04-03-2025
Dix Park will get a new food market to accompany the Gipson Play Plaza
Dorothea Dix Park will soon get its first spot to grab a drink or a bite to eat — a first for the city's ambitious efforts to turn the park into a major destination.
Why it matters: Dix Park — the previous home of the former Dorothea Dix Hospital and offices for the N.C. Department for Heath and Human Services — has been billed as Raleigh's chance to build a grand central park for the fast-growing capital city.
Driving the news: The city and private donors are investing heavily into the idea, and the $69 million Gipson Play Plaza is expected to open this spring — creating a new entrance for the park and potentially attracting tens of thousands of new visitors.
In an effort to boost the Gipson Play Plaza, Dix Park will open a new grab-and-go food market inside of a renovated cottage adjacent to the park.
Ruffin Hall, the Dix Park Conservancy's CEO, said in a statement that adding the market is "yet another milestone in our journey to becoming a landmark urban park unlike any other and a welcoming place for all."
Zoom in: The new market — which will be inside the House of Many Porches — will sell a variety of food and drinks, including sandwiches, wraps, coffee, frozen desserts and beer and wine.
It will also include a retail section for North Carolina-based merchants.
The market will be run by the father-and-son duo John and Mike Cline, of Raleigh Park Ventures.
The two already have experience running a market at a city park, previously working on Market 317 and The Bark Bar at Downtown Cary Park.
