBMA Bluegrass Festival and Dreamville Festival announce their departures, impacting the city's economy that benefited from a combined $233.9 million in recent years.

Two music festivals that have created significant financial impacts in Raleigh are both coming to an end.

Within about a six-month time span, fans flock to Raleigh for two major music festivals for the last time: IBMA bluegrass festival in September 2024 and Dreamville Festival in April 2025.

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Raleigh raked in $145.9 million dollars in economic impact from Dreamville, a music festival from North Carolina rapper J. Cole, in 2023. Another $88 million in impact came to the city over the past decade when it hosted the IBMA World of Bluegrass events and festival.

Program director of Artsplosure Cameron Laws sees opportunity in Raleigh, especially after seeing the success of the two festivals.

“What's great about Dreamville is that it has proven that that site and that kind of event works here, and that it's really embraced here,” Laws said. “PineCone is working very hard to produce another bluegrass festival. I think the attendees will feel like it's the same festival that it has always been, because it's just so community focused, and the artists are so incredible, and they're all still here.”

IBMA is moving its events to Chattanooga. However, Dreamville organizers announced Tuesday that 2025 will be the final festival.

No replacement has been announced for Dreamville. However, organizers with Visit Raleigh, PineCone and the Raleigh Convention Center previously said they plan to create a new Raleigh music festival with a broader range of music with Carolina roots.

“It's just like a huge loss to our community,” Saki Taylor said. “I hope it's not a trend.”

Saki Taylor, the assistant general manager Heights House Hotel, said they expect a “full house” each year during Dreamville weekend.

“We would have a waitlist, and a lot of them were guests or attendees of the festival. One year, we had Dreamville reach out to us to see if we could host some of them here,” she said.

In an emailed statement, Visit Raleigh CEO and president Dennis Edwards said:

“Raleigh has a proven track record of hosting festivals and music events with top-name artists and welcoming guests from all over the world. The City of Raleigh continues to have discussions with the festival producers about future event opportunities, and we believe Raleigh's reputation as a music destination will continue in 2026 and for years to come. Festivals and concerts bring significant tourism and economic impact to the city, and with our community partners and stakeholders we continue efforts to attract headlining performances and events to Raleigh.

The City of Raleigh released a statement to WRAL on Friday.

"We are continuing our discussions with producers for the current Dreamville festival to bring future versions of this big-name, high energy, international event to Dix Park. While it’s too early to know details, we do want to set everyone’s mind at ease. We believe Raleigh's reputation as a music destination will continue to grow in 2026 and for years to come," said Julia Milstead, City of Raleigh Public Information Officer.