Wide Open music festival returns to downtown Raleigh. Here’s when + lineup info
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wide Open Music Festival returns to downtown Raleigh and Centennial Campus in October.
- The festival drew 155,000 attendees to downtown Raleigh in 2025.
- The festival will feature bluegrass, Americana, and folk; lineup announced this summer.
A festival is set to fill downtown Raleigh with music for the second year straight.
The Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival is scheduled to return in October. The free event first made its mark last year, as it helped to fill the gap left behind after World of Bluegrass ended its yearslong run in the city in 2024, The News & Observer reported.
The Wide Open festival is designed to bring “people together around bluegrass, Americana, folk, and other traditional music,” organizers with the nonprofit PineCone said in a Monday, Feb. 9 news release.
“The 2025 festival drew 155,000 people downtown and generated millions of dollars in economic impact for local businesses,” organizers wrote. “The 2026 event is expected to continue putting Raleigh on the map as a cultural tourism destination, a town that welcomes music, art, and visitors.”
Here’s what we know about the festival ahead of its planned return this fall.
When and where is the festival?
The festival is set to run Thursday, Oct. 1, to Saturday, Oct. 3. As with last year’s event, concerts are scheduled to be held in locations across Raleigh.
Here’s a breakdown of what to expect:
- Oct. 1: The event is set to launch on the Centennial Campus at N.C. State University, with a celebration that includes music and food trucks.
- Oct. 2 to Oct. 3: The festival moves to downtown Raleigh, where visitors can expect music, food, beer and an art market on Fayetteville Street.
When is the lineup announced?
Fans eager to know the festival lineup will have to wait until the artists are announced this summer.
Festival organizers have said attendees can expect “performances across multiple genres, including bluegrass, Americana, gospel, and folk.”
If you want to stay in the know, PineCone encourages people to follow @raleighwideopen on social media. Updates also will be shared on the festival website at raleighwideopen.com.
