When the rooster crows on Saturday, that will signal the start of the 2008 Peanut Butter Festival.

The cow bell will ring at 8 a.m. and the “runners” will be off on the 5K Peanut Butter Run that will take them on a route through downtown Brundidge and passed the historic Johnston Mill, which was one of the first commercial peanut butter mills in the Southeast. The mill is now a museum in progress.

And, just across the street the Peanut Butter Festival will be “in progress.”

Arnold Sheppard and the Grandkids will take center stage and kick off a day of non-stop entertainment.

“We’ve got a wide range of entertainment that should include something for everybody no matter what kind of music you like,” said Randy Ross, entertainment chair and Festival emcee. “We’ve got everything from gospel and bluegrass to big band and Hank Williams. This year, we have got two professional acts, an Elvis Review featuring Jerome Jackson of 96.9 in Dothan and a blues duo, Bro’ken, from Birmingham. Elvis and Bro’ken have performed at festivals across the state and we welcome them to the Festival stage.”

Broche and Brown, the Tennille Buck Dancers, will perform their unique brand of the old dance form. There will be clogging and square dancing and an opportunity for the audience to shake-a-leg when the blues band takes center stage at 4 p.m.

“We’ll also have a bunch of audience participation opportunities that everyone really enjoys,” Ross said. “The Peanut Butter Kids Contest is a contest for cute kids and we’ll have hog calling, cow calling, peanut shelling, corn shucking and things you never thought of.”

The Peanut Butter Festival features games, contests, arts, crafts, demonstrations and country folks kind of foods – turnips, cornbread, ribs, chicken, funnel cakes, blooming onions, peanuts and, of course, peanut butter.

Peanut butter will be made on-site, cane will be ground, corn shelled, butter churned and, the word is, that there will be a “retired” moonshine still “for viewing.”

Inside the library, Festival goers can visit with Dr. George Washington Carver and learn about the many uses he found for the little peanut.

Down at the Brundidge Station, cooks of all ages will compete for blue ribbons in the annual Peanut Butter Recipe contest.

The Brundidge Historical Society will offered free samples of the foodstuff they celebrate at their booth. Try sandwiches of peanut butter and pickles, bologna, bananas, olives and French dressing and other ways you will not believe -or want. The historical group will also have samples of buttermilk, fresh butter and fried peanuts. They’ll sell goober cocktails, non-alcoholic of course, and Peanut Butter Festival tee-shirts. Make sure you visit the booth of the folks that sponsor the “free for all” harvest and heritage festival each year.

At 1 p.m. the Nutter Butter Parade will take to the streets with a lineup on nutty things. There’s still time to enter, just call 735-3125 and say “put me in.” It’s never too late to join the fun of a nuts on parade.

The Peanut Butter Festival is where old times and good times meet.

“So, y’all come,” Ross said. “You’ll be glad you did.”