It may have been hot, but that didn't stop all of the Crenshaw County Shrine Club members and all of the volunteers from standing over boiling vats of peanuts, loading the peanuts into the bags, or from standing long periods of time selling the bags of boiled peanuts to the vast number of people waiting to buy them.

The &#8220World's Largest Peanut Boil” ran through Labor Day, and according to Charles Gorey, 2006 President of the Crenshaw County Shrine Club, everything had &#8220gone great.”

As of last Friday, Gorey said that they were able to keep up with the demand for the peanuts.

&#8220Actually, this is the fourth boiling for today,” he added.

Gorey said that they had several volunteers to sign up so that all shifts could be covered.

&#8220Some volunteers signed up to work almost every day,” Gorey said. &#8220Plus, we really appreciate all of the Shriners' wives who have come out to help, too.”

This year's boil started out with a little over eight tons of peanuts. Gorey said that the work began around 5:30 a.m. and lasted &#8220'til we can't go anymore,” he said laughing.

He specifically wanted to thank everyone who helped with this year's peanut boil.

&#8220We can't say ‘thank you' enough to all of the Shrine club members, their wives, and to all of the volunteers who donated their time this weekend,” Gorey said. &#8220Plus, we owe a big thanks to all of the businesses who donated their supplies to the peanut boil to help make it a success, as well.”

All proceeds from the peanut boil will go toward paying the transportation costs of burned children and for children with orthopedic needs, from ages 0 to 18, free of charge, to designated hospitals. The Shriners also use the proceeds from the peanut boil to help pay for the parents' room and board at motels that are near the hospitals where their children have been admitted.

The Crenshaw County Shrine Club is a part of the Alcazar Shrine Temple of Montgomery.

The annual peanut boil was the brainchild of the late W. E. Granger, when in a quarterly meeting of the Shriners in Montgomery in July of 1975, he suggested that a peanut sale should be held to add funds to the Shriners' Hospital Transportation Fund which was depleted at that time.

Mr. Granger returned to Luverne, and, after a couple of meetings with 15 other Shriners, plans were made to have a peanut sale on Labor Day weekend.

Granger was one of the charter members of the Crenshaw County Shrine Club.

This year's peanut boil was specifically dedicated to all of the Crenshaw County Shrine Club charter members who first formed and organized the club on April 28, 1976.