Spring Soiree kicks off Azalea Festival lead-up

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Azalea Festival Spring Soiree kicked off the lead-up to Wilmington’s biggest annual Friday night at the Hilton downtown.

The goal is to get people in the spirit of the festival a month in advance. More than 600 people attended.

With the festival coming up, some folks are wondering about the changes being made to the parade this year. We asked Azalea Festival President Liz Carroll how they have worked to improve the parade

“We’ve got bigger floats, we’ve got… we’re really putting an emphasis on quality over quantity,” Carroll said. “For the first time ever, we are also going to have balloons, so Kermit the Frog will be here. We’ve got some other balloons that will be here as well that we are going to unveil in the next couple of weeks.”

The Azalea Festival runs April 8-12.