Sarahgrace Mitchell, executive director of the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival since 2021, has resigned to pursue a restaurant partnership with a local business.
Mitchell submitted her resignation to the festival’s board of directors and said she will remain available to the festival until mid-June, according to a news release.
“The past few years at the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival have been incredible,” Mitchell said in the news release. “While I am sad to see this chapter end, I am excited to begin a new chapter of life that allows me to continue to be part of the Fayetteville community.”
Mitchell has entered a business partnership with Bees & Board Charcuterie Co., which plans to open a restaurant this summer.
Tara Long, who chairs the festival board, said Mitchell “has been a hard-working, highly organized force multiplier: for two years.
“Her dedication to the many events, large and small, that take place each year shows the community that the team of director and board members care about the high-quality fun, food and festivity that Fayetteville residents and those from other communities have come to expect,” Long said.
As executive director, Mitchell oversaw the Dogwood Festival in April; Fayetteville After Five; Miss Fayetteville Dogwood Festival Pageant; and the Dogwood Fall Festival. She helped raise more than $350,000 from sponsors, and the festival was awarded nearly $100,000 in grants from the Tourism Development Authority of Cumberland County and the Arts Council of Fayetteville-Cumberland County, the release said.
The festival board will begin recruiting a director soon, the release said.
