Tables will be filled July 15 with scrumptious peach desserts on the Chamber of Commerce front porch as the annual dessert contest, one of the oldest and most popular events during the S.C. Peach Festival, begins another round of competition. Local cooks are invited to create their tastiest peach desserts for a contest kicking off the final weekend of the South Carolina Peach Festival.

Judging of the dessert contest will begin Thursday, July 15, at 10 a.m. as part of a kickoff party outside the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce in downtown Gaffney. All the judges will be from the culinary field.

The dessert contest is a festival event directly tied to the county’s peach crop.

One of the ingredients in each dessert in the contest must contain peaches, whether fresh, frozen, dried or canned.

Desserts must be brought to the Chamber of Commerce by 9 a.m. The contest is limited to the first 25 entries.

This is the first year Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kayla Robbs has been involved with organizing the dessert contest. She is looking forward to seeing the entries brought in by local cooks.

“I have always loved peaches,” Robbs said. “hope to get a chance to sample the desserts myself, even though I’m not one of the judges.”

The dessert contest is sponsored this year by Abbott Farms, Interim Health Care and the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce.

Recipes must be typed or neatly written and accompany dessert entries.

The first-place winner will take home $250 while the second-place winner gets $100. The third-place winner receives $50.

Dessert entries will be judged on taste, ease of preparation, simplicity, and appearance. There is a limit of one entry per household.

The dessert contest is part of the annual Peach Festival kickoff party hosted July 15 by the Chamber of Commerce. This year’s event will be held from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The Chamber of Commerce is working with Hames Music to schedule live music for the event, Robbs said. A vendor will provide a hot dog lunch while WZZQ radio station will do a live remote broadcast from the event.

The kickoff party will serve as the Chamber’s monthly Business After Hours event for July.

“We look forward at the Chamber of Commerce to hosting this festival event,” Robbs said. “We hope to see a lot of people come out to enjoy the kickoff party.”