Coastal Companion

Your ultimate guide to the coast

Butterfly Festival Treehill Nature Center – Jacksonville, Fl

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The Butterfly festival at Treehill Nature Center in Jacksonville, Florida, is a great event for the whole family. The festival takes place on April 25th, 2009, from noon to 5:00 p.m. and culminates with nature’s fireworks – a live native butterfly release. This is something you can’t miss.

“You will experience a close encounter with 1000 of the gossamer-winged creatures at Tree Hill Nature Center’s signature event,” promises Lucy Cortese, executive director.

But there’s a lot more to the festival. If you ever thought about starting your own Butterfly garden, this is the event to visit. Here you can see a butterfly exhibit, lots of games and activities for children, and live music. There’s also Art in the Park where local artists showcase their works. In the Get Back to Nature area you can meet experts from local nurseries who can tell you all you need to know about native plants and herbs. You can also shop at the Monarch Mall for everything from plants to jewelry and much, much more.

Last year, almost 5,000 visitors came to the festival. So came early, and plan to stay all day. The 2009 festival commemorates Tree Hill’s 38th anniversary as Jacksonville’s Nature Center. The 2009 event will focus on Edutainment – education that is entertaining and enlightening to both children and adults.

The cost is $10 per family or $5 per individual. The proceeds goes to support Treehill Nature Center.

Click here to print out your discount coupon.

For more information about the event, visit www.treehill.org


Mandarin Art Festival and Egg Hunt – Jacksonville, Florida

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Arts enthusiasts travel to this event to visit during the two-day weekend.
Here you’ll find everything from painting, jewelry, glasswork, to pottery, sculpture, photography and more. There will also be a variety of homemade goodies at the Bake Sale at the Mandarin Art Festival.

The festival is hosted by Mandarin Community Club new and returning artists compete for winnings in 6 categories and for $1500 as “Best of Show.” Click here for more information about the Mandarin Art Festival.
Call 904-268-1622 for info.

The egg hunt takes place on Easter Sunday at 1:30 for kids ten years or younger. Bring your own baskets to Walter Jones Historical Park on Mandarin Road. This event is a joint venture between Mandarin Community Club and Mandarin Museum & Historical Society.
Click here for more info about the Egg Hunt.

Lowcountry Cajun Festival 2009 – Charleston

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Now you can experience a little bit of Louisiana in Charleston, South Carolina, when the Lowcountry  Cajun Fest comes to town this weekend. This event is an action packed day with Zydeco music, Cajun and Creole foods, children’s activities, mixed together southern style.

The 18th annual Lowcountry Cajun Festival heats up James Island County Park on Sunday, April 5, from noon-6pm!

Food and fun is what this festival is all about. Local and regional chefs cook up a variety of mouth-watering foods to tickle your taste buds  with authentic Cajun and Creole faire.  Enjoy jambalaya, alligator, etouffe, andouille sausage, and of course, lots and lots of crawfish!

People travel from near and far for huge servings of fresh, steaming crawfish – if you’re a crawfish connoisseur and fast eater, the annual crawfish-eating contest is the perfect opportunity to show off your unique talent!

Also enjoy Lowcountry favorites like red rice, seafood and tangy Southern barbecue.  And for those with less adventurous stomachs there’s also your regular festival food of hot dogs, burgers, funnel cakes and more.

Dance in the grassy fields to the irresistible sounds of Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys and Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble.  Other festivities include a crafter market and mechanical, inflatable, and carnival games for kids.

Admission is $10.  This event is free for ages 12 and under with paying adult.  Gold pass holders are admitted FREE to this event as well. Call 795-4FUN (4386) or visit www.ccprc.com/cajun!

37th Annual Flowertown Festival – Summerville, SC

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This is one of the most popular yearly spring festivals in South Carolina, and it’s definitely one of the biggest events in Summerville. The Flowertown Festival offers a little bit for everyone, from arts and crafts to great food and fun rides for the kids.

Arts and Crafts
Over 200 artisans from across the country come to the Flowertown Festival to show their skills and sell their art. You’ll find a wide variety of arts and crafts from painting, pottery, glassworking, to woodworking, needlework and much, much more!

2009 Taste of Summerville
You definitely can’t miss this area. Here you can taste some of the best food the Lowcountry has to offer!

Some of the area’s finest restaurants participate in the event. Food in this section of the Festival is purchased with FOOD TICKETS which are available for $1 each.

Children’s Jubilee
This is the kids special area. The Children’s Jubilee is located on S. Main Street. Here you’ll find rides, games, treats and special arts and crafts projects to entertain the young ones.

Click here for more details about the Flowertown Festival in Summerville, South Carolina.

Springing the Blues 2009 – Jacksonville Beach

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Springing The Blues is an annual festival drawing a crowd of approximately 125,000 blues fans to Jacksonville Beach. Here you can experience performances from some of the nation’s top Blues performers. Springing The Blues is a free outdoor blues music festival. The goal of the festival is to celebrate blues.  The three-day oceanfront music festival features a selection of blues performers as well as other  activities for the whole family to enjoy.

Springing The Blues festival is traditionally held at Jacksonville Beach, Florida’s Oceanfront SeaWalk Pavilion on the first weekend of April each year.

A Few Festival Facts:

• Downbeat Magazine named Springing the Blues as one of the top 50 Music Festivals in the World

• SouthEast Tourism Society named the festival as one of the top 20 destination events in the U.S.

• Springing the Blues is known as Florida’s largest free outdoor blues festival.

• In 1997 the festival was voted as “Best Festival in Northeast Florida” by Folio Weekly Magazine’s annual poll.

Past performers at the festival have included many famous musicians such as; Larry McCray, Phillip Walker, Tinsely Ellis, Saffire “The Uppity Blues Women,” Maurice John Vaughn, Earl King, Mitch Woods And His Rocket 88’s, Susan Tedeschi, North Mississippi Allstars, Tab Benoit, Little Jimmy King, Henry Gray and the Cats, Grammy Award winner Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Ruby Wilson, Charlie Musselwhite, Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers, Robert Jr. Lockwood, R. L. Burnside, Smoky Wilson, Coco Montoya, Smokin’ Joe Kubek and B’nois King.

This year the festival will take place on April 3-5 at Seawalk Plaza, Jacksonville Beach, Florida