Peanut Festival parade a family tradition for Wiregrass natives

The throngs of people gathered on Main Street at 9 a.m. Saturday were as interested in each other as the numerous floats and cars that drove by.

For many longtime Wiregrass residents, the National Peanut Festival Parade, held Saturday morning, is more like an annual reunion.

For people like Benny Grice, those who gather to watch the parade are as much a draw as the floats themselves.

“I’ve been coming for years, since I was a little kid,” said Grice, a Dothan native. “It’s the crowd, the old faces. A lot of people come in from out of town that've been gone a while, like my sister plans to come in from Birmingham. You’ve got people from all around. They come in for the parade and stay for the Peanut Festival.”

Webb resident Linda Griggs said the parade is a homecoming of sorts for her family.

“It's a family tradition. We come to the parade in the morning time, then we go home and take a breather, and then we go out to the fair,” Griggs said. “It's one of the biggest activities that goes on in this area, so it brings a lot of people together. My sister's oldest son lives in Atlanta, but he comes home every year for the parade.”

Parents who take their children to watch the parade often find themselves chatting with old friends while the kids enjoy the spectacle.

“Ever since we’ve lived here in Dothan, from ‘82 to now, we’ve been going,” said William Akins, who brought his 12-year-old daughter, Monica, and 4-year old son, Christopher, to the parade. “I just love the people and all the floats and all the stuff for the kids to do. The kids like the fire trucks and stuff like that, and I’ve had a chance to talk to several people I haven't seen in a while. They’re good folks, real good folks.”

April Hughes has been attending the parade every year since she was a girl, and now she has a chance to expose her own girls to the festivities.

“Since I was little, we've always come, and I wanted to let the girls watch,” said Hughes.

Her daughters, Madalynn, 4, and Ava, 1, took a liking to the same parade aspects Hughes enjoyed at their ages.

“I think they like all the queens and princesses,” Hughes said, adding she also grew up looking forward to the pageantry most of all.

These days, she is more fascinated with the parade’s marching bands, and she’s not alone.

“I like the bands,” Grice said. “Years ago, it would be Enterprise competing against Dothan, and now you've got two high schools in town, along with others from the area.”

Cecilia Williams has been regularly attending the parade for 23 years, and she doesn’t plan on stopping that streak anytime soon.

For her, hometown pride plays a factor.

“I love my hometown of Webb, and I like their float. I support them, but I also support different floats and organizations,” she said. “I just love coming to it every year, the excitement of the bands and the military personnel, just the excitement of being here”

Even though the parade lasted two hours, most of the spectators stayed for the entirety.

And some even hung around Main Street afterward, ensuring the festivities and camaraderie continued for just a bit longer.