Peanut Carnival returns

By Gloria Austin 
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — On Wednesday (today) for about a half-hour Houlton’s Market Square will be engaged in a longtime tradition.
    The annual Peanut Carnival Parade takes place at 10 a.m. with children dressed in costumes, riding bicycles or sitting on floats, with fire trucks, army trucks and of course, the Peanut King and Queen candidates featured in the event.
    The summer playground children are the stars of the annual parade, which begins at the Gentle Memorial Building and comes down Main Street, around Market Square and back to the rec center.
Houlton Pioneer Times photos
ROYALTY — Peanut Carnival King and Queen candidates are, from left, Kollin Irish and Sidney Peabody are the candidates in the age 7-8 division. The Peanut Carnival will be held Thursday from 6-7:30 p.m. at the tennis courts by the Gentle Memorial Building. In case of rain, the carnival will be moved into the recreation center. The crowning of the royalty by the 2010 King and Queen, Troy Hipsley and Aliya Sabattis-Webber, will take place after Queen’s Court, which will be held at 8 p.m. at the Gentle Memorial Building.
    On Thursday, the tennis courts outside the Gentle Memorial Building are transformed into a small carnival of childhood games such as toss the sponge, duck pond, pound the nail, face painting, and of course, the ever-popular marriage booth. The games are set up and playground children operate the games during their particular time slots.
Adrian Norton, left, and Kaleigh Coyle are the candidates in the age 5-6 division.
    Though many people believe that the annual Peanut Carnival — where money is replaced with unshelled peanuts to play games — is unique only to Houlton, think again. The Peanut Carnival is held throughout many towns in the United States.
    The Gentle Memorial Building was constructed in 1951, and a young, spry lady by the name of Madelyn Crawford-Perkins was hired Feb. 12, 1951 as the director of social activities for the Houlton Recreation Department.
    In 2007 at 90 years of age, Crawford-Perkins revisited her handiwork — the Peanut Parade and Carnival — and was somewhat amazed that it was still going strong.
    “I’m just so excited it has lasted this long,” she said in the 2007 interview. “It doesn’t seem possible to me that it is still going.”
Jason Collett, left, and Madison Dunn are the candidates in the age 9-10 division.
    This enduring legacy started when a newly-hired Crawford-Perkins was looking for new programs to introduce. In 1955, she read an article about a Peanut Carnival, and tried to imagine what it would be like to do. That’s when she enlisted the aid of Sandy Gregg, director of creation at the recreation department at the time. The two sat down and envisioned how to start the program in Houlton.
    The Peanut Carnival began small with games covering only half of a tennis court, but the old-style fun grew in popularity to where games were eventually set up on both tennis courts.
    With ingenuity and a “trial and error” method, the Peanut Parade and Carnival are now the customary way for the summer closing of the “Just for Kids” Playground.
    In 1951, Crawford-Perkins intended for children to have fun. And, now 60 years later, that fun tradition still makes children smile.
    The Peanut Carnival is unique in that games are played using peanuts as payment. No cash involved except to purchase a bag of peanuts or two. Children use those peanuts to play games and they either earn or lose peanuts, depending if they win the game of chance or not.
Damien Reynolds, left, and Hailey Heath are the candidates  in the age 11-13 division.
    If the weather cooperates, the tennis courts near the Gentle Memorial Building will be filled to capacity, as a new generation experiences a long-standing custom.
    On the heels of the Peanut Carnival’s success came the introduction of a parade and the royalty. As in Crawford-Perkins’ day, adults still sneak out to visit the Peanut Carnival, cast a vote for their favorite King or Queen and then slip inside to watch the young ladies in a Queen’s Court, much like that of Houlton High School’s Circus Days.
    The whole event is now a well-rooted institution in the Shiretown, and hopefully its innocent simplicity will remain unchanged, as children from year-to-year make the Peanut Parade and Carnival part of the Houlton legacy and a gentle reminder of simple and less hectic times.