PLAINS, Ga. — Along Georgia Highway 45 leading into the hometown of the president from Plains, Jimmy Cater, N&K Food Mart is very popular.
Kiara Cromer is a regular.
“You don’t pass by and not see it. Even if you live here and have been here for years,” Cromer told Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen. Not so much the store, but what stands in front of it.
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It’s 13 feet tall, mostly yellow, and it has bright white teeth.
“They just come here all the time and they love to take a picture with the peanut,” store owner Nerjis Bhatti said.
Bhatti said her business gets a big boost from what’s known as The Smiling Peanut.
It’s made of hard foam.
It arrived during the 1976 campaign for the White House and has been in town ever since.
It is among the top 50 roadside attractions in the entire country.
Nerjis said she has always kind of liked it.
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She also treasures a couple of autographed photos of President and Mrs. Carter.
“He used to come in the store and eat at the restaurant,” Nerjis said.
Legend has it, former President Carter has never been that fond of The Smiling Peanut.
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He thinks the toothy grin is a bit much.
But not to Kiara Cromer.
She said when you’re from Plains, The Smiling Peanut is part of the family.
“It’s our mascot. Every festival we have, our peanut comes out. Everything that happens, our peanut is there,” Kiara said.
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