Preparing for another massive National Peanut Festival
DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) - The gates to the 2023 National Peanut Festival will be open in less than 24 hours!
While everyone is ready for “Peanuts Galore and So Much More,” vendors and food trucks at the festival are scrambling to get the finishing touches before people start to flood the fairgrounds.
Some vendors are prepping food, checking equipment and training volunteers so everything runs as smooth as possible throughout the festival.
Though it may seem some are frantically throwing last minute procedures together, one vendor said, this is more than just a week long operation.
“You have to start this thing, preparation wise, about six months out,” said Arthur Miller with Veterans Helping Veterans and Community. “You’ve got equipment you have to get done, health department inspections, fire department inspections, meet all the codes, business license and what not.”
Miller says the best thing to do is to load up on volunteers and lots of them, saying the days are long, the work is tough and you don’t want to burn anyone out who’s giving you their time.
NPF Executive Director Tony Ellison says most of the vendors aren’t from the Wiregrass.
With out of town vendors, hundreds of volunteers and people visiting the festival from surrounding states, NPF acts as one of the biggest money makers for the circle city.
Visit Dothan’s Executive Director Hannah Shiver released a statement to News4 regarding the festival’s impact on Dothan’s tourism and hospitality industries.
“There are weekend hotel occupancy increases and foot traffic at restaurants and retail establishments generated by the festival. We are ecstatic to host the guests we see that come in for day trips and overnight stays to celebrate at the fair and encourage them to seek out all that Dothan has to offer while they are in with us.”
After the festival is complete, Shiver says Visit Dothan will be able to pull a financial impact report to see just how much revenue was generated throughout the city during NPF.
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