After we left Estella's in Arlington last Saturday, we started driving west. We kind of had a destination of my old house where I grew up, but somehow managed to skip that and by complete (and surprising) accident, we ended up in Parker County! I asked RJ if we came across Weatherford, could we go to the Farmer's Market and grab some peaches.

Sure enough, we saw signs for a turnoff from whatever backroad we were on for Weatherford. I haven't been there in years. When I was little, we'd drive over often. We'd go for the peaches and other produce and also make a stop at a little bakery just west of the square where they made the best cheese bread I've ever had.

We were coming into town from the south side. Things really had changed, of course They have all sorts of new shopping areas and as we drove heading north on Main Street, we spotted signs that said "Shuttle" with arrows pointing ahead. Well, of all the luck. We stumbled upon Weatherford on the day of the Parker County Peach Festival! And we actually found a parking spot right off the square!

After slathering on sunblock, getting our cameras ready and donning caps, we set out for all the fun and activities. First thing we noticed was that it was blazing hot. I don't think we are babies about the heat but 100+ temps can take the 'fun' out of 'fun'.  Most folks looked a little on the wilted side. But we were optimistic. Admission was $5.00 - seemed like a small price to pay for all the entertainment & excitement we would have heaped upon us.

First thing on the agenda was getting something cool to drink. There were lots of food booths set up - sausage on a stick, turkey legs, nachos, and the like, and I saw one that touted "the Original Peach Julep". That sounded interesting and looked cold - it fit the bill so we ordered two. Disappointing.... thank goodness they were just $2.00 each. I honestly believe the ingredients were a splash of peach juice, water to fill the cup, ice and a slice of peach. They had the taste of very weak Koolaid. Hmmm....

Ok, on to bigger and better things. We noticed lots of arts and crafts booths....lots. There were three 'stages' with live music and the bands were pretty good- one local rock group, a group of gospel fiddlers and a C & W band. That was nice, but I wanted to find all the peach 'stuff', after all, this was the Parker County Peach Festival! I wanted peach cobbler, peach pies, peach ice cream, peach gumbo, peach etoufee....just a little homage to Forest Gump....

We found a booth selling peach cobbler. There was a booth with peach smoothies and don't forget the "Original Peach Juleps" stand. One 'produce' booth with baskets of peaches for sale. Other than that, peach pickin's were pretty slim. I did see a few of the craft booths with jars of peach salsas & jam added in with all their other salsas but those sort of looked like an afterthought.

I've seen and been to other festivals focusing on one thing that's the pride of that area and they seem to have everything possible made from it - like the Gilroy Garlic Festival, where you can get most anything known to mankind made with garlic. I guess my expectations were too high.

We made the rounds of the entire place and headed back to the car. I got RJ to make one more stop at the Farmer's Market, just a block away and it brought back lots of good memories. I don't think it had changed one "iota" we used to drive from Fort Worth so long ago. I purchased a small basket of juicy peaches there and we finished them off last night for dessert, sliced up with a little sugar on them. Good stuff and I got my Parker County peach fix until next year.