Gloucester News

Gloucester Daffodil Festival Was Held on Saturday and Sunday

Reporter Tiffany Jones

Over the weekend, Gloucester held its 33rd Annual Daffodil Festival. The Daffodil Festival is a way of celebrating spring and has been a tradition since 1987. It was estimated that over 27,000 people arrived at the annual festival last weekend. The Annual parade started at 10 a.m. with a theme of “Along The Water’s Edge.” All of the visitors were encouraged to head for the main stage for the opening ceremony, which included the announcement of this year’s scholarship winners, as well as the crowning of the 2019 Daffodil Festival Queen and Little Miss Daffodil. Jessica Herman was crowned Daffodil Festival Queen and Penelope Jane Polonsky was crowned Little Miss Daffodil.

There was a lot of entertainment, including the Mullins Sisters, the Dempsey Sisters, the Drum Corps United and James Redmond, which all performed on Saturday. The Brasswind group performed on Sunday afternoon. The food court served food ranging from BBQ, hot dogs, soft-serve ice cream , funnel cakes and pizza to “deep-fried everything.” The festival did not disappoint this year. There were local businesses, schools , churches and more supporting the annual festival.

The festival consultants were contacted by the worldwide organization “Random Acts.” The organization was created by actor Micha Collins, who is best known for his role as angel Castiel in the series Supernatural on CW television. The organization had a booth and sent its promoters into the crowd at the festival trying to spot people showing random acts kindness. For example, if they see you helping someone or being kind, you will receive a bracelet which can be turned into a participating vendor for a reward. The addition of the ArtMobile, a 90 foot traveling art exhibit from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which was supported by the Cook Foundation. Over 2,500 people entered ArtMobile and were able to see artwork from VMFA’s fellowship recipients.