Overview The North Carolina Azalea Festival is Wilmington's five-day spring festival, built around a celebrity Queen Azalea crowned on the Battleship North Carolina; actress Elaine Hendrix, of The Parent Trap and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, took the crown in 2026. Around the coronation run headline concerts, a televised parade, a downtown street fair, garden and historic home tours, a boxing tournament and a black-tie Patrons' Gala. The 2026 festival was the 79th. The nonprofit North Carolina Azalea Festival at Wilmington, Inc. produces it with more than 1,000 volunteers. On site The street fair closes Front Street from Red Cross to Orange streets from Friday evening through Sunday, with food and craft vendors, a children's area, a Performing Arts Stage for music and dance from around the world, and Azalea Alley, a beer and wine garden with live acts. On Saturday morning the parade runs down Third Street from Market to Brunswick past the reviewing stand at Thalian Hall, giant cold-air balloons among the floats, and it airs live on statewide public television. That night fireworks go up over the Cape Fear River, and a ticketed party watches from the Battleship's fantail. The Cape Fear Garden Club opens 10 private gardens, the Historic Wilmington Foundation opens downtown homes, and headline concerts play Live Oak Bank Pavilion on the riverfront, while Tunes and Blooms puts local bands on free at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater. Audience The festival runs two crowds side by side. The street fair, parade, free concerts and fireworks are open to everyone, and the festival puts the parade crowd alone at more than 100,000. The ticketed events gather the festival's sponsors and patrons with the Queen, her court and invited celebrities: a Celebrity Reception luncheon at Cape Fear Country Club, the Airlie Luncheon Garden Party, where guests come in flowered dresses, seersucker and big hats for cocktails and barbecue, and the Patrons' Gala on Saturday night. Talent and Influencers Lil Jon and Dustin Lynch headlined the 2026 concerts, and Flo Rida played in 2025. The Queen's court is made up of Miss North Carolina candidates, escorted by cadets from the military academies, and in 2026 it included Miss Wilmington Andi Creech and Miss Johnston County Kate White. The Chefs' Showcase at Hotel Ballast brings in visiting chefs to open festival week. Track record A UNCW study, done more than a decade before 2026, put the festival's economic impact on the greater Wilmington area at $50 million. The Scholarship Pageant awards more than $12,000 in scholarships each year to high school juniors and names an Azalea Festival Princess, and more than 500 students enter its youth art and writing contests. Since 2003 the Cape Fear Garden Club's tour has returned more than $1 million to Wilmington. Brand presence Sponsor levels are named for azalea varieties, Encore, Glen Dale, Gable and Evergreen, and nearly every event carries its own title position: the concert series, the garden party, the parade, the street fair, the fireworks, even the parade balloons, where a sponsor picks the character. The parade title sponsor's logo goes into the live broadcast. At the garden party a sponsor can brand every guest's cup and host its own tent. Packages come with ticket bundles across festival week, space on shared parade floats, and at the top level passes to ride in the official motorcade and a visit from Queen Azalea.