All looks rosy for the 36th annual Orangeburg Festival of Roses, an extended weekend of fun that begins Thursday.

The festival 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.

“The roses look pretty good,” Superintendent of Parks Jay Hiers said. “We are not going to be at full bloom due to the extra week of cold weather following Easter – that slowed things down.”

Hiers estimates about half of the 4,800 roses will be in full bloom by the weekend.

“We have added for this year seven new beds of roses,” Hiers said. “We have featured some older all-American rose selection winners from the 40s and 50s. We have some new varieties of a fairly new class of mini-flora. Those are an in-between size from a true miniature rose and a floribunda.”

Hiers said rose lovers will be able to purchase container roses and miniature roses as well.

Another new feature in the Rose Gardens is the “Power of the Rose” sculpture of a boy handing a lady a rose, Hiers said. The sculpture was done by Zan Wells of Greenville.

The festival “is a great celebration,” Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce President David Coleman said. “It truly in my mind represents something Orangeburg can be proud of.”

Making its debut this year is the official 2007 Orangeburg Festival of Roses 39-cent stamp. About 200 copies of the stamp were produced.

“The stamp is a collectible item,” Coleman said.

The stamps will be sold for $5, with the proceeds going to the Orangeburg Festival of Roses.

Making a return to the Orangeburg Rose Festival after about an eight-year absence are antique classic cars, which will be on display Saturday at the curb near the Arts Center. The Edisto Cruisers Club plans to bring about five to six classic cars to the festival for viewing.

There will be something for all ages beginning Thursday night at the Stevenson Auditorium with Showcase Orangeburg. Showcase Orangeburg provides a venue for musicians and orators, poets and thespians to take the spotlight and entertain.

The show will highlight the talents of seasoned performers Del Rae, Yvette McDaniel, David Cooler, Chance Wayne, Matt Quay, Hydrick Gass Jr. and The Flame Within (Karen Johnson, Janice McCollom and Yvette McDaniel), as well as up-and-coming young performers Travis Boland, K.C., 2Tone (Amelia Boone and Brittnie McDaniel) and Eden Graves.

The event is a fund-raiser for the Orangeburg Fine Arts Center.

Friday’s events begin at noon with an arts and crafts exhibit sale. The sale, held at Edisto Memorial Gardens, will run through 6 p.m.

Seniors will have an opportunity to participate in a variety of activities, including bingo, at the Azalea Garden Stage. Sleytown Old Timey Musicians will entertain with old-time hymn favorites such as “Amazing Grace” and “I’ll Fly Away.”

The Rose Festival softball tournament will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, as well as the street dance with Riptide Band.

On Saturday, the 12K race begins at 7:30 a.m. and, for fishing enthusiasts, the Budweiser Basscatchers Tournament begins at 6 a.m. and lasts through 3 p.m.

Saturday will be filled with several activities – airplane rides, children’s rides and inflatables, a petting zoo, camel and pony rides, art and craft shows, plus foot, kayak/canoe and baby diaper races. In addition to the petting zoo, a snake exhibit will slither its way into the festival.

For those searching for entertainment, The High Steppin’ Cloggers, Saidi Belles Belly Dancers, XClusive, Melodius, Night Vision Band and The Emeralds Band will perform.

More music, food and entertainment are scheduled for Sunday before the festival’s end at 6 p.m.

An all-American selection of roses will once again be on sale, with proceeds going to help support the festival.

About 88 vendors from food, to businesses, to religious organizations to civic groups are all scheduled to be showcasing their various services and products.

A festival history

While the first festival was held in 1972, the city’s long association with roses goes back to 1937, with the hiring of horticulturist and landscape designer Andrew Dibble.

While Dibble drew up the master plan and design and is praised as the architect, City Councilman John M. Sifly is considered the father of Edisto Memorial Gardens.

Within a year of its creation, the first 2,500 roses had been planted.

Dibble’s master plan called for a major rose garden to be planted where the Albergotti playground was then located. In 1949, with the James Albergotti Sr. family’s approval, the horticulturist relocated the playground to its present site.

Then, with his blueprint firmly in place, Dibble constructed the rose garden between 1950 and 1951.

One year after the first festival, in 1973, the rose garden became affiliated with the All American Rose Selections Inc. and became one of only 22 official test gardens in the United States for the AARS, the preeminent rose society.

In 1973, Edisto Memorial Gardens received two awards for its rose gardens. One was the “Best Rose Garden Award” in the Carolinas District by the AARS; and the “Jane Righter Rose Medal” for 1973 by the Garden Club of America.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories at TheTandD.com.

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