The Contagious Blues Band will hit the stage Friday at 7 p.m. for a street dance to kick off the first weekend of the South Carolina Peach Festival.

Formed in 1999, the Contagious Blues Band has traveled the Southeast traveled the Southeast sharing the stage with a diverse group of performers such as ZZ Top, Ted Nugent and Hank Williams Jr. The band will perform for a couple of hours in downtown Blacksburg.

The festival will follow the street dance with a full slate of activities Saturday. New events include a chicken wing cooking contest and an event billed as “the county’s largest yard sale.”

A total of 85 people have already pre-registered for spots to sell used goods in the yard sale from 6 a.m. until noon. There is no charge for nonprofit organizations wishing to participate.

“We’ve had a lot of people pre-register to participate in the yard sale. They just haven’t paid yet,” festival vice chairman Dennis Stroupe said. “We still have some additional spots available for the yard sale. Anyone who needs to pay or is interested in securing a space needs to come see me Saturday.”

Stroupe is overseeing the weekend events in Blacksburg. He is particularly curious to see how a chicken wing cooking contest will go over.

Chefs are invited to bring their grills and prepare their own chicken wing recipes in the cooking contest from noon until 2 p.m. in front of Iron City Place in Blacksburg.

Entries can be any style of chicken wings, ranging from teriyaki and barbecue to the hot and spicy wings aimed at setting judges’ mouths on fire.

The entry fee is $40 and does not include the chicken wings, which Stroupe said must be provided by the cooks. The deadline to sign up is Saturday at 10 a.m.

“We have received some interest in the chicken wing cooking contest,” Stroupe said. “We hope there will be a variety of different styles of wings in the contest.”

Additional festival activities on Saturday in the Iron City Place include a pageant, a motorcycle ride, magic show and a screening of the movie “Facing the Giants.” More information is available in today’s special section included in this edition or on the festival’s Web site at www.scpeachfestival.org.