The calendar may say spring, but the season hasn’t fully arrived in Wilmington until the Azalea Festival begins. This week, the area’s most iconic festival will provide fun and entertainment for the whole family.
While events are occurring all week, most of the festival’s main events start Friday, including the signature Azalea Garden Tour, arranged by the Cape Fear Garden Club.
This year’s Garden Tour Chair, Caroline Butler, said the 2017 edition of the tour includes “more than we’ve ever had before.”
“We have a really eclectic mix of gardens – some are formal and lush, some are full of art,” Butler said. “What I really wanted was to give people an idea of what they can do with their living areas, and all these gardens are really extensions of the owners’ living spaces.”
The tour will begin Friday morning with a ribbon-cutting party at 10 a.m. at a house off Masonboro Sound Road.
“It’s going to be a very Southern throwback garden party,” Butler said of the party, which will be held on a property of nearly five acres and hosted by 152 Azalea Belles. “Full of Southern hospitality.”
In addition to being able to tour the 10 private gardens and two public gardens with their tickets, guests will also enjoy live music and “plain air art,” where 21 artists will set up in the middle of gardens and paint the scenes they see. The art will then be available for purchase by the public at a “wet paint” sale on Sunday.
“I’m very excited for all the things we have going on,” said Butler. “It’s really going to be a memorable event.”
On Saturday and Sunday, the annual Historic Home Tour hosted by the Historic Wilmington Foundation will be taking place throughout downtown Wilmington. Ten homes will be featured on the self-guided tour, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the David Reid Murchison House, located at 305 S. 3rd St., will kick off the event at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The Lower Cape Fear Coin Club is also putting on a special coin show on those days in conjunction with the Azalea Festival. Dealers will be on hand to appraise, buy, sell and trade coins. The public is invited to the family-friendly event, which will be held at the Elks Lodge at 5102 Oleander Dr., to learn more about the world of coin collecting.
Some of the biggest draws are the musical guests, who perform in downtown Wilmington at the Miller Lite Main Stage, located at 701 N. Front St. Kicking things off on Thursday night is country star Cole Swindell, a Georgia native who was named New Artist of the Year at the 2015 Academy of Country Music Awards. Michael Ray and CJ Solar, also country or country-influenced acts, will open for the “Ain’t Worth the Whiskey” singer.
On Friday, veteran English synth pop band Duran Duran will headline the main stage. The group, which first reached mainstream fame in the 1980s and released their 14th album in 2015, will be preceded on stage by Florida indie rock band Roadkill Ghost Choir.
Jason Derulo will bring his smooth dance moves and catchy urban pop hits to the main stage on Saturday. The 27-year-old from Florida burst onto the scene in 2009 with his hit single “Whatcha Say,” and released his fourth album in 2015. Morris Day, who was a founding member of music legend Prince’s band The Time, will open for Derulo.
