![]() The Peachoid is located along Interstate 85 and serves as the gateway to the town of Gaffney. It has become an international tourist attraction. In Gaffney, the Peachoid is more than a water tower. In 1981, the largest of all peaches was unveiled-a one million-gallon water tank known as the Peachoid. The Festival first gained national attention in 1978 when volunteers prepared the World’s Largest Peach Pie. ![]() From an inauspicious weekend event in 1977 to this year’s forty-fourth-anniversary extravaganza, the Peach Festival has become the premier summer event in the Upstate. The South Carolina Peach Festival will be held in Cherokee County from July 10 to July 18, 2021. Peach cobbler, peach pie, and peach ice cream will abound! There have been minor losses with late freezes in Greenville and Spartanburg counties this spring, but the outlook for the Upstate is positive. Usually, a dip in the thermometer to a few degrees below freezing will serve to thin the crop. ![]() Abbott Farms, Belue Farms, Cash Farms, Cooley Farms, Cotton Hope Peach Farm, Fisher Orchards, Hood Farms, Gramling Farms, Lemmons Farms, McDowell Farms, Peach Country, Perdeaux Fruit Farm, and Ragan Orchards all suffered from a mid-March frost this year. Travel across the Upstate, and you’ll see green hills covered with peach orchards. No matter which corner of the Palmetto State you visit, you’ll find roadside stands selling peaches in summer. The Spartanburg Peaches was the minor league baseball team that played their home games at Duncan Park for several years. Though Georgia is known as the Peach State, South Carolina produces three times more peaches than any other Southern state. Georgia is home to baseball player Ty Cobb, nicknamed the Georgia Peach. The peach is the state fruit of South Carolina and of Georgia. The first bite of the first peach tastes exactly the way summertime is supposed to taste, sweet and flavorful with peach juice running down your chin. Sun-kissed peaches are delicious and nutritious, good tasting, and good for you. The peaches were June Gold, a cling variety grown in Spartanburg County. Just a few days later, Clare and I purchased the first peaches of the season. We were surprised that Georgia peaches had arrived in Ohio before South Carolina peaches were available locally. We are planning on making peach cobbler today topped with vanilla ice cream.” Every year they come on a big truck from Georgia. The friend announced, “We just got a basket of fresh peaches. Last Sunday, Clare had a telephone conversation with a treasured friend in Cincinnati. That story is just one more example of the reason peaches are identified with the South. A memorable scene is his description of General Stonewall Jackson eating a peach astride his horse as he witnessed the battle. In 1990, New York critic John Leonard, upon listening to Foote’s description of the Battle of Sharpsburg, pointed out that Foote’s Southern drawl and deep interest in details made him a celebrity of the Ken Burns’ documentary on the Civil War. The historian from Mississippi even looks like a gray-uniformed officer. Shelby Foote, the author of a three-volume work on The American Civil War, is the grandson of a Confederate soldier. International Center, 101 North Pine Street, Suite 200, Spartanburg, South Carolina 29302, (864) 582-7773. ![]() This week, please volunteer or donate, as you are able, to Piedmont Care, Inc., a nonprofit organization serving the Spartanburg, Cherokee, and Union communities by providing HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and advocacy. Each week in this space, I will ask you to consider helping one charity. We have decided to continue our support for the charitable nonprofit organizations that are serving our community. Note to readers: During these difficult days for many people, Clare and I have been considering what we might do to help those in need.
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