By WALLYCE TODD

The leaves are beginning to dress the trees in their colorful fall fashions. Autumn aromas perfume the air. Soon, Whiteville’s downtown area will welcome in the 4th Annual N.C. Pecan Harvest Festival.

Officially, the festival is Nov. 3-4. However, as storefronts are decorated and culinary skills are practiced in preparation for the weekend’s cooking contest -- the upcoming festival will begin to affect what people see, taste, and anticipate in the weeks to come.

Geoff Hopkins is this year’s Pecan Harvest Festival committee chairman. He said, “The community can look forward to a festival that will have a variety of activities, entertainment, and plenty of the superior nuts on hand. Also, it will be a great time of fun and fellowship with friends and family, and is a time that old friends get re-acquainted.”

Some of the Pecan Harvest highlights include: the festival parade, a tour of elegant Whiteville homes, headliner entertainment - The Band of Oz, emcee Kyle King and Platinum Entertainment, Tom “Sand in My Shoes” Stanley from the Sunny Beach show, children’s activities on Kids’ Block, a car show, dance schools’ performances, and educational exhibits by N.C. Pecan Growers Association and the N.C. Museum of Forestry.

The celebrity queen will be Vicky Jarrett, editor-in-chief of “Our State” magazine. Beloved local sandwich maker, Miriam Bright will be the grand marshal of the festival.

Gil Beresoff, festival treasurer, said that the educational aspect of the festival is a real plus. He noted, “The affair at the (forestry) museum will be very effective. It can be enjoyed by all ages.”

Suzanne King, festival executive committee member, is a liaison between the festival and the N.C. Pecan Growers Association. She is enthusiastic about the variety of events happening during the festival and the days leading up to it.

She said, “(Some of) what makes our festival unique is that it has belles, a luncheon and house tours.”

King and Beresoff encouraged merchants to begin to decorate their storefronts soon. A donated downtown office space is the festival headquarters.

For car lovers in the community, Hopkins said: “The car show is always a well planned and organized event.  There will be a variety of restored vehicles with plenty of history behind each one.  Each owner will be on hand to answer questions about his respective “jewel on wheels.”

Hopkins said the planning and facilitation of the festival is a team effort.

“The festival committees have worked tirelessly to plan this year’s festival,” he stated. “There is a great deal of planning that goes into the NC Pecan Harvest Festival, and the planning has been underway since the early part of the year.  Each committee volunteer has worked hard to prepare for the best event possible.”

King added: “It doesn’t just promote Whiteville. It promotes the whole county.”

King said there were numerous things that make the Pecan Harvest Festival unique. “It’s educational first. It’s fun, and it’s free. And it promotes pecans, the “superior nut.”