The South Carolina Peach Festival has been in a dormant state for much of the fall while elections and festival finances preoccupied board members.

Festival board chairman Merv Bishop was elected county auditor and board member Dennis Fowler was elected county coroner in November. Another board member, Bobby Beattie, was unsuccessful in a campaign for the state House District 30 seat held by longtime incumbent Olin Phillips.

A larger issue for the South Carolina Peach Festival involves successfully regrouping after posting a $28,000 loss on its year-end financial statement in 2005. The results were mixed this summer with severe thunderstorms cutting short the festival's signature Peach Beach 30th anniversary concert event and large crowds embracing the board's decision to hold a Peach Day in downtown Gaffney in July.

Accountant Jim Cudd will present festival board members with a financial report on this year's festival profits in mid-December, Bishop said. Cudd has spent the past couple of months reviewing the festival's books after collecting outstanding sponsorship revenue and ticket sales.

The festival has spent more than $55,000 over the past three years to develop the Orchard Park site. The festival signed a 20-year lease on the property in 2002 after being asked by the Gaffney Board of Public Works to relocate from its Lake Whelchel concert site.

The festival held a 2-day tractor pull and mud bog at Orchard Park in July. After the festival had multiple concerts in recent summers, a 30th anniversary Peach Beach concert was the only concert held by the festival in 2006.

"We wanted to make this year's festival more community oriented and hold more events in downtown Gaffney to provide a more festivaltype atmosphere," Bishop said. "The weather let us down when it came to Peach Beach, but we were pleased with how the other events went. We won't know how we did financially with this year's festival until our accountants present the yearend financial statement."

After receiving the financial report, Bishop said board members will begin making plans for the 2007 festival.