About 15 percent of the 13.2 million people who visited Wake County last year – including both locals and travelers – came for music events, many in Raleigh. Last year, World of Bluegrass had an estimated economic impact of $10 million, bringing about 150,000 people into the city’s streets, hotels, restaurants and retail businesses, reports the Greater Raleigh CVB. That’s on par with Wilkesboro’s annual MerleFest, one of the state’s largest and most popular annual bluegrass festivals. Landing World of Bluegrass has been in the works for years, but without local festivals, larger attractions such as World of Bluegrass and Farm Aid wouldn’t come to Raleigh, says Loren Gold with the GRCVB. “It’s a key branding element to make Raleigh a destination for people that like all types of music genres. Are we the music capital of the Southeast? We can’t say that, but are we the music capital of North Carolina? That’s the road we are starting to go down and events like these help build that brand. When we went to IBMA [in Nashville] in 2011, there were no signs in the airport. It wasn’t until we got to the hotel that we saw signs that said, ‘Welcome, World of Bluegrass.’ Nashville has a lot of music. Our pitch was: Come be a big fish in a small pond. We know how to close down streets and attract people to Raleigh.” One-third of the people who visit Wake County spend at least $100, bringing new money into the economy. “We go after events that are going to generate big visitation and big room nights,” says Gold about the ongoing push to lure more large music festivals to Raleigh. “They bring more funding.”