As had been expected, the International Bluegrass Music Association has announced plans to move their signature annual festival, Wide Open Bluegrass, into the Raleigh Convention Center for this weekend. Heavy rain and wind are forecast for Friday and Saturday making the adjacent Red Hat Amphitheater unsuitable for a major, all-day event.
The ballroom at the convention center will be reconfigured to replicate the seating chart from Red Hat, and all existing tickets will be honored according to that chart for both Friday and Saturday’s shows.
The City of Raleigh is also looking at plans to move all of the events associated with its free StreetFest indoors. A decision will be made early on Thursday, but should things move indoors, all planned stages and vendors will be accommodated in the convention center.
Wide Open Bluegrass will feature performances from Alison Krauss, Sam Bush, Earls of Leicester, Steep Canyon Rangers, Balsam Range, Infamous Stringdusters and many others, while StreetFest involves five stages of bluegrass and acoustic music, along with exhibitors and vendors of every kind. All StreetFest music is presented free of charge.
Raleigh Convention Center looks to be the epicenter of the bluegrass world for the rest of this week.
