With passing of NC Rice Festival chair, event marches on to honor his legacy

A person instrumental to the efforts of the North Carolina Rice Festival in recent years has died, but officials with the Leland event are determined to ensure his legacy lives on.

George Beatty Jr., chair of the N.C. Rice Festival, died on Dec. 28, 2023, at age 85.

The N.C. Rice Festival is an annual event that brings families, visitors, educators, historians and residents to Leland to learn about and celebrate the area’s “rich and diverse cultural history of rice farming.”

Brunswick County produced 90% of the rice for the state in 1860 with around 40 rice plantations in the area. That history and how it relates to Gullah Geechee traditions and the enslavement of people who come from the rice-growing areas of Africa is largely unknown to locals in Leland, Navassa and Brunswick County.

Through the N.C. Rice Festival, Beatty hoped to educate by celebrating that history.

More: Leland event sheds light on Brunswick County's rice heritage

Kamili Anderson, publicity and promotions manager for the festival, said when she met Beatty in 2020, she was immediately impressed by his authenticity and commitment to his work.

“What drew me to George was that so much of what he’s about was focusing on bringing to light a culture that’s right within sight but it’s not really visible,” Anderson said.

Anderson also sits on the festival's board of directors.

In 2022, Beatty told the StarNews he agreed to be part of the N.C. Rice Festival because he wanted to help share the full history of Brunswick County’s rice-growing heritage.

“His legacy surely will extend beyond the Rice Festival,” Anderson said. “But the Rice Festival was a core project of his.”

Anderson said the 2024 N.C. Rice Festival is set to proceed as scheduled, with the team that Beatty built carrying the torch.

“He was a great leader, he put together a great team,” she said. “He wasn’t just an ‘idea’ man, he was an ‘idea’ and ‘build a foundation’ guy.”

Beatty’s vision and hope for the festival was that it would grow into a destination event for residents of the county and beyond. Each year, the festival is getting larger, Anderson said, and she expects Beatty’s hope will continue to be realized.

“We are fully intent on continuing to hold the Rice Festival and all the associated events that have kind of grown out of the Rice Festival,” Anderson said.

The 2024 festival is set to include four events at four locations from Feb. 28 to March 2.

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“[Beatty] was really instrumental in terms of fundraising and bringing folks together to help with this project and others,” Anderson said.

In addition to the N.C. Rice Festival, Beatty was also involved in other historic preservation projects and events in northern Brunswick County, including the Reaves Chapel restoration project.

“His loss is going to be felt,” Anderson said. “It’s going to be up to us to carry on that legacy.”

Jamey Cross covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on Twitter/X @jameybcross

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: In Brunswick County, NC Rice Festival chair George Beatty Jr. dies