The Dogwood Festival Foundation is bringing back long-standing but long-missing community dances to Downtown Fayetteville with Dogwood Nights Dances, a “free monthly street festival series designed to celebrate community, culture, local businesses, and live entertainment.”
Everyone is invited to join the party on the second Saturday of each month from August to November. Each month will bring a new vibe, live entertainment, and an opportunity for the community to explore downtown Fayetteville businesses.
August will kick off with a Back to School Bash featuring games, music, children’s activities, and community resources. This is a night to bring out the kids before school starts, have some fun and grab some goodies.
Traveling Around the World: September will be packed with cultural experiences and feature the diverse and beautiful cultural diversity that makes Fayetteville so amazing.
It’s not October… It’s Ocktoberfest in downtown. Featuring German- inspired entertainment and all the food and drinks that signal Fall is finally here. There’s no better way to enjoy the cooler weather than with some polka and beer.
Winding down the fun in November is a blast from the past with Sock Hop and Classic Cars. Dogwood is taking it back to the ‘50s with vintage cruising cars, classic hits, dancing and all the fun. Ladies, grab your poodle skirts and bobby socks, and fellas, grab your leather jackets and cuffed jeans. This is a can’t-miss season-ender.
Dogwood Nights is not a new concept for the downtown area of Fayetteville. The Oval Ballroom in Heritage Square at 225 Dick Street served as one of the area’s gathering places for the who’s who and elite of the time. Its structure, an already rare architectural find, is one of the last remaining Oval Rooms in North Carolina, now serving as a relic and a reminder of the opulence of a time long gone. Downtown dances were reimagined each decade, with the ‘70s and ‘80s seeing more of an exotic type of dance and a boom of bars and nightclubs. Throughout the past few decades, there has been another transition to downtown. Now it is a growing district of shops, restaurants, bars, museums, art galleries, bookstores, coffee and tattoo shops, nightclubs and theaters.
The downtown area is reimagining itself as a place for the whole family. Dogwood Nights is a continuation of that transition, bringing the lively spirit that has always lived in downtown and literally bringing the dance to the street.
"Dogwood Nights is about creating opportunities for our community to gather outside of our annual spring festival," said Kaylynn Suarez, executive director of the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival Foundation. "These evenings are designed to support our downtown businesses, celebrate the incredible diversity of our community, provide free entertainment for families and remind people that Fayetteville is a destination worth experiencing year-round. Dogwood Nights is also an opportunity to showcase Fayetteville's downtown restaurants, breweries, artists, nonprofits and small businesses while encouraging residents and visitors to explore downtown before, during, and after each event.”
Dogwood Nights Dances wouldn’t be possible without this year’s presenting sponsor, Brightspeed.