Vendors prepare for Dreamville Festival this weekend
Last-minute preps are underway Friday at Dix Park for this weekend's Dreamville Festival. The annual event, created by rapper J. Cole, is Saturday and Sunday at the park.
This is the fourth year for the festival. In previous years, the festival has been sold out, but some tickets do remain for this weekend's event.
Fans this weekend will notice some some improvements at both stages, including better sound and lighting. Stage two has been reoriented so fans at various locations can have better visibility.
Dreamville Festival will once again feature local artists with seven murals on site created by North Carolina artists.
With record crowds expected over the weekend, festival organizers have worked with the city to expand the downtown shuttle program to increase the number of vehicles available to transport festival goers to the park. Gates open at noon each day.
SZA, 50 Cent, J.I.D., Lil Yachty, Schoolboy Q, Sexxy Rd, Jeremih, Earthgang, Teezo Touchdown, Amaarae, Lute, Luh Tyler and Domani are set to perform on Saturday.
J. Cole and Nicki Minaj are headliners for Sunday. Other performances that day will include Rema, Jeezy, Monica, Rae Sremmurd, Key Glock, Bas, Hunxho, Cozz, Omen, Tiacorine and Chase Shakur.
Originally, Chris Brown was set to headline on Saturday, but he was replaced by 50 Cent. The announcement came on Monday, April 1, which caused some to think it was an April Fool's Day joke. Spokesperson Trey Hicks said it was definitely not a joke.
There will also be more than 50 food vendors on site daily to help feed hungry crowds.
"It is action-packed. It is jam-packed with people who are looking to eat," said Isaac Horton IV, the co-owner of Oak City Fish and Chips. This will be the fourth year the food truck will be on site at Dreamville.
Horton said J. Cole visited the food truck when it was parked near downtown Raleigh several years ago.
"Our employee ... called me excited, he said, 'Hey J. Cole is down here. Get down here right way,'" Horton said. "Come to find out we were actually one of J. Cole's favorite food trucks."
The festival will be livestreamed starting at 3 p.m. daily for free via Amazon's music channels on Twitch, Prime Video and the Amazon Music app.
