Residents go nuts with anticipation for upcoming Peanut Festival

Bladen County will soon be celebrating one of its most plentiful crops at the 31st Annual Dublin Peanut Festival.

Taking place each year on the third Saturday of September, this year’s festival will be held on September 16.

According to their website, the Dublin Peanut Festival and its organizers are focused on a single, specific goal “to do our part in making our community and local schools stronger.”

Each year, the Peanut Festival begins the celebration with a parade, followed by live entertainment throughout the entire event, food craft vendors, and the Classic Cruisers Car Show. The main attraction is the fresh salted-in-the-shell boiled peanuts, roasted peanuts, and boiled peanuts which residents look forward to enjoying at each festival. The festival also includes a peanut cook-off contest with a cash prize for the winners where each entry must include peanuts. Each year’s festival t-shirts are designed by students of Dublin Elementary School. Students submit a drawing including peanuts and the festival committee then selects a winner who is given a cash prize and a t-shirt.

According to organizers, “The festival takes us back in time to show the early years of peanut harvesting from horses and plows, to peanut stacks and to tractors and mechanical peanut pickers of today.”

Peanuts have been an integral part of Bladen County’s agriculture and economy. According to the National Peanut Board, peanuts require less water compared to other crops and are able to be reused to reduce waste. The peanut has also been named the seventh most popular crop in the United States.

The incentives for Bladen Farmers who grow peanuts are plentiful. First, the soil in Bladen County is ideal for growing peanuts which also assists with a good flavor in Bladen peanuts. Peanuts are also good for the health of other crops as they assist with and improve crop rotation.

Crop rotation is important to ensure that one single crop planted in the same soil repeatedly doesn’t use or ruin all of the soil’s nutrients. Peanut plants leave behind nitrogen in the soil in which they grew for the next crop planted, and they can also be plowed into the soil to serve as fertilizer. Rotating crops helps to ensure that peanut yields each season remain high. For example, one can plant peanuts one year, then plant different crops the next two years before once again planting peanuts.

As the seventh most popular crop in the nation, the demand for peanuts is strong. Three peanut companies operate in Bladen County—Sachs Peanuts in Clarkton, Peanut Processors in Dublin, and Birdsong Peanuts in Bladenboro.

Typically, Bladen’s farmers produce approximately 4,500 acres of peanuts with recent years being as high as 6,000 acres. In 1973, Clarkton farmer Wilbur Ward was named North Carolina’s Champion Peanut Producer, yielding 1,159.9 pounds of peanuts from 111.3 acres.

Usually, it is encouraged to enjoy everything in moderation, but peanuts are one of those snacks that you can benefit from eating each day. Peanuts have more protein than any other nut and are a good source of fiber and necessary fats. Peanuts also contain over 30 essential vitamins and minerals. Scientific evidence also suggests that peanuts can reduce the risk of heart disease.

When you’re making plans to attend this year’s Dublin Peanut Festival, remember all of the ways that peanuts contribute to the success of Bladen County, as well as the health and tastebuds of its residents.