Millions of peaches: One hundred years of Brigham City Peach Days
BRIGHAM CITY – Five F-16s roar overhead followed by the wailing of eight fire trucks.
Barricades block Brigham’s Main Street as a girl in a hula skirt spurs her cow onward.
The local high school band marches by while ladies in their ’60s yell, “Huck some candy up here!”
The 100th annual Peach Days parade has begun.
In 1904 Brigham farmers enjoyed perfect weather and an excellent crop of peaches. Community leaders decided to celebrate the peach harvest on the first Friday and Saturday of every September. The now three-day event typically gets 60,000-75,000 visitors.
“Peach Days is the largest event in Brigham City, and quadruples the small town’s population,” said Monica Holdaway, Peach Days
Executive Director.
Peach Days features two parades, a 10K race, a Harley bike show, a carnival, freestyle bike shows sponsored by 2-HIp bikes, Native American performances, a Peach Queen pageant, entertainment, more than 200 craft and food vendors and the largest free custom car show in the Western United States with more than 700 cars on display.
Festivities began Thursday with the crowning of the Peach Queen who reigned over the weekend’s celebrations. This year the honor went to Brigham City’s Ivy Buck. Claire Baugh, a dental hygienist freshmen, said, “I don’t really like beauty pageants, but this year it was really good.”
Thursday was also the night that the carnival opened, continuing through Saturday. Friday evening there was a kiddie parade, but the bulk of the activities occurred on Saturday.
Main Street was temporarily blocked off for the celebration so that vendors selling anything from temporary body art to homemade jam could display their wares.
James Young, an undeclared freshmen, said, “My favorite part of Peach Days is the Thai food. Last year I spent like $30, just on Thai food.”
Saturday morning began with a 10K race finishing along the parade route. David Yates, a junior majoring in business management, said, “I’m here to win, to dominate, to beat the 70 year olds by at least 10 seconds.”
Runners of all ages ranging from eight to 80 participated in this year’s race, the biggest yet with 240 participants.
Two miles into the race Brett Lyman, a Brigham City resident, thrust his fist into the air and yelled, “Long live the peach!”
Runners staggered in 6.2 miles later, and were greeted with a bottle of water and an authentic, locally grown Brigham City peach.
With bloody feet and a peach in one hand, the women’s’ first place runner and local resident, Joanna Crowther, commented, “Yeah, it wasn’t too bad.”
Jennifer Mildenhall, a native to Brigham City, added, “It was like heck, but I’m glad I did it.”
Saturday’s parade lasted two and a half hours with a little over a 120 entries. Fire trucks, the Peach Pageant Royalty and the Corvette Club of America idled down the main road. Local clubs, businesses and other organizations walked the eight block parade length throwing saltwater taffy, Tootsie rolls, coupons for free burgers, miniature boxes of Malt-O-Meal cereal, golf balls and free T-shirts.
The annual Harley Davidson show brought in 250 motorcycles, which were parked under the “Welcome to Brigham City” arch. Spectators were not allowed to touch.
“Someday, when my kids are all grown up, my husband and I are going to travel the world on one of those,” said Mardi Shaw of Brigham City as she plucked up her youngest child who was getting too close to the chained up bikes.
Contests of Art, flower arranging, writing and even arm wrestling drew the attention of spectators, and prizes were awarded by both the Peach Queen and the mayor.
Lexie Baxter, an 8-year-old from Draper, tasted victory as she won match after match against boys ranging from ages 7 to 12.
Theater, dance, and gymnastic performances ran all day on Brigham’s Main Street stage. A block to the North, 2-HIp riders performed stunts on their BMX bikes.
Maddox, the local steak house, was filled with people waiting 20 to 40 minutes for Maddox’s famous turkey steaks. A movie, explaining how beef is prepared, played in the main lobby to keep the waiting customers informed as well as entertained.
The fruit stands were unusually busy. As the parking lots filled, the cars began to park on U.S. Highway 89.
“You don’t understand the essence of Peach Days till you’ve worked at a fruit stand,” said Chelsea Yates, a dental hygienist sophomore.
“It’s a beautiful experience,” added Heather Chambers, a resident of Perry and five year fruit stand employee. “People screaming and saying they need to go, but the peaches just aren’t ready yet. I’d like to see them pick some of those peaches themselves.”
Peach Days, besides being a celebration of the peach, is a time to gather as a community.
Just as Ben Smith, a local resident, said, “Peach Days is like a big reunion for everyone who’s ever lived in Brigham City. It’s a day of celebrating the love of the community amidst the beautiful harvest of peaches.”
-amcconkie@cc.usu.edu