The Lilac Festival is a ten-day annual festival held in honor of the common lilac at Mackinac Island in the U.S.
01 · What it is
Living Tradition
Documented cultural tradition on record; family classification awaits an editor.
02 · Where & name
United States of America
Placed on record in United States of America.
03 · How it is doing
□□□□ (Not yet assessed)
Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
04 · Proof & reuse
2 cited sources
Every claim links to a public record below. Free to quote, teach, and share under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Chapter Takeaways
HistoryAmericans began widespread planting of the common lilac during the Victorian Age, and Mackinac Islanders soon found that the island's microclimate makes it a healthy location for the common lilac to grow to a larger…
TodayThe 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.
Common Questions Answered on Record
What is Lilac Festival in plain words?
The Lilac Festival is a ten-day annual festival held in honor of the common lilac at Mackinac Island in the U.S.
Where is Lilac Festival practised or documented?
Sources on this page place Lilac Festival in United States of America.
What is the current condition of Lilac Festival today?
□□□□ (Not yet assessed): Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
How do I cite or share this Lilac Festival entry?
Cite as: "Lilac Festival." folkroom, https://folkroom.org/art-forms/lilac-festival, text CC BY-SA, with attribution.
The Lilac Festival is a ten-day annual festival held in honor of the common lilac at Mackinac Island 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. 1
History
Americans began widespread planting of the common lilac during the Victorian Age, and Mackinac Islanders soon found that the island's microclimate 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, but some were held online. 1
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 horses such as Clydesdales and Percherons. 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 of the Library of Congress. 1
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Lilac Festival (Mackinac Island)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. 1
Lilac Festival is since 1949 on Mackinac Island, Michigan, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 2
The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. 2