This is the link where you can go straight to info on seven different Delmarva peach festivals coming up in late July and August of 2026.
But wait … why peach festivals? Here is how I answer that question in my book, Shore Fun! The Delmarva Wanderer’s Guide. It has easy-as-pie, snapshot info on 150+ annual events and 125+ fun destination on the Eastern Shore and in Delaware.
“At events ranging from a giant block party to backroads church socials, you can enjoy down-home sweetness while honoring
peach-tree days gone by. Here’s a trivia question for those who remember the hit movie “Runaway Bride,” with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere: Why is the town in that flick called Hale?
“The name is a sly tribute to a tasty slice of Delmarva history. “Runaway Bride” was filmed in Berlin, Md. Berlin, in turn, was once home to an operation called Harrison Farms, which dates to the late 1800s and ranked in the early 1900s as one of the largest fruit-tree operations in the country. The most famous Harrison product was the Hale Peach, named after a family member, G. Hale Harrison.
“The story of Delmarva peaches goes back much further than that. The first trees probably arrived in Delaware in the 1500s aboard Spanish trading ships. By the 1600s the fruit was so plentiful that farmers were feeding peaches to pigs. The business went into overdrive in the 1800s, when steamboats and railroad lines arrived, allowing local farmers to get the fruits to big-city markets before they spoiled.
“Entrepreneurs like Philip Reybold in Delaware City and William Ross in Seaford had launched gargantuan orchards by the time of the Civil War. By 1875, Delaware farmers were producing 6 million baskets of peaches a year. The number of peach trees in the state around that time topped 4 million. It all went south when a disease called “the yellows” appeared and started spreading from one orchard to another. By 1900, there were only 2.4 million peach trees in Delaware. By 1920, that number was down to a paltry 300,000. The disease eventually made its way down into Maryland and wiped out the famed Hale peaches as well.
“Nowadays, peaches have only a small role in Delmarva agriculture, but those old peach riches come back front and center
every August through the work of the civic groups and volunteers who put on these local festivals.”
That guide to this year’s peach festivals is part of my Fundays newsletter, which connects subscribers with lots of fun upcoming events and cool Delmarva destinations. Here is where to subscribe.
Also, that info on my Shore Fun! book again.
–posted by Jim Duffy for Secrets of the Eastern Shore/Whimbrel Creations LLC in June 2026. All rights reserved.
