BY VICTORIA PERKINS
STAR INTERN
Editor’s Note: This Summer, the Elizabethton Star is being joined by Lora Cardwell and Victoria Perkins as part of East Tennessee State University’s Upward Bound Program for their Career Work Study. Both Lora and Victoria are rising seniors at Cloudland High School. They will be taking part in a variety of activities while participating in the program and they will be sharing their adventures with our readers.
The Roan Mountain Rhododendron Festival is an annual occasion I have lived with my entire life. That weekend is always one that is looked forward to by the community (and my mom, she absolutely loves it). I, on the other hand, just go for the art and food and breath taking views. The rhododendron’s are either almost in full bloom or have just passed it when the festival occurs. It’s almost impossible to schedule that perfectly, so I always go up to the gardens a few days before and after the festival. That’s one of the perks of being a local.
The main festival part is always interesting. Some venders are the same from years before and others are new, but you can always count on finding new, crazy, and amazing crafts and foods. There is always live music played by various different bands, which are usually local. The crafts and other arts vary from handbags, paintings, photography, stained glass windows, and pottery, to wooden furniture, lawn ornaments made of old car parts, chocolate dipped cheesecake, and the largest doughnut that I have ever seen.
Fun fact about driving up to the Roan — keep the windows down. The smell of the pine trees is so strong it’s as if you’re in a room filled with pine scented car air fresheners. It is absolutely wonderful. There are many places to pull off the road and look out at the mountain ranges.
There are also numerous trails that you can walk, down where the festival is at, in the campground, and on the Roan. The numerous trails will lead you on a new adventure every time no matter how many times you have hiked them before.
The gardens are extravagant whether the rhododendrons are in full bloom or not. I noticed this year that the flowers were in an array of colors ranging from a light pink (almost white) to lavender. As a child I remember the flowers being much more vivid and the gardens seemed to go on forever. I think it is probably that way for most first time visitors. When you see something for the first time it sticks with you, and sometimes the next time isn’t as wonderful.
With the flowers and the mountain ranges you couldn’t ask for a more beautiful place to spend a day. Even without the rhododendrons there is still plenty to look at up on the Roan. Summer, winter, spring, and fall, there is no other place I would rather be to watch the seasons change.