Kate Pearce, President & CEO, Dix Park Conservancy

Invest: spoke with Kate Pearce, president and CEO of Dix Park Conservancy, about the park’s next chapter, its role as an economic and community asset, and the partnerships shaping its future. “Quality of life is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have in a competitive environment,” Pearce said.

As you transition into leading the Dix Park Conservancy, what are the most important priorities for the next chapter?

The amazing thing about Dix Park is that there is so much opportunity to continue to build a Central Park for North Carolina. As I move into the Conservancy, a lot of my focus will be on fundraising and developing the next generation of stewards and supporters of the park.

For the first 10 years, it was really about reintroducing these 308 acres as a park. It is a site with a long history, and now that we are firmly understood to be a park, the question is how we build on the success of things like Gipson Play Plaza and the Thomas Dambo Trolls installation to create spaces that inspire people and attract visitors from Raleigh, Wake County, the Triangle, and beyond.

What impact is Dix Park having as an economic asset for Raleigh?

One of the really special things about Dix Park is that it is an economic driver, a community builder, and an identity giver. We have had 2 million visitors year-to-date since opening the Gipson Play Plaza, and those visitors come from everywhere. They go to local restaurants and stay in hotels, and some of them decide to move next door to the park because of the attractiveness of living near an amazing space like this.

A park is almost a misnomer. It is an economic driver, it is a community builder, and it is an identity giver through things like the sunflowers that have become associated with the city. I think it is really special that it is able to do all of those things.

It is also where we host our large-scale festivals and events. For five years, we held Dreamville Festival here, which is one of the largest Black-owned music, arts, and cultural festivals in the country. Dreamville drew people from all over the world to Raleigh for a weekend of celebration, and being the place that hosts it is really exciting.

How is Dix Park contributing to Raleigh’s appeal as a place to live, work, and visit?

Parks have become critical infrastructure. From the pandemic, when parks were some of the only safe places you could gather and be safely apart, to what we see today as parks, greenways, and trail systems, those are key elements of a community that people look for in terms of location choice.

Raleigh is at the forefront of creating amazing park spaces. The city has over 200 parks and miles and miles of greenways. Quality of life is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have in a competitive environment, and Dix Park is an essential contributor to Raleigh’s quality of life.

How have partnerships helped accelerate Dix Park’s transformation?

The primary partnership is between Raleigh and the Dix Park Conservancy, with the city being the owner and operator of the park and the Conservancy being the philanthropic partner. But the partnerships go beyond that. They include our work with NC State University, our work with the Department of Agriculture, and our work with all the local businesses and communities that host programs and events here.

One of the really beautiful things is that we work with small businesses on any given Saturday to produce programs and events, as well as the largest institutions in the region. We are able to scale up and down depending on what those partners need from us, and vice versa. Public spaces like this do not get built without great partnerships.

We are fortunate that the partnership between Raleigh and the Dix Park Conservancy is so strong because it really does take good projects to great. It is that infusion of private philanthropic dollars that makes possible the places that people come to love and visit time and time again.

Looking ahead, what impact do you hope Dix Park will have on Raleigh and the Triangle over the next decade?

As the park continues to develop and projects from the master plan move forward, we are going to see the land transform into what it is envisioned to be. One of our next large projects is the restoration of the Rocky Branch. That is not only creating a significant waterway experience for a capital city that does not have a major body of water, but it is also creating an opportunity to improve downstream flooding in communities. It is the intentional projects that are going to create these amazing public spaces but also have benefits for other communities in and around the park.

The other piece is that we are working on the adaptive reuse of buildings. Most major parks do not have 1 million square feet of buildings inside of them, so we are thinking strategically about what new uses could be in the park that not only support the park, but also support the community and bring something new and exciting to Raleigh and the Triangle region.

How do you see Dix Park shaping the future of Raleigh and the Triangle?

Dix Park is probably one of the most ambitious and exciting urban park projects in the United States today. Most cities do not have 300 acres right downtown to turn into an amazing public space that is going to impact generations for years to come.

The opportunity that we have in Raleigh, in Wake County, and in the Triangle region to create a central park for North Carolina that is going to positively impact lives for generations is really special. The time is now to do great things, to continue to invest in the park, and the result is the screams of joy and laughter, seeing the smiles on kids’ faces, and intergenerational families enjoying a Saturday night in the park. Those experiences are priceless, but it is really why we do it.