Thousands of people flooded Hillsborough Street Saturday for the ninth year of Packapalooza, NC State’s one-day street festival and Wolfpack Welcome Week finale.
Spanning Hillsborough Street from the Dan Allen Drive intersection to the Pullen Road roundabout, the event was expected to surpass the 85,000 attendee total of last year. In preparation for the crowd, event planners brought in over 300 vendors — a Packapalooza record.
While the event officially spanned from 2-10 p.m., preparation for the festival started in the early hours of the morning. However, the early start for the day’s preparations doesn’t compare to the months of planning this year’s Packapalooza committee contributed to put on this year’s event.
Justine Hollingshead, assistant vice chancellor for Division of Academic and Student Affairs, served as chairperson for this year’s Packapalooza. Hollingshead oversaw a 45-person committee made up of students, staff, alumni and community members that began work on the event in November 2022.
“[Packapalooza] helps students to meet organizations in the community, to meet businesses on Hillsborough Street, and to have fun, whether it’s walking around and looking at race cars or helicopters, … or listening to music or getting a pineapple drink,” Hollingshead said.
Hollingshead has been involved in planning Packapalooza since the event’s inception in 2012. She witnessed Packapalooza almost double in size over the past decade, both in terms of attendees and footprint, to become the largest one-day street festival in the city of Raleigh.
Vendors included NC State student groups, NC State departments, merchandise and food vendors and community groups, all offering engaging activities for Packapalooza attendees.
Julianne Chatham, a fourth-year studying elementary education, tabled for the NC State Women’s Rugby Club and said Packapalooza grants student organizations an opportunity to reach a broader audience beyond those at other Wolfpack Welcome Week events.
“I think the crowd is a bit different,” Chatham said. “At a lot of the other events, it’s mostly students. Here, you get to talk to all sorts of people. There’s been alumni who have played for our club before and parents who are interested in knowing more about our sport.”
Timothy Reid, a fourth-year studying business administration and student body president, tabled for NC State’s Student Government and handed out Student Government-branded tote bags and T-shirts.
“Every year, my favorite part of Packapalooza is just getting to interact with students and kick off the year in a great way, … so it’s just great being able to see all those faces,” Reid said.
Outside of tabling, many student organizations had the opportunity for live music and dance performances in the international and arts zones throughout the day. These student performers were joined by local North Carolina bands and artists who performed at the Coca-Cola stage and the D.H. Hill stage.
The evening portion of Packapalooza transitioned away from vendors and turned its attention to a musical performance at the Belltower stage by David Cook, a singer-songwriter who won season seven of American Idol, followed by a stunning fireworks display.
With thousands of attendees, hundreds of vendors and dozens of performances, seeing the sheer size of such a short event is impressive.
“I see the street unfold one minute, there’s nobody, and the next minute, there’s hundreds of people, then there’s thousands of people,” Hollingshead said. “Then it’s like, it all goes away at 2:30 in the morning tomorrow.”
Packapalooza serves as a Wolfpack Welcome Week staple, and for good reason. The event connects everyone, from students and student organizations to staff, alumni and community members. For an eight-hour event, Packapalooza’s impact on the NC State student body and Raleigh community is long-lasting.
