Dogwood and Azalea festival in Charleston MO
Mother’s Day is coming up soon! When mom, Lori Disque said she wanted to go on a trip I found a festival that fit the bill! My friend Annie Jansen told me about the Dogwood and Azalea festival when I told her of my longing to see flowers. Only four hours from home, it was a win. My sister Debbie Salisbury and I planned our trip. Then away we went.
Arts and Craft Fair at the Dogwood and Azalea Festival
Our first stop during the Dogwood and Azalea Festival was the arts and craft fair. We arrived at the festival on Friday morning. We were blown away by the wooden talents of Ron Hahs. All three of us had to take home a sample of his work!
Home Tours
High on our list of things to do was the home tours. Three homes for the price of $15 was a bargain. One of the homes on the list was the Mississippi County Historical Society. Their home base is in the lovely 1899 Victorian country home. The house was donated by the heirs of Joe and Carrie Moore. This beautiful historic house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The home sports seventeen rooms and the house contain seven fireplaces. Furnishings are period. The home includes the original dining room furniture and gas chandelier.
There we viewed the lovely paintings of Charleston native, Dessie Gross.
There were two other homes to tour, both private residences. One was a historic house built by the same architect as the Moore home. The other was historic but modernized and our favorite of the three.
Church luncheon
The Southside Baptist Church served up a wonderful meal for $10. We were able to have a selection of one of four soups. We also had chicken salad on croissant, dessert and a drink! Best of all though was learning about the Prom Dress ministry that the church is doing. Pastor John Lowe shared that they offer young women a chance to use the variety of donated dresses, so everyone can go to prom!
St. Henry Church tour
The beautiful St. Henry’s Catholic church in Charleston offered a great tour. The church recently was restored. Construction began on the current Romanesque style church building in 1905. Archbishop John J. Glennon dedicated the church on June 4, 1907. The stained-glass windows were created by the Jacoby Art Glass Company of St. Louis. They were installed circa 1910. The brochure for the event states, “Three new bells, cast by Struckstede and Brothers of St. Louis, were positioned in the bell tower during the summer of 1924.”
The church has a two-manual pipe organ. It was built by the Wicks Organ Company of Highland, Illinois. In 1936 they added the rose window of St. Cecilia.
Book sale and quilt show!
We ended our events to the Dogwood and Azalea Festival with a visit to the library. They had a book sale and quilt show. We all took home a book or two! The flowers were so lovely. With the great weather, we were hooked! We finished up the day in Cape Girardeau shopping.
Best was the time we all shared together at this beautiful event. There was a lot of other activities that we didn’t join in on. These are the highlights for us! What fun to attend festivals. Earlier in the year I enjoyed going to the Festival of the Cranes. Pick out an event you will enjoy, pack up mom and make memories!
