Greeting
From
:
6
rails
to
trails
◆
spring/summer.13
RIVER TO THE SEA BIKEWAY
What better way to celebrate spring than a five-day
festival devoted to one of the season’s showiest flowers?
Three hundred thousand visitors venture to the North
Carolina Azalea Festival
(
ncazaleafestival.org
)
in
Wilmington each year at the height of azalea bloom-
ing. From April 10 to 14, this charming Southern
community will host a street fair, art show, concerts,
garden tours and other entertainment to showcase
the pretty petal. The appearance of the Azalea Queen
(
usually a noted celebrity) in a spectacular parade fit-
tingly kicks off events for the comely flower, dubbed
“
the royalty of the garden.” Another much-antici-
pated festival event is the arrival of visiting ships,
which dock along the Cape Fear River. To get there,
you can take the River to the Sea Bikeway through
downtown. The 11-mile rail-trail follows the course
of the Historic Beach Car Line, which began carry-
ing vacationers from the city to the beaches along
the Atlantic Ocean in the late 1800s.
Length & surface:
11
miles; asphalt
◆
End points:
Market Street
andWater Street to North Lumina Avenue at U.S. 74
(
Johnnie Mercer’s Pier)
◆
Website
:
wmpo.org/RTSB
LUTHERWARREN PEACE PATH
For a taste of summer, there’s no sweeter sample
than the Banana Split Festival
(
bananasplit
festival.com
),
taking place June 7 and 8 in
Wilmington, Ohio. The event is a celebration of
the 1907 invention of the famous ice-cream treat,
a fact hotly contested with Latrobe, Pa., which
claims the same honor. Watch local chefs create
fresh new takes on the old-fashioned dessert at
the masters competition, or try your hand at the
make-your-own banana split booth. And, for
the messiest smiles you’ve ever seen, don’t miss
the popular no-hands-allowed banana-split-
eating contest. The event has a 1950s rock ’n’
roll theme, so don your pedal pushers and
bobby socks for a ride on the nearby Luther
Warren Peace Path, whose dense tree canopy
offers a cool respite from the heat.
Length & surface:
1.3
miles; asphalt
◆
End points:
South Mulberry Street to
South Nelson Avenue
◆
Website:
ci.wilmington.oh.us/trails.cfm
PETALS
AND
PEDALS
IN
NORTH CAROLINA
GO BANANAS IN
OHIO