Toad Store grand opening set for Friday

CONWAY — One of the rites of spring in Conway and a harbinger of Toad Suck Daze is the grand opening of the Toad Store.

This year’s ceremony will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the old ice house, 1321 Oak St. in downtown Conway.

“It’ll be a good celebration, and we’ll do the Toady Woady and cut the ribbon,” said Mary Margaret Satterfield, director of events for the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce.

The tradition is for Toad Master Brian Ratliff to lead participants in doing the Toady Woady dance - think of it as the “Hokey Pokey” with a toad twist.

Satterfield said the Toad Store grand opening has been on a Saturday morning in the past.

She said that with Conway’s thriving downtown, holding the ceremony on Friday will allow people who work downtown to attend on their lunch breaks, as well as other residents of Conway.

Afterward, the store will be open for business leading up to the 31st annual festival, set for May 4-6 in downtown Conway.

The 2012 Toad Suck Daze T-shirts will be available to buy, along with a plethora of ToadSuck Daze merchandise.

Satterfield said there are some new, “cool” items for sale this year.

“They’ve done a really good job ordering this year,” she said.

Brenda Curtis, this year’s Toad Store Committee chairwoman, said there will be toad paraphernalia for all ages.

“The first thing I’m excited about is our [T-shirt] design, No. 1,” Curtis said. “The toad has sunglasses on, so we’re hoping that brings good luck and we’ll have sunshine.”

The phrase on the front of the T-shirts is “Just Relaxin.”

One version of the shirt is a green tie-dyed design to “test the waters,” and it seems to be popular, she said. The T-shirts also come in gray, yellow and a royal blue, “kind of a Conway blue,” she said.

Black T-shirts imprinted with the Legend of Toad Suck are back because “they flew off ” the racks last year, Curtis said.

“We have lots and lots of jewelry; that’s always a big seller,” she said, showing the bracelets and necklaces hanging from pegs on one wall of the Toad Store.

Curtis picked up a package containing a new toy that she said she thinks will be popular - a catch game that has two toad gloves with Velcro strips and “balls” shaped like flies.

“There are lots of different stuffed animals - toads, I should say - and one big polka-dot toad that’s really fun,” she said.

“A bouncy toad - he’s really cute. I think the adults are beginning to like it as much as the kids,” Curtis said, adding that chamber employees enjoyed testing out the new toy.

There are bendable toads, blow-up toads, squishy toads and croaking puppet toads.

Some other popular itemsfrom last year that will be on the shelves include Toad Brew, a special coffee, and coffee mugs.

“The beach towels went over real well last year,” Curtis said.

An addition to last year’s festival was a Toad Suck Daze painting created by Conway artist Heather Mainord. The painting was made into limited-edition posters and sold.

Satterfield said this year’s artwork will be done by Steve Griffith of Conway.

“I think the T-shirts have been souvenirs, and you hear from a lot of people who have [T-shirts from] every year of the festival,” Satterfield said. “This is something else we started doing that will be a continued item. It brings more of a fine-art aspect into the festival,” Satterfield said.

Toad Suck Daze includes Toad Market, which includes almost 150 vendor booths selling a variety of wares. The festival is known for its food, especially anything on a stick, and activities for children, including a climbing wall, a petting zoo and carnival rides.

A highlight of the festival is the free entertainment, which this year will include En Vogue and Jamey Johnson.

A Toad Suck Daze Golf Tournament, the Tour de Toad Bicycle Race and a 10K/5K run will be included in the festival, too.

Centennial Bank holds its annual Stuck on a Truck event under a tent downtown during the event. Contestants compete to win a vehicle by keeping at least one hand on it at all times.The competition, which often goes on for days, ends when one sleep-deprived person is still standing.

Proceeds from Toad Suck Daze go toward scholarships for Faulkner County students planning to attend the University of Central Arkansas, Hendrix College, Central Baptist College or the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton. Since it began, the festival has funded more than $1.2 million in scholarships and endowments.

The weekend’s schedule, registration forms and details about the festival can be found at www.toadsuck.org.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.