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Next Weekend’s Jay Peanut Festival To Draw Thousands, Start Tour

The 20th Annual Jay Peanut Festival next weekend will kick-off the sixth annual Beaches to Woodlands Tour of Santa Rosa County into high gear. The month-long self-guided driving tour of Santa Rosa County features more than two dozen events. Geared toward locals and tourists alike, the tour has become an annual Gulf Coast staple.

“Once Fall season starts settling in people get motivated to get out and about,” said Karen Harrell, tour coordinator. “This is a showcase series of events for Santa Rosa County. These events are family-friendly and inexpensive, back-to-basic type of activities.” Along with great activities, Harrell said October is a great time for a weekend vacation with water temperatures still warm enough to swim and area lodging rates for out-of-towners down up to 40 percent from summer’s high season.

The Jay Peanut Festival draws upwards to 70,000 people to the 15-acre Gabbert Farm each year who have a chance to sample all types of peanuts -– boiled, green, fried, candied and more.

Admission is free and all weekend long there will be arts, crafts, antique, new items, games, rides, rock climbing wall, pony and horse rides, wagon rides, train rides, buckboard rides, anvil shoot, and a grist mill. The farm’s popular museum is also open for tours.

While the Jay Peanut Festival is being staged in the north end of Santa Rosa County, the new Navarre Beach Marine Science Station will play host to the sixth annual Coastal Encounters from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at October 3 at the Navarre Beach County Park.

The newest asset to the area, the Navarre Beach Marine Science Station also celebrates its Grand Opening. Budding marine scientists can learn about sharks, water safety, disaster preparedness and other local environmental issues will be included. And there will be opportunities to try kayaking and fishing. Arts and craft activities will include making sea turtle maracas; making a shark tooth necklace, fish painting, sand casting and more. One of the event’s most popular features is the touch tank, which allows kids and adults to handle creatures that are best left alone in the wild.

A new event is the Sweet Season Farms Corn Maze which is open weekends and daylight hours only in Milton through November 3. The maze features a Blue Angels-theme design. Owners Trent and Sharon Mathews and their children, Morgan and Lucas, have worked as a family to create a full day of fun in Milton that includes not only the maze but hayrides, a barrel train, a farm-themed playground, acorn cannon and a corn crib “sandbox.”

Another weekend highlight is the Riverwalk Run 5k sponsored by the City of Milton. The run winds through historic Bagdad, Downtown Milton and the beautiful Riverbank. The race features a rare 4 p.m. start time which gives people a chance to sleep in, if they choose.

Ongoing throughout the month are tours of the Jay Historical Museum and the Dragonfly Gallery’s “Sand to Sawdust” exhibit. An, Fall is always a popular time at Adventures Unlimited,  popular destination for day and overnight visitors who enjoy canoeing, camping, hiking – and of course, roasting s’mores.

For event details visit www.thebeachestowoodlandstour.com or 800-480-SAND or (850) 939-8666.

Pictured above: Large crowds attended the annual Jay Peanut Festival last year. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.