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FESTIVAL OVERCAME HURDLES, BECAME A SUCCESS

As Fayetteville's Dogwood Festival enters its seventh season, it stands on the verge of being recognized as a major attraction in the southeastern United States, and no one could be happier than John Malzone.

If success has many fathers, then Malzone is the granddaddy of the Dogwood Festival, as the principal organizer of the debut festival in 1983 and the Dogwood Festival chairman for the event's first two years.

Malzone, a local entrepreneur, recalls the early years of getting what has become today's Dogwood Festival established.

"My job was to conceptualize and organize things the first year, and then after that to become a cheerleader."

And Malzone, a consummate salesman, had the unenviable task of selling a community of skeptics on a spring festival, the scope of which was staggering to Malzone himself.

It was former mayor Bill Hurley who got Malzone involved in planning the Dogwood Festival, Malzone said.

"The idea originated with Jimmy Little, who was at the Chamber of Commerce at that time," Malzone recalled. "He approached Mayor Hurley, who thought it was a good idea and asked me to organize it and sell it to the community."

Malzone called a summit meeting of local civic, military and business leaders to get the ball rolling.

It wasn't long before Malzone faced his first hurdle, which he learned of in a conversation with Hurley.

"When he asked me to do it, I said, "great, what kind of budget does it have?" and he said, "zero," " Malzone recalled, laughing.

Undaunted, Malzone spent a year - from March 1982 to March 1983 - going from civic club to civic club, looking for help. In the interim, everything was donated, from paper to envelopes to secretarial help.

Compared with 1989's 10-day, 50-event festival, the 1983 inaugural edition was cumbersome - 100 events spanning three weeks and four weekends. Schools, garden clubs and numerous other local organizations were involved.

Malzone said he felt all along that the first Dogwood Festival would be a success, but he started out trying to keep expectations at a low point.

"I had a feeling of, "let"s go out in the community and get everyone involved. Let's have a party and have a good time and not build anybody's hopes up.' "

In 1983, Malzone persuaded the Arts Council to move its popular Sunday on the Square from May to April as the wrapup event for the Dogwood Festival. It rained that day, which Arts Council loyalists said was an omen, Malzone said goodnaturedly.

The festival rebounded the second year, however, when the Pope/Fort Bragg Open House became the festival-closing event. That year, the Thunderbirds helped draw 130,000 to the festival's end.

Malzone speaks with obvious but self-effacing pride in the success that has greeted the Dogwood Festival in the years since.

"My goal was to set something in place to perpetuate itself," he said. "We're such a baby in the scheme of things. Our support has grown considerably." The Dogwood Festival's ranking in the top 20 southeastern U.S. events and a mention in the current edition of "Southern Living" magazine haven't hurt either, Malzone said.

He is quick to point out that the Dogwood Festival was launched when Fayetteville was dealing with some serious problems - before it earned the All America City designation, before downtown began its turnaround.

Malzone is not excited about the prospect of the Dogwood Festival being fit into a shorter time period, however.

"You have to have at least two weekends to really get people involved, and that's the strength of the festival," he said. "It heralds spring, and it's exciting."

Malzone feels the fewer events of today's Dogwood Festival are run better than they were in the early days, and the festival itself is more organized. The festival's recent hiring of a year-round administrative assistant will lend continuity, he said.

"I feel real confident about the future of the Dogwood Festival," Malzone said. "It was a great opportunity for me and I'm really proud to have had the opportunity. I think someday it will become a major regional event."