Flowertown Festival, Worth Waiting For

Last weekend we went to Summerville South Carolina for the Flowertown Festival. These are the promised pictures. Summerville is near Charleston SC and the coast so spring arrives quickly. The Festival is an annual event to raise funds for the YMCA. It is held each year when the Azaleas are blooming. Summerville is full of Azaleas. They come in several different colors and the bushes can get to be quite large.

Summerville started out as a place for wealthy Charlestonians to get away from the heat and illness of summer. It is full of wonderful old Victorian homes, and azaleas. One weekend a year, it is also full of people.

Many of the lovely old homes are open as Bed and Breakfasts now. This is the Flowertown B&B.

The festival centers on Azalea park. Lovely walks are lined with trees and Spanish moss. You can find peaceful areas even in these crowds.

Summerville is a sidewalk community and most homes have porches, the two seem to go together. This bridge allows the sidewalk to cross a canal in the park.
Since it is a flower festival, there are quite a few vendors with plants and garden equipment. I can't find the name of this plant but I thought it was interesting.

They set up a stage for live acts. This group of clowns were quite popular with the children.

This vendor is selling Bonsai. I have always loved these tiny trees.

Other vendors sold everything from potting soil to jewelry and clothes for pets. There were artists selling paintings, photographs and a couple of people were doing caricatures on the spot.

If you look closely you can see this river of people extends way up. Literally miles of people. Everyone seems to be in a good mood.

This is a different sort of flower. It is on the long needle pine tree and it is the source of the yellow dust that is starting to feel the air. I, and a lot of other people are extremely allergic to it. Summerville is about a four hour drive away from us and their weather is a little warmer than ours. Our pines are usually a week or two behind theirs.

They had rides set up on main street. If you look past the ride you can see a stately old home. It almost feels like you are in two times at once, the modern and the old. This is usually a quiet neighborhood yet the locals don't seem to mind at all.

This is my favorite flower photo from the trip. I don't know what kind of orchids these are but they are beauties. Some orchids are native to the swamp lands around Summerville, these were for sale at one of the many booths.
To see a picture of us at the festival, click here Flowertown news . I have lots more flower photos and will try to post some in a few days. For now, I hope you enjoy these. For those of you who are still having cold weather, I am thinking warm thoughts for you and this summer when we are WAY too hot and miserable, you can think cool thoughts for me. One of my Sisters lives in Idaho and they are still getting snow.

The birds are singing and I have got to get some homework done. Have a great weekend.

Cheers!

Kat