Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Festival nearing

October is festival month in Clark County and on October 27, Main Street in Gurdon will be transformed into a midway of artistic displays, games, rides, food booths, contests, commercial displays and fun for everyone.

All this excitement will be going on as bands and entertainers perform on the main bandstand.

The 18th Annual Gurdon Forest Festival, sponsored by the Gurdon Community Development and Entertainment Club, has booked more than 110 arts and crafts booths and food vendors for the special occasion, according to Billy Wells, festival coordinator.

The festival will officially open Saturday morning at 7 a.m. when organizers and local police will block off the downtown area of Gurdon.

In the early hours the Rotary Club will sponsor a pancake breakfast at the Senior Adult Center while artisans, retailers, politicians and entertainers set up their wares and equipment in the arts and crafts areas.

Parade participants will line up for the opening parade at 10 a.m.

The Grand Opening Ceremony is scheduled for noon. Special guests, royalty and politicians will be introduced.

Special events of the day include an antique and classic car show, 3-on-3 basketball, log sawing, softball tournament, carnival rides, Halloween costume contest, street dance and a 5-K run.

The festival originally began as a Centennial celebration for the city of Gurdon in 1980. The reaction was so favorable the community decided to have a festival each year. The annual event has grown from a handful of arts and crafts booths to one of the finest and largest small town trade shows in south Arkansas.

Attendance has reached as high as 6,000 and a large crowd is expected again this year. Each year the show attracts vendors from the Ark-La-Tex area and has participants from as far away as California.

Special homecomings and class reunions have been planned for several families and graduating classes to coincide with the festival.

The Gurdon Forest Festival is a fund raising project for the Gurdon Community Development Club, a non-profit organization. Funds from the event go to support the C.D.&E. College Scholarship Fund, delegates of Boys State and Girls State, the Gurdon School Band program, the Senior Adult Center, the Gurdon Close Up program and other projects that help promote community development and entertainment.

The C.D.&E. Club or it's members will not be responsible for accidents that may occur during this public event.

For more information about the Gurdon Forest Festival contact Billy Wells, coordinator, at (870) 353-4335.

Remember "The Last Saturday in October."