
DATE: Saturday, July 26, 1997               TAG: 9707260071

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   73 lines

PEACHES REIGN SUPREME AT KNOTT'S ISLAND FESTIVAL

MARTIN'S ORCHARDS in Knotts Island, N.C., will have about 4,000 pounds of rosy red peaches for sale at the Knotts Island Ruritan Club Peach Festival today and Sunday, but never fear, peaches aplenty will be left for folks who want to pick their own too.

Farm manager David Martin and his crew use ladders and other equipment to reach peaches at the top of the trees. ``We're picking the ones that people can't reach,'' Martin said.

Peaches from on high will go to the festival, and the peaches down low will be waiting for those who like to do the picking themselves. Either place this weekend, peach lovers will find Ellerbees, Winblos and Lorings, all juicy freestones at their midsummer peak.

Peach lovers also will find most every peachy keen condiment their taste buds could ever wish for at the festival. It runs from 10 a.m. to to 6 p.m. today and from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Knotts Island Ruritan Park. Parking is $3.

Festival-goers will be tempted by baked peach pies, fried peach pies, plain peach pound cake and peach pound cake iced with peach cream cheese. And they will be enticed with jars upon jars of peach preserves, pickled peaches and peach toppings as well as Bergey's Dairy peach ice cream.

And there will be 3,048 peach pies and 1,200 jars of peaches in various forms, said festival chairman Carol Holden.

``Of course, everything is calorie free,'' Holden jested.

Peaches are the star of the festival, but if anyone is truly worried about his or her waistline, there are lots of calorie-free activities too. A 60-unit parade begins at 10 a.m. Saturday on Ward Road, heads down South End Road and marches right through the festival grounds.

Games, such as sack races and pick-up ducks, along with pony rides, puppet shows and a petting zoo are among the fun for kids. Craft booths will feature local Knotts Island crafts such as carved ducks and decoys. After the festival, folks also can pick a peck of peaches at Martin's Orchards and toast Knotts Island's famous fruit with a taste of peach wine in the tasting room at Martin Vineyards.

Last year, festival profits of about $9,000 went toward playground equipment for the Ruritan Park and to help Currituck County schools.

``We give it to the children,'' Holden said. ILLUSTRATION: STEVE EARLEY / The Virginian-Pilot

Jeanne Atwood stacks boxes of peaches for market at Martin's

Orchards in Knotts Island, site of this weekend's Peach Festival.

WHILE YOU'RE THERE

While you're on Knotts Island enjoying the Peach Festival, you

also can see egrets, herons, woodducks and other wildlife from 7 a.m

to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday during Open Roads Weekend at Mackay

Island National Wildlife Refuge in Knotts Island, N.C.

The refuge main entrance is off Route 615 on Knotts Island, about

6.2 miles south of the Virginia-North Carolina line and 2.9 miles

north of Knotts Island Ferry Landing.