By LANA CLIFTON
On Saturday, Sept. 26, the Bryant Area Chamber of Commerce will host its 22nd annual Fall Fest at Mills Park in Bryant. The event will begin at 8 a.m. and will last until 4 p.m. Fall Fest participants will be able to engage in a variety of family friendly events, activities and contests and will be entertained by dance and cheer exhibitions and live music.
Fall Fest will kick off with a parade that will begin at Sullivan and Reynolds Road and will go down Reynolds Road to Mills Park Road and follow Mills Park Road to the park. The parade will feature floats from area schools, businesses and clubs. A first place prize of $50 and second place prize of $25 will be awarded in each of three categories: business, school and organization. Only those entries who registered with the Chamber before Saturday, Sept. 12, will be eligible for a prize. Jimmy Morgan will be the grand marshal of the parade.[more]
According to the Chamber, sidewalks along Reynolds Road between Sullivan and Mills Park Road and along Mills Park Road will be available for viewing.
Traffic will be affected during the time of the parade along the parade route and at the park between 9 and 10 a.m.
A “KidZland” area will open at 9 a.m. and will feature some new activities for kids. A $15 armband will be available for purchase for those who want to enjoy unlimited visits to attractions. Children will be able to slide down inflatable slides and bounce in bounce houses or work their way through an obstacle course. According to the Chamber, there will be more of these types of activities than in than in any other past year.
New activities include karaoke by Brand New Church; video games, courtesy of Best Buy; and “bash a clunker car,” sponsored by Get Tow’d. A few activities will require a separate ticket purchase above the price of the armband. These include a barrel train ride, professional face painting and balloon animals.
Children at Fall Fest may also wish to participate in some contests new to this year’s event. At 3 p.m., Joe Dirt and Hannah Montana look-alike contests will be held for boys and girls, respectively, on the IberiaBank stage. A 2 on 2 basketball contest will take place at the basketball court at noon; registration will be at 11 a.m. The Boys and Girls Club will sponsor the National Punt, Pass and Kick contest scheduled to take place at 2:30. Those wishing to participate in this event should register ahead with Bryant Parks and Recreation.
A fishing pole casting contest sponsored by Bryant Healthcare, an outdoor adventure area and Boy Scout Troop 17 zip-line will also be available for children to enjoy. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is scheduled to bring their fish exhibit featuring aquatic life from around the state.
Starting at 9:35 a.m., the IberiaBank stage will be the venue for an assortment of events. The Bryant High School Air Force Jr. ROTC Color Guard will perform the first event, followed by dance and cheer exhibitions from the middle schools and high school. At 10:30, a cake auction will take place on the stage. Jazz and Country singer Marie Pinkerton will perform at 11 a.m., followed by the Honeybees Choir of BHS at 11:30. The local band Southern Exposure will have two performances, one at noon and the other at 2 p.m. Students of BK Dance will perform at 1 p.m., and a hot dog eating contest will be held on the stage at 1:30. The Joe Dirt and Hannah Montana look-a-like contests will be take place at 3 p.m.
Another new event added to the festivities this year is a geocaching hunt. Geocaching is an activity in which participants use global positioning systems (GPS) and clues to find caches (usually a container with a small prize inside). In traditional geocaching, when someone finds the cache, he or she will take the prize found inside and replace it with another prize. The hunt scheduled to take place at Fall Fest will be a little different, because whoever finds the containers will be allowed to keep them and the prize inside. According to Rae Ann Fields, Executive Director of the Bryant Chamber of Commerce, the prizes will be a little more attractive than the normal geocaching prize. There will be eight different containers to find, and they won’t be replaced once they are found. Those who find them are asked to report to the Bryant Chamber of Commerce booth to receive an additional prize and to let the Chamber know which ones have been found. The coordinates and clues for the contest will be posted at www.bryant-ar.com under “registrations.”
Additional contests at Fall Fest will include “Biggest Baddest ATV,” sponsored by Landers, baby crawl and hula hoop contests, sponsored by First Security Bank and an archery contest sponsored by Woods and Water, Too.
Food will be available for purchase in the Food Court area of Fall Fest. Barbeque, pizza, nachos, chicken tenders and patty melts will be some of the meal items available. Snacks and drinks will include fruit cups, muffins, funnel cakes, fruit smoothies, coffee and root beer.
According to Fields, over 100 booths from area businesses and organizations are expected to be set up including a landscaping tent with flowers and plants, a large bicycle tent, and booths with candles, jewelry and other merchandise.
Last year, around 14,000 people attended Fall Fest. Fields said that number was partly due to great weather that day. She said a similar number of attendees could be possible this year.
“If the weather moves out, we will probably expect that 14,000 again,” said Fields.
cash loans
Like your writing! Still you can do some things to improve it.