The celebration begins Friday the 18th of June with the Jr and Sr scholarship pageant, beginning at 7 pm at Bowman Middle School Auditorium, followed by street dancing on N. Mitchell Ave. The Wiseman’s band will be providing great bluegrass music.
Saturday will feature tours of the mountain and gardens, a 10k run at Gouge School (7:30 registration), arts, crafts and food on the Creek Walk (you can fish in Cane Creek if you wish ), Rhododendron Cruiser’s car show at Bowman Middle athletic field, tours of local art attractions, Dellinger’s Mill open to the public, the Ducky Derby at 3pm, and the finals of the scholarship pageant 7pm at Bowman Middle Auditorium followed by more street dancing from 8pm until…. Participants in the car show will “cruise in” to Helen’s Drive-In late Sat afternoon and remain there thru the early evening.
One important note about the mountain: the US Forest Service is doing extensive renovation to the parking and restroom facilities at the Cloudland site and has kept the mountain top closed to the public. The top and gardens will be open to the public from Monday, June 7th, through Monday, Jul 5th. The bloom on the mountain is on track to coincide with the Festival and promises to be the wonderful pink extravaganza we’ve long celebrated.
For more information about the Rhododendron Festival, please visit our website.