Released: Sept. 23, 2024

TIFTON, Ga. – The 27th annual Plains Peanut Festival is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 28 in Plains, Georgia, home of President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. The event highlights the harvest of its cash crop, peanuts, which has big potential across the globe by providing a sustainable and nutritious product and fighting malnutrition. Georgia leads the nation in annual peanut production, accounting for nearly half of all the peanuts grown in the United States.

Farmers across the United States have begun harvesting peanuts, the sustainable crop that helps to replenish the soil with nutrients. Peanuts are also known for their health benefits. Peanuts contain more protein than any other nut and research continues to show that consuming a little less than a serving of peanuts a day is an effective way to reduce heart disease. Globally, peanuts are helping fight malnutrition by providing a therapeutic, ready-to-eat peanut product made in Fitzgerald, Georgia, from MANA Nutrition.

Festivities throughout the day include free entertainment, historical and educational displays, food vendors, as well as arts and crafts booths. The day begins at 8:00 a.m. with the Plains 5K and Fun Run and rolls right in to the Peanut Parade at 11:00, featuring beauty queens, political candidates, and antique tractors. Throughout the day arts and crafts vendors and food vendors are scattered throughout Maxine Reese Park and the Downtown Historic District, promising everything from quilts and woodworking prizes to snow cones and funnel cakes!

Peanut samples will be available throughout the festival on Main Street. The National Peanut Board, Georgia Peanut Commission and the National Peanut Buying Points Association will display exhibits on Main Street with samples of fresh fried Georgia Peanuts and grilled PB&J sandwiches.

During the festival, the White House Communications Agency will be set up in the Plains Community Center from 9:00 a.m. through noon. This agency is comprised of military personnel who serve in White House administrations. During the festival, former members will be showing films and answering questions about their roles in working with presidents and presidential families. Live music will be playing in the Community Center Courtyard throughout the morning also.

Mr. Peanut will officially lead the parade which begins at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, and Boze Godwin, former Mayor of Plains, will be honored as the Grand Marshall. For more than forty years Boze welcomed the many visitors to Plains through domestic peanut tours, international trade missions, and chefs all wanting to visit the hometown of the World’s Most Famous Peanut Farmer, President Carter.

The festival street dance featuring Slaughter Creek will perform live on Main Street beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Sponsors of this year’s peanut festival include American Peanut Shellers Association, Birdsong Peanuts, Buffalo Peanut Company, Georgia Federal-State Inspection, Georgia Peanut Commission, Golden Peanut Company, MANA Nutrition, National Peanut Board, National Peanut Buying Points Association, Olam Peanut Shelling Company, Premium Peanut, Hormel/Planters, The Peanut Institute, the United States Peanut Federation and Wayne Johnson for Congress Inc. Friends of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site coordinates the festival annually.

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