By Ralphine Major

Just as green grass starts coming up from the ground and temperatures start climbing, a cold snap strikes!  This past week, I heard someone remind us why.  It’s April and dogwoods are blooming—it’s Dogwood Winter!  Delicate pink and white petals are adorning the dogwood limbs that were just a few months ago encased in snow.

After an all-virtual event due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, an in-person Dogwood Arts Festival returned for 2021 with altered guidelines.

The first festival took place in 1961 under then Mayor John J. Duncan, Sr., who later served East Tennesseans more than 20 years in Congress.  In the early years, festival concerts boasted big name entertainers often at Stokely Athletic Center on The University of Tennessee campus or downtown at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.  Bands from across the country came to Knoxville to march in the Dogwood Arts Parade on opening day.  Gay Street would be lined with lots of people along the parade route.  It was a great event in spring after the cold winter.

Enjoy the festival activities this year, travel the dogwood trails, and admire the simple beauty in one of Mother Nature’s prettiest gifts—the dogwood!  Be safe!

Words of Faith: “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.”  Numbers 14:21 (KJV)