Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

It's Here! Chicken And Egg Festival Starts Friday

It's show time, folks.

The 13th Annual Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce Chicken and Egg Festival starts Friday, June 2, and runs through Saturday, June 3 at the Prescott City Park.

Mary Godwin, Chamber director, said the festival T-shirts are still available and can be purchased at the Chamber office.

Once again the festival will kick off Friday evening with the Rotary Club's Chicken in the Rough dinner.

This will be held at 5 p.m. in the pavilion with a menu featuring grilled chicken and roasted corn on the cob. Tickets can be purchased from any member of the Rotary Club or at the event.

Normally, the Kiwanis Club has an omelet breakfast the Saturday morning of the festival. This year will be different as the Kiwanians will offer an old time country breakfast.

Godwin said this breakfast will include eggs, biscuit, sausage and bacon, but the entire fare hasn't been set yet. This event will be held from 7:30 until 9:30 a.m., also at the pavilion.

The boys 3-on-3 Coop Hoop basketball tournament will take place Friday, starting at 5 p.m., with the men's version to begin at 8 a.m. Saturday.

Entry fees for boys teams will be $30 in three divisions, 12 and under, 13-14, and 15-17. Winning teams will receive coop-hoop T-shirts and trophies.

There will be one division in the men's contest, for teams 18 and up. The entry fee for this is $60 per team. The winners in this event will get $250, with the runner up earning $100.

Deadline to enter is May 31.

Once again the chicken or egg cooking contest will be held. Details on this event can be obtained from Candace Carriere' at the Nevada County Extension Office at 887-2818.

Also on Friday, the annual variety show will be held on the festival stage. Godwin said some of the acts include Eric Shipp, who performed at the Chamber Banquet earlier this year, Whitney Lowdermilk, Maci Glass, Tara and Jeff Carlton, Jordan Jackson and Angie's School of Dance, along with Misty Holly, who will act as emcee.

Rules and regulations for the men's and women's softball tournament will be the same as they were last year.

The entry fee is $100 per team, with deadline for entering Wednesday, May 31.

This is a double-elimination tourney, with a three home run limit per game. Women's teams must use MSP47 balls, while the men must use red lace MSP47 balls.

The men's tourney is limited to the first 16 teams to enter, and no spiked shoes will be allowed. There is a five home run limit per team per game for the men.

The fun begins early Saturday with the 5k run/walk, which starts at 8 a.m. It will be followed at 9 a.m. by the annual Children's Chicken Chase.

These runs will follow the same routes they have in years past.

The entry fee for the 5k race will be $12 in advance and $15 the day of the race.

For the chick chasers event the entry fee is $5.

All age groups will receive awards for the top three places, unless otherwise noted. T-shirts will be given to the first 80 entrants.

The Serving Something Eggstra tennis tourney is open to singles, doubles and mixed doubles for adults. There will also be contests for those 15-18, 11-14 and 10 and under.

Entry fee for the tourney is $15 for singles and $25 for doubles. For more information about the event, contact Betty Jo Hampton at 887-2809, or the Chamber at 887-2101.

Deadline for entering the tennis tourney is May 30.

Those wanting to show their strength can enter the Cock of the Walk Weightlifting Contest. Registration will be Saturday, June 3, at 10 a.m., with an entry fee of $5.

There will be four men's divisions, 150 and below, 151-180, 181-210 and 211 and up. For the first time there will be women lifting in two different categories, 140 and below and 141 and above.

Other events at the festival will include the antique car show and balloon liftoff.Something new will be added this year, Godwin said, in the form of a remote control car and truck contest.

Booie Williams, who is heading the remote control event, said there will be two courses, one at the new revenue office and the other behind Alliance Insurance. The races will be Saturday at 11 a.m.

The course at the revenue office will be used for speed and maneuverability around pylons. There will be two divisions, for vehicles controlled by gas engines and those battery powered vehicles.

The course behind the revenue office will be a head-to-head race around obstacles, with the drivers competing until only two are left for the finals.

The other course is for "off-road" vehicles, with the same rules applying otherwise. Entrants will run their vehicles through a "bog" filled with water and mud, trying to make the best time with the fewest problems.

Prizes for this, according to Godwin, will be trophies for the top three finishers in the battery powered RC division, and for first place in the gas powered division

For the second year in a row, a horseshoe pitching contest will be held. The horseshoe tourney will be held at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

A mini-carnival will also be on site, she said, featuring a giant slide, moon walk, air tunnel, along with basketball and balloon games.

The festival will again have the train ride and pony rides this year.

Youngsters can have fun spending their Saturday in the Chickie Pen. There they can participate in coloring contests, chick pick-up-in-a-pond, chicken dig, find-the-egg-in-a-haystack and ring toss game.

At 9:30 a.m. Saturday will be the balloon liftoff. Participants will release their helium-filled balloons into the winds, with the winner, being the first person to have their balloon found, getting a festival T-shirt.

Everybody's favorite game, the Golden Egg Hunt, will start at 10 a.m. with clues to the egg's location being given from the festival stage. This year, Godwin said, the egg will be hidden somewhere inside the park. Whoever finds this golden orb will take home a cool $100.

At 10:15 a.m. the egg toss and hula hoop contests will take place, with the cackling-crowing contest to be held at noon.

At 2 p.m., Godwin said, the Little Mister Rooster and Little Miss Hen pageants will be held on the festival stage. Dot Daniel is the chair of this event and can be reached at 887-2834.

Along with all these festivities there will be plenty of food vendors, dispensing nourishment to those on hand. There will also be plenty of arts and craft booths, with some commercial booths on hand as well.

Godwin also reminds county residents May is Pickup Arkansas Month.

This is a statewide program encouraging individuals, businesses, industries and service groups to pitch in and help clean the state up of litter.

Letters have been sent locally, she said, to those who have adopted a mile asking them to pick up their area this month.

Anyone interested in helping out can pick up garbage bags by going by the Chamber office.