ELLERBE — Jim Lambeth will lead the annual Farmer’s Day Parade this year as the grand marshal, kicking off Farm-City Week.
Lambeth, of Derby, officially retired from farming in 2023 after spending his entire life in agriculture.
Joined by his twin brother, Joe, and father, Mike, Lambeth formed Triple L Farms in 1977, with operations over the years in tobacco, peaches, pine straw and poultry, in addition to the produce sold at the stand.
Both Joe and Jim Lambeth attended N.C. State University at the same time as current state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, with Jim working a year in the forest industry before returning to the farm.
Triple L was named Richmond County’s Farm of the Year in 2019.
He was first appointed as a poultry representative to the N.C. Board of Agriculture in 2016 and is currently serving his second term.
In addition to being a farmer, Lambeth was also a charter member of the Derby Fire Department in 1983.
RO file photo
The parade, a collaboration between the Farm-City Week Planning Committee — which includes representatives of the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil and Water Conservation District and the Cooperative Extension — and the town of Ellerbe, often features a variety of classic and modern tractors rolling down Main Street the weekend before Thanksgiving.
The Farmers Day Parade is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 22 at 11 a.m., with the line-up starting an hour before.
Following the parade, there will be a tractor meet-and-greet behind Food King as well as 50 craft vendors and nonprofit food booths set up around Town Hall.
The annual Farmers Appreciation Luncheon will be at noon the following Monday, Nov. 24, at Millstone 4-H Camp.
Hamlet-area chicken farmer Rusty Williamson has been selected as Farmer of the Year, and Richmond County Chamber of Commerce President Kristi King is the guest speaker.
While the parade has traditionally served as the start of Farm-City week, this year’s kick-off is Friday, Nov. 14, with a free concert by the Luke Vuncannon Band at Camp Millstone.
The show runs from 7-9 p.m. and the event includes two food trucks: Fatman’s Kitchen and La Suerte.
