our events: PEACH FESTIVAL
Life’s A Peach .
Then You Buy
BY ALLYSON HUTCHESON
Sprouting in a parking lot,
it bloomed into one of the
most successful chamber
events in North Texas.
T
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he first Peach Festival took place July 20, 1985, on College Park Drive, at the time the site of Weatherford National
Bank. It began as a small, summertime event held to showcase the arts, crafts and baked goods created mostly
by local stay-at-home moms. It drew attention to a relatively young bank — Weatherford National Bank (now First
Financial). Organized by Jo Worthington, Helen Brogdon and Jean Bryan, the event drew an impressive crowd that
numbered into the hundreds. They were delighted.
“We were sitting at our house at the breakfast table, that’s where the idea was hatched; they [Jo and Helen] decid-
ed what we wanted to do,” said Walter Worthington. “In the early days we would have the [festival] during the day
and then at night we moved it down to Cherry Park and they had another festivity. We had a hard time the first year
because we couldn’t quite get all the peach farmers together; it was something new to them. So the first time we had
kind of a hard time getting peaches to the festival.”
“They were just wanting to do the Peach Festival, let the people bring their peaches, sell them, have a little arts and
crafts,” said Sherry Watters, owner of Something Special Boutique. “Never had an idea it would blow up to thousands
of people. It’s a very high-profile [event] for all the shops; if they’re having trouble, this will be a big boost for them. If
they have the right stuff to sell.”