Paddy’s Goes To The Dogs

30.March.2025

Paddy’s Goes To The Dogs

Patrick Gibney 30.March.2025 0 comments

BY Patrick Gibney

The Fayetteville Dogwood Festival will take place in the downtown area for the 43rd time this year. It happens over the weekend of April 25-27. This event has become a community tradition that everyone seems to love. The 2025 festival promises to bring top entertainment, activities for the entire family, great food, and lots of other popular shenanigans. But that’s not all. This year – in a sensational turn of events – Paddy’s has been asked to take part. And there’s me thinking that they didn’t like Irish Catholics around here. Perish the thought. Anyway, Kaylynn Suarez, the Executive Director of the festival, has invited us to be part of a pre-festival event at Festival Park, called Cork N’ Fork. It takes place on Thursday, April 24th at 6 p.m.

“This is like a soft opening to the festival itself,” said Kaylynn when I chatted with her on the phone. “It’s a wine and food tasting event that will feature signature food from the culinary students at FTCC and several of the restaurants we are partnered with this year, including Paddy’s – my favorite pub.”

What a compliment! When I accused Kaylynn of blowing smoke up my arse, she insisted she was not. She went on to say that this event is, in fact, a charity event. This year, the proceeds go to Off-Road Outreach, a charity founded by Stacy Buckner that helps homeless veterans get off the streets and get the services they need.

Paddy’s is immensely proud to be associated with such a great cause. Chef David Sears will be preparing a selection of the most popular dishes from The Cottage and my talented mixologists have created a signature mocktail to honor the occasion. It’s called The Dogwood.