WHEN: April 1-3, 2011
WHERE: Summerville, SC
This weekend was the 39th annual Flowertown Festival in Summerville. Stacie works in Summerville, many of her coworkers live in Summerville, our church is in Summerville, and we live less than a mile from the city limits. So, we've been hearing about the Flowertown Festival for weeks now. According to the Southeast Tourism Society, the festival has consistently ranked as one of the Top 20 events in the southeast, attracting nearly 250,000 people over the 3-day event. We were told that it was something we should attend, just to experience it, especially since we didn't have kids - it gets crowded! We spent a couple hours there yesterday, fighting the crowds, checking out the 200 vendors on site, and just enjoying the beautiful spring day.
Azaleas in Summerville yesterday
The festival is synonymously known as the Azalea Festival, due in part to the fact that the festival takes place during peak bloom season for azaleas in Summerville. Azalea bushes litter almost every yard in Summerville and during their peak bloom they drown the city in brilliant hues of pink and red. (The colorful azaleas are especially stunning along the banks of the Ashley River in the landscaped gardens of nearby
Middleton Plantation, just a couple miles from our house.) There are thousands of varieties of azaleas and they grow throughout the world. I'm not going to even pretend I know what varieties are common in Summerville or what varieties I photographed.
Azalea bushes across the street from where Stacie works
Crowds and vendors gathered in Azalea Park in Summerville, the heart of the festival
Over 200 vendors lined several blocks of Main Street this weekend for the festival
The Three Stooges and Barney Fife, some of one vendor's hand drawings for sale
(this one is for Stacie's dad)
Oh, the temptations of festival food! We spent $18 here and we both hated every bite (it smelled better than it tasted). It's not that there wasn't any good food at the festival (there was plenty), we just made a rash decision under the influence of our noses. It's amazing how much your nose and mouth can have a difference of opinion!
This was about as open as the crowd ever was. We spent most of the time walking a couple inches at a time.
Stacie, enjoying some of the azaleas
One of the hundreds of quaint homes and cottages in Summerville, made even more inviting by the blooming azaleas this time of year
That's one beautiful lady :)
And more azaleas
On every block, in every shade of pink and red
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Summerville, enveloped in azalea blooms
The current church building was built in 1857
The grounds surrounding the church are a large cemetery
Blooms in the church's cemetery
Stacie drives by the church and many blocks of quaint cottages and azalea blooms on this road twice a day on her way to and from work. Not a bad way to start the day!
She's the prettiest flower in any garden!
Jesse's weekly POWs have finally returned (see below), after neglect over the past two months.
I know you missed them! :)
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