The Moorestown Business Association’s Daffodil Day festival will include horse-drawn surrey rides, music, artisan demonstrations and sales.
The Moorestown Business Association’s Daffodil Day festival on Main Street will be held on Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Guests can expect horse-drawn surrey rides, music, artisan demonstrations, family activities, seasonal merchant sales and specials. Perkins Center for the Arts will have a satellite location at the festival with hands-on craft activities for families all day, a bike-repair station and a pottery seconds sale.
There is no rain date.
“It’s just fun to see all the yellow bows up on the posts and all the yellow flowers along the street,” said Daffodil Day chair Melissa McGrath, who also owns Main Street’s Navy Blue Home and Gifts.
With the support of her husband and help from friends, McGrath opened the business in 2012 after her children left for college. Her goals were to bring items of local interest to Moorestown and surrounding communities, and to give friends a place to showcase their talent.
Having previously attended the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce’s daffodil festival, McGrath, a New Englander, brought the idea for Daffodil Day to the business association.
“In Nantucket in April it can be a pretty dismal time, (because) it’s not really spring yet, but everybody loves it because it’s bright and cheery,” she explained, “and I thought that might be something to do on Main Street. Our very first (Daffodil Day) was amazing …
“Everybody was just so excited to have something to open the spring with.”
The event doesn’t come without challenges, McGrath noted. All daffodils come from a local grower and are ordered the year before.
“They (daffodils) come back year after year and they multiply,” she noted, “so when people do purchase them and you plant them, the next year, that’s the first thing that you see in the spring is them popping through in early March, and it’s just fun.”
This year marks the first that vice chair Diane Cairoli has helped organize the festival. As a longtime Moorestown Garden Club member and supporter of Save the Environment of Moorestown, she is said to be a good fit for the position even though she’s not a member of the business association.
“For many years now, Daffodil Day in Moorestown has been a harbinger of spring for local businesses, artists and musicians to boost spirits and sales amidst early blooming daffodils,” Cairoli said.
About 30 artists and musicians will participate in Daffodil Day on sidewalks, porches and even inside businesses on Main Street. A variety of art mediums – including painting, woodworking, photography, pottery and quilting – will be demonstrated, displayed and sold.
Festival strollers will also find musicians playing a variety of instruments, including guitars, bass, drums and the harp, and demonstrations from the National Karate Institute.
“What excites me the most about this is the many newfound relationships that will undoubtedly be made with all involved,” Cairoli enthused. “Daffodil Day will surely make it easy for all to expand their horizons and form new and deeper connections with others and nature. Go wild and spring into action this Daffodil Day.
“You’ll undoubtedly be glad that you did.”
