Gilbert, SC (Paul Kirby) - The 60th anniversary of the Lexington County Peach Festival in Gilbert is back and it’s bigger and better than ever. Each year, tens of thousands of folks make the pilgrimage to the western Lexington County town for this phenom in the SC festival world. They celebrate Independence Day and all things peachy.
Although various events associated with the festival have been going on for weeks, the Fourth of July is always the main event. The morning begins with a parade at 9:30 a.m. which is a must make for politicians, especially during an election year. There’s also bands, dancing children, antique tractors, and military vehicles that cover from present day to the World War II era. Of course, there are beauty queens, floats of every size and description, a bi-plane from Bell Aviation that always makes several flyovers at the start of the event, and golf carts, and vintage cars galore. The sides of the route begin filing the night before and if you aren’t staked out along the route before 7:45 a.m., your chance of getting a roadside spot are left to luck.
After the parade, the festival area is open with vendors galore, food of every types as you would expect, and carnival rides and games. There is tons of entertainment from dancers and vocalist too. There’s groups from the local schools to Toyoko Joe, a huge entertainment staple on the SC music scene. They are the main event again for 2018. Of course, as always, the festival will officially blast away at 10:00 p.m. with some professional fireworks in a spectacular show.
Each year, this festival takes hundreds of volunteers donating thousands of man-hours to make it happen. Additionally, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, the fire service, and Lexington EMS have dozens of people on the ground making sure that visitors are safe, healthy, and happy. The heat can be brutal, and these dedicated first responders aren’t immune to its toll. Lexington County EMS even deploys their RMAT structure. This special medical facility is air conditioned and insulated so that they can help cool or treat people who’ve become overheated or just about any other medical emergency you can imagine.
This is family fun on a huge scale. If you haven’t gone in the past, you still have time today. Most everything is centered around Rikard Circle in Gilbert, SC. You can find out the entire schedule for the remainder of the day by going to their Lexington County Peach Festival website at www.lexingtoncountypeachfestival.com.
