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Fri July 18, 2008
'A perfect year so far' for growing Porter peaches
IF YOU GO
Schedule of events
Tonight:
•5 p.m.: Street games, including turtle races, a nail drive and a frog-jumping contest.
•8 p.m.: The Fifth Annual Porter Peach Festival Rodeo at Tullahassee Arena.
Saturday:
•7 a.m.: Festivities resume with the Peach Classic 5-K run. There will also be a peach auction, parade and live entertainment throughout the day.
•1 p.m.: Free peaches and ice cream will be given away.
Peaches in Stratford
The 32nd annual Stratford Peach Festival will be Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Stratford City Park.
Activities will include the Peach Idol Contest, a martial arts demonstration, a peach judging contest and a powwow dance.
The Stratford peach crop also looks good this year, said Kim Dulworth, president of the Stratford Chamber of Commerce.
Dulworth said growers are "selling their peaches as fast as they get them.”
A record attendance is expected for the festival, judging by the number of people who have called asking about it, Dulworth said. About 4,000 people are expected.
The festival is extremely important to the town of about 1,500, Dulworth said.
"It's about the only thing we do,” she said. "Peaches are part of Stratford history.”
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A successful crop boosts interest in festival
Peach crops for the last five years have suffered from freezes, drought and hail storms, said Kent Livesay, owner of Livesay Orchards.
Livesay lost about 40 percent of last year's crop because of a late freeze.
Livesay Orchards, about three miles south of Porter, will be the only local peach orchard supplying fruit to the festival this year.
The orchard sells 12 bushels of peaches to local businesses for a peach auction and will donate 30 bushels to volunteers, who will slice them for giveaways Saturday.
A bushel is about 47 pounds of peaches.
There has been an increased interest in the festival this year, Criner said.
About 10,000 people are expected at this year's festival in the town of about 590 residents, Criner said.
"We're a real small community, and this is our time to get together ... and relax and forget all our problems we have,” he said.