By Pam Creech
Contributing Writer
Caroline and Katherine Drew Marapese have wanted to be Azalea Belles since they were little girls. This year, the 17-year-old twins’ childhood dream will come true during the 2015 Azalea Festival as they sport antebellum-style dresses during the Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Garden Tour.
“I’m really excited. It’s a unique opportunity and I’m glad to be a part of it,” Caroline said. “I enjoy getting dressed up. A lot of my friends have done it, so I enjoyed looking at their dresses.”
Hers is a light-blue, lacy dress.
“It was the first one I tried on and I absolutely loved it,” she said.
As a junior at Cape Fear Academy, Caroline stays busy as a member of the school’s swim team, lacrosse team and band. Last summer, she attended the Instrumental Music Program at North Carolina Governor’s School West.
Outside of extracurricular activities, Caroline said she enjoys the many spoils of living on the coast.
“We live close to the beach, so that’s always fun,” she said. “We live right in the waterway, so we do lots of paddle boarding, kayaking and fishing.”
Caroline’s twin sister, Katherine Drew, plays French horn with the Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra and attended the Instrumental Music Program at North Carolina Governor’s School East. She also plays soccer and tennis for Cape Fear Academy. Katherine Drew said she isn’t sure what she wants to study after graduating high school, but her favorite subjects are math and science.
“I’m thinking either engineering or medicine,” she said.
Katherine Drew is excited about designing her lavender outfit with local dressmaker Debbie Scheu.
“I got to be really involved in the design process, so that was a lot of fun,” Katherine Drew said. “It’ll be interesting to learn to walk in a hoop skirt. That will take some getting used to.”
The Marapese sisters were 9 years old the first time they became involved with the garden tour.
“When the house next door was on tour, a tree fell and made a hole in the fence. My sister and I set up a lemonade stand in the hole and became entrepreneurs,” Katherine Drew said.
The girls are sponsored by their mother, Katherine Thomas, who is a member of the Cape Fear Garden Club.
“They’ve been touring the gardens since they were very young. … It’s been something they knew they’d enjoy,” Thomas said. “The Azalea Belles have always been sweet to the younger girls by letting them touch their dresses or hold their parasols.”
During the 2015 tour April 10-12, 157 Azalea Belles will stroll through the tour’s 10 gardens.
“That’s the highest number of belles they’ve ever had,” Katherine Drew said.
Proceeds from the tour will be distributed as beautification and horticulture grants, scholarships at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Cape Fear Community College and to a National Audubon Society bird sanctuary — Battery Island.
For more information about the Azalea Festival or the Garden Tour visit www.ncazaleafestival.org.
