Thousands attend Cherry Blossom finale at Wesleyan

The Cherry Blossom Festival rebounded from last week's foul weather to hold its finale under near perfect conditions Sunday.

An estimated 3,000 people came out to the Party on the Green held at Wesleyan College. It featured live music from Me and Molly, a Nashville duo that includes Macon native Molly Stevens. She said it was her first performance in Macon as a part of Me and Molly, which she termed as a "country Americana" group.

The event finished off with a fireworks show. It is considered the traditional finale of the festival.

It is put on by the Chairman's Club, which is made up of past festival chairmen who still work to promote the festival. Steve Farr, the chairman of the club this year, said the event has steadily grown.

"We love it because it's a family event," he said. "Between the music and the fireworks, it's a good draw."

Special guests at the event were representatives of other festivals from around the country, who have been attending as part of an exchange so that festival organizers can learn from each other.

Jennifer Mitchell of Macon was at the Party on the Green with a group from her church, Ingleside Baptist. She said the group attends the event together every year.

"It's a good opportunity to be outside," she said. "It's just a good community event that we can support."

Although she normally attends other Cherry Blossom events, the Party on the Green was the only one this year she was able to fit into her schedule. She said it has become her favorite.

Attendees spread out blankets and lawn chairs on one side of a large green field next to the Wesleyan campus. They waited for night to fall while on the other side of the field a crew from Zambelli Fireworks set up the fireworks show.

Duane Browning, the crew chief, said safety is the No. 1 concern. His company does not make the fireworks they use, and he said they never can be too sure what will happen or even exactly what the show will look like. A number of things can go wrong, including the fireworks exploding just a few feet off the ground, he said, but Browning said he has never been injured.

Jake Ferro, CEO of the festival, said aside of the couple of rainy days last week things went well over all this year.

"We had probably a record crowd on Saturday and another great crowd today," he said.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published April 3, 2016 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Thousands attend Cherry Blossom finale at Wesleyan ."