Leesburg Prepares For Good Weather, Good Crowds At Flower & Garden Festival

Downtown Leesburg this Saturday and Sunday is likely to be thronged with visitors, gathered to attend the 19th Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival, the town's annual showcase of everything the garden can offer as well as a dazzling entertainment schedule, plenty of kids' activities and some mouth-watering food.

The venue is likely to be even more popular after this week's depressing drizzle and with predictions of warm, sunny weather for the weekend.

More than 100 vendors will line a five-block area of downtown, which will feature landscaped gardens set against a backdrop of Leesburg's historic architecture, numerous plant exhibits, including small trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, herbs and vegetables, and a host of garden-related items for sale.

Interest in the show on the part of vendors has been increasing, according to event coordinator Rachel Goodwin. "I'm still getting a dozen calls at least each day," she said last week of the calls she's fielding from vendors still trying to get into the show-some very far afield.

Leesburg this weekend will be a great place to pick up both items and ideas for what the gardener-new or experienced-can do at home. Leesburg Mayor Kristen Umstattd said it's one event she never misses. "As a gardener myself, I know I can find just what I want," she said.

The flower and garden showcase is the crown jewel of the town's special events, and, as such, is a great economic booster for Leesburg. The approximately 35,000 attendance over the two days helps raise awareness regionally of Leesburg's significance, according to Economic Development Director Marantha Edwards.

The festival has been called "a show within a show" in reference to its wide variety of entertainment and food for all ages. When visitors get tired of hauling plants or just want to grab some lunch from one of the many food vendors so they can plop down on the Courthouse lawn during the varied performance schedule, or accompany their kids to the Children's Stage.

Young visitors can enjoy watching a variety of performances, including belly dances, a live animal show, a one-man band, singer-storytellers, Irish dancers, cloggers, cheerleaders and Indian dancers. If they get bored with watching, they can go off and join in the kids' activities, including painting outsize animal cut-outs and getting their own faces painted. They also can take a peek into the past and watch Loudoun Museum personnel give a hands-on demonstration of the use of flowers and herbs in the colonial era.

For adults, there's an equally eclectic line-up at the main stage featuring jazz, rhythm and blues, Motown, soulful blues rock and classic rock, hip-hop, country and lively reggae.

Best of all, the Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival allows visitors to take it all in, in their own time. When the feet begin to hurt, there's a nearby bench on which to rest for a while or the Courthouse lawn, where one can take a break from the plants and enjoy some great music.

Parking is available in both the town and county garages on Loudoun Street and at Ida Lee Park, where a shuttle bus awaits to ferry visitors into town and back every 15 minutes.

The festival is open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, April 18, and from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, April 19. Admission is a requested $3 donation. 

Downtown streets will be closed from 5:30 p.m. Friday night until 9 p.m. Sunday. Affected streets will be Market from Church to Wirt and King from Cornwall to Loudoun.

But for those with an interest in gardens, the fun doesn't stop there. Other attractions over the weekend include the First Annual Rotary Cornwall Street Garden Tour, a tour of five private homes on Cornwall Street, just north of the festival area, and the annual Garden Club of Virginia's Garden Week Tour.

The Rotary Club of Leesburg is sponsoring the tour of the five historic Leesburg gardens from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 18. The five locations are at nos. 11, 17 and 218 West Cornwall Street, and nos. 15 and 17 Wirt Street. Visitors will see a great variety of perennials, shrubs and trees, including mature boxwoods, hosta, ferns, spring bulbs, lilacs, pink hedge roses, hydrangeas, a century-old male ginkgo tree, plus the distinctive crooked and spiky Harry Lauder Walking Stick and a large rare Chinese conifer with orange bark and limbs growing "willy nilly."

The club is holding a raffle during the tour featuring a spectacular Hilton Head, SC, villa located at Sea Pines Plantation. With accommodation for eight people, the vacation spot is offered for one week between Sept. 12 and Nov. 14. The 200 raffle tickets are $50 each. The drawing will be held May 21 at the weekly Rotary club meeting. For ticket information, contact Dan Hampton at 703-915-4902. General admission tickets are 5 for adults and are available at each location Ages 12 and under are admitted free. Proceeds support the club's Perry Winston Scholarship Fund, which provides two $10,000 scholarships each year to graduating seniors at Heritage and/or Loudoun County high schools.

For those who maybe toured the garden festival on Saturday, but would like to spend the night in Loudoun the 76th Annual Historic Garden Week will be held in the Leesburg area this year. Co-sponsored by the Leesburg Garden Club and the Fauquier and Loudoun Garden Club, the tour alternates the locations of the tour for each club.