BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — This weekend, the 20th annual North Carolina Blueberry Festival will captivate visitors in Pender County with a spectacular lineup of family entertainment dedicated to celebrating one of Cape Fear’s most beloved fruits.
Executive director Jaliese Blackburn shed some light on the event’s origins and provided a sneak peek of what attendees can expect for the anniversary celebration.
“The festival was started as and still is a heritage celebration, very grassroots origins in Burgaw,” Blackburn said. “You had a group of people come together in 2003 and say, ‘Hey, blueberries are so significant to this area. Let’s have a festival,’ And they started the first one in 2004.”
As the festival marks its milestone 20th anniversary, attendees can look forward to exciting changes and additions.
“We are going to be hosting our full festival on Friday, in addition to Saturday this year,” Blackburn revealed. “In years past, we’ve only been able to host some kickoff events, but the whole festival, street fair and everything will be kicking off at 2:00 PM on Friday.”
The festival will continue Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. at 106 E Wilmington Street in Burgaw.
One of the festival’s added highlights this year is the Ivey Hayes art exhibit, honoring the contributions of a local legend and longtime commemorating artist of the festival.
“He has contributed so many pieces to us,” Blackburn said. “So we really want to put those on display, showcase his work, and showcase all of the other work from all of our other contributing festival artists throughout the years.”
Families attending the festival can indulge in a wide array of activities and explore unique vendors.
“We have pretty high standards when it comes to the vendors, all of the participating craft vendors have some kind of handmade item that they are bringing out to offer,” Blackburn said. “We do encourage incorporating blueberries into their products, so you’ll see a lot of cool blueberry crafts as well.”
Blackburn offered some guidance for families planning to attend for the first time.
“We do ask that people leave their pets at home because it is so hot. Make sure you wear lots of sunscreen, and for parking, we’ll have two offsite parking locations available,” she said.
One of those parking sites is the Foodland parking lot, the other is the Pender Landing Shopping Center in Burgaw.
“You can also park at the Pender County Health Department, and we’ll have shuttles running from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM on Saturday for anybody coming on that day,” Blackburn said.
You can find out more information about the festival here.