South Carolina Festivals

The Hampton County Watermelon Festival is a week long event in June. It includes athletic events, a street dance, beauty queens (it wouldn't be a festival in the south with out 'em!) and of course lots of free juicy watermelon.

The Pageland watermelon festival includes a car show, rodeo and beauty queens compete for the title of Wold Watermelon Queen.takes place for a weekend in July.

The Ridge Peach Festival in Trenton takes place in June and boast a morning parade led by a military band, homemade preserves, live music all day, arts and crafts, rides for the children and a variety of foods and vendors. For more information visit www.ridgepeachfestival.com

The Lexington county Peach Festival takes place July 4th in Gilbert, SC. In case you don't know, It's one of the most successful in the Southeast (no easy task).. There is an antique car show, a tractor show, tons of food and vendors, the ever popular beauty pageant and lots of peaches.

South Carolina's Peach festival takes place in Gaffney, SC. You'll know you've found it by the giant peach water tower (some argue it looks like a giant orange butt, but then I digress). This festival is a 10 day event with nationally known country artist, tractor and truck pulls, sporting events, a parade, and a dance known as The Peach Ball..

OK, if you don't know what a chitlin' is brace yourself: it's pig intestines. Nope that's not a typo. This festival takes place the first Saturday after Thanksgiving.There's food, crafts, a parade, a hawg-calling and of course hopefuls to be Miss Chitlin' in a beauty pageant.

Celebrate peanuts (more specifically boiled peanuts) every August in Pelion. Amusement rides, a parade and a pageant all in the name of peanuts and peanut farmers!

The largest known celebration of okra, there is a street dance with beach music, a parade, a 10k and okra eating and growing contest as well as over 100 vendors and a kids area with amusement rides. My favorite is the fried.

It began in 1972 to honor those displaced when the Federal Government bought up the town and moved the townspeople some 6,000) in order to put up facilities that would make nuclear weapons components. Not a ton of information is available, however if you contact Aiken county I'm sure they'd be more than happy to give you more information.

photo found at http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/2680448132_663c0ceb62_m.jpg

This festival occurs the first weekend in May and has since 1982. It features a self-guided tour of their historic town square, live music and a dance, a flower show, a car show and amusement rides among other things.

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It happens every year late July and early August. music dancing, a parade, vendors and some stuff for the kids. I saw the funniest thing at this one ever when I took my little sister into the petting zoo one year: a very small goat ramming very small children. No one was getting hurt so it was absolutely hilarious. This one has been going on since 1882.