Fremont's Daffodil Festival to be March 31
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 18, 2018 3:05 AM
FREMONT -- The 32nd annual Fremont Daffodil Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 31.
The opening ceremony will be held from 10 to 10:30 a.m. on the Main Street stage and will be followed by the Fremont Memorial Park recognition on Goldsboro Street.
The recognition is a tradition to honor those who have died and who have made a difference in their community.
Mayor Darron Flowers will give the welcome, and Keith Stewart, one of the festival organizers, will make the introductions.
The Miss and Little Miss Daffodil Pageant will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, March 25, at the Fremont United Methodist Church fellowship hall.
Former Miss Daffodil and Little Miss Daffodil queens will be introduced during the festival's opening ceremony.
The GoWayneGo 5K Walk, sponsored by Wayne UNC Health Care, will step off at 10 a.m.
The townwide arts and crafts show and sale also will start at 10 a.m.
The Embers will be in concert from noon to 2 p.m. on stage two on North Sycamore Street.
Entertainment on the Main Street stage, located at Main and Goldsboro streets, will feature:
* 10:30 to 10:50 a.m., Fremont Preschool from Fremont United Methodist Church.
* 10:50 to 11:15 a.m., Fremont STARS.
* 11:15 a.m. to noon, 3 Dancing Sisters & Co.
* 2 to 3 p.m., karaoke for everyone to participate.
* 3 to 3:30 p.m., Desiree Autrey's Academy of Performing Arts.
* 3:30 to 5 p.m., TripleWide (rock band).
* 5 p.m., all ticket drawings.
"The fire department, Lions Club and several churches will have fundraisers," Stewart said. "All of those drawings will occur at 5 o'clock."
The Children's Alley will be located on East Main Street behind the BB&T parking lot and feature a variety of activities for children
It will include the Bella Express Trackless Train; remote control racing; the Screamer Slide; Big Top Playland; 40-foot obstacle course; Adventure Bounce House; and dunking booth.
Events going on all day include: Open house at the Fremont Heritage Museum, 112 E. Main St.; Fremont Garden Club exhibit at town hall; 501st Legion and World Wide Stars Wars Costuming Group; and the Antique Tractor Club of the Carolinas.
And as always, there will be a large assortment of food including seafood and barbecue, Stewart said.
In 1958, Bugs Barringer, a writer for the News & Observer, wrote in about Fremont, "The Daffodil Town" in an article about the town's daffodil gardens.
Some years later, the town created the Daffodil Festival to celebrate the arrival of spring and the blooming yellow flower.
For more information, call Stewart at 919-242-4573 or Brenda Paul at 919-734-2905, or visit the festival website at https://fremontdaffodilfestival.weebly.com.