GA PEANUT FESTIVAL RETURNS THIS WEEKEND IN 'PEANUT CAPITAL OF WORLD'

The 57th Annual Georgia Peanut Festival is coming back this weekend to Sylvester, "The Peanut Capital of the World." Last year's event wasn't held, another victim of the pandemic.

The Peanut Festival gets underway today (Friday) with its charity golf tournament beginning at noon at Sylvester's Pine Knoll Country Club. Tonight is the festival's Concert in the Park with the “Color the Night Band” starting at 7 p.m. in T.C. Jeffords Park.

On Saturday, festivities begin at 10 a.m. with the Georgia Peanut Parade in Downtown Sylvester, followed by a carnival, live entertainment, food, and arts and crafts vendors in Jeffords Park – along with a "Kidz Corner" including reptile and magic shows.

And, of course, peanut treats will also be available. The festival wraps up by 4 p.m. Saturday.

The event is both a celebration and a thanks to local farmers. The annual Georgia Peanut Festival holds the record for the World’s Largest Peanut Butter Sandwich, made in 1987 and measuring 14 feet wide by 14 feet long, and weighing 2,650 pounds.

The 43rd Annual Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition, known as North America’s Premier Farm Show and America's largest farm show with field demonstrations, returns to Southwest Georgia on Tuesday for its three-day run.

Headquartered at Spence Field just outside Moultrie, the Sunbelt Ag Expo has an impact beyond its Colquitt County home.

"The 2019 economic impact is estimated to be over $16.72 million for the 50-mile radius of Spence Field – 20 counties," Tyron Spearman, executive director of the Tifton-Tift County Tourism Association, tells the Tifton Grapevine.

"Sunbelt generates $1.1 million in state and local tax revenue. Tifton has long benefited from the Expo because of over 1,000 motel rooms and great restaurants. Lots of exhibitors stay in Tifton during set-up and take-down. Sunbelt’s economic outreach has benefitted Tifton and Tift County year round,” Spearman says.

Last year the Expo, whose origins date to "Dealer Days" on Tifton's Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College campus in 1964, was canceled because of the pandemic. Organizers expect this year's show to be bigger and better than ever.

"After missing out on the financial impact from the Sunbelt Ag Expo last year due to COVID, it is very exciting to have all our Expo guests back here in Tifton for this coming Expo week," says Tifton Tourism Board Chair Kathleen Moore, regional manager at Stafford Hospitality, whose holdings include Tifton's Hilton Garden Inn.

"This event fills all of the local hotels for the week and also brings business to the local restaurants with everyone eating out in the evening when back from the Expo. The event this year filled up a bit later than is usual; however, this was understandable due to the pandemic," Moore says.

More than 1,200 exhibitors will display and demonstrate products, and welcome thousands of visitors to the 100-acre show site.

The Expo brings together all segments of agribusiness, such as farmers, educators, students, policy-makers, agriculture enthusiasts, and families. There will be more than 300 seminars and demonstrations covering such topics as beef cattle management; equine, goat, and sheep health; fish/pond management; dairy and poultry; electrical safety; backyard gardening; and sustainable living.

Not only will the latest in agricultural equipment be displayed along with the industry's newest innovations and technology, but the Expo also includes the American Grand Finals Stock Dog Trials, test tracks for trucks and ATVS, a cow-milking contest, and a daily Antique Tractor Parade.

One highlight is the naming of the Swisher Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year chosen from among 10 states. Also, Virginia is this year's Spotlight State in agriculture.

Also of interest is the Expo's 600-acre research farm’s field demonstrations, which showcase harvesting and tillage equipment for cotton, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and hay. As in the past, cotton will be harvested during the show.

"Georgia Grown" foods will be available along with cooking demonstrations and recipes.

"The Sunbelt Expo is an unbelievable showcase of rural living blanketed with agriculture’s newest ideas and technologies. It’s three days of fun, education, and dreaming about agriculture’s future as we team together to feed, clothe, and house a growing population around the world,” says Chip Blalock, the show's director.

Tift County has reported 35 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and two related deaths during the past week, according to data Thursday from the Ga. Department of Public Health (DPH).

During the past two weeks, Tift County recorded 59 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 101 total cases when rapid Antigen positive cases are added, the DPH said.

Tift County’s confirmed cases in the past two weeks represent 145 cases per 100,000 population, and 247 cases with Antigen positives. Tift's testing positivity rate for the virus was 8.7% during the two-week period, the DPH reported.

There have been a total of 4,833 confirmed cases and 129 deaths in Tift since the pandemic began, according to DPH data.

On Thursday, the DPH reported 1,604 new confirmed cases within 24 hours in Georgia, along with 617 new Antigen cases, 106 additional related deaths, and 208 new hospitalizations. The state has recorded a total of 1,249,205 cases with 23,680 deaths, the DPH reported.

According to DPH data, as of Thursday afternoon 39% of eligible Tift countians were fully vaccinated against the virus, while statewide the number was 49%. Both number grew by 1% during the past week.

Julie Hunt of Tifton, president of J.H. Services Inc., has been appointed to the state Board of Economic Development by Gov. Brian P. Kemp.

Hunt is an entrepreneur with experience in the restaurant, advertising, and real estate industries, and is a former schoolteacher. She previously served as a member of the Georgia Ports Authority, is a member of the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College President’s Club, an emeritus trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation, and a former regent of the University System of Georgia.

She was a founding member of the Tifton-Tift County Tourism Association and a past president of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce. In 2018, she was awarded Leadership Georgia’s J.W. Fanning Award.

Hunt is a former member of the Commission for the Privatization of State Government and the Georgia Economic Development Authority. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Valdosta State University.

Landon Rowe, marketing media specialist at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, told Tifton Rotary Club members Wednesday about his memorable experiences marching with the organization “Carry The Load.”

“When you talk to veterans, and say, ‘Thank you for your service,’” he said, “they’ll tell you ‘It’s not about what I did; it’s about who I left behind.’”

Carry The Load marchers, during their "relay ruck" through several states, carry the names, pictures, and stories of veterans left behind in wars and battles. The relay march began with an East Route route from West Point, N.Y., to Dallas, Texas, and later added a West Coast Route from Seattle to Dallas, a Midwest Route from Minneapolis to Dallas, and a Mountain Route from Minot, N.D., to Dallas.

Carry The Load is a non-profit organization that provides an active way to connect Americans to the sacrifices made daily by military personnel, veterans, first responders, and their families. It began in 2011 as a mission to restore the true meaning of Memorial Day.

The first year, ABAC students with Dill Driscoll, the former dean of the ABAC School of Business, marched the East Coast Route from West Point to Dallas. Rowe also completed the Mountain Route from Minot, heading through the mountains of Utah through Colorado and ultimately to Dallas. 

“There’s this moment of awe, like, ‘other people get it,’’ he said, when others join the marchers around the country. “We’re all different races, creeds and political beliefs, and we all understand the sacrifices that brought us here are important.” 

For information about the Carry the Load organization, visit its website or Facebook page. 

Former Tifton City Councilman Richard B. Chalfant, 92, died Tuesday at his Tifton residence.

Chalfant served on Tifton City Council from 1998 to 2006.

He graduated with a Ph.D in entomology from the University of Wisconsin in 1959. While working as an entomologist with the Coastal Plains Experiment Station in Tifton, Chalfant traveled to Africa to work on various projects, helping residents there grow sustainable crops. He retired from the Coastal Plains Experiment Station as an entomologist in 1994.

Chalfant was a longtime member of the Tifton Lions Club, holding various leadership roles; an elder, Sunday School director, and member of the choir at First Presbyterian Church of Tifton; and was a U.S. Army veteran, serving as a medic.

The Akron, Ohio, native is survived by his wife, Marjorie, and two daughters.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, at First Presbyterian Church of Tifton.

Tift County High School's graphic design class won awards at the SkillsUSA Champions Rally last Friday in Perry.

The TCHS team placed second in the SkillsUSA Career Pathway Poster Contest and won seventh place in the SkillsUSA Chapter T-Shirt Contest. Pictured holding award ribbons are Tift County students Mackennon Yancey and Joel Gutierrez.

SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry preparing students for careers in trade, technical, and skilled service occupations. 

General Federation Women's Club (GFWC) South West District President Janice Blanchard, pictured right, presents GFWC Tifton Woman's Club President Genie McCook, left, the Honorable Mention certificate from the GFWC International Convention for Women’s History and Resource Center. The Tifton Woman's Club, formerly Tifton Twentieth Century Library Club, was honored for its activities recognizing the club's 115th anniversary celebration in February 2020.

Members of the GFWC Tifton Woman's Club display certificates the club was awarded recently at a Georgia state convention: Third place in Education and Libraries Community Service Program (CSP), Outstanding Project in Education and Libraries CSP, Outstanding Project in Health and Wellness CSP, second place in Arts and Culture CSP, and South West District Poetry Winner Genie McCook.

Pictured above, standing from left, are Sybil Oglesby, Nancy Nehring, Debbie Thompson, Darlene Moran, Club President Genie McCook, South West District President Janice Blanchard, First VP Jamie Stewart, Karen Hendrix, Gail Merlin, Bonnie Sayles, and Shirene Daniell.

The story of foreign spies trying to steal a secret formula will come to life on stage when the Baldwin Players at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College present “Bullshot Crummond” on Oct. 28-30.

The performance will begin at 7 p.m. each night in ABAC’s Howard Auditorium. Dr. Brian Ray, Baldwin Players director and a professor of English and theatre at ABAC, said the show is a tongue-in-check parody of a 1930s British TV detective comedy.

“This play is a comic farce filled with larger-than-life characters and all-too-predictable situations,” Ray said. "Rehearsals have been a lot of fun as we explore the antics of this extremely odd collection of characters.”

Cast members include Alena Norton, an ABAC graduate from Richmond Hill; Ryan Norton, an ABAC graduate from Tifton; Ezzard Stewart, an ABAC supporter from Fitzgerald; Lindsey Blankinship, an ABAC student from Rockmart; Craig Wells, an ABAC graduate from Tifton; and Roderick Baisden, a theatre major from Tifton.

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Saturday, Oct. 15, is National Mammography Day, a cousin to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The day is set to encourage women to make an appointment for a mammogram. Early detection means early treatment and can be the difference between life and death.

“Oreo," a male pooch, is available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter. If you're interested in adopting Oreo and providing him a good home, visit the Tift County Animal Shelter on Highway 125 South between 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For more information, call 229-382-PETS (7387).

205 Belmont Ave., Tifton, 229-382-6055  

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