Throwback Thursday Azalea Festival Edition: Michael Jordan, Phylicia Rashad, and elephants
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — This week’s Throwback Thursday revisits memorable moments from past North Carolina Azalea Festivals, featuring familiar faces and long-standing traditions in Wilmington.
In 1984, hometown basketball star Michael Jordan served as grand marshal of the Azalea Festival Parade. That same year, actress Sharon Wyatt was crowned Queen Azalea. The parade also featured elephants from the Cole Brothers Circus, which marched through downtown Wilmington.
The following year, in 1985, actress Phylicia Rashad was crowned Queen Azalea, becoming the festival’s first Black queen. Known for her role as Claire Huxtable on the television sitcom The Cosby Show, Rashad reflected on the event during her visit.
“Well this is quite a spectacle. I might have to send some people down here from New York and LA to find out what spectacle really is,” she said.
That year’s festival also included performances by Donny and Marie Osmond and Crystal Gayle at Trask Coliseum.
A decade later, in 1995, elephants returned as part of the festivities for a race involving WWAY personalities Kitty Fitzgibbon and George Elliot.
The segment is part of a new weekly Throwback Thursday series that will feature stories from WWAY’s historical news archives. That archive can be accessed here.
