Wilmington,
NC – March 2016 / Newsmaker Alert / Just in time for the 69th
Annual North Carolina Azalea
Festival (April 6-10), spring arrives in Wilmington
and its island beaches with warm weather and azaleas at every turn.
During early spring, azaleas dominate Wilmington landscapes with brilliant
splashes of pink, red, white and purple. To say that Wilmingtonians are
passionate about azaleas is an understatement. The blooming of these colorful
flowering shrubs is an annual phenomenon worthy of great celebration and
fanfare, as evidenced by the city’s five-day festival in its honor. Wilmington,
N.C. is even certified by the Azalea Society of America as an official
“Azalea City.”
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Wilmington tradition since 1948, the North Carolina Azalea Festival ushers
in spring with Southern pageantry as Queen Azalea opens the festival with
an official coronation. This year UNC-Wilmington graduate and FOX News
reporter Anna Kooiman (anchor and co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend,
based in NYC) will be crowned Queen Azalea 2016. Ms. Kooiman will be accompanied
by a court of Carolina queens. Dozens of Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Belles,
dressed in antebellum-style hoop skirts with matching parasols, will also
be in attendance. In the days that follow, festival highlights will include
juried arts and craft shows, fireworks (Saturday night), and a street fair
(Fri./Sat./Sun.) with exhibits, vendors, live music, entertainment and
kids’ activities along Market, Front and Water streets. There’s also an
elaborate parade on Saturday morning (begins at 9:30 a.m.), complete with
azalea-laden floats, marching bands, clowns, local pageant winners and
celebrity guests. This year’s parade viewing area will be along Third Street,
from Market Street to Red Cross Street.
Azaleas take center stage
during the festival’s official featured tours: the Cape Fear Garden Club’s
Azalea
Garden Tour and the Historic Wilmington Foundation’s Azalea
Home Tour. The Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Garden Tour, April 8-10,
is one of the South’s longest-running and most popular garden tours. This
year’s garden tour theme is “Stepping Into Spring.” The 63rd annual tour
showcases 12 private and public gardens that include a mix of established
and new lovingly tended landscapes. A new addition is Spectrum Gallery’s
“en plein air” artists who will be painting in participating gardens. Tour
price includes free admission to Airlie Gardens on Saturday and Sunday.
For details and tickets: www.capefeargardenclub.org/azalea-garden-tour.
Another time-honored sanctioned event is the Azalea Home Tour (April 9
and 10), showcasing nine private homes and a historic church. Homes are
chosen to represent an array of architectural styles found in Wilmington.
For home tour tickets: www.historicwilmington.org.
Live music is always a highlight
of the N.C. Azalea Festival. This year’s headline acts include two national
recording artists who hail from North Carolina: folk/rock musical sensation
The Avett Brothers band on April 7 and country music maverick Chase Rice,
who will share the stage with Kane Brown on April 9. A third headline concert
features multi-platinum artist/actor/entertainment icon Snoop Dogg, who
will delight audiences on April 8 with hits from his 13 albums, including
the recently released studio album, BUSH. Rapper, record producer, and
beat boxer Doug E. Fresh will open for Snoop Dogg.
All headline concerts are
outdoors on the Belk Main Stage at the Cape Fear Community College Campus
in Downtown Wilmington (411 N. Front Street). Concerts begin at 7:00 p.m.;
gates open at 6:00 p.m. Concerts are rain or shine; standing room only.
Tickets for all concerts are available online at www.ncazaleafestival.org
and at the N.C. Azalea Festival Office (5724 Oleander Drive, Ste. B7; Mon.-Fri.,
9am-5pm). Chairs, backpacks, umbrellas, coolers are not permitted inside
the venue. Chairs, food and beverage will be available for cash purchase.
Other notable celebrities
scheduled to make guest appearances include: U.S. Army-Retired four-star
general Dan McNeill; Actress/author/Alzheimer’s spokesperson Bernadette
Stanis (“Good Times” Thelma Evans); Nickelodeon actress Brec Bassinger
(“Bella and the Bulldogs”); Author Tony Tata (former N.C. Secretary of
Transportation); Author Kristy Woodson Harvey (“Dear Carolina”); Lifestyle
brand owner/furniture designer Roxy Te; American Idol Season 14
runner-up Clark Beckham; Miss North Carolina Kate Peacock; 2016 Festival
artist Mary Ellen Golden; and Azalea Festival Princess Lilly Kays.
Festival attendees can immerse
themselves in the local culture by downloading the N.C. Azalea Festival
App for up-to-date event details, breaking entertainment news, behind-the-scenes
buzz and insider tips. For App details, a festival schedule and concert
tickets, call 910-794-4650, visit www.ncazaleafestival.org
or the festival ticket office (5725 Oleander Dr., Wilmington).
Spring brings blooms, belles,
beaches and festivals to Wilmington, N.C. and its island beaches. Come
for the N.C. Azalea Festival and stay a few extra days to enjoy the nearby
island beaches. Wilmington is a convenient drive along I-40 and US 74.
Prefer to fly? The Wilmington International Airport (ILM) offers daily
flights to major airline hubs. For a free 2016 Official Visitors Guide
to Wilmington, North Carolina and the island beaches of Carolina
Beach, Kure Beach, Wrightsville
Beach, call 1-866-266-9690 or email visit@wilmingtonandbeaches.com.
For spring highlights and special offers, visit www.wilmingtonandbeaches.com/season/2016-spring-highlights.
Media
Contact:
Wilmington
and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau
Connie
Nelson
Communications/PR
Director
910-332-8751
866-266-9690
ext. 120
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The
New Hanover County Tourism Development Authority d/b/a Wilmington and Beaches
Convention and Visitors Bureau is the official destination marketing organization
of New Hanover County, North Carolina that stimulates economic development
through the promotion of travel and tourism.
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