Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Forest Festival promoters announce schedule

The schedule for the Saturday, Oct. 29 Gurdon Forest Festival has been finalized, other than to announce the musical line up for the main stage.

According to Tambra Childres, treasurer and recorder for Gurdon and assistant coordinator of the 25th Annual Forest Festival (Billy Wells, coordinator), this years event will begin at 7 a.m. with a two-hour Rotary Club pancake breakfast at the Senior Adult Center, Fifth and Main Streets.

Also at 7 a.m., there will be a Chili Cook-off registration with the Clark County Cattlemans Association, under the U.S. Bank drive thru on Main Street.

At 8 a.m., the arts and crafts booths will open; 9 a.m., antique car show registration in the First State Bank parking lot; the Softball Home-run Derby at Cabe Field; the parade line-up at the old Bell Middle School; and a Skeet Shoot at the Gurdon Airport.

The Forest Festival Parade will be at 10 a.m., with the Hawkins Family taking Center Stage on Main Street at 10:30 a.m. and music on stage to be announced at 11 and 11:30 a.m.

At noon, Mayor Clayton Franklin will take the Center Stage to give the grand opening welcome. There will be announcements and speeches, introduction of Festival Royalty and Hoo Hoo guests. Then there will be chili sampling and judging.

At 12:15 p.m., the Double Dog Dare hot dog eating contest will take place in front of Center Stage (just in front of Austins Variety Store again this year), and at 12:45 p.m., there will be a Sawdust Scramble for Cash, for ages 8 and under, beside Kuhns Hardware.

At 1 p.m., there will be a professional Logging Show and Competition, also next to Kuhns Hardware. It will feature: underhand chopping, stock chainsaw, double buck crosscut saw, standing block chop, axe throw, super modified chainsaw and springboard chopping.

From 1:30 until 3 p.m., more music to be announced will take Center Stage.

At 3 p.m., there will be a Horseshoe Tournament, beside Quick-Tax #3, and then a Halloween Costume Contest at Center Stage on Main Street. This will be followed by a Canine Halloween Costume Contest, also on the Main Street Center Stage.

At 4 p.m., that Center Stage will be the site of the CD&E Club auction.

From 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., the live music will return, with Terry LeMay in charge.

At 7 p.m., the stage will be the source of a D.J., who will provide music for an Oldies and Country and Western Street Dance.

But that is not all, this year, the traditional festival street dance will be followed at 9:30 p.m. with a Hip-Hop Street Dance, also using music provided by the D.J. This will finish at 11:30 p.m., when Forest Festival number 25 will end.

In addition, special attractions this year will include: a pie baking contest, sponsored by the Clark County Home Extension Club; a Jack-O-Lantern Decorating Contest, sponsored by the Clark County Farm Bureau Ladies Association; a Pretty Baby Contest by Leahs Photography; a Greased Pig Chase by Steven Pennington; and a Three-on-Three Basketball Tournament by Corey Brown and Mike Mckenzie.

Details and rules of individual events will be published in the Gurdon Times before the festival.

For more festival information, contact Billy Wells, at the Main Street Florist; (870) 353-4335.

Restrooms for the festival will be at Faith Mission, on Second Street near the post office, and the Old Bills Dollar Store, corner of Main and Second Streets, across from Kuhns Hardware.