Cherry Blossom Festival puts spotlight on Macon. What’s unique about this year’s celebration?

The cherry blossoms should be right on time for their starring role this week.

So says Stacy Moore, president and CEO of Macon’s International Cherry Blossom Festival, who keeps close tabs on such things.

The festival starts its 42nd year Friday with daytime activities at Carolyn Crayton Park. Then will come the evening’s Cherry Blossom Ball, the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park Lantern Tour, and featured concert with Demun Jones at the park.

The “Pinkest Party on Earth” celebrations wrap up March 24 when rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top come to town with “The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour” to open the new Atrium Health Amphitheatre on Eisenhower Parkway at Macon Mall. Tickets are available through ticketmaster.com.

The festival’s events are spelled out at cherryblossom.com, along with needed information to make the most of the occasion. Crowds come from around the world to enjoy the blossoms and the many free and low-cost festival events. It’s a mere $10 entry into the park – kids 10 and under are free – which includes most things like park concerts and fair entry where every day is arm-band day.

Moore said it’s a goal to keep the festival entertaining at a reasonable cost.

Due to a certain unique nature of this year’s Cherry Blossom Royal Court, I thought I’d let a couple of them have their say about the world-famous festival.

What’s unique about it?

First, there’s 2024’s Cherry Blossom Queen, Remie Heide, who’s the only queen to reach triple crown/hat-trick status, meaning she’s the only person to have filled three roles in the royal court: she was a 5-year-old Little Miss Cherry Blossom Festival then Cherry Blossom Princess while a middle schooler and now, as a junior at Northside High School in Warner Robins, she’s Cherry Blossom Queen.

“I’m excited to represent the festival as queen and meet so many wonderful people,” Heide said. “I get to meet cool people from all around Macon, America and the world. I think that’s probably the best part.”

Having been involved with the festival since she was a tyke, does it make being queen more or less special?

“It absolutely makes it more special,” she said. “It’s a true honor to have been all three and represent the festival, the community and the people who make it happen. The court stays busy but it’s so much fun.”

Heide’s experience with the festival extends even further in that her older sister, Michaela Heide Tignor, was queen in 2019.

Heide does stay busy. There’s keeping up grades at Northside, being involved in its spring musical since she was 8, being part of its one-act play competitions since her freshman year and being named best actress two years in a row. She’s part of the school’s literary team and is preparing for state competition Saturday as winner of regional girl’s solo honors.

Heide takes voice lessons at Mercer University and is student section leader at NHS. That’s some sort of school spirit leader at sporting events.

And did I mention she’s the reigning Miss Northside? And that she sings regularly at community events?

How does she manage it all? What’s her time management secret?

“Oh, I have a great ‘momager,’ she said, laughing. “I would lose my mind if it wasn’t for my mom, Jennifer. But I always feel the busier the better.”

Heide said being queen is not all duty, though. There is plenty of fun.

“I mean, there’s so much to do,” she said. “Even if the festival’s fair and its shows and rides aren’t for you there are all the concerts. There are the food trucks and all there is to see and do downtown. The crazy bed race and wiener dog race. My whole family loves the Cherry Blossom Festival.”

Then there’s this: in 2021, Heide was Miss Macon Outstanding Teen, which she said was an honor because “Macon is such an amazing place.”

“I feel Macon fights a good fight against some people’s judgy-ness against it,” she said. Without prompting, she went on to sing the city’s praise.

“I think Macon is one of the greatest places anywhere with its amazing history, flourishing arts, great restaurants, sports and all the things to do. It’s way better than some think and I believe that misconception is changing, just like it should.”

Another royal court member is Liz Fabian, Cherry Blossom Legacy Queen, a role for someone 55-plus. You may recognize Fabian. She came to Macon in 1982 as Liz Jarvis to work as an anchor, weathercaster and reporter for WMGT-TV. Since then, she’s served Middle Georgia and beyond as a valued journalist with WGXA-TV, WMAZ-TV, WSB radio in Atlanta, The Weather Channel, The Telegraph and macon.com.

Now she serves as the civic reporting senior fellow at the Murphy Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer covering Macon-Bibb government in a collaboration for WMAZ-TV, The Telegraph and Georgia Public Broadcasting. She also is a student mentor, tutor and civic ambassador program director.

The Cherry Blossom Festival began the year Fabian came to Macon. She’s become an authority on it, giving her own unique perspective. Her daughter, Faith, was also once queen.

“For me, the Cherry Blossom Festival is one of the best times to be in Macon,” she said. “Not only do you have the beauty of springtime with the cherry blossoms and flowers popping out everywhere but it’s a time the whole community comes together to wear pink, put pink bows on their houses, eat pink food and enjoy a real unification.

“You see people from all parts of the community celebrating in a beautiful spirit of love, building friendships locally and internationally. That’s something we need now more than ever.”

As a longtime festival observer and someone who’s emceed its pageant and interviewed its “littles,” teens and adults, Fabian said it’s a thrill to be on the court herself.

“The tiara and all that is fun, sure, but you can take it out of the equation because the real joy is being an ambassador for my community,” she said. “With so many years on the sidelines writing about it, it’s fun being in the thick of it. My heart is so full of love for this town and this festival, I look forward to sharing it with others near and far.”

She said the idea of legacy is important.

“As a legacy queen, it’s not so much the queen part but the idea of legacy,” she said. “When I think of legacy I can’t help but think back to Carolyn Crayton who came to Macon 50 years ago this month and was executive director of the Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful Commission. She found one man, William A. Fickling Sr., with a cherry tree in his yard and championed taking it further to become something beautiful, unique and unifying for the community.

“Just as she did, I hope we all make a difference wherever we’re planted and leave a legacy that brings beauty and spreads love.”

When pressed to choose a favorite from so many festival events, Fabian responded with the Cherry Blossom Parade, which is Sunday at 3 p.m. downtown.

“It’s hard to decide, but the parade is a free event everybody can enjoy,” she said. “People from all walks of life line the street, happy, enjoying the floats. The floats are spectacular but people gathering together like that is the great part of it.”

Rounding out the royal court “big kids” is Karmen Simone Hill, Cherry Blossom Princess and an eighth-grader at Mount DeSales Academy. Like Heide, Hill also stays busy with schoolwork. She also participates in dance, basketball, track and singing in her school’s chorus. In common with Fabian, she’s a 2022-24 WMAZ-TV junior journalist.

When asked why she wanted to be part of the Cherry Blossom Royal Court, she said, “I want younger girls to see you can be a scholar student, athlete and a princess.”

This year’s Cherry Blossom Festival “littles” are Alexandria Habersham, Little Miss Cherry Blossom, and Beau Mote, Little Mr. Cherry Blossom.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.