3-20-2024 9:01pm

Scenes from the First Weekend of the 2024 International Cherry Blossom Festival

Nate Weeks Editor

One of the very fast competitors in the Weiner Dog Race got some much needed rest after the competition (Photographer Nate Weeks)

With the second weekend of the 42nd International Cherry Blossom Festival ahead of us, this article will contain some of the scenes that unfolded during the first weekend of the "pinkest party on earth".

With fair rides and sweet fair food at Carolyn Crayton Park every night of the festival, Downtown Macon's streets are part of the celebration, especially the first weekend, with a riveting Weiner Dog Race, an exciting bed race, diving dogs, a car show and much more.

The winner of the Weiner Dog Race this year was a very fast Daschund named Chili. The crowds were thick as they crowded around the fenced-off section on Cherry Street to watch the small dogs run towards their owners (and sometimes away from them)!

The car show included pristine antique vehicles as well as some of the fastest sports cars around parked out in front of Downtown Macon businesses.

Another fun event that took place this year was a unique version of musical chairs: contestants in inflatable costumes competed to see who would end up with a chair when the music stopped. The results of each round had the crowd laughing and moaning when their favorite character had to leave the match.

When the chicken's time to cross the road arrived after he was disqualified, the onlookers made sure he knew that his contest was the favorite of many in the crowd.

Finally, the bed race is always an entertaining event, with companies and organizations around Macon competing to see who can push their teammate the fastest across the finish line.

I wasn't able to get a picture of the winning team this year, which was once again the Macon Fire Department after having finally lost for the first time in a while last year. I was able to get a few of some of the other competitive, and stylish, teams this year.

There are plenty of other exciting events to attend the last weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival, with nightly concerts, a human cannonball, and fantastically talented performing dogs at Carolyn Crayton Park (formerly known as Central City Park) each night through Sunday, March 24th.