World Grits Festival
History:
In late 1985, the store manager of the St. George
S.C. Piggly Wiggly Supermarket, Bill Hunter, was giving a broker of a large
Grits company an order for grits. The broker made a remark that his company sure
shipped a lot of grits into St. George, considering how small the town was and
its meager population (around 2,000 at the time). A week or two later another
broker from another major grits company made a similar remark about the large
quantity of grits shipped into this small town. The manager spoke with the two
owners of the Piggly Wiggly, John Walters and George Axson. They all agreed that
if it proved to be true that we did consume a disproportionately large amount of
grits that they would do some research to find out just how much we did eat.
As it turned out, the people of St. George actually ate more grits per
capita than any other place in the world! We were the Grits Eating Champions!!!
Thus the World Grits Festival was born. John Walters, one the owners of that
Piggly Wiggly, was designated as the Chairman of the first festival, which was
held in April 1986, and served in that capacity until 1988. Since the very first
festival, this weekend long celebration has drawn much attention to this small
Southern town, considered to be a bedroom community of Charleston, SC. It has
been estimated that the crowds during this three day event sometimes exceed
45,000!
The festival is not, however, all fun and games. From the very start it
has been dedicated to communtity improvement. It provides the local folks a
festival of wholesome, family fun and our students some needed scholarships
while also attracting lots of vistors to enjoy the multitude of events that are
designed to appeal to persons of all ages.
