ELLERBE — Ellerbe’s famous racing lawn mowers will zoom across the last finish line of the season Saturday, providing a noisy ending to Farmers Day festivities.

Gates at the Lions Club track — at 306 Millstone Road, Ellerbe — will open at 3 p.m. for racers who want to scope out the track, organizer Rex Crouch Jr. said Wednesday. Spectators will want to arrive by 6.

“You’ll see some of the fastest lawn mowers in the country,” said Crouch, just back from a competition in Alabama. “These things run 50 to 60 miles per hour. It’s like redneck NASCAR.”

Up for grabs Saturday will be the coveted “wheel and Barbie,” two tongue-in-check trophies comprising a metal wheel and a pink-shod, blond Barbie doll.

The night’s events also will include 50/50 drawings, children’s foot races at intermission and an array of food vendors. Admission cost is $5 for those 7 and older. Younger children may watch for free.

Racers also have been encouraged to join the lineup at the annual Farmers’ Day Parade at 11 a.m. Saturday. At 22, the parade is twice as old a tradition as the mower racing and kicks off Farm-City Week activities that will include honoring the farm families of the year at a celebratory lunch.

Those who want to ride or tow their mowers on trailers may line up at 10:15 a.m. or so, on Ballard Street near Ellerbe Middle School. They will join horses and buggies, antique tractors and fire trucks on the way downtown. The parade usually includes more than 100 units, according to organizer Amy Yaklin of the Farm Service Agency.

Downtown, a couple of dozen or so food and craft vendors will await the end of the parade behind Ellerbe Town Hall, at Second and Page streets.

The Town of Ellerbe, the Richmond County Cooperative Extension Service and the Richmond County Farm Service Agency coordinate Farm-City Week activities to highlight the presence of farmers in the community. At one time, city slickers didn’t know much about farm folk — and although that has changed, the celebrations continue.

This year’s theme is “Shake the Hand That Feeds You: Eat Local.”

“It’s for everybody in the county or anyone who wants to come,” Yaklin said. The celebration lets “people know that the farmers are here … and want to celebrate what they do” in the week before Thanksgiving.

A luncheon Monday will celebrate farmers and their local partners. During the luncheon, the Extension will announce the 2017 Family and Outstanding Conservation Farm Family of the Year.

Crews of cooks will be up at O’Dark:30, roasting a pig and preparing other meats for the meal in the parking lot of the Extension Service on Caroline Street in Rockingham.

Richmond County has 277 farms, according the N.C. Extension Service. That includes 17 fruit, nut and berry farms, and 19 melon, vegetable and potato farms. Other farmers raise livestock and other products.

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By Christine S. Carroll

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Reach Christine Carroll at 910-817-2673.