A Festival of Flavor

Those delicious Georgia peaches are only available sixteen weeks each year, from mid-May to mid-August. Most of them are grown in the central part of the state including Peach County. Yes, that’s its real name and it’s also where we found Georgia’s biggest celebration of the fabulous fruit!

It’s definitely all things peach during this June weekend in Fort Valley, home to the world famous Georgia Peach Festival. The tiny town 90 miles south of Atlanta pays homage to the fuzzy fruit that put it on the map.

"We have a lot of peach farmers and a lot of packing sheds, and so we wanted to honor the peach farmers and what they bring to the community," says Tricia Adams, president of the Georgia Peach Festival. Adds peach farmer Al Pearson, "Fort Valley has been the hotbed of peach production for over half a century. And a lot of the commercial peach industry started right here and it’s something we’re continuing today."

The festivities begin with a parade through the center of town —complete, of course, with bulging bins of peaches, colorful balloons and a lot of fanfare. But there are some other activities that you may not find in any other festival. For one thing there’s the competition for the "Best Peach Hat", which drew some pretty unusual entries.

One thing you may learn here: peaches aren’t native to Georgia. "The Spanish monks brought peaches over and were distributed throughout the state," says Pearson. "And when settlers came, there were so many peach trees they thought it was a native fruit, and so it became the Peach State."

The first Georgia Peach Festival was held in 1986 and today draws about ten thousand people a year. One thing they come for: what Fort Valley claims is the largest peach cobbler in the world. Propane tanks fuel burners beneath the giant 11-by-5 foot pan in front of the Peach County Courthouse.

Chef Rich Bennett and his crew start putting the dessert together at 5 a.m. for a 2 p.m. unveiling. "We divide the mixture into six parts in trash cans, clean trash cans, and mix it up with boat oars," Rich says. That mix includes 90 pounds of butter, 150 pounds of both flour and sugar, 32 gallons of milk and 75 gallons of fresh peaches from Lane Packing Company. It’s doled out to scores of cobbler-craving diners.

One final note as we wrap up our visit to the peach festival: It may be hard to believe, but the peach is actually a member of the rose family and there’s a bit of romance behind the name of one of the best known kind of peaches.

In 1870, a Georgia peach farmer developed a new variety on his farm in Marshallville.

He decided to name it in honor of his wife and the "Elberta" peach was born.

For more information:
www.peachcounty.net
www.gapeachfestival.com