The first chapter in 2014’s Crafted by Southern Hands event series will bring The Peach Truck and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams to Warehouse Row for a peach-themed celebration on Saturday, June 28, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The distinctly Southern event will feature delectably fresh, hand-picked Georgia peaches and a variety of peach themed food and drink for youth and adults alike, with live music and pony rides on the Warehouse Row lawn.
The story of The Peach Truck begins in 2010 with a pair of newlyweds and their love story.
Southern gent Stephen Rose, who grew up amongst the peach orchards of South Georgia, wanted to share his love of fresh peaches with his northern bride, Jessica. Shortly after moving to Nashville, the two found themselves facing a “peach problem,” upon realizing that tree-ripened, handpicked Georgia peaches were a hard find in Middle Tennessee. In a voracious effort to spread their love for these peaches with the country, Stephen and Jessica Rose traded their car for a 1964 Jeep Gladiator, started selling the intoxicating fresh fruit by the bagful and the rest is history.
During the peak season, which begins in late-June and ends in early-August, The Peach Truck sets out on its Small Town Tour, a farm-to-porch initiative that strives to bring one of the South’s simplest summer pleasures to the masses, making “the best peaches you’ll ever have” available in Tennessee (including Cleveland, Ooltewah and East Ridge on Monday, June 30), Kentucky and Ohio. Stopping in Chattanooga for one day only, their peaches are grown on the fifth-generation Pearson’s Farm in Crawford County, Georgia, where they ripen naturally on the tree before they are carefully inspected, handpicked, and loaded onto the truck. The southeastern Tennessee leg of their tour will conclude at Warehouse Row at the first Crafted by Southern Hands event of the season.
“Every time my wife and I visit Chattanooga, we feel a natural connection to the city and recognize the effort being made by the community to connect with the outdoors and source local and regional food,” said Stephen Rose, owner of The Peach Truck. “It is a natural fit to bring The Peach Truck since many of our business practices coincide with the initiatives Chattanooga has worked to instill. Of course, we love a great Southern celebration, too.”
Parked alongside The Peach Truck will be Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, which opened its first Tennessee ice cream shop in Nashville in 2011. Jeni’s has since expanded, serving their ice creams in six cities nationwide with a total of 12 scoop shop locations. Jeni Bauer and her skillful team of artisans, growers and producers take pride in each step of creating the ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt from the ground up with grass-grazed milk, local produce, American bean-to-bar chocolate and select ingredients from around the world. For this Crafted by Southern Hands event, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams will collaborate with The Peach Truck in churning up a specialty peach flavored ice cream.
The sweet celebration continues with other locally made peach delectables, including peach cocktails and snacks to relish amidst a fun-filled afternoon for all ages with live music, pony rides and more.
“Crafted by Southern Hands endeavors to identify regionally crafted products and the storied traditions that live behind them,” said George Krauth, vice president and creative director of Jamestown, the company that owns Warehouse Row. “This year’s program will again bring a range of noteworthy artisans to the property.”
The Peach Truck visit is the first in Warehouse Row’s annual Crafted by Southern Hands summer event series.