FAIRFIELD BAY -- It sounds a bit ambitious for a small town to host two festivals plus a motorcycle rally on the same weekend. But the folks in Fairfield Bay are figuring it also sounds like a lot of fun.
This weekend, the community of 2,500 on the northern shore of Greers Ferry Lake is pairing Oktoberfest at the Bay with Story Fest at the Bay while also revving up to welcome bikers for Thunder in the Bay.
As it happens, none of the events has any direct ties to Fairfield Bay's oldest permanent attraction, the fascinating Indian Rock House.
One of Arkansas' most intriguing prehistoric sites, this shelter is a cave about 100 feet across, 50 feet high and nearly 100 feet deep. Inhabited as far back as 3,000 years ago, it contains petroglyphs cut into the stone walls by various American Indian groups.
The antiquity of these carvings in geometric and other patterns stands in sharp contrast to the youth of Fairfield Bay, which was developed in the mid-1960s after the building of Greers Ferry Dam created 63-square-mile Greers Ferry Lake. The local marina is a center of recreation.
Decorating the town is another manifestation of Indian culture, although displaced by half a continent or more. Totem poles carved with symbolic images are a hallmark of the Pacific Coast extending as far north as Alaska. Fairfield Bay's three totem poles, crafted in the 1990s by members of Woodcarvers Unlimited, feature mainly nontribal motifs.
They are impressive nonetheless. One stands near the entrance to Indian Hills Country Club and the trail leading down to Indian Rock House. Dedicated in 1991, it celebrates the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights.
Flanking the colorful pole are two log cabins that evoke the past of this area, due north of Little Rock. The newer one, built in 1976 as Fairfield Bay's U.S. Bicentennial project, houses the Log Cabin Museum. The exhibits include an antique harmonica played with a music roll and a prehistoric mortar and pestle believed to be around 4,000 years old.
The older cabin, built about 1850, was moved to its current location in the 1950s. Its fireplace was constructed of local stone with a mantel of rosewood, walnut and pine. A 19th-century trundle-style bed with corn-shuck mattress stands against one wall.
Museum director Marilyn Robertson is a cheerful soul happy to guide visitors down the hill to Indian Rock Cave, or to drive them there in a golf cart if the steep hike is too rigorous.
Oktoberfest at the Bay opens at noon Friday with an arts and crafts show at the Fairfield Bay Conference and Visitors Center. Admission is free.
They'll be serving up bratwursts, goulash and other German fare until 7 p.m., with a beer garden open until 9. The Feather River Band will play for dancing, 7-10 p.m.
Saturday's Teutonic fun begins with a 7-10 a.m. pancake breakfast. A Volkswagen show and the arts and crafts display will run 9 a.m.-5 p.m., with more brats and beer starting at noon and an oom-pah band playing 7-10 p.m.
Story Fest at the Bay sessions are set for 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Saturday, featuring Bil Lepp's tall tales and Tim Tingle's Choctaw stories. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
The Thunder in the Bay rally, free for bikers (registration required), runs 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.
For information on Fairfield Bay attractions and this weekend's festivals, call (501) 884-4202 or visit ffbchamber.com.
Weekend on 10/09/2014