City of Oaks Pirate Fest
Ahoy, Mateys! Come aboard for this swashbuckling free family event at Dix Park on Saturday, September 14 from 10 am - 6 pm. Interactive living history activities, crafts, sword-play, educational talks and film, pirate bands, live cannon fire and more bring to life the history of pirates in North Carolina.
Pop-up Fitness Classes, Kids' Nature Programs, a Fall Festival, and more! With a calendar full of diverse programs and events, there are lots of ways to explore your park this fall!
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Support Your Park
This is your park, and it needs your support. When you give to the Dorothea Dix Park Conservancy, you are supporting community engagement, park planning, and free events + programs - helping us create an amazing park for everyone.
Park Planning
Thank you to everyone who has participated in the Master Planning process - over 65,000 residents share feedback online and in person through hundreds of engagement opportunities! On February 19th, 2019, the Dorothea Dix Park Master Plan was adopted unanimously by Raleigh City Council. This was an important and exciting milestone.
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Getting to Dix Park
There are multiple entrances to Dorothea Dix Park. The most widely used entrances are Hunt Drive at Western Boulevard, South Boylan Avenue at Western Boulevard, Umstead Drive at Lake Wheeler Road, and Goode Street at Lake Wheeler Road. Because this is an active staff campus for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for the next few years, parking at Dorothea Dix Park is limited during business hours. On weekends, visitors may park in any of the parking areas striped green.