Thousands come to downtown Raleigh for indie pop music at Hopscotch
The 12th annual Hopscotch Music Festival is underway in downtown Raleigh.
Friday was the second day of the festival and thousands are expected to attend. The festival highlights indie pop artists from across North Carolina. It started in 2010 and has only taken one year off due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
"[It's] just a fun event in the city I live in," said attendee Jessica English.
On top of ticketed concerts, the festival provides club shows throughout the weekend that are free at bars Pour House and Slims. These concerts are a chance for smaller artists to promote themselves.
"They do a good job of finding bands you don't know about," said Chris Duffy, who comes to the festival every year.
Duffy said being able to support the local economy is what keeps him coming back.
"They've struggled in the last couple of years, but I love supporting them," said Duffy. "The festival is fun. I like coming back to enjoy, and I want to support these festivals."
This year, 12,000 tickets were sold for the festival. Hopscotch director Nathan Price said that's only half of what was sold pre-pandemic.
"We had the unfortunate timing of our festival landing three weeks after [the Delta variant] spikes, so it's always in the back of your head," said Price.
This year, the event brings in extra foot traffic, Price said, but festival organizers are still struggling with finding venues and spaces.
“Some of the venues are closed down there’s not quite as many spaces that were open pre-COVID ... we’re just trying to make it feel as good as possible and highlight Raleigh for what it is right now," he said.
Tickets are still available for Saturday.
