Ribbon cutting kicks off Azalea Festival Garden Tour
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The 79th annual North Carolina Azalea Festival continued Friday morning with one of its signature traditions, kicking off a full weekend of festivities.
The community gathered at the Cameron Art Museum for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the annual Azalea Festival Garden Tour.
The tour gives visitors a chance to step inside some of Wilmington’s most beautiful private gardens, showcasing the color and care that define this time of year in the Cape Fear.
This year’s theme focuses on garden owners who do their own work. Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Garden Tour Chair June Sweeny said the goal was to highlight the creativity and dedication behind each space.
“I know that I used to attend all the tours when I lived in Fayetteville, North Carolina and I would come to Wilmington for that just to see what the gardeners had done and get ideas, and so I thought I want to have gardens where people do their own work and some of these are very small gardens and they are fascinating what people come up with,” said Sweeny.
Festival officials, community leaders, and special guests were also on hand, including Elizabeth Sheatz, the official artist of the 2026 Azalea Festival and a former belle.
“Very, youngest memories of doing art that I can remember were downtown at the St. John’s Art Museum, which has now been transitioned to the Cameron Art Museum, so I’m really honored that I would be here today because it’s sort of a full-circle moment. It’s been amazing, I mean, I’m truly honored, riding in the motorcade has been surreal, the whole experience, you know, VIP everywhere we go, it’s going to be hard to go back to reality after this,” said Sheats.
The queen’s court also made appearances, including Queen Azalea Elaine Hendrix, who did the honors of cutting the ribbon.
After the outpouring of love she has received so far, Hendrix said she could not be more grateful.
“To see the joy and inspiration that you’ve brought to people, people are lining up to see you, and to see the joy that you’ve brought the whole town, what does that mean to you?” “That makes me emotional, it is, I feel like it is my purpose in life to bring joy and inspire others, and I happen to do it through entertainment, so anywhere I can go and where I can feel the impact that I make, that’s everything to me because I feel like its cyclical right, I give and then I get back, and then I give and I get back, ad this is such a generous community that it’s very palpable here and I’m grateful,” said Hendrix.
Festival festivities continue Friday night with a concert from Dustin Lynch, followed by the street fair and parade Saturday.
