Shepherdstown Peach Festival volunteers package up cups of peach crisp for purchase in New Street United Methodist Church on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — For 20 years now, the Shepherdstown Peach Festival at New Street United Methodist Church has been filling up local residents with all things peach — peach pie, peach crisp and even peach custard ice cream. Other food items in high demand at the annual festival this past Saturday were country ham sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, grilled hot dogs, steamers, steamer dogs and vanilla custard ice cream.

Community members young-and-old came out in droves, including a group of four Jefferson High School students. Julia Bettr, a junior exchange student from Brazil, came to help at the festival with her host family member, JHS junior Faith Foglesong, and friends, JHS sophomore Riley Adams and JHS senior Keagan Adams.

“The peach ice cream was really good! “ said JHS senior Keagan Adams. “It’s a great way to get to know the community better. This is my first time coming to this event.”

A total of 13 bushels of peaches were purchased from Two Ridge Orchards in Shenandoah Junction, which were completely emptied, during the production of the food prior to the festival.

“We started with peeling peaches last week, for the ice cream. Then we came in and made custard for the ice cream. Then we made the ice cream on Saturday. That was all for peach ice cream — we made the vanilla ice cream last Wednesday,” said Carole Feaster, as she prepared chicken salad sandwiches for an order. “They came in and peeled peaches on Thursday for the crisps. Margaret Rose Smith and Nancy Cleaver were in here, making crisp all day, while I was at home making chicken salad! Then, we made peach pies for the festival on Friday.”

A peach pie waits to be boxed up and purchased in the basement of New Street United Methodist Church on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

According to Feaster, in spite of increasing the amount of food on sale at this year’s festival, over an hour before its ending, the pies, steamer meat and country ham sandwiches had already sold out.

“We’ve sold more than ever before this year,” Feaster said, mentioning those who pre-order food, in the weeks leading up to the festival, help the church ensure it makes enough for all of its pre-orders, as well as for a good number of walk-up orders.

According to festival founder and organizer Margaret Rose Smith, the entire membership of New Street United Methodist Church pitched in to make the festival happen, along with a handful of volunteers from around the community.

“We couldn’t do all of this, without everybody pitching in. We’ve had a really overwhelming response from volunteers, willing to do the work,” Smith said. “We pre-sold 70 whole pies, out of a total 111 pies. We made 15 peach crisps. We made 30-some gallons of ice cream.

“It’s a lot of work — we do everything by hand!” Smith said. “We cook those custards over these stoves by hand! We do the ice cream making out here in the yard. We do still bake the pies in Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department’s kitchen, because they have more than one oven.”

From right, Judy Pitzer grills hotdogs, while Carole Feaster prepares chicken salad sandwiches and Shirley Wiltshire counts the remaining country ham sandwiches in New Street United Methodist Church's refrigerator on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

To show the church’s appreciation for the use of its ovens, a donation is always made to the fire department, from the festival proceeds. In addition, a portion of the proceeds is donated to Shepherdstown Shares, according to Smith. The rest of the proceeds will be saved for use in the church’s upcoming kitchen renovation project.

“We have new sinks, new flooring and fairly new appliances, but I’d like to see the Formica on the walls disappear. This kitchen was probably last updated in the 1970s,” Smith said. “Our next goal is to replace the cabinets and do something with the walls. Fingers crossed, we might have enough to really sit down and talk about the renovation seriously.”

Community members line up at the Shepherdstown Peach Festival walk-up order table in New Street United Methodist Church's yard on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

Former Shepherdstown High School physical education teacher Bev Hughes, right, reconnects with her former student, Becky Lidgerding, at the Shepherdstown Peach Festival on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston