About Ruston

The 2010 Squire Creek Louisiana Peach Festival opens its 60th run June 25 in downtown Ruston.

The three-day event includes arts and crafts, children’s activities, music in Ruston’s historic Railroad Park, food, a parade, sporting events, a pet show, peach cookery contest, peach eating contest, a rodeo, antique car show, and plenty of Ruston peaches.

This year is the festival’s Diamond Anniversary, and is dedicated to the memory of the late J.E. Mitcham, Sr., long-time Ruston peach grower and one of the festival’s founders. Mitcham died in March at age 92.

Admission to the festival’s opening ceremony at 5 p.m. and pet show at 5:30 p.m. on Friday is free.  A $5 admission for ages 7 through adult begins at 7 p.m. with the start of Evening in the Park.

Saturday events begin at 8 a.m. and run until 10 p.m. Admission is $5 ages 7 and up; and age 6 and under, free, from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. At 6 p.m., admission at Railroad Park, site of the Shenandoah concert, jumps to $10.

Festival goers can purchase day-time only admission for Saturday for $5 or all-day admission, which includes the Shenandoah concert for $10 per person.

 “Sixty years, our ‘Diamond Anniversary’, it is incredible that the Louisiana Peach Festival has had such a long run,” said Scott Terry, president of the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, the organization that produces the festival. “This truly signifies the importance of the peach crop during the past 50 years or so of Lincoln Parish’s economic development.”

“Whether you like a firm, crisp peach or one that allows the juice to run over your chin and on to your shirt… there are no better peaches than those grown right here in Lincoln Parish Louisiana,” he  said.

Grammy Award-winners Shenandoah headline the festival’s entertainment lineup.  The group, famous for hits including “Two Dozen Roses,” “Next to You Next to Me,” and “Church on Cumberland Road,” performs at 9 p.m. June 26 on the Railroad Park stage in downtown Ruston.  Admission is $10 per person.

The Buddy Terzia Band performs on June 25, the opening night of the festival, at 9 p.m. Admission is $5. At 2 p.m. Saturday, the 50-piece Russ Town Band presents its annual Americana concert at the historic Dixie Center for the Arts in downtown Ruston.

This year’s festival includes all of the favorite events but on a different schedule than that of the past several years. The biggest change is there will be no events downtown on Sunday.

The festival steering committee decided to move all the downtown events to Friday and Saturday because of lack of participation on Sunday afternoon. The pet show and peach eating contest will be held Friday evening. The Louisiana Peach Festival Arts & Crafts show held at the Civic Center, will return to being a Saturday-only event.

Sunday will see final play in the tennis tournament and the invitational golf tournament. Also, beginning this year, the festival rodeo will be held at the North Louisiana Exhibition Center.

“This is one of the best family-style festivals in the South,” Terry said. “We’ve planned enough events during the Squire Creek Louisiana Peach Festival that every member of the family will find something to enjoy.”

For more information call the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce at 255-2031 or visit www.louisianapeachfestival.org or text Lapeach at 69302.

The Squire Creek Louisiana Peach Festival is corporately sponsored by Squire Creek Country Club, Ruston Lincoln Convention & Visitors Bureau, LouisianaTravel.com, Century Marketing Solutions, Celebrity Theatres, Devon Energy, Jim Taylor Ford, Volvo Rents, Lamar Outdoor, Louisiana Life, Ruston Daily Leader, KRLQ 94.1, The News Star, MyArkLaMiss.com, Z-107.5/ESPN 97.7/True Oldies Channel 99.3, KTVE 10, KARD Fox 14, Suddenlink, and The Radio People.

Nancy Bergeron is communications manager for the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce. Contact her at 255-2031 or email nbergeron@rustonlincoln.org.