For meeting folks from all walks of life and enjoying everything under the sun - a blistering sun, as always - it just doesn’t get any better than spending a day at the Parker County Peach Festival.
And that is exactly what we did, the lovely Mrs. Junell and myself, this past Saturday as the annual event was held on the northwest quadrant of the square in downtown Weatherford.
As always, the event drew folks from all over, young and old. Some have been coming since the festival sold its first peach and some were making their original trek - with one consistent theme and repeated comment.
“Why didn’t I come sooner?”
Randy Smith is one of those first-timers. Despite living in nearby Springtown, he simply never made it down the road to the popular event until now.
Expect to see him back, however.
“I don’t really know why, but I just never got to go,” he said. “But this is great. I see so many good things. I saw a lot of books and I love to read.”
Christian Smith (no relation), who was getting set to ride the merry-go-round with her young daughter Kira, came over from Fort Worth for the first time.
“This is great. We are having a wonderful time,” Christian said as Kira waited anxiously before smiling big as the merry-go-round started.
Mario Lopez, from Waxahachie, took a break from taking it all in during his first time at the festival. He smiled and responded that I wasn’t the first to compare him with the former “Saved By the Bell” Star.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot, but I’m better looking,” he said with a laugh.
Then, he stood up, showing his T-shirt, which was one of the better ones at the festival. It depicted the movie “Godzilla Minus One,” the best in the Godzilla series and the only one to win an Academy Award, released last year.
“This is fantastic. We’ve been all over and we’re about to go to the farmers market. I love peaches!” he said.
Lots of folks made their way back, including many vendors. For some, this means crossing several states and a lot of territory to promote their wares.
Like Jauncy Howard and her tasty treats from her company Rumtastic - small Bundt cakes with a kick (or two if you get the ‘extra’ choice), thanks to the rum in them.
“We enjoy coming all the way from Marietta, Georgia,” Howard said. “You know, we’ve got some tasty peaches there, also.”
Holly Glenn brought her cool art from Liberty Hill near Austin and was helped in displaying it by her young son Thomas. While the art itself was certainly worth stopping for, who could resist saying hello and browsing with such a cute little spokesperson encouraging folks to stop?
We certainly couldn’t.
“I come here every year and business is always great,” Glenn said. “It always gets hot in the afternoon.”
And indeed it did again this year. Though the high in the mid-90s was slightly less than the 100-plus it has been at other times.
“I’m happy with 90 degrees or a little more,” Glenn said. “It has been scorching sometimes here, but it’s still always a great time.”
April Miske, with Texas Toffee, looks forward to the event every year. Rain, shine, no matter the temp, there’s no place she’d rather be as July approaches its midpoint each year.
“I’m the one who got them coming down here. We’ve been coming 14 years,” she said.
From snow cones at Casa Decor to the legendary ice cream at Couts Methodist booth, if you want to taste something peachy, it only makes to go somewhere with peach in its name.
The festival once again had it all in that department.
This included a world-record peach cobbler that weighed in at 5,790 pounds. However, while it could be seen, it was fenced off and unable to be eaten.
“While we did choose to not serve the cobbler based on our lack of ability to maintain food safe temperatures across the entire thing for the length of the event, I am still so proud of all of the good that this experience did provide our community,” Zach Smith, who coordinated the creation of the cobbler, posted on Facebook. “We donated all unused product to a local food bank, donated some used product to animals, and donated the giant pan back to the school to use on future projects. Thanks again for everyone who had a hand in it.”
I’m sure it was scrumptuous, though I was not able to taste it. That record is pretty delicious to have, though.
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