That economic impact has certainly increased in recent years, said Alison Baringer English, executive director of the North Carolina Azalea Festival.
When the study was completed in 2011, organizers were still holding concerts at UNCW s Trask Coliseum and didn t sell concessions. Concerts moved outside in 2013, allowing nearly three times the attendance.
In recent years, the festival has been able to attract more well-known artists and started selling alcohol and concessions, which raise revenue.
It s difficult to tell just how much the Azalea Festival contributes to local tourism because festivals - unlike conventions - have no central booking mechanisms and many of the events don t require tickets, according to Connie Nelson, the communications director at the Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau.
WILMINGTON – Thumb through any local historian’s personal library and you’re likely to find a dog-eared, well-worn copy of Beverly Tetterton’s book, “Wilmington: Lost but Not Forgotten.”
A guide to the built history that defined Wilmington but fell victim to its progress and time, the book is an essential text on this region from its most essential historical voice of the last quarter century.
As the former special collections librarian and chief of the New Hanover County Library’s North Carolina Room, Tetterton has brought history to the masses in a way her predecessors didn’t. The likes of celebrated historians James Sprunt and Louis T. Moore preserved the Cape Fear’s stories in written accounts that have served as the backbone of local research for 100 years.