Suffolk Virginia - Just off route 58 in the heart of peanut country you will find the one spot where a fall weekend brings a community together.  This year marks the 31st anniversary of Suffolk, Virginia’s premier festival. This family-friendly event honors the city’s agriculture heritage and devotion to peanuts, our favorite legumes.



Known for its fun family activities, Suffolk Peanut Fest offers concerts, amusement rides, contests and competitions, a demolition derby, a truck and tractor pull, motorcycle rally, fireworks and much more. Combine all of these great activities with local and national entertainment and you have a weekend full of good times!



The Suffolk Peanut Fest is host to as many as 200,000 visitors over four days, attracting folks from as far north as Canada, stretching down the east coast and to the mid-west. With something for everyone, Suffolk Peanut Fest is the ideal event to create new memories and family traditions.

The first Suffolk festival celebrating the peanut was held in January 1941. It included a parade, dances and balls and coronation of a queen. A newspaper editor the morning of the first fete summed up the excitement in town: “Within a few hours the curtain will rise on Suffolk’s first annual National Peanut Festival.… The whole city has been a beehive of activity. Cooperation has been had from every civic group, every private citizen and from the world at large.… The publicity which has been received already from all over the nation … does credit to Suffolk and the peanut industry.” Some 10,000 people turned out for the first festival, a number that swelled to around 50,000 by the time the event was held again in October 1941.

The Peanut Festival ends Sunday, Oct 12, 2008.