Hopscotch.

Jed and I talked about what the bunny became over the course of the weekend. Here’s his words on it. Thats him in trying to eat a taco (the mouth doesn’t fit tacos).

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Each year, on the first weekend in September, hundreds of devout music fans flood the streets, City Plaza and the many music venues of Downtown Raleigh for the Hopscotch Music Festival. Bands and fans from all corners of country and some from across the globe, flock to our city to share a common experience. This common experience is as much music as it is urban community.

Music lovers bounce around Downtown Raleigh, pulling a paper schedule or mobile phone out of their pockets to see what venue they will head to next. Ducking into venues all across the downtown grid, we all share this experience. Although we may be in different physical places, we are all in the same mindset.

We hop around, drinking, dancing, resting, talking to our friends and generally having fun on the streets of Raleigh. You may be watching a punk band crowd surf at Slim’s while your friend is texting you from across the city at CAM about how an electronic musician has the crowd going wild. Same mindset, just different location in the city. The night ends, we are all exhausted and hungover the next morning.

The Hopscotch Bunny allowed Hopscotch fans an opportunity to embody this shared urban experience. Part art piece and part costume, but all fun, band members, musicians, restaurant owners, bartenders, photographers and media alike all became The Hopscotch Bunny. The Hopscotch Bunny used the port-a-johns in City Plaza, took selfies with friends, ate tacos from a takeout window, danced with glow sticks at a rave and played a tuba. Regardless of where we were, what band we were watching or what time it was, we became a single mindset for a few minutes of the Hopscotch weekend. But, that’s just it, we are always in that singular mindset. From the build up to the event to the Sunday morning ritual of cutting off the Hopscotch wristband, we all shared the same energy and weekend adventure. We are all the Hopscotch Bunny. -Jed Gant

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