The 35th annual Peanut Butter Festival is a week from Saturday, on October 31, 2026. It starts at 8 a.m. at 146 South Main Street in downtown Brundidge, and admission is free, according to the Alabama Tourism event listing. It lands on Halloween because the festival follows a rule, not a fixed date. It is held on the last Saturday in October. The same rule decides the one regular day each year when the building where Brundidge's peanut butter story started is open to anyone who walks up.
So the question for October 31 is how to fit the whole day in: the festival, the mill and Halloween.
The Rule That Moved the Festival to October 31
The Messenger's October 15, 2026 preview puts it plainly: the festival "is held the last Saturday in October in downtown Brundidge." In most years that's just a Saturday in late October. In 2024 it was October 26, which is the date in the headline of The Messenger's 2024 preview.
The last Saturday becomes Halloween only when October 31 falls on a Saturday. On the calendar, that last happened in 2020. After this year it won't happen again until 2037. Leap years make the date skip around, so this setup comes up roughly once a decade.
Nothing about the festival's purpose ties it to the holiday. Lawrence Bowden, described by The Messenger as the longtime president of the festival's host, said the day goes back to "the early days when peanuts were king and everybody came to the usually sleepy little town to celebrate the peanut harvest." The date follows the harvest. This year Halloween happens to share it.
What's Confirmed for Saturday
The Alabama Tourism listing calls the festival "a FREE family fun event" with handmade arts and crafts, food, produce, plants, furniture, home decor, jewelry, free kids' activities, demonstrations and exhibits. It also says "live music and performances continue all day on the main stage."
| Detail | What's listed for 2026 |
|---|---|
| Date | Saturday, October 31, 2026 |
| Start time | 8 a.m. |
| Address | 146 South Main Street, Brundidge |
| Admission | Free |
| Booths, vendor applications, recipe contest | Email [email protected] |
| Museum | The listing encourages visitors to stop by the Johnston Mill Peanut Butter Museum |
The organizers also list a Facebook event page, which is the place to watch this week for the parade lineup, stage times and recipe contest details as they're posted.
The One Regular Day the Mill Is Open
The museum is why the date matters to people who live here. According to Alabama Tourism's page for the Johnston Peanut Butter Mill, the museum at 201 Church Street is open by appointment and on the last Saturday in October. That makes festival day the only day on the regular calendar when you don't have to set up a visit ahead of time. This year that day is October 31.
Inside are period labels, photographs, equipment, and memorabilia from past Peanut Butter Festivals. AL.com reported in 2025 that Brundidge officials kept the original Johnston Mill building as a museum. It's on Church Street, a short walk from the Main Street booths.
The building's history is the reason the festival exists. Bowden told The Messenger that Brundidge had two of the first commercial peanut butter mills in the Southeastern United States. The J.D. Johnston Peanut Butter Mill opened in 1929. Two years later, brothers Grady and Oscar Johnson opened a peanut butter business on the south side of town, which soon became the hub of the industry. The mill on Church Street is the older of the two, and it's the one you can walk into on October 31.
A Festival About Sixty Years Younger Than the Mill
The Messenger reported in 2016 that the festival was reaching its 25th anniversary that year, which lines up with this year's 35th. If the festivals ran every year, the first one was in the early 1990s, about sixty years after the Johnston Mill started grinding.
That makes the festival a celebration a later generation created to remember an industry. In 2024, The Messenger described it as an annual event of the Brundidge Historical Society. In its October 15 story this year, the paper turned to "seasoned members of the Brundidge Historical Society" for their favorite moments from past festivals. Some of the ones they shared:
- A goat-dressing contest where the goat got loose and ran all over town
- Six chickens that escaped the chicken-calling contest and laid eggs up and down Oak Street
- Hattie Flowers' turnip greens and cornbread
- David Holmes flying over in his "egg-beater"
- "Miss" Ethel Smart riding a mule in the parade
- Kids with peanut butter on their noses, kids on stilts, and a hog-calling contest
Some features have shown up year after year. AL.com's 2025 overview lists a 5K Peanut Butter Run, live entertainment, games, a presentation on peanut researcher George Washington Carver, the Nutter Butter Parade, and a recipe contest. Alabama Tourism's Pike County road-trip guide adds a street dance. It estimates that 5,000 to 7,000 people come each year, a general figure rather than a count for any one festival. The 2026 times and lineups for these traditions will come from the organizers, so check the Facebook event before you plan around a parade start or a race.
Where Halloween Fits Into the Day
The 2026 festival listing doesn't mention costumes or any Halloween activities. It describes the same harvest-and-heritage day as always. The City of Brundidge events page currently reads "File coming soon," so trick-or-treat details and any church or business events for that evening haven't been posted there yet.
Here's what that means for planning October 31:
- The festival opens at 8 a.m., and the main stage runs all day, so the morning leaves plenty of time to work in both the vendor booths on Main Street and the Johnston Mill on Church Street.
- The museum's regular open day this year is the same day as Halloween. If you've meant to take the kids or visiting relatives through the mill, October 31 is the walk-in opportunity. Next year's falls on October 30, 2027.
- Evening plans depend on announcements still to come. Watch the city events page and the festival's Facebook event this week for trick-or-treat hours and any changes to the festival day.
- If you're entering the recipe contest or want a booth, the listing gives [email protected] as the contact.
The festival will be on Main Street and the mill will be open on Church Street, both on the same Saturday. The next time the festival lands on Halloween will be in 2037.
The last Saturday in October is one of the dates our family plans around too, and the peanut mill history is one of the stories we enjoy telling people who are new to Pike County. If you're thinking about Brundidge or anywhere else around Troy and want to talk with people who show up for days like this one, reach out to David Adams. We'd be glad to give you a free home valuation or just talk about the area over a peanut butter treat on Main Street.
