Cherry trees are blooming, the sun was shining as community turns out for festival
Canopies of 300,000-plus Yoshino cherry trees in bloom, beautiful weather, strong attendance and well-received changes in programming all came together to create a phenomenal Cherry Blossom Festival this year, according to organizers.
“We attracted all kinds of people from all walks of life throughout the area and the community,” said Alex Habersham, festival chair, as the annual 10-day event celebrated its final weekend.
“The community came together, and I really think it had a positive impact as it relates to how people feel about Macon, both in town and out of town. You know, the kind of community pride that was generated from it, and unity in the community,” he said.
For Habersham, those intangible vibes of diversity, pride and unity generated by the festival make Macon-Bibb County shine.
Don Bailey, festival board chair, said there’s nothing like it when people come up and give him a hug and thank him for the festival when they see him donned in his pink blazer and pink shoes.
“I have met people from China, Taiwan, Japan, England, Ireland and other countries and people from just all over the United States, and they have been just raving how beautiful the city is,” Bailey said. “The timing could not have been more perfect this year. The trees are blooming, the sun is shining, and we’re really bringing out the people in our community.”
Late Saturday, organizers hoped that the festival-friendly weather would continue to hold for the last day of the event on Sunday, with the Balloons and Tunes Festival Finale starting at 4 p.m. at Middle Georgia State University.
“It’s the first time we’ve partnered with the Macon Pops on the concert making them a part of our finale,” said Stacy Moore, festival president and CEO. “So, we’re really excited about that one in particular.”
Anitra Hardeman, 87, of Macon, has come to the festival every year. She once crafted little wooden buildings of Macon, painted them and sold them during the festival.
“They’re right on time this year,” Hardeman said Saturday as she admired the Yoshino cherry trees on Third Street.
Cheryl Schmidt, a Macon native who lives in Rincon near Savannah, was playing with her 6-month-old granddaughter, Willa Cain, under the shade of Yoshino cherry trees near where the food trucks were parked on Third Street.
“Without a doubt, the beautiful trees,” Schmidt said when asked what she loves most about the festival. “Everybody is happy, friendly, and the weather is perfect so far.”
Throughout the festival, organizers have received positive feedback on new events and other programming changes, Moore said.
“Everybody has been very excited about the nightly concert series and how we’ve grown that back to what it’s been previously,” Moore said. “We invested a good amount more to ensure that we had quality acts.”
Among those acts, Macon native Michelle Marshall brought her Ultimate Tina Turner Tribute home to the festival Friday night. “Marshall has been wowing packed houses in Las Vegas and throughout North America for the past 17 years,” according to a festival Facebook post.
“Some of these other tribute shows, they travel the entire country, so it’s exciting to be able to have them at the festival and to be able to offer that as a free concert to our guests,” Moore said.
An event that has been especially popular with children has been the Arctic Olympic High Dive Show at Central City Park.
“They do about four shows daily, and every single show has been packed, including with my own kids,” Moore said. “We watched it three times on Wednesday. That’s always a good gauge for me, what my kids enjoy. They’re 5 and 8. So, when they go back and watch it every time, I knew we had something fun.”
The Amusement Ride Midway also has been really good this year, Moore said. Drew Exposition Amusement Rides focused a lot on creating an area for some of the older kids to ride the larger rides separate from the younger children.
“That layout has worked really well this year for parents of younger kids to kind of have their own area,” she said.
Festivalgoers may also have noticed the return of longtime concessionaires, including cinnamon buns and Greek food stands among favorite food vendors.
A popular mainstay at the festival, Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful Commission returned to Central City Park to sell the official Yoshino cherry trees for $10 each. By Friday, those trees were sold out, Moore said.
New this year was Pasta on Poplar on the first Friday night of the festival. The event sold out. “We heard nothing but great things about it,” Moore said.
Another big hit was spotlighting India for the festival ball. “We had probably five or six tables of people that came from the Atlanta area for our ball because we themed it that way and it was a sellout as well,” she said.
A new event, the Wiener Dog Race, was followed by a traditional favorite, the Bed Race, with the coupled events drawing about 5,000 people along Cherry Street the first Saturday of the festival, Moore said.
About twice as many people packed the route for the festival parade the next day.
“We had really great units this year from the international community highlighting the featured nations,” Moore said. “The grand marshal was Ronald McDonald, who came in from Los Angeles to be a part of it. Everybody just raved over the quality of the units and floats. The flyover was a big hit.”
Saturday’s headliner concert with Drake White became an essentially free concert because the cost was included in the $5 admission fee to Central City Park, Moore said. The cost would have been close to $25 to attend had the concert remained a street party and the venue not moved to the park.
“Because the county has invested so much into that park ... got rid of two buildings that were condemned, it really opened up that space nicely to be able to do a large concert in that area,” Moore said. “So, we’re thankful we were able to combine those two events into one and make it a very good value for the guests.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2019 at 4:46 PM.