GILBERT, S.C. — If you haven't been to the famous Gilbert Peach Festival, you are missing out! It's the event of the year for this small town. The festival falls on the Fourth of July, but preparations start a week before.
Young and old, everyone loves the Gilbert Peach Festival, and more so, they love preparing for it.
For recent Gilbert High School graduate Ellie Harman, this is a family tradition.
"I've been helping with the (Gilbert) Peach Festival since, probably since I could walk, so it's kind of a family thing for us. My family runs the peach slush and peach tea stand," Harman said.
This year, she's in charge of the peaches before they go into the freezer.
"We'll start with some fresh peaches that we have donated from Titan Farms. We wash the peaches. We'll have some people peel the peaches and then we will chip the peaches, slice them, and we put some sugar on them. And then this is what I do, here, stirring them all up with the sugar and then we'll freeze them and pull 'em back out on the fourth," Harman said.
Her mother Tammy is the peach peeling organizer.
"The festival, peach festival is definitely the largest thing that happens in Gilbert. It's thousands of people, it's amazing, from all over the country," Tammy Harman said.
This group prepares 11 containers of peaches from 50 boxes in just a few hours, and that's not all the peaches they'll use.
The day before the festival, July 3rd, they'll peel more peaches.
Betty Crout is a veteran peach peeler. She's been helping with this big event for about 40 years.
I asked her if there's any trick to the trade.
"Nothing special. Everybody does their own thing. But I'm old timey, so I don't waste any," Crout said.
She tells News 19 she loves the time she spends with the other peelers and at the festival for the conservation and bonding.
"I love to meet, I love people so that's the way you get to meet lots of people, especially when you get to work a hotdog stand," Crout said.
"My favorite part about the peach festival is just seeing how our community comes together to volunteer and give back," Ellie Harman said.
This group is still in need of volunteers on Monday, July 3, the day before the festival.
If you'd like to help, send a direct message to the Lexington County Peach Festival Facebook page.