Event Description

The North Carolina Azalea Festival is held every Spring in Wilmington, North Carolina. The Azalea Festival’s roots go back to 1934 with Dr. Houston Moore who had the vision of transforming un-kept, swampy Greenfield Lake into a beautiful landscaped park. He enlisted the support of a coalition of local clubs, headed by the Wilmington Rotary Club, to bring the vision to life. It took nearly ten years of financial ups and down before the park finally blossomed, but once it did, its splendor inspired Dr. Moore to conceive the idea of a Festival to be held annually ‘when the flowers burst into bloom’. The first North Carolina Azalea Festival was held in 1948 and despite modest projections, drew over 60,000 spectators – including one invited guest that came all the way from Hollywood: movie queen Jacqueline White, who was named the first Queen Azalea.

Join us for the Azalea Festival Sun Run presented by Harris Teeter and run at your local area beaches during Festival week.  We'd love nothing more than to see everyone running in the sun while sporting the new Festival Sun Run T-shirt.

Registration includes a free Sun Run T-shirt to all who register! 

We will also be giving away 3 sets of Sublime with Rome | Michael Franti & Spearhead tickets as well as 3 sets of Avett Brothers tickets at random to those who participate and upload their times!  

Since this is a virtual race, you can run whenever or wherever you love seeing the sun the most!

*PS - Don't worry if you can’t make it to the beach...just put on your favorite beachy tune like Michael Franti’s "The Sound of Sunshine" and hit the road, trail, or path.  It still counts!

Your walk or run must equal a 5K or 3.1 miles.