DUBLIN PEANUT FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 32 YEARS
Aleigh King, marketing director for Emereau Bladen and “Aviator” were on hand with students from Emereau Bladen Charter School to participate in the 32nd Annual Dublin Peanut Festival parade. The group had cheerleaders, athletes and even a open-air bus loaded with parents and staff.
The 32nd Annual Peanut Festival has held in Dublin Saturday where the town’s population for the day expanded to over 2,000.
As a pre-cursor to Halloween, candy abounded at the 32nd annual Dublin Peanut Festival. From very young to very old, streetsweepers were not needed as parents and their children were scrambling for the goodies that were being thrown from vehicles and floats in the Peanut Festival parade.
DUBLIN – The population in Dublin, North Carolina runs somewhere between 250- 300 people on most days.
The streets are uncongested even on highway 87. Oh, you may see a few people walking along Main Street, but for the most part – it’s your quaint little sleepy North Carolina town.
Until the third Saturday in September when the population can rise to over 2,000 or more.
This year, the annual peanut fest brought thousands of people to a day that successfully packed 30 pounds of activities into a 10-pound sack. The town began to come alive on the eve of the Peanut Festival when cars from all over the nation began rolling in.
By Saturday morning, coming north into the town, Firetrucks with lights flashing and sirens being tested could be seen and heard a mile away and for someone who didn’t know better, they may have thought a catastrophic disaster was happening.
Instead it was the antistrophic strains of the delightful and world-famous Dublin Peanut Festival.
The festival was many months in the making and this year, the flurry of activity leading up to the festival included an unveiling of a peanut sculpture adjacent to the Dublin Town Hall.
The project was created by Bladen County Community College as they partnered with the festival. From sweat-equity support to late-night welding to complete the project on time, the peanut was unveiled in a special ceremony Friday morning.
Dr. Amanda Lee, BCC’s president was on hand as were other teachers and administrators from the college.
“We are so excited,” Lee said. “It was a student project that was led by some very talented instructors and we are thrilled to be at this point today.”
The peanut, which sat upon the back of a pickup truck for almost a year finally had a visit from the brick mason who fashioned the brick foundation where the peanut sits proudly in downtown Dublin.
Mike Taylor from BCC was the creative genius behind the peanut.
“The entire project took probably over a month and a half,” Taylor said.
Mayor Horrace Wyatt was also on hand for the unveiling and was excited at all the commotion around town in preparation for the festival.
“I am just honored that the peanut festival saw the necessity to do something other than just having meetings and having a festival,” Wyatt said. “They have been exploring all kinds of ideas and I think it’s great for the community.”
It all began 32 years ago when there was an educational need in the community. This festival was born out of a great need and came to fruition due to a lot of hard-working people who didn’t have a “give-up” mentality when it came to things for the local kids.
“We wanted to build a gymnasium for the school,” Wyatt said. “We went to the commissioners and at that time it was very expensive. The commissioners said, ‘Tell you what we’ll do. If y’all will raise X-amount of money, we’ll match it and build it.’ We had a little doubt, but then someone mentioned having a peanut festival. So, they started a peanut festival and peanuts in the area were owned by Houston’s, but now it’s all owned by Hampton Farms. Back in the day, Houston’s was a big contributor. Mr. Houston and Irene were very adamant about having a peanut festival and doing what was good for the community. They supported it well.”
In 32 years, the festival has really grown into something special according to Wyatt.
This year there were over 40 vendors with crafts and specialties galore. In addition, the enticing scents from the many food trucks began with pre-dawn preparation and barbecue grills being fired up. You could find everything from smoked turkey legs to ribs to freeze-dried candy to hot dogs and hamburgers.
As grandmothers used to say, “If you went away hungry, it wasn’t their fault.”
The day brought picture-perfect weather for the end of summer and the sun was begging spectators to bring their sunblock.
The festival itself is held on the school grounds donated graciously by the town board of education and ironic when you think about that property proposed a building that was built by the peanut festival and in turn, the peanut festival was grown out of a need for education.
There was a car show, rides for the kids, a huge slide and the Blackwater Band that kept things lively. The show ran until 4 p.m. when the town was eventually restored to it’s Mayberry-esc nature. Already ideas are being passed around along with anticipation for the 33rd festival that will come to Dublin on the third Saturday in September 2025.
Mark DeLap (markdelap.com) is a journalist, photographer and the editor and general manager of the Bladen Journal. To email him, send a message to: mdelap@bladenjournal.com