Packapalooza is NC State’s annual festival that concludes Wolfpack Welcome Week. The event begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 22 and features local vendors and live music.

Hillsborough Street will be closed from Brooks Street to the roundabout near the Bell Tower until 10 p.m. for the event. The festival will have six different components, including a Wolfpack zone to celebrate NC State athletics, a green sustainability zone, an arts zone, an international zone, a Pack Pride zone and a play zone with a water slide and water balloon fight.

“It’s a great community event, and there’s something for everybody,” said Jeff Murison, executive director at Hillsborough Street Community Service Corporation and Live It Up! On Hillsborough Street.  “There will be food, arts and crafts, music, campus organizations and a lot to learn about different departments at the university.”

Live It Up! is a presenting sponsor for the event. Last year, the festival had more than 300 vendor booths and more than 40 sponsoring organizations.

“Whether it’s a merchant like Groucho’s, or the new Aloft hotel — we want to get exposure and showcase these businesses,” said Justine Hollingshead, chief of staff for the vice chancellor and co-chair of the Packapalooza planning team.

Many of NC State’s campus organizations will be represented at Packapalooza and have information for potential members and incoming freshmen.

“Every single college at NC State is participating in the event,” Hollingshead said. 

The NC State and Raleigh chapters of Habitat for Humanity will be hosting a “build-a-shack” challenge during the festival. The goal is to actually build a shack to be used in NC State’s ‘Shackathon’ in the fall.

Last year, more than 55,000 people attended the festival, according to Murison.

“The merchants of Hillsborough Street really appreciate the university promoting this event,” Murison said. “It brings in a lot of people and gives the businesses great exposure and will hopefully make a few repeat customers.”

Packapalooza is open to the public and will have three stages with different musical acts throughout the day.

The genre of the musical acts at Packapalooza will vary during the day, with the Wolfpack Hip Hop Time Machine headlining on the Bell Tower Stage. The closing show is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.

“The headlining act will be something different we haven’t done before,” Hollingshead said. “This year we have a montage of artists who are connected with NC State or Raleigh.”

The Wolfpack Hip Hop Time Machine includes Rapsody and 9th Wonder, Petey Pablo, Nappy Roots, Terminator X and DJ DVS.

There will also be a social media photo contest throughout the day, and all photos posted with the #Packapalooza caption will be entered to win prizes such as an iPad mini, tickets to events, hotel packages and NC State paraphernalia, according to Hollingshead.

“Check out the website, download the app and start talking about it,” Hollingshead said. 

Guidebook, the app used during Wolfpack Welcome Week, has a guide for Packapalooza with a schedule of performances, events and autograph signings. The guidebook for Packapalooza can be downloaded along with the Wolfpack Welcome Week guidebook on the app.

Organizers of Packapalooza are currently looking for volunteers to help run the event. The primary volunteer slots are from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to midnight. There are individual and group volunteer sign-ups available.

Volunteer duties will include setting up before the event, selling T-shirts, working at information booths, staffing check-in tents and helping manage different events throughout the day. Every person must be willing to volunteer for a minimum two-hour time block.

“We need people to serve as a human guide to answer questions and provide good customer service,” Hollingshead said.

Event clean-up will begin in some areas at 7 p.m. and last until midnight or later.

After volunteers register for the event, they will have to complete a 30-minute online crowd management certification that is required by the City of Raleigh. The deadline for completing the certification is 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 18.

Packapalooza organizers will contact registered volunteers by Aug. 14.

There will be information sessions during the week of Aug. 17 that will provide an overview of the event and volunteer responsibilities.