It was a rainy day at Aubrey’s 40th annual Peanut Festival, but spirits were high.
Although the parade was canceled and the weather was gloomy, people still came out to celebrate with umbrellas, raincoats and boots.
“It means the world to me that the same way we did it in ’86 is the same here,” Senior Events Coordinator Rodney Cagle said. “We've done it in multiple rain events, we've done it in snow and we've all gotten sunburned. ... We've been out here in 100-degree October weather, and I've got a picture with snow flurries at a Peanut Festival. But [the] Aubrey community still comes out no matter what the weather, because this is their festival.”
Reyna Monreal has attended since she was little.
“It's my hometown, so we come every single year,” Monreal said.
A big attraction for her is the popcorn and turkey legs, but also the chance to see the familiar faces of people she’s grown up with at the festival.
She carried that tradition on with her family and brought firsttime attendee Ricky Perez.
“It's a good thing to bring the community together,” Perez said. “I really enjoy it.'
Food trucks offered classic fairstyle food and other options, along with rows of vendors throughout the festival selling candles, artwork, snacks and other items.
“It's great seeing so many people out here battling the rain with us, vendors,” Starr Ray said. “Everyone's in their raincoats and [has] their umbrellas. They're having a good time, [and] we're having a good time.”
Beyond the vendors and food, free activities included a kid zone, a mini petting zoo and a cake wall that kept families entertained.
Father and son duo Will Sanchez and Joaquin Sanchez both competed in the annual peanut spitting contest for the first time.
“At first, I thought it said peanut spinning, and I'm like, this is interesting, and then I found out it was peanut spitting,” Will said. “So, I looked over at my son, and he looked over, and I think we both saw that opportunity for legacy and destiny. And we said, ‘Let's go ahead and enter.’ So we did, and the rest is history.”
Will was the first to spit in the adult portion of the contest and maintained his 30-foot lead to win first place.
After being egged on, Cagle who holds the record for furthest peanut spit at 47 feet, 6 inches took his turn to see how far he could spit a peanut.
“We just love coming and being able to see community and catch up with friends and have an event where the kids can have fun,” Christy Sanchez said.
The evening continued, ending the night with live music to close the celebration marking “40 years of going nuts,” as Cagle referred to it.
“This showed right here that this is why we're rain or shine, because we still wanna do a community event,” Cagle said. “Rain doesn't keep these people back.”
Paisley McGee /The Post-Signal
