My First Azalea Festival in 2015. Taken at Airlie Gardens, where I'm now an annual member.

It's festival and outdoor concert season in Wilmington! Like most communities, we have lots of inside venues to host wonderful shows and acts throughout the year, but there is something special about that outdoor season.

This week, the 76th annual Azalea Festival kicked off with the Azalea Queen Coronation, sponsor events, and this morning, the ribbon cutting ceremony. In the 1930's, Dr. Houston Moore, with the help of the Wimington Rotary Club, transformed one of our parks, the Greenfield Lake Park, into a beautiful landscape by planting Azalea shrubs. These shrubs transform into colorful vibrant blooms in the early spring and remain green the rest of the year.

In 1948, the first Azalea Festival was kicked off in downtown Wilmington! The first festival had a parade, a Queen's Coronation, and more! Now this festival is a special event that our community either loves or hates every year. After modifications the past couple of years, this year the festival is back with Garden Club home tours, a Saturday morning parade, a street fair, main stage concerts at our outdoor venue, and local free concerts along with lots of parties, bright hats, and colorful attire. Plus, the Wilmington Historic Foundation also sponsors a home tour of various homes in various historic districts around our community! 

My first Azalea Festival attendance actually occurred before I moved to Wilmington. In 2015, I decided to be adventurous and take a mini bus tour with a local touring company up from South Carolina. The Wilmington Azalea Festival was one of the stops on that trip. I remember the Garden Club tour, the Airlie Gardens tour, the Henrietta Riverboat cruise, and all the pretty Azaleas! 

In normal fashion, tickets for various events have been offered via social media and in person giveaways. Do you ever enter social media giveaways in your community? I encourage it because I ended up winning two last minute tickets to see Old Crow Medicine Show tonight! 

In normal Wilmington fashion, it's currently pouring down rain after yesterday's beautiful 80 degree sunny skies, but I'm positive that the radar will clear up before tonight. In fact, I see a bit of sunshine peeking out through the rain right now... 

At any rate, I'm excited to head downtown with a friend and check out this amazing string band tonight. Every year, people complain about the concerts, the prices, and the venues, but I love the fact that our community offers so much for its citizens to enjoy! 

Are there any festivals going on in your town that you want to go to this spring?