What Hopscotch Music Festival means to the Raleigh community

Raleigh’s homegrown Hopscotch Music Festival celebrates a diverse array of musical experiences and emphasizes Raleigh’s dedication to promoting alternative, local artists. It featured day parties, discussion panels and a wide range of music, ranging from metal to country. It also collaborated with local galleries, restaurants and shops to support small businesses and new experiences. 

The event represents a commitment to fostering a community with a diverse appreciation for music and emphasizes the importance of recognizing Raleigh’s capacity to become a forerunner in art and culture.

Frank Meadows, day party coordinator and co-head of Dear Life Records spoke about the festival’s origins and impact.

“Hopscotch is named in reference to Raleigh’s grid structure and the ability to navigate between venues and sets,” Meadows said. “The format is conducive to exploration and putting a lot of different organizations, bands and music performers in the same pool.” 

Part of Meadow’s job also includes working with local organizations in hopes of increasing the accessibility and representation in Raleigh. 

“We put the pieces together to organize the free and public events that highlight what people are doing in Raleigh on a day-to-day basis,” Meadows said.

The fusion of these various scenes lend to a vibrant weekend in downtown Raleigh. The events carry into venues throughout the city with community engagement opportunities that span past just the days of the festival. 

Meera Mehta, a fourth-year in business administration, explained the role of musical events such as Hopscotch in developing a greater sense of community.

“It brings together a subgenre of people that would have never met in a context other than at Hopscotch,” Mehta said. 

As the beat carries through the streets, it reminds us how music dissolves boundaries, serving as a catalyst for mutual understanding and new perspectives. As a rapidly-advancing city, events like Hopscotch emphasize that in order to grow, we must grow together.

This playground for fashion, culture and musical artistry cater to a diverse array of people and builds on Raleigh’s growing reputation as a cultural hub. 

Communities such as Raleigh are setting the tone for how up-and-coming cities can maintain their dedication to art and culture amidst the next stages of industrial and technological development. 

Meadows explained how this sentiment runs central to Hopscotch’s mission, which aims to connect independent musicians with different artists and opportunities. 

“It’s expanded over the years to not just be bands playing rock music,” Meadows said. “Public Enemy was the headliner of the first Hopscotch, which represents a very concerted effort to include underground and independent music”. 

This year, Hopscotch’s musical performers included Earl Sweatshirt, My Morning Jacket, Built to Spill, Geordie Greep and many more alternative artists. This diverse assortment of performers represents a commitment to supporting all types of artists, not just those that fall within a specific genre or fanbase.

There were also several North Carolinian performers featured in this year’s Hopscotch lineup, such as Superchunk, Blue Cactus and Magic Tuber Stringband.

Hopscotch’s dedication to inclusion sets an example that can be carried throughout the rest of Raleigh’s efforts to gather the community in support of the arts. While performances by major artists at Lenovo Center are exciting and necessary to generate tourism and economic benefit, events that serve alternative and Triangle-based artists are also important.

As we reflect on this year’s Hopscotch Music Festival and look forward to the next one, it is important to not just mark our calendars and move on. We must carry the “Hopscotch mentality” with us, and encourage our community leaders to do the same, as we foster a diverse and dedicated environment for art and culture to flourish.