Southern Belles, Brass Bands & Azaleas… 64th Annual Azalea Festival, Wilmington North Carolina April 6-10, 2011

Southern Belles, Brass Bands & Azaleas… 64th Annual Azalea Festival, Wilmington North Carolina April 6-10, 2011
By Bill Milligan

Recovering from an especially cold winter in 1947, a group of locals under the auspices of Dr. W. Houston Moore came together to celebrate the arrival of spring and the blooming of the azaleas at Greenfield Lake and surrounding local gardens. At their second meeting, this group of civic leaders picked the absent and unsuspecting Hugh Morton, a representative of the Wilmington Jaycees, as their President of the 1st Azalea Festival. So with what was essentially clandestine voting, the unsuspecting azaleas got a sensitive leader, one who would start a yearly trend of honoring not only them but the beauty of Wilmington and its gardens.

Wilmington, North Carolina is a coastal town with a temperate climate, plenty of sunshine, wide and clean beaches, a long growing season, a relatively short and mild winter, lakes, beautiful gardens, eclectic and growing population (approximately 100,000), palm trees, a large university (UNCW) and a quaint tree lined colonial downtown area on the Cape Fear River. This combination with a heavy dash of Southern culture is the backdrop for this annual spring event, showcasing the inherent beauty of this city.

The annual Azalea Festival is split into two parts, the Azalea Garden Tour (April 8-10th) and the 64th Annual North Carolina Azalea Festival (April 6-10th), celebrating Wilmington’s artwork, gardens, rich history and culture. With this, parades, street fairs, concerts and pageantry will fill the streets of downtown Wilmington where restaurants, boutique wine shops and coffee houses will open their doors to the spring aromas, colors and warmth.

Events will be held around the city with the formal ribbon cutting-ceremony and Queen’s Garden Party at the Greenfield Lake Amphitheater. Attendance usually tops 300,000, with people coming from all over the United States to enjoy this Southern cultural event. Local and national celebrities along with 125 antebellum dressed Southern Belles and University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Brass Ensemble band with add color and music for this five day event.

Wilmington’s refurbished Amphitheater sitting on beautiful Greenfield Lake with its potpourri of colorful azaleas, overhanging trees, walking paths and its resident alligator provide the inviting setting for this major event. Summertime opens with outdoor concerts and Shakespeare on the green where all bring their wine and snacks and enjoy warm southern nights under the stars.

All profits go to community projects and scholarships for UNCW and Cape Fear Community College. We would like to thank Gayle Ward, the chairperson for this event for her interview and its interesting history.

For more information: www.CapeFearGardenClub.org.