Kay Harris
The Valdosta Daily Times
Valdosta — Next weekend will be a blast! The 10th annual Azalea Festival will brighten up Drexel Park Saturday and Sunday.
The two day festival includes arts and crafts vendors, great food, entertainment throughout both days, a Native American Village, a circus, a KidZone with all kinds of attractions and much more!
The event kicks off Saturday morning with a 5K Road Race and a One-Mile Fun Walk/ Run at 8 a.m. The festival begins at 10 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday, and the fun filled days are always a great time to bring the whole family to town.
In addition to all the other exciting stuff, the World Famous Frisbee Dog Team will be doing demonstrations, in addition to the Robinson’s Racing Pigs, which seem to be a big hit every year. And the Humane Society is hosting a Pet Contest at 2 p.m. Saturday, with registration until 1:30 that day.
There are two chances to take the Historical Valdosta Bus Tour, with the bus leaving at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday behind Barnes Drug Store. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids. And you can see Skannyardle play all Saturday afternoon and Daddy’s Money play all Sunday afternoon.
What more could you want from a great weekend? And it’s all done by volunteers, led by the indomitable Joanne Griner, who first started the festival with a group of folks 10 years ago and through sheer force of will, has kept it going and growing every year!
ValdostaScene is on the street
Speaking of the Azalea Festival, there is a great story in this month’s issue of the Scene about the festival, in addition to a lot of other great stories about local folks and things going on around town.
As Valdosta’s only monthly magazine, the Scene is right on time with the latest news and page after page of great photos from recent events.
Get your Scene today at the Times office on Troup St. or at Books a Million!
Business Roundup
Pearl Executive Shuttle has moved its office to St. Augustine Road from the N. Patterson St. location they’ve been at for the last year or so. The company started a daytrip shuttle service recently, in addition to its airport service, which seems to be going rather well. Turner Furniture is opening two new stores between Tallahassee and Thomasville soon. The company will open a Turner Fine Furniture and a Turner Budget furniture in their new location.
This week, the Beijing Cafe in the plaza on Norman Drive celebrated the grand opening of its banquet room this week, which will house large parties or small groups as the restaurant continues to grow in popularity.
The Hibachi Grill and Deluxe Buffet restaurant on Baytree, in the former Marco Polo building, opened this week with an all new exterior, a sushi bar, and much more.
The restaurant location on Bemiss Road that has been multiple restaurants over the last year or two and most recently was known as Bits Chicken has a new sign up to say it’s opening soon as a sandwich shop. In Hahira, there is a new restaurant opening on Main Street called Smack Mama’s, which is going to be where the Courtyard Cafe was.
Also in Hahira, next to Jewelry by Jonathan and the Healing Arts Studio, it looks like Feathering the Nest is moving into the space that used to be part of the City Cafe, which will fill up that block and really make a difference downtown.
That’s about it for this week, but if there’s something I missed, please let me know!
