How to get to Dreamville Festival in Raleigh by car, train, bike or on foot
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Dreamville Fest returns to the City of Raleigh’s Dorothea Dix Park this weekend for its third year, bringing with it thousands of people.
Officials are predicting about 100,000 people to come to the park between Saturday and Sunday to see their favorite artists perform. That’s about 20,000 more people than last year.
Dreamville Fest was created in 2019 by former Fayetteville resident and Grammy-Award winning rapper J. Cole, who owns a recording label by the same name. In its first year, the festival saw about 40,000 people.
Because of the number of people in downtown Raleigh this weekend, officials say everyone can expect heavy traffic on roads around the park and on the interstate.
“As you could expect with 50,000 people coming to an event, you’re going to have traffic backups in the roads that are around the park as well as the interstate,” said Raleigh Police Department Lt. James Stokes.
For parking, transportation, accessibility and traffic, here’s what to know to make your plan.
Parking — for cars and bikes
Event parking is available for purchase at NC State’s Centennial Campus across the street from Dorothea Dix Park. (Set your GPS to 883-881 Main Campus Drive). Parking is $50, plus fees.
The spaces are limited and are on a first-come, first-serve basis. Dreamville organizers say the lot fills up quickly, and overnight parking is not allowed. Parking is only available for one day at a time.
People can ride their bikes to Dix Park and lock up their bikes at a lot outside of the park’s limits. It is a short walk to the festival from there. The bike lots are at:
On the corner of Centennial Parkway and Blair Drive
On the corner of Western Boulevard and Hunt Drive
Shuttles, ride shares and scooters
▪ Shuttle: The festival offers an official downtown shuttle from Moore Square, 209 E. Martin St., in Downtown Raleigh to the park. This year, organizers will double the number of shuttle buses to allow for more pick-ups and drop-offs from downtown to the park between Western Boulevard and Centennial Parkway.
A shuttle pass is $20, plus fees. Festival-goers will be able to use their downtown shuttle pass for the entire weekend to and from the park.
Shuttles start at 10 a.m. (two hours before gates open) until 1 a.m. (two hours after the festival). The shuttle drops off people at the West Entrance of the festival.
▪ Ride share: Uber and Lyft and other ride sharing will be operating in collaboration with Dreamville to drop riders off in designated zones on both sides of Dix Park with a short walking distance to the entrance.
▪ Electric scooters: Operators LIME and SPIN will have scooters available in the Raleigh area during the weekend. Information about where to find the e-scooters can be found at the City of Raleigh website. The operate seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Here’s your ultimate guide to J. Cole’s 2023 Dreamville Festival in Raleigh this weekend
Taking the train
Raleigh Union Station, located at 510 W. Martin St., is two miles from Dix Park. Schedules can be found at ncbytrain.org or by calling 1-800-BY-TRAIN.
Dreamville ticket holders can get 25% off train tickets with discount code: V681.
Weather preparations
Dreamville Festival is a rain or shine event. Umbrellas are not allowed in the event— so plan accordingly.
As of Tuesday, the National Weather Service predicts rain on Saturday morning before 2 p.m. The day will partly brighten up with a high near 79 degrees. The chance for rain is 50%. At night, temperatures will drop to about 46 degrees with a breeze.
On Sunday, the day will be sunny with a high near 67 degrees. Temperatures will fall to about 46 degrees.
Weather updates can be found at forecast.weather.gov.
