The Lilac Festival is a ten-day annual festival held in honor of the common lilac at

Mackinac Island Mackinac Island ( , ; ; ; ) is an island and resort area, covering in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwemowin, meaning "Great Turtle". It is located in ...

in the U.S. state of Michigan. The festival, which has been held since 1949, begins on the second Friday of June and concludes, on the third Sunday of June, with the horse-drawn ''Lilac Parade''. Stockholm-lilac

History

Americans began widespread planting of the common lilac during the

Victorian Age In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

, and Mackinac Islanders soon found that the island's

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often slightly but sometimes substantially. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square m ...

makes it a healthy location for the common lilac to grow to a larger size and longer life than in most gardens of the United States. Some Mackinac Island lilac trees are original Victorian plantings, dated at more than 150 years old. Most events were cancelled in 2020 because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, but some were held online.

Today

The festival is timed to try to coincide with the week that Mackinac Island lilacs are in bloom, and bunches of white and purple lilac flowerets are used by organizers as the visual symbol of the festival. As no private motor vehicles are allowed on Mackinac Island, the floats of the Lilac Parade are all drawn by

draft horse A draft horse (US) or draught horse (UK), also known as dray horse, carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal hauling freight and doing heavy agricultural tasks such as plowing. There are a number o ...

s such as

Clydesdales The Clydesdale is a breed of draught horse which originated in the seventeenth century, and takes its name from the Clydesdale district of Scotland. The first recorded use of the name "Clydesdale" for the breed was in 1826; the horses spread t ...

and

Percheron The Percheron is a horse breed, breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province, from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray (horse), gray or black (horse), black in col ...

s. The festival procession is one of the few remaining horse-drawn parades in the United States. The festival was founded by the year-round residents of Mackinac Island, especially Stella King and Evangeline "Ling" Horn. The festival has been recognized as a "Local Legacy" event by the

American Folklife Center The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. was created by Congress in 1976 "to preserve and present American Folklife". The center includes the Archive of Folk Culture, established at the library in 1928 as a rep ...

of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

References

{{reflist Festivals in Michigan Mackinac Island Tourist attractions in Mackinac County, Michigan Flower festivals in the United States 1949 establishments in Michigan Recurring events established in 1949

History

Today

See also

References