A banner exhibit celebrating forty-one years of the Rose Buddies will be displayed May 21st - 25th. Please join us for a reception on the evening of May 21st honoring the Rose Buddies & the Harbor of Hospitality with special guests Elizabeth Hudson, Editor, and Rebecca Woltz, Author of the article on the Rose Buddies in Our State magazine.
It all started in September 1983 when Fred Fearing and Joe Kramer decided that boaters at Mariners' Wharf should be welcomed. Fearing gathered refreshments, and Kramer, an avid rose gardener, clipped blossoms from his garden to give to the ladies. This gathering generated such a positive response that Fearing and Kramer decided to welcome every incoming boater with the same gesture. The Rose Buddies and Elizabeth City, the "Harbor of Hospitality," were on their way into waterway history. Today, volunteers from Mid-Atlantic Christian University carry on the forty-one-year tradition by cutting roses for visiting vessels and hosting the gatherings.
Be sure to view the golf cart given to the Rose Buddies by Willard Scott of the Today Show!