By Martin Couch
This year's Fall Fest was a success, according to Bryant Chamber of Commerce executive director Rae Ann Fields.
"It was very nice," she said. "The weather cooperated, we had a wonderful concert — it was just a great day. Everybody had a good time."[more]
Despite the Arkansas-Alabama football game that was televised on Saturday, Fall Fest continued to increase its numbers of participants.
The 23rd Fall Fest 2010 was held on Saturday, Sept. 25, and drew over 60 entries for its parade.
Winners in the float competition were:
Businesses – Coffee News of Arkansas, 1st place, and Andrea’s School of Dance, 2nd place
Schools – Davis Elementary, 1st place, and Hurricane Creek Elementary, 2nd place
Churches/organizations – Civitan, 1st place and Grace Baptist Church, 2nd place.
Several contests were held for kids. The most participants were drawn to the first ever Zhu Zhu and Kung Zhu race. The race was an obstacle course for the mechanical hamster pets. The last “Zhu” standing was the winner. The tie for first place was between Katy Southerland, daughter of Courtney Moore of Bryant, and Katie Rock, daughter of Chuck Rock of Mabelvale.
Two of the hamsters negotiated an unintended obstacle on the course when they became enmeshed in the banner for “The Road Beyond,” the main stage band. One ran behind the banner and popped out the other side to continue the race.
"There were a lot of new things for the kids and the Zhu Zhu race was very cute," Fields said. "The kids really enjoyed it."
While the Zhu Zhu race ended the day, the first contest of the day was the baby crawl. Four participants registered. First place was Aaron Johnson, 11 month old son of Christie and Ben Johnson of Benton. Second place was taken by Crews Thomason, 8 month old son of Tyler and Heather Thomason of Benton. Rosemary Baker, 9-month old daughter of Michelle Baker of Bryant took third place. Corbin Humes, son of Chris and Robin Humes received an honorable mention.
The cup-stacking contest drew five young participants. First place went to Jeri Daniel, who stacked nine cups in the timed race. Justice Drayden of Mountain View, took second place with eight cups and Mary Beth Mead was in third with five.
The hula-hoop contest had six participants. Maylee Hill, daughter of Carla Hill of Bryant, was the most skilled hooper and took first place. Katelin Cotton, daughter of Jennifer Cotton of Bryant, earned second place. Carson Gibbons of Benton, who registered with “Aunt Brenda” was third.
The only adult contest this year was Saline County’s Biggest Baddest ATV contest. Ben Williams of Lansing, Kansas was the winner beating out the local competitor – his brother-in-law.
