“That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” and organizers of the annual South Carolina Festival of Roses are hoping that holds true for the festival name as well.

For the first time since its beginnings in 1972, the Rose Festival has undergone a name change and will now, in its 35th year, be publicized as the Orangeburg Festival of Roses. A new logo will incorporate the name change, Edisto Memorial Gardens and, fittingly, a rose.

“In an ongoing effort to promote Orangeburg, we thought it would be a great opportunity for name recognition for Orangeburg as cosponsor of the festival,” said City of Orangeburg Parks and Recreation Director Buster Smith. “In addition, we wanted to get the city name more connected, especially with the Edisto Memorial Gardens and the Rose Festival.”

Smith said the change has been discussed for several months now among the festival’s steering committee and cosponsors, which include the city of Orangeburg and the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce.

A new name isn’t the only change under way for the festival. While this year’s Rose Festival will take place the last full weekend of April as it has for years, the 2007 Orangeburg Festival of Roses will be moved to May, on the weekend before Mother’s Day. The 2006 event is scheduled for April 27-30.

“We’ve had several festivals where the roses hadn’t reached their first peak, doing it in April,” Smith said. “We felt like moving it back to the weekend before Mother’s Day would help ensure that we would have a full display.” Plans for the festival were too far along to incorporate the date change this year, he said.

The new May date was about the only weekend the festival could be reassigned to, as Smith said moving the Rose Festival to a date after Mother’s Day might catch the roses on their decline. Any earlier and the main attraction would have an even lesser chance of blossoming in time for the event.

“Obviously the roses are the main focus of the festival,” Smith said. “We’re just thinking having it in early May is really going to help our chances” that the roses will be in bloom.

“We have a lot of folks that make the festival an annual event,” he said.

The South Carolina Festival of Roses has drawn an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 people to the area each year to enjoy the sights at Edisto Memorial Gardens and a weekend packed with vendors, food, games, entertainment and family fun.

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