July 2008

August 2008

The Peanut Festival: A Family Affair

Not only is the Peanut Festival like an old friend…one could go further and say it’s like a member of the family.

Looking at the list of past queens, it is obvious that winning the queen’s crown runs in some families. Among the former winners there are four sets of mother daughters, three sets of sisters and numerous cousins.

Frankie Lois Richardson Pennington was the first queen and the first former queen to see her daughter win the crown. Charm Pennington, now Mrs. Mark Pierce of Tyler, was queen of the 28th Peanut Festival in 1974.

Linda Jones Skidmore of Grapeland, 1956 queen, saw her daughter, Marsha Skidmore Cook, win the title in 1978.

Ten years later the family knot was tightened even more when Miss Laura Childress, now Mrs. Albert Charbarria, was crowned queen in the 1988 festival. Laura is the daughter of 1960 queen Martha Jones Childress, who is the sister of Linda Jones Skidmore. 1980’s queen Suzanne Owens Fehrle was pleasantly surprised when her daughter Jennifer Fehrle was crowned in 2001.

The other two sister duos are the Salmon girls, Anita, 76 queen, and Connie, 74 queen, daughters of Fannie and Floyd Salmon of Grapeland; and the Henderson girls, Vicki, ’68 queen, and Dianne, ’71 queen, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Henderson.

Arts & Crafts Booths

Rent a booth in the Arts & Crafts area.

• No Commission Fee
• Restroom Facilities Available
• Food & Entertainment Nearby

Booth spaces assigned as responses are received.

• 12x10 Without Electricity - $40.00
• 24x10 Without Electricity - $60.00
• 10x12 With Electricity - $50.00
• 20x12 With Electricity - $70.00

Peanut Festival History

The Goober Carnival celebration was born in 1945, the year that “our armed forces won their first victory against the Axis Powers.” A group of enterprising community leaders saw the need for a harvest celebration in which our new and old citizens, our friends of neighboring towns and such could gather for fellowship, entertainment and general promotion of our town. The first annual Goober Carnival attracted visitors from many points in East Texas with festivities opening Thursday September 27, 1945, with a peanut dinner in the school recreation hall attended by 400 people. Marvin Watson, president of the Chamber of Commerce, presided. Victor Schoffelmayer, agricultural and science editor of the Dallas News, was principal speaker of the evening. Feature entertainment was by the Stamps Quartet of Dallas which had an estimated audience of 2,000. Miss Frankie Lois Richardson of Percilla was selected by secret ballot to be queen of the festivities.

The queen’s coronation was the next evening with Miss Richardson and Sam Hill ascending the throne as the first King and Queen of the Goober Carnival. It was scheduled to be held downtown but a drenching rain forced it to be moved to the school recreation hall. A pageant entertained their royalties. Harry Bush of Percilla received the $25.00 cash premium for bringing the biggest load of peanuts into Grapeland that day. In 1951, both the name and sponsorship of the festival changed. The VFW and Ladies Auxiliary assumed the sponsor’s role as the fund raiser for building a VFW Hall and from that day forward the event has been known as the Peanut Festival. In 1963, the Grapeland Community Council became the festival sponsor. In 2002 after 39 years, the Grapeland Community Council ceased to exist; now the Grapeland Chamber of Commerce has again taken the reigns. 60 years later The Peanut Festival has come full circle.

Why Peanuts

Peanuts were introduced in this area just a few years prior to the first festival, which was held in late September 1945. Born of wartime need for oils with which to make explosives, the raising of peanuts was carried on into the peacetime years with golden results for the farmers.

Up until 1928, cotton, corn and peas were the main crops. Every now and then, a few farmers would plant Irish potatoes and watermelons for market but the low prices soon caused farmers to abandon these products.

Two wayside railroad stations or switches were placed in the north side of the county in earlier years, one at Leach, near Salmon which took care of the Irish potato crops, watermelons and cord wood in that vicinity. The other one at Latexo took care of the orchard crops and any other crops grown near there.

All this, in time faded as other industries came. One of these was a cheese plant, which took care of the raw milk from the dairy, but only lasted about three years. One good thing came of this, farmers became aware of the need for better livestock. After a fling with peaches, farmers tried the plum crop which turned out extremely well for a few years.

Then came the green pea deal. This meant a lot to the farmer and resulted in a canning factory or cannery which lasted another few years. It seemed that nothing was here to stay when – boom! Farmers started raising peanuts, wholesale – with a guaranteed price and land to back up the crop, Grapeland farmers went wild.

Grapeland's sandy land and warm sun were just right for peanut crops. And they've been a mainstay crop through the years. As someone has said, “Peanuts have built many homes in this neck of the woods.”

The Peanut Festival is a fine tribute to this crop and to the farmers who worked so hard to raise them.

Past Peanut Queens

Naming of a queen has always been a special part of the Peanut Festival celebration. In earlier years, the queen’s competition was used as a fund-raiser with the title going to the young lady raising the most money and the queen and her court were entertained. In recent years, the queen is selected by a panel of judges during a pageant in which the queen candidates provide the entertainment as they compete in categories of poise & personality, interview, most photogenic and talent.

Former Peanut Festival Queens are listed below. (Names are as they were at time of reign.)

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