Timberfest, scheduled for Friday and Saturday on Sheridan’s courthouse square, will go out with a bang this year.
“For the first time ever, we will have a fireworks display,” said Marilyn DeMoss, chairwoman of the 32nd annual Timberfest.
Caemeron’s Fireworks, assisted by city employees, will present the fireworks display at 9 p.m. Saturday at Grace Fellowship Bible Church, 413 S. Main St. in Sheridan.
The Grant County Chamber of Commerce sponsors the annual festival as a way to celebrate the area’s history with the timber industry.
“Every year, it gets bigger and better,” DeMoss said of Timberfest. “That’s with the help of our great sponsors and volunteers. We could not do it without them.”
DeMoss said one of the most highly anticipated events of the festival is always the Arkansas State Lumberjack Championship Competition, which features lumberjacks working with both axes and chain saws to see who can cut wood the fastest.
“This is a state competition,” she said. “People come from all over to compete.
“This year we are having two colleges that will compete — the University of Arkansas at Monticello and Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. We are really excited to have these teams coming to participate.”
Registration for the lumberjack competition, which is held behind the Grant County Courthouse, will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, with preliminary ax throws set to begin at 10:30. The actual competition will begin at 11:30 and continue until it’s finished, which, DeMoss said, is usually around 3:30 p.m.
The annual Southern Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram “Go Hog Wild” Arkansas State Championship BBQ Cook-off will be held both Friday and Saturday. Sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society, the event will take place on the Malvern National Bank parking lot.
The cook-off features four categories — chicken, pork ribs, pork and beef brisket. Participants must compete in all four categories to qualify for the grand champion award.
DeMoss said free entertainment will continue throughout the two-day festival.
Among the headliners Friday will be the Aces Wild country/rock band from Little Rock, playing from 7- 9 p.m. on the Verizon Russell Cellular Stage, with the Sheridan Southern rock/ country band Southern Theory opening at 4.
Four local churches — Immanuel Baptist, Crossroads Pentecostal, Sardis Missionary Baptist and Calvary Missionary Baptist — will present a gospel show at 7 p.m. Friday on the Landers Chevy Stage.
Saturday’s entertainment will include Brian Mullen of Sheridan with his county/rock music at 6 p.m. on the Landers Chevy Stage; a BBQ Tailgate Party with the Zac Dunlap country band of Little Rock playing from noon to 2 p.m.; the Through the Eyes of Lily Band of Monticello opening at 10 a.m. on the BBQ Stage; and Hiway 67 of Batesville presenting Southern and classic rock ’n’ roll music at 4 p.m. on the Verizon Cellular Stage, followed by the Little Rock band Tragikly White’s blend of dance and rock music at 7.
Other entertainers are scheduled as well, including the Michael Family and Matt Joyce with “Elvis the Illusion.”
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will be on site with its Scales of Justice exhibit, and Steve “Wildman” Wilson will provide entertainment as well.
The festival will feature a variety of arts and crafts vendors, amusements and rides.
Additional activities on Saturday will include a 5K run/2K walk at 8 a.m.; a parade through downtown at 10 a.m.; the Pinewood Derby at 10:45 a.m.; the J.T. Davis Memorial Car and Motorcycle Show at 11 a.m.; a bow shoot at 11 a.m.; and a pet show at 1:30 p.m.
While Timberfest provides fun and excitement for the community, DeMoss noted that proceeds from the annual event will go to a worthy cause.
“We provide five $1,200 scholarships to area high school seniors. We include students at Sheridan and Poyen high schools,” she said.
“That is really important to us,” said DeMoss, who is in her fourth year as chairwoman of the annual Timberfest and is a past president of the chamber of commerce and a current member of the chamber’s executive board.
“Stacy Harris did this job of Timberfest chairman for 16 years. She did it by herself and did a fabulous job. She retired in 2011, and I took her job in 2012,” DeMoss said.
“I do my best with it,” she said with a laugh. “I truly enjoy it, but it is a little hectic at times.
“It brings the community together, as well as the surrounding counties. Our arts and crafts vendors are always the same — with a few different ones. And the concessionaires are mostly the same, too. They return every year offering anything you would want to eat in the way of fair fare. But what really draws our audience is the lumberjack contest and, now, the barbecue contest.”
DeMoss said she hopes to work on “some new items” for next year, “maybe arm wrestling or a hot dog-eating contest,” she said, smiling. “We definitely want to do some different things if I can get them all worked out.”
DeMoss said the chamber does not get much of a break after Timberfest.
“Next comes Christmas on the Square, the chamber’s annual banquet and a fishing derby for the youth,” she said. “We have a lot going on.”
Entry forms for all Timberfest competitions are available at the Grant County Chamber of Commerce, 202 N. Oak St. in Sheridan, or at www.grantcountychamber.com.
For more information, call (870) 942-3021, DeMoss said.