Note: Authored by David Menconi, this piece has been produced in partnership with Raleigh Arts. Menconi's latest book, "Oh, Didn't They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music," was published in the fall of 2023 by University of North Carolina Press. His podcast, Carolina Calling, explores the history of the Tar Heel State through music.

During its 12-year run in Raleigh, the best and biggest part of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual World of Bluegrass was its free street festival. A signature downtown Raleigh event, it attracted huge throngs every year to the Fayetteville Street main drag--there were years when attendance topped 200,000 people.

After last year’s Raleigh event, IBMA moved on and nowadays holds its yearly convention in Chattanooga. But the free bluegrass/Americana street festival lives on in the City of Oaks as the Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival.

The new event makes its first-edition debut the weekend of Oct. 2-4, 2025, produced by PineCone (Piedmont Council of Traditional Music) in collaboration with primary sponsor PNC Bank.

Note: View the festival schedule here!

“Right now, those moments where we come together for joy and jubilation and fun are more important than ever,” says PineCone executive director David Brower. “This is a free event designed to bring families downtown together to enjoy a cultural experience. In this day and age of division over who belongs where and fences going up, those rare moments of coming together like Raleigh WideOpen or the State Fair or Hopscotch are uplifting.”

Raleigh Wide Open gets underway with a preview concert the evening of Thurs., Oct. 2, at The Corner at North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus. It’s a three-band bill, headlined by The Barefoot Movement.

The next day, the scene of the action moves downtown for the rest of the schedule, beginning with a “Field Trip Festival” that will bring in area schoolkids for music the morning of Fri., Oct. 3.

That afternoon, the street festival begins in earnest with live music on four stages up and down Fayetteville Street--capped by a ticketed Friday night concert at Red Hat Amphitheater, headlined by JJ Grey & Mofro.

Performances continue Sat., Oct. 4, with 11 hours of free music on the street stages (see the full music lineup here). 

“We have one big blowout ticketed show Friday night at Red Hat,” says Brower. “Then Saturday will be all about the free street festival--our big bright shiny celebratory object. That sea of humanity up and down Fayetteville Street is always great to see.”

Added features include a music marketplace similar to the IBMA tradeshow that used to be held in the Raleigh Convention Center, set up at 219 Fayetteville St. with Harry’s Guitar Shop as anchor music vendor. The City of Raleigh Museum will also have presentations and discussions both Friday and Saturday, with a heavy emphasis on Black gospel music from Eastern North Carolina.

Along with five gospel acts from the eastern end of the state, key acts on the schedule include Texas Southern soul band Shiny Ribs in an expanded 15-piece lineup; Asheville bluegrass band Town Mountain in what’s being billed as their final Triangle show before going on extended hiatus; Carolina Chocolate Drops co-founder Dom Flemons; the always-dashing Jim Lauderdale; and the a cappella singing group A Nest of Singing Birds, who will actually do one of their performances “working blue.”

“They asked for a time as late as possible,” Brower says with a laugh. “So at 10pm Saturday on the Davie Street Stage, they become A Nest of (naughty) Singing Birds, doing really hilarious dirty ballads. That’s a secret hidden gem for anyone who isn’t prudish.”

Otherwise, the priority for organizers will be to keep the vibe that everyone enjoyed from prior bluegrass festivals as close to intact as possible.

“Like any outdoor event, we are totally weather-dependent, of course,” says Brower. “And we’re very much about getting a lot of people who perform at a very high level. But we also want to make sure we provide space for regular people to play, get together and swap tunes. The Sheraton Raleigh Hotel will have a ‘Jamming Floor,’ where you can make a racket.”