Suffolk’s “Silent Dinner” group plans one of its twice-monthly dinners at the Peanut Festival and invites anyone to join them to learn more about sign language and deaf culture.

The group meets up regularly at Suffolk restaurants to enjoy one another’s company and for those less proficient in American Sign Language to practice. But they decided to hold a silent dinner at the festival to get more people involved.

Audra Foster, a Zuni resident who has been deaf nearly her entire life, said she hopes the outcome of the festival outreach will be that “people won’t be so afraid to try to communicate with someone who is deaf.”

Deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing people are welcome at the silent dinners. Family members of someone who is deaf, American Sign Language students, sign language interpreters and anyone else are also invited.

Foster doesn’t know if she was born deaf and does not know what caused her to lose her hearing. When Foster was 1, her mother took her to the doctor after growing frustrated with her daughter turning the television up to maximum volume. That’s when she discovered her daughter’s condition.

As a youngster, Foster developed her own sign language — kicking the cabinet if she wanted food in there, for instance. Her first sentence was “cookie and ball.”

When hearing aids didn’t work, she had a cochlear implant. She was in a school for the deaf for one year then went back to public school.

Rita Simpkins is a Suffolk resident who is profoundly deaf and has been since birth. She attended West Virginia School for the Deaf and graduated at 19. She also attends the silent dinners regularly.

At the Peanut Festival silent dinner, there will be games, door prizes and information about deaf culture. Foster said she hopes to increase the participation of the group in future Peanut Festivals, for example by having interpreters on stage during the concerts, signing lyrics to the songs.

“It will get bigger,” she said.

The Peanut Festival silent dinner will take place on Saturday, Oct. 10, in the family area in the tent beside the small stage beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Regular silent dinners take place on the second Saturday of the month at Chick-fil-A North Main Street and on the fourth Saturday at Cazadores. Changes in the schedule are posted on the Suffolk Silent Dinners Facebook page.