The National Peanut Festival, born in 1938, has been a staple of the Wiregrass since. (Wiregrass Archives)
The first National Peanut Festival occurred in Dothan, Alabama, on November 10-12, 1938. Most of us recall that first festival for hosting Dr. George Washington Carver’s address, “Great Creator, What is a Peanut and Why Do You Make It?”
Dr. George Washington Carver speaks to the inaugural National Peanut Festival, from “Alabama Magazine”, Nov. 21, 1938….
Betty Phillips, Mutual Broadcasting Company's 2000th Queen for a Day, visited Dothan in 1952.
Over the years the National Peanut Festival has produced hundreds of local queens and princesses, but in 1952 it hosted one whose name was not known until October 24.
That was Betty Phillips of Los Angeles, who was the Mutual Broadcasting System’s 2000th Queen for A Day.
“Queen For A Day” was a game show…
In this edition of his recurring column, Dr. Marty Olliff delves into some of the early aerial photographs of Dothan, Alabama.
We credit Aesop with the axiom, “familiarity breeds contempt” (meaning apathy). In our world of airplane travel and cell phones, Google Earth, readily-available satellite views, and ubiquitous drone imagery and film, we are likely to become somewhat inured about aerial photographs.
All these things are contemporary, so an aerial view of a place we know…
Hundreds of spectators took rides on a historic UH-H1 Huey, including Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr.
For some, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For others, it was a reminder of a war fought long ago and the memories that came with it.
Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr., Chancellor of Troy University, was among the hundreds who took a ride in a historic UH-H1 Huey helicopter Saturday during the Friends of Army Aviation’s…
