festivals
2021 Festivals Slowly Return to Normal After a year of nearly all events being virtual, some events will once again invite people to congregate. Cape Fear’s Going Green currently plans to exhibit in person at three festivals in Wilmington in the Fall of 2021: Native Plant Festival
September 18, 2021 New Hanover County Arboretum & Self-Guided Nursery Tour & Sale
Fire in the Pines Festival October 9, 2021 Halyburton Park
Veg-OUT
October 16, 2021 Riverfront Park
Veg-OUT Festival Premiers A new festival starting this fall is one that will celebrate vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. Organizers have booked the new Riverfront Park space in downtown Wilmington, and are seeking exhibitors, vendors, food trucks and other concessations consistent with a vegetarian or vegan, health-conscious lifestyle. The event will be free to attend. See page 16 for more information.
Native Plant Festival Wilmington’s Native Plant Festival is held annually in the fall. In 2020, it changed its information sessions to virtual and moved the plant sale from the Arboretum to sites of all the individual growers of native plants. Now that pandemic restrictions are easing, this year’s event will be a combination of events at the Arboretum and throughout the community. For the 2021 Festival, scheduled for Saturday, September 18, presentations and exhibitor tables will return to the grounds of the New Hanover County Arboretum. The plant sale will once again be spread throughout the area, with an updated online (and print) map guiding people to visit growers of native plants throughout the area. Activities at the Arboretum will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; plant sellers will be able to set their own hours and may be open longer than from 10–3. Hourly gardening presentations will happen on the hour, starting at 10 a.m. in the Arboretum’s Education Center and on Zoom. This year’s speakers will be Jess Jarvis, Amy Long, Amanda Chapman, Jess Roach, and Andy Wood. The plant growers on this year’s self-guided nursery tour and plant sale will be Five Oaks Nursery & Tree Farm, Going Native Gardens, Grizz’s Nursery, Lloyd’s Nursery, Lumber River Native Plants, Shelton Herb Farm, Wild Bird & Garden, and Wild Meadow Farm. New this year: iNaturalist expert Morgan Freese is organizing a Native Plant BioBlitz plant scavenger hunt event for
the week leading up to the festival. To participate, folks take pictures of native plants (preferably in the wild) and post the photos on the iNaturalist app, which can be used on a phone or a computer. Photos taken from September 11–19 will qualify, and there will be prizes for most observations and most species photographed. No iNaturalist experience is required— the organizers will hold at least one Zoom training to walk you through the “how-to” of providing identification help. Sign up at https://bit.ly/3wVSMR3 to receive updates on the BioBlitz as the festival grows closer. You may also contact Morgan Freese directly with questions at morgan.freese@ ncaquariums.com. Details about the festival and the Native Plant Bioblitz will be available starting in August at arboretum.nhcgov.com and on the Native Plant Festival Facebook page.
Fire in the Pines Festival October 9 The annual Fire in the Pines Festival is returning to Halyburton Park this fall! Fire in the Pines Festival is an environmental educational celebration dedicated to our longleaf pine forests and fire. Longleaf pine forests hold a special place in the southeast. They are one of the most biodiverse in the world, home to some incredible plants and animals including the rare red-cockaded woodpecker and Venus flytraps. The festival will include environmental educators, exhibits, native plants and animals, music, food trucks and the grand finale—a controlled burn! If you would like to learn more about the role of controlled burning in our longleaf pine forests, join the fun at Fire in the Pines Festival this October 9th! Visit www. fireinthepines.org for festival updates as they become available.
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