Volunteers make festival happen

PORTALES — Preparation for the 45th annual Peanut Valley Festival has begun, and the 44th iteration isn't even underway yet.

"The vendor sign-up process for next year will start before this festival ends. We'll be giving out sign-ups for the next year. That part of the planning and everything is already going," said Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Karl Terry.

The festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, and features vendors, food, and entertainment for the entire family, according to Terry.

None of those things could be possible, however, without a team of volunteers on the sidelines.

"As far as the setup goes, we bring the group together and meet usually in July or August - sometimes earlier, if we got stuff that we gotta get planned strategically," he said. "There's a lot of different groups that have a part in the festival that we bring to the table, and we get those groups together, along with our staff and some of our volunteers that are helping."

Volunteers assist with everything from registering vendors the day of the event to loading out equipment after the festivities have ended, said Terry.

This year, the Portales High School marching band will help with load-out, as well as officiating the festival's Peanut Olympics.

"They're gonna help us with the breakdown. The main thing is so that we can get out as soon as the vendors are out, we're able to break everything down, and mostly have it to where we can turn everything around," Terry said, adding that the festival has in the past had to break down in time for another event to move in the very next day.

"That's where it gets a little hairy, but we've been able to break our events down on the closing night, that way it's not there hanging out on Sunday morning," he said.

Volunteers also assist with registering vendors, something that Casey Peacock has done for the last several years.

That isn't all Peacock assists with however; her duties include helping the organizers "if they need help checking vendors in, or if they need help taking a table or something like that to a vendor."

Helping with local events allows Peacock to interact with members of the community, something that brings her back each year.

"You get to meet a lot of people. It can be a lot of hard work, but it can also be a lot of fun," she said.