NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Director Bomar serves as the Grand Marshal of the Peanut Festival Parade along with Superintendent Ingram.

The Plains Peanut Festival is the place to be on the fourth Saturday of September each year. It is a true celebration of history, culture and rural life.

Each year, the town of Plains invites corporations, small businesses, vendors and locals to join in the celebration and the National Park Service is delighted to be a key partner in this event.

This year, Jimmy Carter National Historic Site was pleased to host the director of the National Park Service, Mary Bomar. On Friday, Director Bomar was welcomed with southern hospitality befitting a southern president. She attended a meet and greet session in the Plains High School, where she addressed employees from Jimmy Carter and Andersonville National Historic Sites.

Director Bomar started with a brief personal history of her life and career in the NPS. She told the staff, “I am passionate about people, I am passionate about parks and I always have been.” She called the smaller national parks “gold nuggets.” Commenting on her own career, she said that “nothing is finer than public service."

Director Bomar enjoyed her time with President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Carter while attending a community play at Plains High School, headquarters for the Jimmy Carter NHS. On Saturday, Director Bomar enjoyed a full day with President Carter, accompanying him to a private breakfast, then handing awards to children who competed with 16,000 others to win a post card drawing depicting President Carter and the historic town of Plains. Director Bomar was given the honor of Grand Marshall of the Plains Peanut Festival Parade. Her pleasant English accent only added to her appeal.

Jimmy Carter National Historic Site not only tells the story of a President, but it dedicates itself to a time long past, a simpler period in American history. Not only does the park boast a 17-acre farm that happens to be where a former president, Jimmy Carter, was raised, but also the home where President and Mrs. Carter reside today.

Director Bomar also toured Plains High School. This school not only has the honor of producing a past president, it also has the distinction of being named the "State School of Georgia." Plains High School, like the boyhood farm, is a place frozen in time. Director Bomar was able to step into an old-fashioned classroom and experience what it was like to attend class in the 1930’s.