Published: October 19, 2009 01:31 pm      

A perfect day greets attendees at Whitesboro Peanut Festival

Fun and sunshine was the story for the 44th annual Whitesboro Peanut Festival which took place Saturday and drew large crowds.

There was something for everyone at the festival with a parade, Kid Alley, a car show, a carnival, contests and competitions, vendors, face-painting and two entertainment stages.

Approximately 200 vendors with every item imaginable kept the crowd shopping and moving through the streets downtown. Some of the vendor items included peanut brittle and candy, sculptures, jewelry, kids stuff, wood-carved bears, clothing, handbags, and shoes and sandals.

The main stage entertainment featured the Billy Autry Band and J.W. Hardin and the Wild Bill Cody Band.

The Guns of Timber Creek put people in the fun-jailhouse and guarded them until they were bailed out. Club members dressed in wild-west costume roamed the festival grounds and entertained crowds with their simulated gun fights.

The carnival grounds were full of kids and adults, lots of screaming and youth playing booth games for prizes.

Down at Trollinger Park, Kid Alley was taking place and contests and competitions for the kids included a stick horse race, peanut shelling contest and the nutty hat contest.

The car show took place at Godwin Park and drew a large number of classic and colorful cars and D.J. Tim kept the music going. St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Men’s Club cooked hamburgers and hotdogs and homemade sweets at the park.

The Raffle drawing took place at 5 p.m., with the first prize being an R-Pod (a little trailer-type of recreational vehicle) from RV Max in Whitesboro. The second prize was a 50-inch plasma TV and third place won $500 worth of camping gear.

Transportation to the different festival sites was provided by the Gordonville Fire Department people-mover, which helped to transport people back and forth from downtown where the vendors were to the car show.

TAPS also provided transportation to festival-attendees who parked their cars at Whitesboro High School or Whitesboro Middle School. TAPS shuttled people to the festival site and then back to their vehicles.

Whitesboro Chamber of Commerce President Melody Jackson said the Peanut Festival was started in 1965 for the local peanut farmers and has been going strong for 44 years.

The Whitesboro Chamber plans to host the Peanut Festival each year as it is their main fundraiser and because it is obviously a popular community event.