SALEM — The 63rd annual Fulton County Homecoming Festival will be held in Salem on Friday and Saturday. The festival, held on the Fulton County Courthouse Square, will get under way Friday.
A barbecue dinner to benefit the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office Rescue Boat Fund will begin at 5 p.m. at the North Arkansas Electric Cooperative.
The First National Banking Co. Street Dance will start at 8 p.m. on the south side of the court square.
The Steel’n Country Band will provide music for the dance. Sa lem Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9777 will have bingo at the post home on Arkansas 395 N. on Friday night, starting at 7.
Saturday’s activities will start on the court square with registration for the Bank of Salem Mark Thomas Memorial Apple Pie 5K Race from 6:45-7:30 a.m. The 5K has divisions for all age groups for runners and walkers. For information on the 5K Race, contact Sherry Jackson at (870) 895-6226. The race will start at 8 a.m.
The first 20 people who cross the finish line will receive a home-baked apple pie, compliments of the Fulton Count y Extension Homemaker members and Town & Country Super Market.
A traveling trophy will be awarded to the business that has the most race participants.
The Open Street Market will be held on the court square, and vendors will set up a wide variety of food and craft booths from 7-8 a.m. For more information on theStreet Market, call Ninnie Thomas at (870) 371-0381.
Registration for those attending the festival will be at Tee’s To Please and More on the east side of the court square.
Everyone is encouraged to stop in and register from 8:30-11 a.m. Attendance awards will be given to the oldest woman, the oldest man and those traveling the longest distance from the east and the west. Festival T-shirts will be for sale at Tee’s To Please and More.
Registration for the Squirt Race for children age 10 and younger will start at 9:15 a.m. on the north side of the court square. For information on the Squirt Race, contact Carrie Frazier or Carla Bassham at (870) 895-2273. The Squirt Race will start at 10 a.m.
An antique car, truck, motorcycle and tractor show will begin at 10 a.m. on the south side of the North Arkansas Electric Cooperative.
Trophies will be awarded in antique car, antique truck, antique tractor, late model car and late model truck divisions for the show, as well as modern cycle, modified cycle and antique cycle. A People’s Choice Award will also be awarded. For more information, contact David Mott at (870) 371-2182.
Registration for the Terrapin Race will start at 10:30 a.m. on the south side of the court square, and the race will start at 11:30 a.m. For information on the race, contact Charles Owens at (870) 895-5022.
Ridin’ on Faith Cowboy Church will have children’sgames on the south side of the court square at noon.
Fulton County Hospital will have a kiddie parade prior to the main parade. Lineup will be at noon in the former Orr Lumber Co. parking lot on the northeast corner of the square, and the parade will roll at 12:30 p.m.
The festival parade lineup will be at 12:15 p.m., and floats and beauty queens will line up at Preacher Roe Park. Cars, antique tractors and motorcycles will line up at 12:15 p.m. at Burch’s Custom Butchering, and horses and buggies will gather in the old rodeo arena area.
The parade will be at 1 p.m. Monty McCullough will be the grand marshal for the parade in honor of his many years as festival chairman. Contact Janie Flynn at (870) 895-3207 for information on the parade.
The Ozark Mountain Music Makers will have their regular show at the Music Barn, just off U.S. 62, south of Salem, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Sa lem V F W Post 9777 will have a veterans memorial service at the post home on Arkansas 395 N. at 11 a.m. Monday. Contact Ammie Thompson at 895-3465 for more information on the service.
Several high school class reunions and family reunions are schedu led during t he weekend.
For more information on the Fulton County Homecoming Festival, contact Jerry Estes, festival chairman, at (870) 895-3221, or call the Salem Chamber of Commerce at (870) 895-5565.
Three Rivers, Pages 53 on 05/24/2012