Dreamville festival brings booming traffic to local businesses

As music lovers gear up for the upcoming Dreamville festival, many local businesses downtown Raleigh have already begun to feel the impact of the booming traffic.

"It brings people from across the country and also excites our small art community too, you know, ramp up their products so they can be a part of what is happening," said Ace Henderson, who organized a pop-up shop leading up to the festival.

Henderson, who organized the pop-up shop with long lines out the door for days, expressed his excitement about how things are turning out this year.

"It shows that Raleigh can hold this type of event, can entertain the new people who are coming for RTP and all that stuff," said Henderson. "When I was a teenager, I wished we had things like this!"

Henderson says that about every day when he gets in, the anticipation from customers is so heavy that he recalls one guy almost ripping the door hinges off.

Thousands are estimated to attend this year's event from all over the US, like Donald Sloan, who traveled to Raleigh from Oklahoma.

"I'm glad to be here. Thank you to the city for welcoming me!" said Sloan.

Barcelona Wine Bar manager Red Brewer told WRAL this festival had been a breath of fresh air for Raleigh.

"It's been a liveliness in the whole week, as opposed to just two days." Brewer said. "A good portion of our patio crowd right now is people from the pop-up shop who finally got out of that line that took them an hour, and finally got to come down for a bite to eat."

Brewer also says the business is less than a block from a popular pop-up shop.

Another person that's enjoying the festival effects is Thai Phommavong, general manager at Heirloom.

Phommavong said business has been booming leading up to the festival.

"People have been coming in, getting more lattes, more drinks, more beverages, said Phommavong. "It has been pretty much throughout the entire day."

Phommavong says they have been staffing up for the past couple of days but have been anticipating this for months.

"It is a dream come true. No pun intended!" said Henderson.

Dreamville Festival is in its third year at Raleigh's Dorothea Dix Park. It will be held Saturday, April 1, and Sunday, April 2, with gates opening at noon on both days.