From addiction struggles to sobriety: Local business owner shares her journey

Sarah Castleberry

By Andrea Bruner, White River Now

As a young woman, Sarah Castleberry threw herself into pageants, putting everything she had in order to win the crown.

When she became addicted to alcohol, she went all in on that as well, but that all-or-nothing attitude is also what helped her when she finally decided to quit drinking.

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As a little girl, Castleberry said all she ever wanted to be when she grew up was Miss Arkansas.

A 2006 Southside High School graduate, Castleberry entered countless pageants before winning both Miss Batesville and Miss Independence County in 2007. With the scholarships she earned with the titles, she was able to attend the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville, then transferred to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she studied accounting and competed in the Miss Arkansas pageant.

“I studied accounting just because math came easy to me, but it wasn’t a passion for me – it was just the easy route,” she said.

Growing up in a dry county, Castleberry, 37, said alcohol was harder to come by – not to mention she felt like she was “living in a glass bubble,” where she was expected to be a role model for others while competing in pageants.

“It’s a job and something to be taken seriously. I felt like I was judged, always, and I think the stress of that led to me drinking even more. I was always held to a higher standard. You sign up for that, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect you.”

But living in Little Rock, she said, alcohol was always available. “I was a pretty girl – I could have anyone buy me a drink. … The availability of it was endless,” she said.

There was also a lot of pressure, particularly within pageant circles, to be perfect, she said. A comment about her looks could send Castleberry running off to drink in order to cope.

“I take things to the extreme. I have an addictive personality, and when I was in Miss Arkansas, I was all in. Six weeks before competition, I wouldn’t drink because those calories are everything, and I would run 10 miles a day. I was very dedicated — and that led to me not eating and me having a lot of issues, and drinking after Miss Arkansas competitions would numb that.”

Social drinking eventually led to more problematic alcohol use. One glass soon turned into two, and when Castleberry went out to eat, she would look for places that served alcohol.

Then Covid hit, and the schools closed. Castleberry said she had to step back from her job to stay at home with her children.

“Being home during Covid, drinking became more acceptable at all hours. You’re not working 8 to 5 or at a work facility where you have to do something a certain way because you’re out in public – you’re home, and you have the ability to day drink or have that wine an hour earlier than normal,” Castleberry said.

After Covid, Castleberry said she didn’t want to go back to the corporate world. She always had a passion for cooking and meal prepping, from hosting Thanksgiving at her home to throwing big birthday parties for her daughters, so she was hoping to use those skills in a different way. “It’s always been my dream, but I just didn’t think I was good enough to get paid for it.”

After recording a few live cooking videos on social media, she could see where her true passion lay and realized that she could make a go of it.

“As a busy mom, I knew how hard it was for people to have homemade food. I didn’t want to open a restaurant like everyone else – I wanted something different, something besides chicken strips and French fries, because you can get that anywhere. I wanted to make it convenient for families while being a place for people to come and feel welcome, while getting some homemade food.”

Castleberry said entrepreneurship is in her genes – her grandmother owned an antique store, helped start the chamber of commerce in Newark, and even ran for mayor. “She was in some roles that I thought highly of, and she inspired me in many ways in that aspect.”

The antique store was called Country Girls, which Castleberry said was named after herself and her sister. “Some of my customers will come in now and say, ‘I remember you as a little girl. I’d come into your grandmother’s shop and you would wait on me, just as your girls do here at the shop.’ So that’s fun.”

Castleberry said it was thanks to her grandmother that she realized owning her own business was a possibility, and on Aug. 1, 2023, she opened her storefront, Sarah-Dipity, in the Eagle Mountain Shopping Center.

But she kept drinking, and Castleberry said it got to the point where she would drink six or eight beers and not think anything about it.

“It wasn’t a big deal because I wasn’t going anywhere, and then I became dependent. I would make sure I’d stop at Newport when I went to Sam’s – I would make sure I had what I needed from there. I couldn’t go without it, hardly – I would be like, I’m so stressed out I’ve gotta have a drink.”

She said her kids saw their mom change into a different person when she drank, and they begged her to quit.

Castleberry said there were several times she tried to quit, and twice, she forced herself to quit drinking, and for good reason – during pregnancy and breastfeeding. But without that motivation, she felt like there was nothing stopping her from drinking.

Until now.

“I just woke up one morning and decided I didn’t want to drink anymore. It was like God told me,” she said. “What made me do that was all God and not me.”

August 25, 2025, will be one year.

“This is the longest I’ve gone without drinking, without being pregnant or nursing, just stopping on my own.”

She said her children are the reason she and her husband, Michael, both quit drinking. “My oldest daughter is going to be a teenager soon, and if she needs me, she needs to be able to call me, and I need to be sober. I need to be able to get to her. … We put them first. We quit for them.”

Castleberry said she’d been honest and open on social media about her sobriety.

“I can’t do this alone, so I was going to be very vocal about it, because otherwise I would probably fall back and crawfish on myself and start drinking again,” she said. “If I made myself accountable, then I would be more likely to stay sober.”

“Anyone that knows me knows I would give the shirt off my back to help someone in need, and if someone is struggling silently and I can do something to let them know they’re not alone, that it’s OK to say no to drinking, then I will. I am a safe space for them.”

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It was exactly a month to the date that the person who owns the building where Sarah-Dipity is now located came to Castleberry, asking her to cater an event at her home.

She also asked Castleberry if she would be interested in moving into the old Pinto building on Main Street.

Castleberry, with her family and others, at the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting for Sarah-Dipity’s new location on Main Street

“Two years ago, I asked her about this space, and she told me it wasn’t available. But she told me she’d watched me and she was proud of me, and she wanted someone to go into this building that was committed to our community, and that would be here, not go anywhere. She knows I’m proud to be a hometown girl, and I’m proud of community, and I want this to be a safe place for people, that I’m not going to get a liquor license. They don’t have to see alcohol. They don’t have to be pressured to drink or treated differently.”

On Valentine’s Day this year, Castleberry re-opened Sarah-Dipity in the old Pinto location.

She joked that her restaurant has become her new addiction, but said it does help keep her on the path she wants to be on.

“I like to stay busy – my workers laugh at me because I get 10 to 15,000 steps a day. I don’t sit still. I say if I’m sitting, I’m not making money,” she said with a laugh.

Castleberry admits she also gets tired of doing the same thing, so she’s always ready to try new things. The Sunday buffet was a huge hit.

“I worked at Kelley-Wyatt’s in high school, and Sunday was my favorite day to work. I worked from when I was 15 until I was 19, and I got to know so many people.”

Now, these same customers are coming into her restaurant with their babies and grandbabies, and Castleberry loves seeing the familiar faces. She said three customers came up to her on a recent Sunday, thanking her for providing a place to eat in downtown Batesville that does not serve alcohol.

She said one woman said, “She can leave her church, come on Main Street, and enjoy a meal without having to worry about that being served here.

“That was a big compliment to me. Nowadays, we’re in a world where we feel pressured by all the influences to keep up with the Joneses. I’m not giving into that. I’m a family place – I’m not a place for alcohol.”

While she’s not opening her doors every Sunday, the ones where she has been open have been a blessing, Castleberry said.

Castleberry with her family and Sarah-Dipity staff

One recent Sunday saw 181 customers in three hours. “My patio was full, we had the alley full, there were lines out the door everywhere. It was like a dream come true. I had a customer send me a photo of everyone in here, and it was amazing. We were late opening the door. We only have four burners, so to make three entrees plus four sides – it’s a lot to get done. We got here at 4 a.m., and we were still not done, so we were 10 minutes late opening. But a customer said, ‘Hey, who hasn’t had to wait at Grandma or Mom’s house for Sunday lunch?’” Castleberry said with another laugh.

“A lot of Lyon College students come here when they get to missing home – I can be ‘mom’ or my mom can be ‘grandma,’” she said. “We try to be their comfort. A lot of these kids come a long way away to be here.”

Castleberry said there have been a few other people in the local business community who have reached out, saying she has inspired them to kick their addictions as well.

Whether they’re three days or 30 days clean, Castleberry is on the road to sobriety with them, and she’s rooting for them all the way.

She said she is planning a “mocktail” type of fundraiser for the local sobriety court, with speakers and festivities.

“If the judge orders you to go to sobriety counseling, if you don’t have the money, then we’ll be able to help fund that, so that people can get help,” she said.

While no date has been set yet, Castleberry said she is working on the fundraiser with Bruce Winston, who is the coordinator of the Independence County Sobriety Program, which includes home visits as well as transporting individuals to and from court.

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As for the anniversary of her sobriety, Castleberry said she has no plans to mark the day, other than maybe to pass the day as quietly as she made the decision to quit drinking.

“They (the girls) think it’s wonderful they don’t have to worry about alcohol being in our home. They don’t have to worry about us eating at certain places because we want to have a drink,” she said. “They don’t have to worry about us embarrassing them – you don’t really think about that when you’re drinking. We affect them a lot more than we think. I’m just glad my girls were vocal to me and felt comfortable in telling me and knowing that I’ll listen to them, instead of brushing them off. …

“I hope they’re going to be proud of me and know that I will do my best to give them the best life I can and teach them about work ethic and giving back to the community. Because without your community and giving back to others, you would have nothing.”

All images by Emma Fryman / Emmagphotography