Hundreds gather in downtown Wilmington to watch the 74th Annual NC Azalea Festival Parade
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — This morning, hundreds of people gathered in downtown Wilmington to watch the Annual Azalea Festival Dollar General Parade, after being postponed last year due to the pandemic.
Many stopped to watch the 74th Annual North Carolina Azalea Festival Parade on its route down 3rd Street from Market Street to Bladen Street in downtown Wilmington.
Floats featuring local organizations, businesses, pageant princesses and queens, and politicians drove by as event attendees cheered.
Many event attendees said this is a tradition for their families, and although the parade was not held in 2020, it was still well welcomed this summer.
“It’s hot, but I mean it’s worth it. My kids love it and its for them, so you know,” said Asjah Simpson.
“I mean we’ve been coming with our neighbors, and friends for probably… since he was a baby. So about 6 years, and we love it down here. It’s great for kids, you know, and the kids definitely love it. So it’s a good family tradition,” said Cam Penegar, attendee.
One woman said she was surprised by the turnout from those watching the parade, expecting to see more people.
“Usually its packed throughout here, and we got a good seat on the bleachers, right on the front row, so we are happy about that,” said Karen Eames.
Some parade attendees were tourists, and it was their first time seeing the North Carolina Azalea Festival Parade, enjoying their experience.
“We saw that they had everything barricaded off yesterday. We didn’t even know this was going on, apparently it got moved. So it was kind of cool that we just happened to be up here,” Brad Baker, tourist.
Parade participants said they were glad to have the opportunity to be a part of the well-loved annual event.
“The smiles on everybody’s faces, and them cheering you on, just cheering with you was the best part,” said Ceighlee Styles, parade participant.
“Yeah, there were a lot of like —especially little kids, but also adults who were like waving at us and like we were smiling you know, because we were trying to get a smile on their faces,” said Nia Watts, parade participant.
WWAY’S very own Donna Gregory and Jeff Rivenbark were the emcee’s for this year’s parade, and the parade was followed by fireworks over the Cape Fear River at 9pm.
Leave a Reply