Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Foreset Festival will have carnival, booth sign-up already tops 100

The 24th Annual Gurdon Forrest Festival will take place on Saturday, Oct. 30, with more than 100 booths already signed up and the carnival coming after all.

The festival, sponsored by the Community Development and Entertainment Club (CD&E), is chaired by Billy Wells. Paul Shaver is co-organizer.

Wells said booths are available for rental until the day of the event. His flower shop is located at Coon's Hardware and those interested should stop by.

"This is my fourth year to be the organizer," Wells said. "Paul is in it with me. Freddie Horn did it 19 years and then moved.

"We will have entertainment from 9 a.m. on that day, with a bandstand stage on Main Street, in front of Austin's Variety Store."

According to Wells, there is room for 200 or more booths and he encourages everyone to get one. Terry LeMay, he said, is in charge of this year's entertainment.

"We will have a street dance that night, with the Marlin Harper band playing," Wells said.

The band, "Straight Country," has performed at various functions throughout this part of Arkansas.

The big morning event on festival day is the parade. Jerry Don Childres and Joe Ann Shaver will head up the parade effort.

Wells said the line-up will be at 9 a.m. for the 10 a.m. parade, with participants expected to be at the Old Bell High School, on 5th Street. They will turn at the Southern Grocery, come up Main Street to the Sonic and turn right and go to Walnut Street, then they will flow up by the Methodist Church and down 2nd Street by the Gurdon Times, then they will end up by the Post Office.

"We have nine food booths signed up so far," Wells said. "The first food deal is the Rotary Pancake Breakfast at 8 a.m. in the Senior Adult Center. The Methodist Church will serve soup and desert for lunch."

Wells said the carnival, from Mokies in Little Rock, will be set up for the children of all ages. Max Brown, he said, will have a motorcycle show.

Booths are usually set in place about 6 a.m. on the Saturday of the festival. Churches will have floats. Wells said Red Springs Missionary Baptist, the Methodist Church and International Paper (IP) usually have a float.

More details about the upcoming festival will be published in the next couple of issues. Anyone with a favorite photo from Forest Festivals gone by is encouraged to bring it to the Gurdon Times for publishing.