Dazzling Dahlia Festival

There are many dahlia enthusiasts in Highlands, and for ten years they have organized an annual event called the Dazzling Dahlia Festival.  This year, due to the Covid-19 restrictions, the festival was held in a unique new format which was so successful that we hope it will remain this way.  Organized by the Highlands Historical Society, dahlias were displayed at 33 different sites scattered around downtown Highlands.

It was a beautiful day, with a chill in the air and that deep blue sky of early fall.  We had been restless this weekend, wanting to enjoy those activities that we used to pursue this time of year – visiting apple orchards, driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway, walking around area towns.  All of this has changed, of course, and after six months we are still not willing to risk eating in a restaurant or going very far from home.  So this was the perfect activity for a Sunday afternoon.  We donned our face masks and began our tour at the Highlands Historical Village 

It was nice to be greeted there by our friends Dennis and Fran, who were volunteering, and to visit with them a little.  Bob and Patsy, who we used to talk to at concerts in Founders Park on Saturdays, were also there.  We realized that this was the first time we had really gotten out to socialize all summer.

Our next stop was down the road a little on Maple Street at the Old Jail, where this clever jailbird was stationed.  At each stop, there was a small sign on the theme of "Let Me Tell You a Story," with short histories of the buildings we were touring.  It was all very well done.

 

 

From Maple Street, we climbed up on the hill where Highlands Playhouse was situated, and then around to Founders Park, viewing dazzling arrangements of dahlias and other fall flowers all along the way. 

On the stage at Founders Park there was a clever display featuring a large "X."  The centerpiece of the Park is a cross made of paving rocks on the lawn in the shape of an "X" as well, referring to the legend that Samual Kelsey and Clinton Hutchinson, the founders of the Town, marked an "X" on a map by drawing lines between Chicago and Savannah and between New York and New Orleans.  These trade lines predicted where a great population center would someday arise.  Although they had the scale off a little, I think we may have seen license plates on cars parked on Main Street from all of the states where those great cities are located.

 

 

The churches on Main Street seemed to be enjoying a friendly competition.  The Episcopalians (left) were featuring summer hats where dahlias flourished.  The Presbyterians (center) had a bear in Scottish attire.  And the Methodists (right) had an elegant and tasteful bouquet one might see on a Sunday morning next to the pulpit.

 

This display was located on the corner of Main Street and Fourth Street, in the very center of downtown, commemorating the old Gulf station that Neville Bryson had operated on this site, still pumping gas and changing tires as recently as when we moved to Highlands in 1983, and the Texaco station up the hill on Fourth Street once owned by Martha's grandfather.
 

 

 

For our final stop on this interesting tour of dahlias, we returned to the Historical Village and then drove through the Will Henry Stevens covered bridge to the Bascom Art Gallery, where we found these artistic creations hanging on the wall of what used to be Crane's Stables.

 

What a wonderful day this was!  When we finished the tour, Martha commented that this was a beautiful little Town, and we imagined what it must be like for a visitor.  We could understand why someone would so keenly want to move here, to this special Town, and live out their lives surrounded by historical buildings, quiet streets, and dazzling dahlias.