Microsoft Takes Me To Weatherford's Parker County Peach Festival To Get Misted

The Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day is a memory I remember well, and fondly.

The Parker County Peach Festival, taking place this month in Weatherford, Texas.

It was earlier this century I last visited the Parker County Peach Festival and webpaged the experience.

The Parker County Peach Festival is huge. The biggest festival I have been to in Texas.

An outdoor festival anywhere in Texas, in July, is guaranteed to be HOT. The Parker County Peach Festival, the day I got festive was under 100 degrees, but still plenty HOT. 

One could cool off with the many peach themed refreshments, or walk through the many cooling misting stations, which is what you see photo documented above.

It was way back in March of 1999 or 1998 I first visited Weatherford. This was part of a two-week trip to Texas, checking out if moving to Texas was something doable. Weatherford was the first experience I had with a Texas county courthouse square. Weatherford is the county seat of Parker County.

There is, or was then, a Confederate Memorial Statue in the Parker County Courthouse square. Seeing that memorial was the first I realized, yikes, we are currently in the location of the Confederacy.

I can not remember when I last had me a good peach. I need to rectify that shortcoming soon...

Who Wants To Go To The Parker County Peach Festival With Me Tomorrow For Alligator On A Stick & Peach Julep?

Who wants to go to the Parker County Peach Festival with me tomorrow?

The Parker County Peach Festival surrounds Weatherford's Parker County Courthouse Square starting Saturday, July 9 at 8:00am, til 5:00pm.

Admission is $5, with kids 12 and under getting in for free.

There is free parking from the Ninth Grade Center (1007 S. Main St.) Exit 408, Weatherford College (225 College Park Dr) Exit 409, and the First Monday Grounds (100 Block Santa Fe) Exit 409. Free Shuttle services to the Peach Festival are available from the parking locations. There is free handicap parking and a handicap shuttle from Weatherford Ninth Grade Center.

You can find directions to Weatherford, the Peach Festival and the parking lots, and a map, by going here.

In addition to the more than 200 arts and crafts vendors, the Parker County Peach Festival has many food vendors.

The last time I went to the Parker County Peach Festival the food items that stick in my memory, besides all the various peach products, were menu items like frog leg poboys, shrimp stew, alligator on a stick, roasted coon, monkey rice, bear meat pies, catfish poboys, Tennessee pork sandwich and giant smoked turkey legs.

You will find plenty of Parker County peaches, in many forms, including fresh peaches, plus peaches that have been turned into ice cream, pie, cobbler, juleps, smoothies and other peachy goodies.

Any outdoor Texas summer festival can be a bit of a HOT experience. At the Parker County Peach Festival you will find some relief from the sun via storefront awnings.

I remember escaping the heat for awhile by going into a museum where quilts were on display. The quilts ended up being very interesting.

You will also find several walk-through cooling misters throughout the festival grounds. Walking through a mister is very refreshing. Those are festival goers you see getting misted in the picture.

There are also tented areas you can secure a seat under to listen to music acts. There are several music/performance stages at the Parker County Peach Festival, with entertainment going non-stop all day.

I have greatly enjoyed both times I've gone to the Parker County Peach Festival.

The most recent time I tried to go to the Parker County Peach Festival was on a Sunday. I did not realize, at that point in time, that the Peach Festival was a one day only event. It is such a HUGE event that it did not occur to me that it would not be running all weekend long, starting on Thursday or Friday and running through Sunday.

But, it is Saturday only. And only til 5:00pm. Putting on such a HUGE event seems like an awful lot of effort to have it run for only 9 hours on one day.

So. Who wants to drive me to Weatherford tomorrow for alligator on a stick and a peach julep?

The Second Day Of July In Texas Thinking About Next Saturday's Parker County Peach Festival

The Saturday morning sky shines bright, semi-deep in the Heart of Texas, on this, the second day of July.

Currently we are being chilled to a relatively cold 79 degrees, heading, supposedly, to an eventual high of 101 today, with the humidity making it feel like 107.

Parker County peaches are currently in ripe mode. This means the Parker County Peach Festival is next Saturday, July 9, from 8am til 5pm.

The Parker County Peach Festival takes place in the county seat of Parker County, Weatherford.

The Parker County Peach Festival is a one-day event. A HUGE one-day event. A very well-done HUGE one-day event. With all sorts of peach products, like peach juleps, peach cobbler, peach ice cream and just plain peaches available for your eating pleasure.

The first time I went to the Parker County Peach Festival I was a bit disapointed in the quality of the peaches. As in the peach flavor was a bit lacking. That was an off year for the Parker County peaches.

On my second visit the Parker County peaches were as good as the peaches I was used to in Washington.

I do not know if I will make it to the 2011 Parker County Peach Festival. I do know I am going to go swimming in about 5 minutes.

2010 Parker County Peach Festival's Record Breaking Crowd With Bumper Crop Of Perfect Peaches

Well. The one day Parker County Peach Festival is over for another year. Ever since I made a webpage about the Parker County Peach Festival it causes the biggest one-day spike in my web stats.

And now that I've added a blog to the mix the same is true of the blog.

Both times that I've gone to the Parker County Peach Festival it was not a good year for peaches. And the temperature both times was in the 100 range.

This meant I spent a lot of time walking through the cooling misters, seeking shade under awnings, or seeking refuge in air-conditioned stores.

This year's bumper crop of high quality, extra juicy, extra sweet Parker County peaches, combined with perfect temperatures in the 70s and 80s, made for a huge crowd in Weatherford on Saturday.

Usually around 35,000 will show up to shop the vendors and have some peach ice cream, peach salsa, peach cobbler, peach smoothies, peach juleps, peach limeade and all sorts of other peach things, including just eating a fresh peach.

Saturday's Parker County Peach Festival attracted a crowd estimated to be in the 50,000 people range. I probably would have enjoyed being part of the plus-sized crowd. Maybe next year.

The Parker County Peach Festival Is July 10

The Parker County Peach Festival, surrounding the Parker County Courthouse Square, in Weatherford, is one of the biggest festivals I've been to in Texas. The only ones bigger, that I can think of, are Canton's First Monday Trade Days and the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival.

There is one thing that makes the Parker County Peach Festival different than any other Texas festival, that I know of, and that difference is that the Peach Festival lasts only one day.

Not Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, just one day. Saturday, July 10. This enormous sprawling festival goes to the bother of setting up for only one day.

Why? I don't know.

I found out the Parker County Peach Festival was a one day deal several years ago when I went to Weatherford on a Sunday, thinking I'd go to the Peach Festival. Only to find the Peach Festival was already history. I ended up at Weatherford's Iron Skillet Truck Stop's buffet. It's a fun buffet. I don't remember if peach cobbler was among the desserts.

If you are within driving distance of the Parker County Peach Festival and you've not previously experienced the peaches, well, it's worth the drive.

Admission is $5 for adults. Kids under 12 are free. The Parker County Peach Festival is open from 8 am til 5 pm.

To get to the Parker County Peach Festival take Interstate 20 to exits 406, 408 or 409. Follow the signs to multiple parking lots with free shuttles to take you to the Peach Festival.

The parking lots are at the First Monday Trade Days grounds, Weatherford College, Weatherford 9th Grade Center (old Weatherford High School) and Hall Middle School.

A Handicap Shuttle is available at the Weatherford 9th Grade Center and Handicap Parking is available at the Palo Pinto entrance to the festival.

I do not know if this is being a good year for Parker County Peaches. Bumper crop, or not, you'll find peaches for sale in various forms at the Parker County Peach Festival. Boxes of fresh peaches, peach julep, peach cobbler, peach ice cream, all sorts of peach stuff.

The Parker County Peach Festival is the first summer event I attended in Texas where I saw the mister method of cooling used, as in there are several walk through misters to help cool you down.

I'm hoping to make it to the Parker County Peach Festival this year. If the forecast is something less than 100 degrees.

Another Texas Sinkhole, This Time In Weatherford

Early this morning a sinkhole popped open in Weatherford. Weatherford is about 25 miles west of Fort Worth.

Several things are memorable, to me, about Weatherford.

First off, on my first visit to Texas I got the worst case of food poisoning I'd ever suffered, courtesy of a tainted burger from a cafe on the Parker County Courthouse square.

Weatherford is memorable as the burial site of Oliver Loving, drug back to Weatherford for burial by his best friend, Charles Goodnight, in an incident made famous, in fictional form, in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove.

And Weatherford is memorable to me due to being the location of the Parker County Peach Festival, one of the best I've been to, with this year's festival fast approaching on Saturday, July 10.

This morning Weatherford woke up to a problem that needs a fix before the Peach Festival opens. A big sinkhole opened up by the intersection of Highway 180 and Sante Fe Drive, right on the path of people making their way to the Parker County Peach Festival.

Several roads have been closed.

The sinkhole is currently 10 feet deep and 30 feet across.

I am very wary of bringing up the subject of another Texas sinkhole. The last time this subject came up it was in regards to the Wink Sinkhole. That turned into a raging debate between Gar the Texan and the Queen of Wink as to the source of the Wink Sinkhole water.

I do not know if the Weatherford Sinkhole is going to be equally controversial. If it grows as big as the Wink Sinkholes, Weatherford will be facing one seriously HUGE problem.

The Parker County Peach Festival

A couple months ago someone associated with the Parker County Peach Festival let me know that I had the date wrong for this year's Peach Festival.

I fixed it. Or thought I did. Sometimes I do these things too fast. Today I looked at that webpage due to a Roadtripping Blogging I was writing about a Daytrip, when I saw the error.

So, I fixed it and uploaded. Then I look at that website again to get a picture for this blogging, that I'm writing right now, and I see another error. That fix uploaded right at the time I was writing about it, as in right now.

I hope I've got it all correct now. One would think this would not matter, and in the bigger scheme of things it doesn't, but the problem is, my webpage about my visit, years ago, to the Parker County Peach Festival, comes up #1 or 2 in searches, causing people to think it's the Official Parker County Festival website. How people can be that clueless perplexes me, but it happens all the time.

This year alone I've gotten at least a dozen requests for information about how to be a vendor. I always direct them to where they can get that information. It's sort of annoying, but I bring it on myself, so I guess I shouldn't be whining about it.

The Peach Festival is a one day only event. Which has always seemed odd to me because it is so HUGE. All that bother for one day. I assumed it was a Friday, Saturday, Sunday type deal, a few years ago, and went on a Sunday to find it was done with. Ended up at the Weatherford Iron Skillet Buffet instead of a Peach Festival. I think I had peach cobbler there.

I'll repeat the Peach Festival information, that I hope is now correct on my website, below, as yet one more public service helping the Parker County Peach Festival.

Weatherford hosts the 2009 Annual Peach Festival on Saturday, July 11th. This year's festival features more than 200 arts and crafts vendors. Come to the Peach Festival in Weatherford’s historic downtown, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. You will find a children’s area, a food court, non-stop entertainment, and of course sweet, juicy Parker County Peaches. Beat the heat with Peachy treats of all kinds - Peach ice cream, Peach juleps, Peach smoothies, Peach cobbler, Peach jams, and just plain ol' Peaches to bite and let the juice run down your chin. Admission is $5 for adults and FREE for children 12 and under. There will be free parking from the Ninth Grade Center (1007 S. Main St.) Exit 408, Weatherford College (225 College Park Dr) Exit 409, and the First Monday Grounds (100 Block Santa Fe) Exit 409. Free Shuttle services are available from these sites as well. Free handicap parking and handicap shuttle from Weatherford Ninth Grade Center. The Peach Pedal Bike Ride is on July 14th. Visit www.peachpedal.com for more information. Call the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce for more information: Toll Free 1-888-594-3801.