Somewhere between a preacher’s estimate and a politician’s, the crowd that jammed the “downtown” area of the “small town” of Brundidge Saturday for the 19th Annual Peanut Butter Festival was somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000.

This year’s Peanut Butter Festival was also the town’s “Small Town Downtown” event in the statewide promotion sponsored by the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel.

Lawrence Bowden, president of the Brundidge Historical Society, sponsor of the Peanut Butter Festival, said the Festival was a great event.

“The Peanut Butter Festival has been great event for a long time and every year we have more people participate,” Bowden said. “All of the comments that I heard from vendors and from those who came to enjoy all of the activities and events were very positive.”

Bowden said the Nutter Butter Parade featured some of the “nuttiest” folks around.

“We had invited all communities in the county to have an entry in the parade that related in some way to the character of the community or its history,” he said. “The winner this year had to be the Josie community with Miss Josie Moonshine. We hope next year to have every community in Pike County join the fun as we celebrate the our proud heritage in the peanut butter industry and the harvest season.”

The Brundidge Historical Society’s booth offered free sample sandwiches of peanut butter and dill pickles, pimento cheese, fried bologna and, of course jelly. Nearly 900 folks found the combinations “surprisingly good” and more than 1,200 folks sampled cups of fried goobers.

The Peanut Butter Recipe Contest was the biggest in recent years with 52 entries in five categories.

The winners in the youth division of the recipe contest were Blake Newgard, candy; Richard Flores, cookies; Chelsey Holland, cakes; Bailey Garrett, pies; and Abbie Barron, miscellaneous.

Winners in the adult division of the Peanut Butter Recipe Contest were Deb Gearhard, candy; Jennifer Garrett, cookies; Debbie Headley, cakes; Sarah Furr, pies; and Deb Gearhart, miscellaneous.

The Peanut Butter 5K Run brought 56 “runners” to town to compete for the “Peanut Runner Trophy,” which is awarded to the overall winner of the annual 5K run.

Joshua Burgans of Troy was the overall winner of the 2010 Peanut Butter 5K Run with a time of 19.39.

Runners came from as close as down the street to as far away as Cadiz, Kentucky to run in the Peanut Butter 5K Run.

The winners in the men’s 19 and under division were Christian Carswell, first; Brandon Rosso, second; and Jake Norman, third.

In the women’s 19 and under division, the winners were Teresa Kieman, first; Haylee Baggett; second; and Emily Price, third.

Joshua Burgans took first place in the men’s 20-29 division with Kyle Knight coming in second.

In the women’s age 20-29 division, the winners were Tessa Paul, first; Erica Lewis, second; and Carmen Hamm, third.

Wes Norman was the first-place winner in the men’s 30-39 age division with Toby Bragg in second place and Hubie Garrett in third.

In the women’s division of the 30-39 age division, Cornelia Sanders took top honors with Dana Wilkes, second, and Amber Ivey, third.

Duane Nickerson won the men’s 40-49 age division and John Kelly took second place and Robert Elmore, third.

In the women’s 40-49 age division Sarah McKenzie was the winner with Angie Westburg taking second place.

The 50-59 age group winner in the men’s division was George Gilmore. Joe McCall took second place and Ron Macksoud, third.

Donna Beals was the winner in the women’s 50-59 age division with Kathy Murphy coming in second and Linda Faust, third.

The winner in the over 60-age group was Robert Lee with Brenda McMillan, second, and Joann Shiver, third.