I thought all day yesterday about what I wanted to say in my personal (rather than the official SiC) Hopscotch wrap-up, and I flashed through plenty of things. It was a great weekend; it will be a great weekend as long as Grayson and Greg choose to keep it going.

But ultimately, what I came up with this: Hopscotch, with its innumerable national acts full of buzz, is really just a love letter to the Triangle music scene. As I walked around the city with Scott this weekend, I kept running into people I loved; I had a list of local bands a mile long that I wanted to show off to him. Hopscotch has, in just three years, managed to curate a feeling of a huge family reunion as much as that of a music festival, and it is because the local scene keeps it running that way. We open our doors and turn out our bands in their finest incarnations to show off for everyone who comes in from out of town. We throw day parties and it’s just as common to see musicians watching sets as it is to see them playing them. We say, welcome to this place we love; show us how you are wonderful, and we will love you, too. And we will.

So thank you, Grayson and Greg, for dreaming this up and making it happen. Thank you, local bands, and thank you, local fans; thank you, out of towners who are willing to let Raleigh in specific and the Triangle in general show off for you. Thank you, Speakers in Code, for the always swank photo pass. Thanks for kicking ass again, Hopscotch, and making me fiercely proud of where I live and what I do here. Y’all rock.