Final Dreamville festival features music, food and ferris wheel

On Saturday and Sunday, rapper J. Cole hosted the fifth and final Dreamville music festival at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh. 

Founded by the rapper in 2019, the festival features hip-hop, R&B and rap music from various artists. This year’s headliners were Lil Wayne, Erykah Badu, 21 Savage and, of course, J. Cole.

Though it was nearly 90 degrees outside, Dreamville was packed full of people. Last year’s festival drew in around 100,000 attendees over the course of the weekend, and a similar turnout was expected this year. 

On Saturday, attendees were sprawled all across the park, some setting up camp in between the two stages, and others pushing through crowds to get to the barricade, eager for headliners Lil Wayne and 21 Savage and other artists to take the stage. 

UNC sophomore Lily Fowler was inching her way towards the barricade of Young Nudy as she spoke about her hopes for the rest of the festival. This was Fowler’s second time at Dreamville. 

“I’m probably most excited to see 21 Savage,” Fowler said. “It’s a lot of fun to be at a festival like this.”

Alongside Fowler was her friend Airryn Wharton, a sophomore at North Carolina A&T. The duo went to Dreamville together last year and loved the 2024 lineup. 

Wharton said that she enjoyed being surrounded by people who appreciate music, and that the festival was the perfect place for that. She was planning to attend both days of the festival and was most excited to see PARTYNEXTDOOR. 

“It’s just a nice, chill vibe,” Wharton said, regarding the energy of Dreamville. 

People buzzed with excitement for the first day's food, drinks and festivities, as well as the anticipation of the next day's events, including J. Cole and Erykah Badu's performances, which were the last Dreamville performances ever. 

Additionally, festival-goers could ride on the Dreamville ferris wheel, get specialty drinks from sponsors such as Bacardi and Smirnoff and have their photo taken at various photo booths around the park. 

Fashion was also a significant part of the festival. Some attendees dressed to impress, while others focused on making their outfits comfortable. 

Wharton had picked out her outfit weeks prior to the festival, a camo shirt and a white skirt she had found on spring break.

On the other hand, Fowler’s outfit goal was to stay comfortable. She wore a black top with jean shorts, and a pair of tennis shoes. 

“It’s almost 90 degrees, so I just have to keep cool,” Fowler said. 

Some attendees even made their own outfits, like crocheted tops and rhinestoned skirts, and created elaborate hair pieces to match. One festival-goer wore a top made of blue and pink paper butterflies, placing those same butterflies throughout her hair. 

While many people at Dreamville were there just for the music, some attendees visited the festival mainly for the atmosphere. Second-time Dreamville visitor Melanie Shakita said that while she didn’t know many of the artists performing, she was looking forward to the people watching, as well as seeing R&B artist Ari Lennox. 

“She has a great vibe,” Shakita said. “She kind of sounds like Erykah Badu, who’s playing [on Sunday].”

Dreamville generates millions of dollars for the Raleigh economy each year. However, with this year’s festival being the last, the city is looking to attract other events to maintain Raleigh’s status as a hub for music, including new festivals. While organizers from Visit Raleigh, PineCone and the Raleigh Convention Center have previously said they would work to develop a new festival, they have not officially announced anything. 

"It'll be interesting what they do next year," Shakita said. 

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