A John Deere tractor rolls through Faison during the town’s Farmers’ Parade in 2023. Plans for a bigger event in 2024 were canceled due to weather. This year, the event will be back in a big way, with a day-long celebration to include food, vendors, and a Kids Zone featuring free activities for the youngsters. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
In 2023, the Faison Farmers’ Parade was a hit with residents and visitors alike. This year’s parade will take place Saturday, March 15, at 11 a.m. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Artwork by fifth graders at North Duplin Elementary is being used to help promote the 2025 Faison Farmers’ Parade. (Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
FAISON — Don’t let the name fool you. It’s billed as the Faison Farmers’ Parade, but the celebration will be much bigger than a parade. It’ll be an all-day affair, with music, food, vendors, a 50/50 raffle, and a Kids Zone filled with numerous free activities for the younger set. The event’s sponsor, Faison Improvement Group (FIG), is pulling out all the stops to make Saturday, March 15, a great day for the town, its citizens, and the many visitors they hope will show up to share in the fun.
In 2023, to honor the area’s farmers and other agricultural workers, FIG sponsored what proved to be a very popular Farmers’ Parade. Buoyed by that success, the organization planned an even bigger event last year. Unfortunately, Mother Nature nixed those plans, with inclement weather forcing a cancellation. But, while rain may have washed out last year’s celebration, it did nothing to dampen FIG’s enthusiasm, and the group has come back this year offering a full-on, family-friendly festival for all.
According to Faison Farmers’ Parade Chair Lissa Stempek, it’s an event that has been highly anticipated in the community. She reports that folks have been stopping in Brewer Ace Hardware, asking about it: “We haven’t heard anything, and it’s about time; are we having a parade? When is it going to be?”
The answer is a resounding yes, there will be a parade. It will step off at 11 a.m. on the 15th, with parade entrants beginning to line up at 10, at the corner of Main and Ellis streets. The official parade route is one mile long, running along West Main Street from the Faison Williams House, turning right at the Fire Department, and coming to an end at the Faison Farmers Market (the former Piggly Wiggly).
The Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Honor Guard will lead the parade, followed by a long list of participants — announced by Wild Hearts DJ — including the North Duplin High School Marching Band and, naturally, an array of farm equipment.
One particularly exciting addition this year will be the Sudan Dunn Clowns, decked out in garish get-ups as they boogie to upbeat tunes all along the parade route. “They get the crowd going,” Stempek says. “I think it’s going to be really, really great.”
But, as promised, the parade is only one part of the celebration. Main Street, from the intersection of Hwy. 403 and Hwy. 50 west of town to Hwy. 117 (Center St.) will be closed all day, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., to accommodate the day’s activities.
People are welcome to start congregating (parking is available on side streets) by 10 a.m. to check out the vendors and food trucks, and to claim a prime spot for parade-viewing.
A wide variety of foods will be available from six very different food trucks: Jessi’s Cones & Shakes, Big Ed’s Grill, Montana Macs Snacks, Yummy Hibachi, El Quelite, and Mama Kea’s.
Likewise, shopping opportunities will be varied, with the following vendors onsite: Cozy Hedge Hog Creations; Hearts Desire Soaps and Candles; Captain Hooks Designs; Biscuits, Books, and Blooms; Variety by Anna Lin; Blossom Designs; Coon and Fox Space Snacks; Snuggly Stitches; Coco’s Print Shop; GG Designs; and Walter Pottery. FIG will be selling t-shirts as a fundraiser.
Numerous local businesses and organizations will have a presence, offering information and/or services, including TreeHouse Foods, Griffin’s Property Maintenance, Goshen Medical Center (which will be doing blood pressure checks), and Clifton Seed Company (taking orders for seeds). Dancers from The Arts Company will perform.
Antique tractors will be displayed in the parking lots of the Faison Presbyterian and Baptist churches; these will be for viewing only.
FIG is also sponsoring a 50/50 raffle, with one-dollar tickets being sold in advance and also on the day of the event. With the purchase of a ticket, you become eligible to win the cash prize or one of many other prizes donated by local businesses.
Hoping to draw a large crowd, FIG is pushing to get the word out, even purchasing billboard space on Hwy. 117, thanks to a thousand-dollar grant from Duplin County Tourism.
Seven local fifth graders from North Duplin Elementary School created posters with artwork representative of farming, and copies of their drawings are being displayed in Main Street businesses, alongside flyers advertising the parade. The students’ original artwork will be displayed in the town’s history museum.
One week out from the event, on Saturday, March 8 at 10 a.m., volunteers will meet at 308 W. Main Street to walk the entire parade route, sprucing it up in advance of the big day. “People bring brooms and grabbers and dust pans and rakes,” notes Stempek. “We give ‘em garbage bags to take and off they go.” A street sweeper will then go through and do a final clean-up.
The Town of Faison will look its finest on the day of the big celebration. It’ll be filled with food, fun, and festivities. Won’t you come out and be a part of it?
For more information about the event or to purchase raffle tickets, go to the Faison Improvement Group’s Facebook page or email faisonimprovementgroup@gmail.com.
