Mountain Property Daytrip to the Bloomin Festival

Feel Unique Amidst The Talented Artists

Bloomin Festival held in Ave Maria Grotto in the Alabama mountains offers you wonderful experience amidst talented artists and craftsmen. It is a two-day juried arts festival that attracts more than 25,000 visitors from all parts of the region. The Bloomin Festival is truly a special occasion for nearby Alabama residents and tourists visiting the festival.

History of Bloomin Festival

The Bloomin Festival is held in the beautiful campus of St.Bernard Abbey and the Prep School, which is situated absolutely adjacent to the world famous Ave Maria Grotto. Saint Bernard Abbey is a Catholic monastery of Benedictine monks located in the Appalachian foothills of northern Alabama. The Prep School in Cullman is a private school where teachers and students decided to showcase their community and help the school raise funds through the annual Festival. These funds were contributed for the betterment of the school, Church and the community.

So they chose the Ave Maria Grotto, a beautiful place to hold the festival. It was a folk art park, so they decided to host an arts festival that would attract more and more people from all parts of the region. The ambience around St. Bernard was simply unique as the buildings were constructed of beautiful stone, which dates back to the early and mid 1900’s. Since then, volunteers including parents, students, alumni, faculty and other friends of the community operate the Bloomin Festival.

Activities in Bloomin Festival

In the Bloomin Festival in Ave Maria Grotto, typically more than 150 booths are filled with a variety of artists and talented craftsmen. These artists display and exhibit their work of arts and crafts in the festival and art lovers are warmly welcomed. Along with the variety of arts works, the programs are accentuated with performances by musicians, kid’s activities and simply delicious Southern food. If you can visit the festival, you will be able to view some of the region's finest arts and crafts.

The Bloomin Festival is a two-day weekend event usually held in the month of April. The name “Bloomin” has a special significance for it depicts the blooming of beautiful Bartow during the spring season. Vibrant colors are splashed in the park with the blooming of flowers like dogwoods and azaleas, which offer a wonderful setting to the arts festival. There are different games and competitions held, which promise prizes of about $20,000 to the winners and participants.

Other attractions of Bloomin Festival

Apart from these games, the festival offers a variety of entertainment, ample food and drink, an excellent quilt show, amazing flower show and a nostalgic car show. Although most activities are repeated on both days, the car show takes place only on the first day of the festival. The Bloomin Festival is a festive atmosphere and fun outing for all its visitors.

The Bloomin Festival offers special discounted rates to people to visit Ave Maria Grotto. The festival is the largest fundraiser program in the County and should be visited by all.