Ruston home to oldest ag-based festival in state
If peaches are your thing, you might want to mark your calendar for this festival. No endorsement is offered or implied by Fort Polk or the U.S. Army.
By Chuck Cannon
Guardian Editor
May 17, 2019
FORT POLK, La. — Back in the early 1950s, peach growers and businessmen put their heads together to come up with a way to boost the summer economy and draw crowds into downtown Ruston, La.
Now, each fourth weekend in June, fun, food and festivities fill the city during the annual Squire Creek Louisiana Peach Festival. This year’s festival is June 21-22.
Both spectators and vendors come from throughout the South to be part of Louisiana’s oldest agriculture-based festival.
The festival’s infancy was born in the late 1930s when several commercial peach orchards were located in Lincoln Parish. In 1947, the area peach growers organized the Louisiana Fruit Growers Association. In 1951, the decision was made to promote their industry by spreading word throughout Louisiana and surrounding states of the excellent taste of Lincoln Parish Peaches.
Through extensive hours of planning and sleepless nights for several months, plans to hold an annual Louisiana Peach Festival were placed on the drawing board in June 1951 by J. E. Mitcham, president of the Louisiana Fruit Growers Association, and Walter Smith, chairman of the first Louisiana Peach Festival. Advertisements were placed everywhere from newspapers to banners and placards headlining the popular Dixie gem peach.
The first Peach festival was held on June 27-28, 1951, and achieved far greater success than any of the sponsors expected. The event consisted of “Peaches and Posies” flower show, a peach cookery contest, an art show, several athletic tournaments, and the crowning of the First Queen Dixie Gem and Princess Peach.
It was no surprise that the Louisiana Peach festival grew in size and popularity. In 1952, its activities doubled in attendance. In its third year, the festival won national attention when Queen Dixie Gem III, Dorothy Elta Goff, traveled to Washington D.C to present then Vice President Richard Nixon a box of peaches.
Events include arts and crafts, food, live music nightly in Ruston’s historic Railroad Park, a parade, antique car show, 5K run, children’s day in the park, fishing tournaments for both kids and adults, a treasure hunt, tennis tournament, pet show, petting zoo, pony rides, rock wall, peach-eating contest, cookery contest, and an invitational golf tournament at the Tom Fazio-designed Squire Creek Country Club course.
This year’s featured musicians are Jelly, Joe Haydel Band, Jordan Sheppard and the Cypress Knees, North Louisiana Gris Gris and others.
Admission on June 21 is free from noon-5 p.m. and $10 from 5-10 p.m. On June 22, all-day admission from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. is $10. A weekend pass that covers both days is $15. Children age 11 and under get in free.
Tickets to the concert are available now by contacting the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce at (318) 255-2031 or emailing peach@rustonlincoln.org.
In addition to music, the festival features two venues for arts and crafts. One is exclusively for handmade items, and the other open to handmade or resale items. Items range from candles and soaps to woodworking, metal work, paintings and photographs, children’s toys, clothing, home décor, and knickknacks.
And there are always fresh peaches and peach ice cream. This year’s food menu will also feature peach tea and other peach-theme items.
For more information visit www.louisianapeachfestival.org.