30th annual Daffodil Festival to be held this weekend
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 28, 2016 1:46 PM
FREMONT -- The 30th annual Daffodil Festival, started in 1986 to celebrate the blooming yellow flower and the arrival of spring, will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The festival, sponsored by the town's businesses and organized by the Daffodil Committee, normally is held the last weekend in March, but was delayed until April 2 because of Easter weekend.
Downtown streets will be lined with vendors selling arts and crafts or foods while local churches, civic groups and fire departments hold fundraisers.
There will be plenty of free entertainment spread across two stages, including a concert by the Embers from noon to 2 p.m. on the stage at the east end of Main Street.
The children's area will be located across Main Street from the BB&T parking lot and the classic car cruise will be next to the parking lot.
The children's area will include a musical chair swings, kiddy motorcycle, remote control racing, a carousel bouncer, firehouse play port and tubs of fun.
Arts and crafts booths and food booths will line both sides of Main Street.
Opening ceremonies will be held on stage one from 10 to 10:30 a.m. featuring Miss Daffodil Jessica Ballance and Little Miss Daffodil Makayla Smith. Stage one will be located at the intersection of Main and Goldsboro streets.
The Fremont Memorial Park recognition ceremony on Goldsboro Street is part of the opening ceremony. The recognition is a tradition to honor those who have died and who have made a difference in their community.
New names are added each year.
The stage one schedule of entertainment is:
* 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.: Fremont Preschool
* 10:50 to 11:15 a.m.: Fremont STARS
* 11:15 a.m. to noon: Three Dancing Sisters
* 2 to 2:45 p.m.: The Wade Sisters
* 3 to 345 p.m.: Helen Gillespie
* 4 to 4:30 p.m.: The Stallings Family Singers
* 4:30 to 5 p.m.: Miss Daffodil Jessica Ballance and Little Miss Daffodil Makayla Smith.
Ticket drawings for raffles being conducted during the day will be at 5 p.m. on stage one.
Events going on all day include the Fremont Heritage Museum, 112 E. Main St., and the Fremont Garden Club exhibit at town hall.
Bugs Barriger, a writer for the News & Observer, called Fremont "The Daffodil Town" in 1958 article about town's daffodil gardens.
For more information check the festival website, www.fremontdaffodilfestival.weebly.com.