Azalea Festival's Friday Events Cancelled

Forecasts of heavy rain have forced the cancellation of Friday night's Azalea Festival events, but the festival will go on as planned Saturday.

All of the Friday night events have been cancelled, including the concert from The Tams and the live broadcast of “Your Carolina with Jack Roper and Kimberly Kelly."

Saturday's events will continue as scheduled. The day's events and attractions will include artists and craftsmen, a variety of food and refreshment vendors, and many scheduled entertainment events, including music, comedy, dance, and a pet pageant, festival coordinator Russ Gantt said.

“Our goal is to grow the festival, and this year will prove to be the biggest and best yet,” he said. “Folks can visit the many arts and crafts booths, maybe discovering that unique item for their home or a gift, try an ice cream cone, cotton candy and funnel cake, and enjoy a good lunch or early dinner. And all the while they can listen to music on both the Center and West End Stages.”

The men and women of the Pickens Fire Department will be bringing back that grilled hamburger plates during this festival, he said.

Legacy Square will be host a variety of amusement rides Saturday event, Gantt said.

Little Texas, a country band of God Blessed Texas, Kick A Little, and What Might Have Been fame, will perform on Saturday on the Center Stage, Gantt said.

“Bowers Transportation Services” will be offering free shuttle bus tours to Hagood Mill Historic Site and Folklife Center for anyone wanting to visit this site and participate in the activities occurring there,” Gantt said. “It will be a great opportunity to see Hagood Mill and to get a feel on how folks lived before electricity and other modern conveniences.”

Hagood Mill, an operating Gristmill that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in around 1825 and is one of the oldest working mills in South Carolina. Visitors can experience varying arts and crafts of that period, as well as folk life and living history demonstrations including blacksmithing, cotton ginning, moonshining, and open hearth cooking, in addition to a myriad of traditions native to that century.

The mill’s 20-foot water wheel is not only the largest in the state, it is also the only one made of wood. Visitors are welcome to tour the grounds, cabins, home, activities, and then enjoy a musical performance, held each third Saturday of the month.

Shuttles to the Hagood Mill Historic Site will leave the Azalea Festival grounds at the corner of Main Street & Ann Street, beginning at 10 am until 3 pm, Gantt said.

“We hope that everyone takes advantage of this chance to see this site that carries so much importance to the history of Pickens County,” Gantt said.

For  information and a list of schedule of events visit the website pickensazaleafestival.org.