THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070627
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
No offense intended, but with his top hat, monocle, cane and swagger, Mr. Peanut - the pride of rural Suffolk - is something of an urban dandy.
Sure, his roots are here, born in 1916 after a 14-year-old Suffolk child drew him for a contest. And yes, the debonair man-peanut is honored by a 3-foot statue in the heart of downtown.
But Mr. Peanut seems out of touch with his roots. In a new marketing approach by Planters, he wears cowboy boots and lounges on beaches. Some hereabouts say he's gone Hollywood.
``He's hawking Cheez Balls, for gosh sakes,'' one Suffolk native says.
As a result, Virginia's largest city in acreage and the self-proclaimed Peanut Capital of the World has made room for one more mascot.
Mr. Peanut, meet your country cousin. No formality, please. Just call him P Nutty, the official symbol of the Suffolk Peanut Fest - which really gets going today - and brainchild of a local car dealer who wanted something more from a larger-than-life goober.
P Nutty has been around for 10 years, but his history has never been told.
This, then, is his moment.
Unlike his city-slick relative, P Nutty dons a red felt hat, jeans, bandana, size 13 farmer's boots and a flannel shirt.
Both peanuts wear white gloves, but P Nutty's are appropriately filthy. And pinned to his bandana is a button that reads: ``I Love Pig Racing.''
He is, if anything, proud to be a hayseed.
``That's P Nutty,'' says Janet Reeves, who has been in charge of the costume for the last three years. ``Without his feet and arms, he's just a shell.''
This nut's got a pug nose and looks continually amazed by his surroundings, even when someone isn't flailing within his shell.
Some high school students have been heard to curse him after they volunteer to wear his stifling papier-mache and chicken-wire outfit.
Others remember their P Nutty days fondly.
He was created around 1985, the dream of former Peanut Fest chairman R. Eley Duke, vice president of Duke Oldsmobile-Cadillac, who died in 1989.
After a trip to The National Peanut Festival in Dothan, Ala., to debate which town was the Peanut Capital of the World, Duke returned perplexed. There was no symbol for the Peanut Fest that truly represented Suffolk's rural nature, he told his wife.
Sure, there was Mr. Peanut, Planters' company trademark. But Mr. Peanut was everyone's symbol, one of the world's most familiar trademarked characters.
Duke wanted to create something unique to Suffolk - something that represented the character and energy of this town.
Enter P Nutty.
Local artists sketched and built him. The rest is history.
P Nutty is polite, waves a lot and waddles. If his gloves are missing as he glad-hands a crowd, he can have long, polished fingernails or calluses. He is ever-changing.
In contrast, Mr. Peanut seldom touches people and rarely picks up anything except his cane, according to Gwen Jones, associate consumer promotions manager for Planters in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Inside Mr. Peanut is a battery pack that powers a fan that cools his core.
Inside P Nutty are two thin shoulder straps.
Because of the size of the costume, Mr. Peanut wannabes must be at least 6 feet tall and rail thin, Jones says.
P Nuttys, like goobers, come in all sizes.
But the one thing that makes P Nutty stand out is his voice: He has one, though it changes octaves depending on who is wearing the outfit.
Throughout history, Mr. Peanut hasn't uttered a word.
``We try to portray Mr. Peanut in a fun manner, although he doesn't speak. It's just part of the character,'' Jones says. ``It's always been that way.''
The latest mortal to become P Nutty was Jeremy Branch, a 17-year-old senior at Lakeland High School. He played the role in last weekend's Peanut Fest parade, dancing to the song ``Chattahoochee'' while waving to the crowd on a cool day.
``The crowd was yelling `Nutty Buddy!' and `P Nutty!' and everything,'' says Branch, who played Woodsy the Owl during a 1992 Earth Day celebration.
The nut was far more fun, he says.
``The kids were more scared of the owl than they were of P Nutty.''
Schedule of events, Page E4. ILLUSTRATION: Map
STAFF
by CNB