Peach Queens Visit Governor

The 2008 Lexington County Peach Festival queens presented peaches to Governor Mark Sanford on May 27, an unofficial countdown traditionally recognizing the festival’s preparations are underway for July 4th at the Gilbert Community Park.

Representing the Festival in local parades and other community events for the past year, the 2008 Peach Queens include Lexington County Peach Queen Ellen Elizabeth Neely, Teen Miss Peach Lauren Elizabeth McElveen, Young Miss Peach Makaela Marie Shealy, Petite Miss Peach Kirsten Walker, Little Miss Peach Arie Catherine O’Dell, and Wee Miss Peach Delaney Anne Yates. 2009 Peach Queens will be crowned in pageants held on June 13th and June 20th.

In its 51st year, this year’s peach festival will once again be a celebration of the peach, community involvement, and our nation’s birthday with delicious food, a great parade, free entertainment throughout the day, arts and crafts, an antique tractor show, a car show, and a fireworks display.

The parade will begin at 9:30 a.m. and include at least 100 entries as it travels from Hampton Street up Main Street to Gilbert Primary School. A wide variety of arts and crafts will be available for viewing and purchase. Come enjoy the activities, the shade, and the bar-be-cue, fresh peaches, peach ice cream, peach tea, and peach cobbler.

For more information about this year’s festival celebration, visit the festival’s official web site www.lexingtoncountypeachfestival.com.

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Pictured: Sharing peaches with Governor Sanford are left to right, Makaela Shealy, Young Miss Peach; Delaney Yates, Wee Miss Peach; Governor Sanford; Arie O’Dell, Little Miss Peach; Ellen Neely, Lexington County Peach Queen; Lauren McElveen, Teen Miss Peach; Kirsten Walker, Petite Miss Peach.

Peach Pageant Update

The Lexington County Peach Festival celebrates 51 years this year on July 4th. An exciting change for this year is the Lexington County Peach Queen pageant will be a preliminary to The Miss South Carolina Pageant. As such, reigning Peach Queen Ellen Elizabeth Neely will be competing in the Miss South Carolina pageant in July.

This year’s Lexington County Peach Queen contest will be held on Saturday, June 20, at 6:30 p.m. in the Gilbert High School theatre, and this year’s winner will be competing in the 2010 Miss South Carolina pageant. Deadline for submitting applications to participate is June 14th.

This year’s Wee Division pageant will be held on June 13 at 2 p.m., and the Junior Division pageant is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. also on June 13. Both divisions’ competition will be in the Gilbert High School theatre with June 8 as the deadline to apply for participation in both divisions. Additional information and applications are available at www.lexingtoncountypeachfestival.com.

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Pictured: The reigning Lexington County Peach Queen, Ellen Elizabeth Neely, presents a basket of peaches to Commissioner Hugh Weathers of South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

Lexington County Peach Festival Pageants

The Lexington County Peach Festival celebrates 51 years this year on July 4th. An exciting change for this year is the Lexington County Peach Queen pageant will be a preliminary to The Miss South Carolina Pageant. In fact, reigning Peach Queen Ellen Elizabeth Neely will be competing in the Miss South Carolina pageant in July.

This year’s Lexington County Peach Queen contest will be held on Saturday, June 20, at 6:30 p.m. in the Gilbert High School theatre, and this year’s winner will be competing in the 2010 Miss South Carolina pageant. Deadline for submitting applications to participate is June 14th.

This year’s Wee Division pageant will be held on June 13 at 2 p.m., and the Junior Division pageant is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. also on June 13. Both divisions’ competition will be in the Gilbert High School theatre with June 8 as the deadline to apply for participation in both division. Additional information and applications are available at lexingtoncountypeachfestival.com or you can contact Harriet Cotterman at 892-2401.

Peach Festival Awards Scholarships

Each year hundreds of volunteers of all ages donate their time and energy to the Lexington County Peach Festival. Twelve students received scholarships from the Gilbert Community Club in August after volunteering at least three years with the festival. In order to qualify for a Peach Festival Community Service Scholarship of $300, a student must work a total of six hours per year for three years. Ideally, those three years will be during the student’s high school years. Students receiving scholarships this year are Casey Attaway, Amanda Helms, Jessica Taylor, Jessica Wallace, Kendall Cotterman, Allison Williams, Ashlynn Caratenuto, Gracen Craps, Melissa Dehihns, Brittany McWaters, Cristian Turner, and Farren Hilliard.

As the festival celebrated its 50th year this past July 4th, student volunteers qualifying for a scholarship were invited to increase their scholarship to $400 by writing an essay about their festival volunteer experience or writing about what the festival has come to mean to them as an individual or to the Gilbert community itself. The Gilbert Community Club’s goal is that these students will return and volunteer after receiving the scholarship, becoming a part of the festival’s success and tradition. Working with other volunteers for a community goal of improving the community, one student noted, “The friendships I have formed since volunteering at the festival are irreplaceable.” Another student wrote, “The Peach Festival is and will continue to be a deep-rooted tradition within myself and my family…For me personally, it is the embodiment of family values and tradition. There is little else that can compare with it.” Another responded, “Today’s peach festival is more for the people I help rather than myself. It means a lot to me when I put a smile on someone’s face I don’t even know. Lending my hand out to other people is the best thing and most meaningful to me now.”

For more information about the festival, visit the festival’s official website at http://www.lexingtoncountypeachfestival.com.



In the Picture left to right: Gilbert Community Club Treasurer Bob Whitehead, Casey Attaway, Amanda Helms, Jessica Taylor, Jessica Wallace, Kendall Cotterman, Allison Williams, Ashlynn Caratenuto, Gracen Craps, and Gilbert Community Club President Robin McCartha.

Celebrating 50 Years!

This year’s Lexington County Peach Festival on July 4th at the Gilbert Community Park is shining slightly brighter than past years as the 50th year of the festival has arrived. With more than a dozen community volunteers who have been involved for all 50 years, the Peach Festival’s marked success is because of the coordination and cooperation of hundreds of additional community volunteers each year. The festival shines because of individuals who are willing to give a full day or more to complete designated assignments and others who willingly give several hours, most doing so year after year. These volunteers are the backbone of success for the festival. The hard work and dedication of these volunteers have woven the Gilbert community into a special place where residents demonstrate a willingness to reach beyond themselves for a common goal.

When the first festival made its début in 1959, the event included peaches, political speakers, a peach pageant, bar-be-cue lunch, and soft drinks. Additions to the event through the years have included the parade, arts and crafts, peachy art contest, clown contest, multiple pageants, a car show, antique tractor and machinery show, fireworks, and a variety of peach dishes with the bar-be-cue, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and other foods. Changes in venue include movement from the campus of Gilbert School (the current Gilbert Elementary School) to the Gilbert Primary School campus and finally to the Gilbert Community Park which was made possible in large part through the festival’s fund raising success.

Shade in the park this year will also offer entertainment which begins at 8:30 a.m. and continues through the day at three stages throughout the park until 10:30 p.m. Groups and individuals performing include: Magic, Shag Time, Gilbert Studio of Dance Arts, Deniese’s School of Dance, Breana Burkett Collier – Fiddle, Constance Flemming, Unnamed Bluegrass Band, Mama’s Home Cookin’, City Lights, Sly Dog, The Hendrix Family, The Overtones, David Shull, and Weekend. The parade will begin at 9:30 on Hampton Street and move up Main Street to Gilbert Primary School and will offer more than a hundred entries.

The 50th year includes a special speaker, Clebe McClary, recipient of three Purple Hearts, the Silver Star and the Bronze Star. Clebe has used his powerful story ofcourage, determination and strength to motivate audiences around the world. The public is invited to hear this American hero speak at 11:00 a.m. in the large tent at the end of the park nearest Gilbert Middle School. Clebe will also serve as Parade Marshall. The 2008 Lexington County Peach Queen Ellen Elizabeth Neely of Lexington along with other newly crowned queens will be introduced at the 11:00 a.m. program.

A Revolutionary War camp re-enactment from the South Carolina Company of Historical Re-enactors, the Fourth South Carolina Regiment (Artillery Regiment) will be set up in front of and to the east of the Gilbert Middle School, off Rikard Circle. Plan to visit the camp site while at the festival which will include a soldier’s tent, a cook fire with food preparation, a dining fly with kitchen equipment, a display of soldier’s gear and weapons, and four cannons. On-going all-day demonstrations and discussions of military and civilian life in South Carolina during the American Revolution will be available.

Also visit the antique tractor and machinery show and the car show. Treat yourself to delicious food that will be available in the park and stroll Rikard Circle to see the arts and crafts displays. The evening will close with a fireworks show scheduled to begin at 10:00 p.m. Meanwhile a full day of family fun will be waiting as Gilbert community volunteers welcome you to the 50th Peach Festival.

For more information about this year’s festival, visit the festival’s official website www.lexingtoncountypeachfestival.com.

2008 Peach Festival Queen Crowned

On Saturday, June 28th, Ellen Elizabeth Neely, daughter of John and Rebecca Neely of Lexington, was crowned the 2008 Lexington County Peach Queen.

This year as the festival celebrates its 50th year, one change is that all Peach Festival pageants were held prior to the July 4th celebration. Other awards at Saturday evening’s contest were first runner-up Meredith Kathleen Hoffman, daughter of Kathy Hoffman of Lexington; second runner-up Haley Hendrix, daughter of Robert and April Hendrix of Lexington; and Photogenic Winner Jessica Nicole Taylor, daughter of Jeff and Shirley Taylor of Gilbert.



Left to right: 2008 Lexington County Peach Queen Ellen Elizabeth Neely, first runner-up Meredith Kathleen Hoffman, second runner-up Haley Hendrix, and Photogenic Winner Jessica Nicole Taylor.

Clebe McClary Special Guest Speaker

GILBERT, SC - A special guest speaker joining the festival this year is Clebe McClary, recipient of three Purple Hearts, the Silver Star and the Bronze Star. Clebe has used his powerful story of courage, determination and strength to motivate audiences around the world. The public is invited to hear him speak at 11:00 a.m. in the large tent at the end of the park nearest Gilbert Middle School.

For more information about this year’s festival, visit the festival’s official website http://www.lexingtoncountypeachfestival.com.