"We took a building that sat empty for years, brought it back, and have now opened it up as a place for everyone to enjoy." Kate Pearce, President and CEO of Dix Park Conservancy, said that in August about Flowers Cottage. The cottage is one of the park's oldest buildings. It opened to the public on Thursday, August 20, as Cottage Coffee upstairs and Park Bar below, with a deck overlooking Flowers Field and the Raleigh skyline.
Five days earlier, Drift Coffee & Kitchen opened at The Weld next to the park. Each opening on its own is a coffee shop near a big field. The interesting part is how they fit together. Drift handles the morning and midday. Flowers Cottage stays open until 9 or 10 p.m. later in the week. Between them, Dix Park now has food, drinks, and a place to sit from early morning to after dark, and part of what gets spent at the cottage pays for the park itself.
The building that used to be a meeting room
Flowers Cottage didn't start out as a café. In 2018, Dix Park Conservancy restored the long-abandoned cottage as a home for its own meetings and events. This year's remodel, which the Conservancy funded and led, opened the building to everyone. WRAL described it as a renovated 100-year-old cottage with a cozy café inside, a covered outdoor bar, and terraced seating on the upstairs deck facing the fields.
The renovation also added an expanded deck, a patio, and new public restrooms. The restrooms are one of the most practical changes on this side of the park. The menu covers locally roasted coffee, matcha, house-made Italian sodas, soft-serve from a local dairy, snacks, craft beer, and wine. Cottage Coffee serves the full menu upstairs, and Park Bar pours beer and wine under the deck.
The operators are Justin Pasfield and Jeff Clarke, whose names are already known on Person Street through Person Street Bar and Natural Science. WRAL also listed Dillon Myrick and Sarah Sugg on the team and noted ties to Big Cat, Locals Seafood, and Boulted Bread.
The deal behind the counter matters more than the menu. A portion of the cottage's revenue goes back to Dix Park Conservancy to support its work across the park, and the Conservancy calls this model central to the park's future. A beer on that deck helps pay for the park around it.
Two openings, opposite ends of the day
Drift is at 1000 Hammell Dr., inside The Weld. It serves breakfast, lunch, coffee, and drinks from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The menu includes avocado toast, breakfast burritos, açaí bowls, and chicken pesto. Drift was founded by brothers Michael and Ben Powell, who opened the first location at Ocean Isle in 2014. The Dix Park café is its second in Raleigh, after the Ridgewood Shopping Center location that opened in June 2024. The brand's ties to the park started on day one. The opening included community bike rides and a scavenger hunt, and all opening-day sales went to Oaks & Spokes.
The Conservancy's announcement lists Flowers Cottage hours for four days of the week:
- Thursday: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Friday: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Saturday: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Sunday: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Put the two schedules side by side and the overlap is short. Drift closes at 4 p.m. On a Friday or Saturday, the cottage keeps going for six more hours. A Saturday at the park can now look like this:
- Morning at The Weld. Breakfast burrito and coffee at Drift, which opens at 7.
- Late morning at Gipson Play Plaza. The 18.5-acre plaza opened on June 6, 2025. It has Slide Valley, Watermill Mountain, the Sand Bowl, the Sensory Maze, a waterfall and splash pad, and a 91-foot-long mega-swing.
- Afternoon troll walk. All five Thomas Dambo trolls are within walking distance of each other. More on that below.
- Golden hour on the deck. Cottage Coffee upstairs, or a beer from Park Bar under the deck, facing west over Flowers Field toward the skyline.
- Last pour. Park Bar runs until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Earlier in the week, plan differently. The published hours don't include Monday through Wednesday, so on those days Drift is the only one of the two new spots with posted hours.
The trolls are on the way to the cottage
The five trolls arrived on October 25, 2025, so their first anniversary at the park lands this month. Their names are Daddy Bird Eye, Dax, Dux, Mother Strong Tail, and Dix. Where they stand ties the troll walk to the new cottage.
Mother and Dix are on the Pine Loop Trail. You reach them by crossing Flowers Field or by taking the social trails behind Parking Lot A. That's the same field the cottage deck overlooks, so the walk to the first two trolls starts at the café. Dax and Dux are in the Big Field pine grove near the Dog Park. You reach them across the grass, and stairs lead into the tree line from the Dog Park side. Daddy Bird Eye, listed as Father on the park's accessibility page, is on the hillside of the Grove, up steep, grassy terrain.
A few practical points from the park:
- No climbing on the trolls, except Mother's tail.
- All troll sites are on natural, uneven ground. ADA parking is available in every paved lot.
- The park shuttle runs close to the troll access points, but the buses don't have wheelchair lifts, and you still have to cross natural ground to reach each troll.
The Conservancy links the cottage opening to rising visitor numbers since Gipson Play Plaza opened and the trolls arrived. Once a park draws that many people, they need somewhere to sit, a restroom, and something to drink. The cottage provides all three.
The fall calendar, set against the new hours
The park's October and November calendar is the first full fall season with both cafés open. Here are the standout dates, with the day of the week, so you can see which events line up with cottage hours:
- Saturday, October 10, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Celebrate "Oaktober" at Harvey Hill. A Rotary Club community event with an oak-sapling giveaway followed by live music. It ends four hours before Park Bar closes.
- Wednesday, October 14, 6 to 9 p.m.: Oak City Salsa Social at Gipson Play Plaza. Part of Hispanic Heritage Month, with a beginner lesson and live Latin music. It falls on a Wednesday, which isn't one of the cottage's published days.
- Friday, October 16, 6 to 8 p.m.: Poetry in the Park. A family-friendly open mic at the House of Many Porches Market, and listeners are welcome.
- Saturday, October 17, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Music at the Market. DJs from the Oak City Soul Vinyl Collective at the House of Many Porches Market. It repeats Saturday, November 21, same hours.
- Friday, October 30, 5 to 10 p.m.: Skate Night at the Chapel. An all-ages session first, then a later 18+ session. It ends at the same hour as Park Bar's Friday close.
- Thursday, November 12, 2 to 3:30 p.m.: Accessible Nature Tour at Gipson Play Plaza. Led by the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, focused on getting around the park's accessible areas.
- Sunday, November 15: Grief Talks, a guided trolley tour, and forest bathing. All three are on the calendar the same day.
- Thursday, November 26, 9 to 10:30 a.m.: Thanksgiving Day Trophy Trot 5K. The park warns of morning road closures and restricted entrances. The detailed event schedule is still listed as coming soon.
There are also smaller weekly programs, such as Yoga in the Park on Harvey Hill, Pilates on Flowers Field, and Learn to Ride a Bike at Gipson Play Plaza. Pilates meets on the field the cottage deck faces.
What isn't there yet
A few things the park and its partners have announced aren't in place yet. The Conservancy says a small natural play area and more landscaping at Flowers Cottage will come later this year. At The Weld, the official retail page names Drift as the only retail business and advertises more suites as available. For now, Drift is the only stop there.
The sunflowers are done for the year. The park's sunflower page says the field was no longer in bloom by August 2026 and describes fall clearing and winter cover-crop planting. Until spring, the trolls, the play plaza, the deck, and the event calendar are what draw people to the park.
Living close to a park that now runs from breakfast to after dark can matter to a home's appeal, whether you're near Dix Park or another Raleigh park that's adding amenities. If you'd like to know how your home's location shows up in today's numbers, The Property Shop Real Estate Co. can walk you through it. Get a Free Home Valuation.
