The Lexington County Peach Festival story had its beginning back in 1958 when 25 community club officers and chairpersons, striving for an objective somewhat different from other fund raising projects, hit upon the idea of a festival to promote the community's major industry - the peach.
Since Gilbert had many peach orchards, it was decided that something should be done to promote the peach. So in 1959, after numberous meetings and hours of planning among community members and peach growers, the Lexington County Peach Festival come into being.
It was decided that when the Fourth falls on a Sunday, the Third will be observed as the day for the Peach Festival.
The Lexington County Peach Festival was one of the first festivals in the Midlands of South Carolina. In 1986, the Lexington County Peach Festival won the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce award as the State's most outstanding community-sponsored attraction or event of a town its size.
In 1987, the Post Office Department issued a philatelic postmark, commemorating the Lexington County Peach Festival.
Proceeds from the festival support civic and community clubs. Youth who work with the Festival for three years are given college scholarships in the amount of $300.00. Through 1999, seventy-eight scholarships have been awarded.
Over the years, the Peach Festival has shifted from the old Gilbert High School, the Gilbert Elementary School, and finally in 1994, to the beautiful five-acre Gilbert Community Park. The park, complete with concrete walks, picnic shelters, restrooms, amphitheater, shade trees, and an abundance of floral beauty, was partly funded with proceeds from the Lexington County Peach Festival.
The Peach Festival was selected as the town's local legacy to show future generations how a small community, committed and dedicated, can accomplish much, and why Gilbert has become synonymous with peaches.