Visitors to Macon during the Cherry Blossom Festival often ask if there are so many splendid events going on all of the time, and the answer is a resounding “Yes.” Those who don’t get to everything this week should plan on returning.

Macon is home to an amazing number of theater companies, music organizations, dance groups, various museums, an active art association and several colleges and universities. The result is an entertainment calendar that, week after week, is packed with top quality events, far more than any one person can possibly take in.

Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music alone offers about 60 top-quality music performances, many of them featuring nationally and internationally renowned talents, and most of them free.

While many of these organizations are quiet during the festival -- deferring to the onslaught of pink-themed events -- several of the indigenous groups will be in action during this year’s CBF, which will culminate with the Middle Georgia Art Association-sponsored Mulberry Street Arts and Crafts Festival -- two glorious days of vendors, people and even pets.

Another massive event, perhaps my favorite of the entire year, falls smack in the middle of this year’s festival: the Friends of the Library’s Annual Old Book Sale, running March 21-24 at the Macon Coliseum. This huge sale is not only a book lover’s dream but also an important source of support for our library system.

If it’s music you want, there’s plenty. The Middle Georgia Concert Band will be presenting “What a Wonderful World” on Sunday, while the Mercer University Brass Quintet will be performing Monday, followed Tuesday by violinist Amy Schwartz-Moretti and others in “The Sound of Five.” On March 24, the Choral Society of Middle Georgia will team up with David Keith and the Mercer University Choir for “An American Choral Tapestry.”

What should be a glorious event for kids is “Seussical,” with three performances slated for Saturday and Monday on the stage of the Grand Opera House. “Thy Kingdom Come,” by local playwright Winsphere Jones, is scheduled for Saturday at the historic Douglass Theatre.

For grown-ups, the Grand will host “G.R.I.T.S. the Musical” on Thursday and March 22, while Macon Little Theatre will be opening “Some Enchanted Evening” on March 22.

What a week!

Contact Larry Fennelly at LarryFennelly@AvantGuild.com.