Get a little nutty at the Suffolk Peanut Festival

Corn stalks are drying in the field, pumpkins are stacked in roadside stands, and a nip of autumn chill is in the air. That means that it must be time for Suffolk's Peanut Festival.

The city's biggest party of the year kicks off with the annual Ruritan Shrimp Feast on Thursday afternoon. Although it's not technically part of the festival, the all-you-can-eat, drink and dance event has garnered its own following of party people across Hampton Roads, as well as Suffolk. As the club's biggest fundraiser, the event has injected thousands of dollars back into the community through Ruritan projects.

The Peanut Festival opens at 2 p.m. Thursday and runs to 7 p.m. on Sunday, which equates to four days of amusement rides, festival food, free concerts, commercial and arts and crafts exhibitors and a host of special events, such as the demolition derby, truck and tractor pulls, horseshoe competitions, a motorcycle run and peanut cook-offs.

For the veteran festivalgoer - or the new comer - we've listed some of the perhaps unexpected festival highlights, as well as a quick quiz to measure your familiarity with the festival and Suffolk's signature crop, the peanut.

Cub Cadet NASCAR simulator

Do you have what it takes to take the checkered flag? Find out by taking a few laps on the NASCAR Racing Simulator presented by Cub Cadet Racing. Go head-to-head with your favorite NASCAR drivers and bumper-to-bumper against three of your closest friends - all at simulated racing speeds of over 200 mph. The NASCAR Racing Simulator is presented by Cub Cadet, a NASCAR sponsor.

A flea circus

Forget the jokes about the fleas in the flea circus running away to join a dog. The fleas are still with Jim Alberti who has revived the venerable art of the flea circus, as practiced by his grandfather and great-grandfather. He's bringing his talented troupe of performing fleas to the Peanut Festival.

Are there really fleas in a flea circus? According to Alberti, if you can't see them you just need to look a bit closer.

Along with the circus, Alberti, who's based in Winston-Salem, N.C., will bring his strolling street organ, sometimes known as a hurdy-gurdy. The English built, hand-painted 20 pipe box organ has a repertoire of over 60 songs - lilting melodies reminiscent of a Good Humor truck, that could possibly prompt an urge for ice cream.

Free skin cancer screenings

Dr. Craig Merrell of Plastic Surgery Associates in Suffolk is offering free screenings to anyone interested.

It could be one of the most important stops you make on your tour of Peanut Festival, especially if you're one of the 10 percent of those screened that may have cause to see their own physician for further attention, according to Merrell.

The ramblin' man Dickey Betts.

If the name Dickey Betts escapes you, think of The Allman Brothers, the iconic Southern Rock Band. Betts was an original member with Duane and Gregg Allman, who added his distinctive guitar licks to "Ramblin' Man," his composition that became one of the group's signature songs.

Betts was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame with the Allman Brothers Band in 1995, then left to form Great Southern, the band that will appear with him on Saturday on the main stage at 7 p.m. In the family tradition, the lead guitar player is Betts' son, Duane Betts, who grew up on the road with the Allman Brothers Band.

Diabetic funnel cakes and lemonade

At last, those who are sugar sensitive or just watching their weight can feast, too.

Wensil Concessions are bringing the lighter goodies from their home base in China Grove, N.C. But if your sweet tooth is incurable, don't despair, the same concession will also have fried Oreos, fried candy bars and the ultimate guilty pleasure - fried Twinkies.

The Rad Hatter

This creative arts company will show children and adults how to turn creative recycling into high-style party hats made from handpainted paper grocery bags, ribbon, glitter, feathers, beads and other recycled items.

Simply choose a Rad Bag basic hat bag and then add the embellishments with Rad Hatter Tony Melendez's coaching.