Blueberry season is here again and the folks in Ammon are working hard to get everything ready for the community's annual festival celebrating the fruit that has become over the years one of Bladen County's major cash crops. Tomorrow they will see the fruits of their labors, when the Ammon Blueberry Festival kicks into high gear.

As usual the annual festival will begin with the pancake breakfast held at the Ammon Fire Department beginning at 6:30 a.m. The breakfast not only kicks off the Blueberry Festival, it serves as a fundraiser for the fire department as well.

At 10 a.m. the parade through "downtown" Ammon will begin and festival organizers expect a big turnout. Last year, between 80 and 85 units were in the parade. Since this is an election year, this year's parade is likely to be even larger, says Bobbie Coble, a festival committee member.

Trophies will be awarded for the various categories of entries in the parade.

Immediately after the parade, the official opening ceremony will be held, followed by the annual auction. Numerous items will be auctioned including a queen-size "blueberry" quilt with matching shams and, of course, blueberries.

Coble says this year's version of the Blueberry Festival will have a wide variety of activities for all ages. They include a Cruise In by the Bladenboro Antique & Classic Car Club. Entries will be judged and trophies awarded.

A blueberry cook-off contest will be held, with prizes awarded to the winners. Registration for the cook-off is 11 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. in the Ammon Community Building. It will feature three categories-breakfast, salads, and desserts. Entrants were required to pre-register by June 3. No dishes that were not pre-registered by the cutoff will be accepted as entries.

The festival will also sell a blueberry cookbook. It will contain last year's winning entries and all the entries received this year. The cost is $3.

Vendors will have a variety of offerings including crafts, plants, food, scented candles, jewelry, and others. One vendor will demonstrate how to weave cane bottom chairs and there will be rides for the children.

The Ammon Blueberry Festival began nine years ago after White Lake changed its annual celebration to the Water Festival.

According to organizers of the event, it was only natural for the Ammon community to keep the Blueberry Festival tradition going. After all, the community has a number of blueberry farmers among its population and it was in this community that wild "huckleberries" first began to be propagated into the commercial blueberries of today.

At least one prominent strand of blueberries has its origins in the wild blueberries that have grown throughout much of northern Bladen County for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years.

The industry has grown over the years until Bladen County has become one of the premier blueberry regions in the nation, and the fruit has become the number one agriculture commodity on the north side of the Cape Fear River. Blueberries are the second ranking producer of agricultural income in the county.

Coble said that the blueberry producers have been very supportive over the years in helping to promote the blueberry festival, which is sponsored by the Ammon Volunteer Fire Department.

"Hinson Barnes and the N.C. Blueberry Growers Association have been a big help in getting things moving on the festival," said Coble. "We owe them a debt of gratitude for their support and encouragement over the years."

Coble invites everyone to come out to the festival and "have a good old time."

The Ammon community is 15 miles north of Elizabethtown on NC 242. The festival events will be held in the community center at Ammon crossroads.

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