FESTIVAL MAP INSIDE ON PAGES 8 & 9
Flower & Garden Festival Returns Downtown For three decades Leesburg’s annual Flower & Garden Festival has performed double duty as Loudoun’s premier celebration of spring’s arrival and its largest tourism event. After the pandemic forced the cancelation of the festival in 2020 and a scaled-down version last year, the town’s Parks and Recreation Department is busy preparing to welcome its typical crowd of 20,000 to 30,000 visitors to the downtown historic district April 23-24. More than 125 vendors will fill the streets with seasonal blooms, herbs,
gardening supplies, outdoor furniture, and more. In addition to the exhibits, festival goers can enjoy music, entertainment and activities for the kids, a rooftop beer garden, and festival foods. Guests also will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite landscape display in the People’s Choice Landscape Competition. Ballots can be picked up at the information gazebo at the heart of the festival grid or at each landscaper’s display. Completed ballots should be placed in the birdhouse at the gazebo by noon on Sunday so that the winner can
be announced that afternoon. Portions of King, Market, and Cornwall Streets will be closed for the event, however parking will be available in the Town Hall parking garage using the Loudoun Street entrance. Additional parking will be available throughout downtown and a free shuttle service, from Ida Lee Park, will run continuously throughout the day. The Flower & Garden Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, rain or shine. Pets are not permitted. This year’s presenting sponsor is
Loudoun Medical Group. Other festival sponsors include C2 Operations, Country Buick GMC, Heartland Foods, Kitchen Saver, LeafGuard, Loudoun Now, McLean Mortgage Corporation, Mountcastle Medical Spa and Laser Center, Polaris Financial Strategies Group, Power Home Remodeling, Washington Gardener and Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. For more information, call Ida Lee Park Recreation Center at 703-777-1368 or go to flowerandgarden.org. ■