THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 46 lines
IF ORGANIZERS of the annual Peanut Fest Prayer Breakfast, held yesterday, put fair weather on their prayer list, they just may have everything covered.
After nearly a week of preliminary events, the festival celebrating Suffolk's agricultural heritage officially kicks off today at Suffolk Municipal Airport with the traditional shrimp feast and runs through Sunday.
Before you can have an ideal festival, though, fair weather is required. And festival officials are expecting perfect fall weather, Fest Vice Chairman T. Hayes Griffin said this week.
Despite Josephine's effects, Griffin said, ``. . . We can look forward to a beautiful weekend.''
And even if the weather were less than perfect, the 70-acre site has been made nearly weather-proof.
Most pathways are paved, exhibits and many activities are under tents, and the area has been planted in grass so that, if a hard rain does come, most of it will be dry and walkable within a few hours.
During a time when farmers throughout the 430-square-mile city are harvesting of the crop that has made Suffolk famous as ``The World's Largest Peanut Market,'' festival's emphasis is on peanuts.
The Whaleyville Ruritan Club will be selling roasted peanuts in several flavors and handing out samples. A peanut butter sculpting contest is set for 11 a.m. Saturday. And Mr. Peanut, the dapper mascot of Suffolk-based Planters Peanuts, will be strolling the grounds, as will festival mascot P-Nutty.
This year's festival coincides with ``Fleet Week,'' an areawide celebration being promoted across Hampton Roads. Several branches of the armed services have agreed to help Suffolk celebrate, starting with an invasion at 6 p.m. Saturday by Navy Seals from Little Creek Amphibious Base. They will parachute onto Peanut Fest in full battle gear.
The military slant will continue at 2 p.m. Sunday with an F-14 air show. There also will be several planes, helicopters and pieces of military equipment throughout the festival site, Griffin said.
Combine the scenic fields of cotton, soybeans and peanuts just on the ride out to Suffolk and star entertainer Martina McBride with the fun of the midway, an old-fashioned rodeo, a demolition derby and tractor pull and you have Peanut Fest - back for its 19th year. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Martina McBride by CNB