Tourism Blooms With Texas Rose Festival and Azalea Flower Trail
azalea and spring flower trail, azaleas, culture, flowers, roses, texas rose festival, tourism, tyler rose museum,
Tourism in Tyler just keeps coming up roses – and azaleas.
The city hosts two annual festivals that are celebrating major anniversaries in 2008 and 2009, the Texas Rose Festival, and the Azalea and Spring Flower Trail. Each spring and fall, the events draw tens of thousands of visitors to drink in the beauty and fragrance of Tyler’s flowers and to take part in the festivities that are as much a part of the city’s identity as the flowers themselves.
Known as the Rose Capital of the Nation, the city is home to the Tyler Rose Museum and the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, a magnificent 14-acre park with more than 38,000 rose bushes of some 550 varieties – the largest rose garden in the country and a major tourist attraction.
Tyler produces about 20 percent of the nation’s commercial rose bushes, says Susan Travis, convention/tourism coordinator at the Tyler Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The Texas Rose Festival first drew attention to Tyler’s blossoming rose industry in 1933. It proved such a success that, except for during the World War II years, the gala has been held annually ever since. The festival celebrates its 75th anniversary in October 2008.
The anniversary theme, A Royal Tribute to the Rose, will reflect on past festivals, and a 75th-anniversary commemorative book is being published, says James Wynne III, president of the Texas Rose Festival Association.
“The anniversary will be very special,” Wynne says, regarding the mystery-shrouded “main event,” the coronation of the Rose Queen during a spectacular Broadway-style pageant with dramatic stage sets and lavish costumes. “But the dresses and production are all under wraps until the event.”
Still, the rose isn’t the only flower in Tyler’s gardens.
After azaleas were introduced to local gardeners in the 1930s, the popularity of these plants, with their vibrant, colorful blossoms, spread through the town like wildfire. By 1960, their ubiquitous beauty drew so much attention that the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce designated a five-mile, 60-home viewing route, and the Azalea and Spring Flower Trail was born.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary in the spring of 2009, the trail, which showcases the city’s most stunning private gardens, will be extended beyond its current two routes covering eight miles.
The Azalea and Spring Flower Trail spans four weekends and includes numerous special events.
“We’ve started the Main Street Flower Market, which has been a huge success,” Travis says. “[The Market has] all kinds of plants and cut flowers for sale. And we have a lot of things the history people would like,” she adds, listing as examples a Civil War battle reenactment, the wildly popular Historic Homes on Tour and a walking history tour through the Oakwood Cemetery.
Additional happenings include arts-and-crafts shows, sports competitions, fine and performing arts events, and a chili cook-off.
The visitors’ bureau records attendance of nearly 100,000 – roughly half of whom are tourists – at each of the annual celebrations, Travis says, and the estimated economic impact of each festival exceeds $2 million per year.
See www.texasrosefestival.com and www.tylerazaleatrail.com for dates and additional information.
Story by Carol Cowen
Photo by Todd Bennett
Comments
I love tourists!
By Abel on 2008 06 21
Tourism in Texas? I dont think there’s much to see there
By Carnival Cruise Vacations on 2008 07 06
Leave your own comment:
