Macon Georgia Cherry Blossom Festival Inc.

“The organization's president, board chair and treasurer reviewed the form 990 before it was filed.”

“Monitored monthly by board of directors.”

“The board compares salary to similar positions in other organizations. All compensation is reviewed and approved by the board annually.”

“The board compares salary to similar positions in other organizations. All compensation is reviewed and approved by the board annually.”

“The organization makes its governing documents available upon written request. The form 990 is also available on the guidestar website at www.guidestar.org.”

“The macon, georgia cherry blossom festival enhances the quality of life, community fellowship, and civic pride of all macon and middle georgia residents through the encouragement, development, and coordination of selected recreational, cultural, and social activities. A secondary purpose of the festival is to share our quality of life, community fellowship, and civic pride with visitors attracted by the activities of the festival.”

“Exciting events as well as the comfort of their legendary festival favorites. This year, we reached our momentous 35th year as the pinkest party on earth over 100 spectacular events were featured, with over 80 percent being free to the public for their enjoyment. During the 2017 festival, we featured several nations during our festivities during the first weekend. The featured nations were japan, and taipei, taiwan, republic of china. Each nation sent a delegation that visited, performed, and were honored. Dignitaries included the honorable consul general of japan takashi shinozuka; the honorable director general of taipei economic and cultural office, taipei, taiwan, republic of china; commander of the 78th air base wing, colonel sarah christ and chief master sargent emilio hernandez, commander chief of the 78th air base wing. We also welcomed students from kurobe, japan, who visited the festival through macon-bibb's sister city program. A tree can only be as strong as its roots and we are engrained with "love, beauty, and international friendship." we plan, produce and host events for the entire family to enjoy while attempting to educate festival participants about our international neighbors, because that is how we shine and coming together will always illuminate world. This year, approximately 200,000 participants from around the world enjoyed the festivities. With over 100 events and attractions to choose from, visitors had plenty of entertainment options. The festival at central city park, the heart and hub of the festival featured ten days of amusement rides, games, and delectable carnival cuisine. The park hosted the coca-cola entertainment stage, which offered a nightly concert series featuring regional and national acts from every musical genre. Other major festival favorites included: the cherry blossom parade; the cherry blossom gala; gospel extravaganza; fashion show & brunch; third street park festivities; cherry blossom bed race; pink pancake breakfast; street party featuring the legendary georgia clinton and parliament funkadelic, soul singer mavis staples, former allman brothers band and rolling stones member chuck leveall and the randall bramblett band, jd mcpherson, and me and molly. Our festival has a fantastic royalty program comprised of a little mr. And miss cherry blossom, the cherry blossom queen and two princesses, and a sr. Queen and princess. The pageants are held in the winter and winners serve as ambassadors for the festival year-round. The cherry blossom queen and princesses also receive college scholarships. Plus, no festival would be complete without a mascot petals the pink poodle is the cherry blossom festival's official mascot. Petals was made from the likeness of lacy the pink poodle who became an event staple over the years thanks to her owners paul and alice who dye the adult standard poodle pink through a harmless process and bring her to events all over macon through the 10 days each festival. Children of all ages love to have pictures taken with lacy and petals and both serve as the closing unit for our annual parade”

“An invoice that was included in accounts payable at june 30, 2016 was subsequently determined not payable and reversed after the form 990 had been filed for that year.”