Roll call! Who's up for beer festivals, outdoor concerts, food truck rodeos, special arts exhibits and more? We've got big plans this spring—join us for good weather and good times in Raleigh, N.C.! 

Festivals for foodies (and beer drinkers, too)

Foodies, assemble! Attending a taco festival, a food truck rodeo or even a foodie's hootenanny is practically a rite of passage each year for newcomers and visitors to the City of Oaks. 

Perhaps the grandest gathering of them all, Brewgaloo—the Tar Heel State's largest craft beer festival—takes over downtown Raleigh each April, serving up samples from more than 100 North Carolina-based breweries, food trucks and vendors (plus provides two stages for local bands to rock out on). Brewgaloo takes place over two days, April 25 and 26 this year, so mark your calendars (plus save the date for these other upcoming festivals!):

• Marchtoberfest at Clouds Brewing Taproom, March 22-23
• NC Eat and Play's Spring Hootenanny & Foodie Fest, March 29
• April Foods Day Food Truck Rodeo, April 5
• Tacos 'N Taps, April 12
• Peak City Pig Festival, April 11-12
• Cary Pimento Cheese Festival, April 12
• A Place at the Table Pay-What-You-Can Food Truck Rodeo, April 13
• 'Cuegrass Festival, April 19
• Fuquay-Varina Food Truck Rodeo, April 27
• Holly Springs International Food Festival, May 2
• Marbles KIDS FOOD FESTIVAL, May 3-4
• NC Sugar Rush, May 25
• Bubbles & Brisket, June 7
• Raleigh International Food Festival, June 7
• N.C. Hops Festival, June 14

Edge-of-your-seats, winner-take-all action

The NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, having made the playoffs in six straight seasons, are once again a contender for the Stanley Cup this year (and the team just made big moves at the league's trade deadline). The Canes have just a half-dozen remaining home games in the regular season, and will roll into post-season play in late April. The biggest—and loudest—crowds of the year will be at Lenovo Center early and often with big tailgating parties in the coming weeks (so don't miss out!). 

Over in Cary, last year's sold-out phenomenon The Soccer Tournament—a 7 on 7, winner-take-all tournament that gave $1 million to the winning squad—is back, bigger and better than ever this June 4-9. With a total of $2 million in prizes up for grabs, the 118-match event will include an expanded women's tournament this year and some of the sports' biggest stars from teams around the world are expected to compete (tickets just went on sale!).

Bonus events: The North Carolina Cup—a professional pickleball event—will take place at Cary Tennis Park, April 1-6; ESL One Raleigh, a Dota 2 esports event, will welcome fans to the Raleigh Convention Center, April 7-13. 

A great hike in The Great Outdoors

Long known as a “city in a park,” Raleigh often "wows" visitors with an abundance of outdoor recreation offerings—more than 10,000 acres of parkland serve up kayaking gems, biking routes, running trails and wide open spaces to explore. 

Up for an adventure? The Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST)—known as "North Carolina's hiking trail"—stretches more than 1,000 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks, cutting through North Raleigh near Falls Lake and the Neuse River Greenway Trail along the way.

Two recommended ways to get a short taste of the trail—where the terrain is easy to tackle and provides plenty of unique plant and wildlife—are to start at either Blue Jay Point County Park or Wilkerson Nature Preserve, where you'll connect to the MST by spotting and following the white dots on tree trunks. Headed east from Wilkerson Nature Preserve to the Falls Lake Dam Visitor's Center is three miles, making the out-and-back route (six miles total) one of the area's best hikes.

Related: Beech Bluff County Park—a 300-acre natural gem that offers hiking trails, a community garden, picnic shelters and more—opened to the public on March 15 just south of Raleigh.

So. Much. Music.

Concert season is back in full swing come spring, and in Raleigh that means Dreamville Fest—rapper J. Cole's two-day, two-stage music event held at Dorothea Dix Park—is back on the calendar. The lineup for the April 5-6 event is set to be announced very soon (2024 featured Cole, Nicki Minaj, SZA, Jeezy, Schoolboy Q and other superstar acts), but as many as 100,000 fans are expected to be in attendance (limited tickets are still available!).

Looking for a free or low-cost concert series to attend? Live@Lake Raleigh brings free spring concerts to North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus (April 10 and 24; May 8 and 22); Midtown Beach Music Series is back for a 16th season (Thursdays, April 10-June 26); and Cary's Bands, Bites & Boats returns with family-friendly fun on the first Friday of each month, running April through October.

And while there's more than 100 other great music events on the upcoming schedule, we've highlighted 15 standouts at more than a dozen different venues below!

• Gavin Adcock, March 29-30 at The Ritz
• Bella White, April 8 at KINGS
• Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin, April 13 at Lincoln Theatre
• Disturbed, April 14 at Lenovo Center
• Tyler Childers, April 15 at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
• Billy Strings, April 17-19 at Koka Booth Amphitheatre
• Alison Krauss & Union Station feat. Jerry Douglas, April 27 at Koka Booth Amphitheatre
• Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, May 3 at Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts
• Pearl Jam, May 11 & 13 at Lenovo Center
• The String Cheese Incident with The Wood Brothers, May 16 at Red Hat Amphitheater
• Rauw Alejandro, May 23 at Lenovo Center
• Halsey, May 29 at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
• Tennis, June 5 at The Ritz
• The Black Keys, June 12 at Red Hat Amphitheater
• HAUSER, June 27 at Red Hat Amphitheater

Opening soon: America's best new playground

An epic new playground and picnic spot with views of the city skyline? Score one for the kids!

At Dorothea Dix Park—a 308-acre open space on the edge of downtown Raleigh currently being transformed into a world-class park—the first of a series of future major attractions is scheduled to open this spring. 

Gipson Play Plaza will be an innovative, 18.5-acre play and community gathering space that includes a performance plaza, a waterfall, multi-level play gardens, towers with connected skywalks, slides, climbing structures, picnic grove, swing terrace and more. 

An opening date has not been set yet, but visitors can expect the free-to-visit playground to be open before summer. Follow here for updates!

Related: Opened in 2023, Downtown Cary Park has also earned rave reviews from families.

More upcoming events in Raleigh, N.C.

• Art in Bloom, March 19-23
• Carolina Mudcats Opening Week, April 4-6
• Fest in the West, April 5
• Craig Robinson, April 17-19
• Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival, April 26
• Raulston Blooms!, April 26
• 44th Annual Apex PeakFest, May 3
• Carolina Ballet presents Swan Lake, May 15-18
• Got to Be NC Festival, May 16-18
• Artsplosure - The Raleigh Arts Festival, May 17-18
• Animazement, May 23-25
• Raleigh Little Theatre presents The Color Purple, June 6-29
• Capital City Juneteenth Celebration, June 15
• 13th Annual Out! Raleigh Pride, June 20-21

^{Header photo by Bryan Regan; Brewgaloo and music photos by Garrett Poulos}