Itâs the 74th festival, marking it as one of the oldest festivals in the region.
The Roan Mountain Citizens Club has been putting on the festivals since June 1947. This yearâs event is scheduled June 19 and 20.
The festival is always held around the third weekend in June, when the Catawba rhododendron reach their peak bloom in the Cloudland Gardens atop Roan Mountain, which has an elevation above 6,000 feet.
Although called a garden, Cloudland is not man-made, as the rhododendron thrives and blankets many acres of mountains in the Appalachians. But the Cloudland Gardens are said to be the largest in the world. Thousands of magenta-pink blossoms erupt when the plants bloom.