Thursday, April 9, 2009

This past weekend, Tim and I attended the Azalea festival. This is such a big deal that the signs that announce you are in Wilmington also say: Home of the Azalea Festival. And it is quite an interesting time.

For example, one event we attended was the 3 hour parade. The highlight of this parade were elephants. 3 of them. The most represented in the parade were JROTCs, all the way from Durham, to Myrtle Beach, to Whiteville...over an hour vicinity of Wilmington. (btw: the biggest troop was Brunswick, whose JROTC was bigger than their band.) We also heard several sirens from various vehicles (including ambulances...I don't remember ever seeing them in a parade), but ultimately, sirens aren't anything to get excited about because we hear them about once and hour in our apartment. What was definitely not the highlight were the so called "local celebrities." I am, at times, embarressed by the useless celebrity information I know, but I had never heard of these people. I mean, doesn't Chad Michael Murry live in Wilmington? And Jason Cook had been there the day before.

Additionally, there was a shag dance competition. Your eyes probably did a double take right then. Shag dancing originated in North Carolina, and is quite popular. It is pretty much swing with a "triple lindie," as we called it at the UofA. Tim said it rememinded up of the SNL skit with the Cooger Girls. That might be an accurate description.

We also viewed the "multicultural dance" stage, and watched some amazing dances. The festival also had tours of historic homes and pretty gardens, one of which I passed that had a girl in what had to be a pink Easter dress playing a flute with flowers in her hair. I wonder what she was thinking.

But all in all, I give the Azalea Festival a big thumbs up. But, I probably won't do the parade again. 3 hours is a very big committment for a parade.

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