STOCKTON, Ala. — Baldwin County’s agricultural heritage takes center stage Saturday, Oct. 3, when the annual Olde Time Days Festival returns to Bicentennial Park.
Hosted by the Baldwin County Commission’s Department of Archives and History, the family-friendly festival runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 51233 State Highway 225 in Stockton, about 1.5 miles north of Interstate 65.
Admission to the park is free. Donations are welcomed and appreciated.
This Year’s Theme
The 2026 theme is “Harvesting Our Farming Heritage,” celebrating the farmers and traditions that shaped Baldwin County communities and continue to sustain them.
Working Demonstrations
Visitors can watch demonstrations of traditional farming techniques, including plowing, peanut threshing and hay baling.
Peanut threshing is the demonstration most specific to this part of Alabama. The peanut — grown extensively across south Alabama — requires separating the pods from the vines after harvest, work that was done for generations with stationary threshing machines driven by belt from a tractor or stationary engine. Watching one run is a lesson in how much labor mechanization replaced, and in how much noise and coordination the replacement required.
Plowing and hay baling demonstrations serve the same purpose. They show equipment that is largely out of production doing the work it was built for, which is something a museum display of the same machine cannot convey.
The Cruise-In and the Parade
The popular cruise-in antique car and tractor show returns, along with the festival parade at noon.
Antique tractor shows have a following of their own in rural Alabama. The machines are restored by owners who frequently learned on them, and a tractor line at a heritage festival typically spans several decades of agricultural engineering, arranged by people who can explain exactly what each one changed.
Live Music
Entertainment throughout the day features The Chestangs, the Unknown Bluegrass Band and the Path to Peace Choir.
The lineup spans three distinct Southern musical traditions — string band and bluegrass, gospel choir, and a family group — which is a fitting arrangement for a festival about heritage.
For Children
The children’s offerings are substantial:
- A carnival
- Giant slides
- Uncle Joe’s Rolling Petting Zoo
- Train and trolley rides
- Face painting
- Balloon art
- Kona Ice
- Games and more
Food and Vendors
Local vendors will offer a variety of goods, and festival-goers can enjoy Southern-style food, sweet treats and refreshing beverages.
One important practical note: cash is required for vendor and food purchases. Visitors should plan accordingly — a card is of no use at the food line.
Bicentennial Park and Stockton
Bicentennial Park sits on State Highway 225 in Stockton, in the northern part of Baldwin County — a considerable distance, culturally and geographically, from the beach communities most visitors associate with the county.
North Baldwin is rural. Its economy has historically run on timber and agriculture, and the Tensaw River delta country nearby is among the most ecologically significant landscapes in the state. Stockton itself is a small unincorporated community with a history that predates Alabama statehood.
Holding a farming heritage festival there rather than in the fast-growing southern end of the county situates it where the heritage actually lives.
Why a County Archives Department Runs a Festival
The Baldwin County Department of Archives and History is the agency that preserves the county’s records and historical materials. Hosting a public festival is an extension of that work rather than a departure from it.
Archives preserve documents. A festival preserves practice — the operation of equipment, the sequence of tasks, the knowledge that lives in the hands of people who did the work. That kind of knowledge is not stored in a filing cabinet, and it disappears when the last people who hold it stop demonstrating it.
Baldwin County is among the fastest-growing counties in Alabama, with a large share of its current population having arrived within the past two decades. For those residents, a heritage festival is an introduction to the county that existed before the growth.
If You Go
What: Olde Time Days Festival, “Harvesting Our Farming Heritage”
When: Saturday, Oct. 3, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; parade at noon
Where: Bicentennial Park, 51233 State Highway 225, Stockton (about 1.5 miles north of I-65)
Cost: Free admission; donations welcomed
Important: Cash only for vendor and food purchases
Information: Baldwin County Department of Archives and History, (251) 580-2572