The Tennessee Iris Festival, held in Dresden the first week of May, lasts for about one week with all kinds of family activites.  On Friday May 3rd were the 2 Iris shows, both in one building, both at the same time.  It was open to the public Friday afternoon and Satrurday afternoon. We arrived on Friday, just after all the ribbons and awards had been given out.

As we walked into the room, there was a sea of Iris.  Each color group was shown together which made the numerous shades of Lavendar and Purples ( my favorite) a site to behold.

The first Iris man we ran into was Shorty (he was over 6 feet tall) Akers of Cottage Grove. He had just found out he had won a ribbon for his beautiful Lavender Iris and was more than excited! Another lady who was thrilled with her ribbon was Pattie Nutting of Dresden who entered a lovely pink Iris. Earnie Royal, from Kirksey, KY, a big time winner and behind the scenes man, told us about how they got the 2 Iris shows together and about starting up the Youth Show which had many entries - and winners!