After years of teetering on the edge of survival, the leaders of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival announced the event will return April 9 to April 11 in Piedmont Park.
The dates were announced on the festival’s website Thursday morning.
“We think it’s a great tradition,” said David Shutley, the festival’s board chair. “The response we got from the 2026 festival was overwhelmingly positive – from sponsors, the artists, the vendors and the patrons. We want to keep this long tradition going. It’s important for Atlanta.”
The plan is for the festival to remain as a free event.
Shutley, a corporate lending advisor at Trustmark, said the 2026 festival – its 90th year in operation – also broke even.
“We were in the black,” Shutley said. “We had been in the red for several years prior to this year.”
When asked why, Shutley pointed to several reasons – increased donations, some foundation funding and a slight improvement among sponsors. “It was a combination of a number of factors,” he said.
The Dogwood Festival did try to work out an arrangement with the City of Atlanta to charge donation for admission for the 2026 festival, but there was a snafu. On Saturday, the second day of the festival, the festival went back to only asking for voluntary donations.
The 2026 festival also took place on week after the 404 Day Festival in the park, where a shooting occurred. That added to the uncertainty of whether the event would be able to continue as a free festival.
Despite a slight improvement in the financial results in 2026, Shutley said the festival will need to solidify its revenue model if it is to continue as a free festival for years to come.
“The messaging now is that we’ll have a donation model with expanded benefits,” Shutley said. “I don’t expect to be charging for tickets to enter the festival. We want to be creative in whatever way we can so we can continue.”
Meanwhile, Lanna Rudeseal has been promoted to director of the festival. Longtime director, Brian Hill, will continue to help in a consulting role.
“We are coming back for 2027,” Shutley said. “So, save the date.”
