The Come-See-Me Festival was first held in 1962 as a community project to invite visitors, relatives and friends to see Rock Hill during its most beautiful season. It started as a weekend event and has expanded to ten days. The Festival was the idea of its first chairman, C. H. "Ickey" Albright, former Rock
HillMayor and State Senator, and was nurtured by nationally-acclaimed illustratorVernon Grant, a Rock Hill resident who created Rice Krispies' celebrated gnomes, "Snap, Crackle and Pop."
The Festival's mascot, "Glen the Frog," also was created byMr. Grant, who designed more than 30 different Glens. A logo representing each new festival is selected yearly. A central focus of the Festival has always been the historic, award-winning Glencairn Garden, created by Dr. David A. Bigger and given to the City of Rock Hill in 1958. Azaleas, camellias, dogwood, wisteria and a variety of flowers and trees are all on show to celebrate spring.
The Come-See-Me Festival is considered the largest, all-volunteer festival in South Carolina and attracts more than 100,000 participants and visitors every year.The Festival has been ranked in the South's Top 20 Spring Festivals for numerous years and has been featured in Southern Living Magazine two times.
