ROGERS -- Roads surrounding the 32nd annual Frisco Festival will be closed starting Friday morning and throughout the two-day event.
North First Street, South Second Street and North Third Street will be shut down from West Walnut Street to Cherry Street to create six closed-off blocks. Third Street has a more limited closing, with a smaller stretch from south of Elm Street to Poplar Street.
Future Rogers road closings
• The Rogers High School homecoming on Sept. 16 will shut down streets for its annual parade.
• Roads will be closed for the first Meals on Wheels “Scrambled Legs” 5K and fun run on Oct. 1.
• Streets surrounding Pinnacle Hills Promenade will be closed Oct. 8 for the seventh annual “Race for Independence” 5K and fun walk benefiting United Cerebral Palsy of Arkansas.
• “Making Strides Against Cancer” will close roads surrounding Village on the Creeks on Oct. 30 for a walk benefiting the American Cancer Society.
Source: Staff report
"People can still drive Walnut up to Second Street," said Jessica Rush, executive director for Main Street Rogers. From there, drivers can go north to get to First, Second or Third streets. Parking will be available on North Arkansas, West Poplar and West Walnut streets.
Passers-by can expect the streets to be closed from about 8 a.m. Friday to 11 p.m. Saturday, Rush said. The Rogers Police Department will direct traffic and set up barricades surrounding the area.
Drivers should plan to not use the parking lot at South First and West Poplar streets, because a new act to the Frisco Festival will perform there. A stuntshow by Southern BMX will take place in the parking lot at 1:30, 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Alderman Mark Kruger, who is chairman of the Rogers City Council Transportation Committee, said the decision to block off space for the long-running event was a natural one.
"We have great participation" at the event, Kruger said. The event typically draws 25,000 people to the area. "Overall, it takes shutting down quite a bit (of streets), but I think the community benefits from Frisco Fest. Merchants benefit, too, both directly and indirectly."
"Last year, our restaurant stayed busy the whole time, it was great for business," said Nick Dorothy, general manager of Parkside Public. "It was nice to bring new people downtown and new faces into Parkside."
The beer and burger joint had been open only six months when the festival happened, which made the influx of customers especially beneficial for gaining clout.
"We ordered a lot of extra food, had as many people working as we could and hoped for the best," Dorothy said. "It brought a lot of new business."
Just having thousands of people milling around downtown brings greater knowledge of what the area has to offer, he said. When Frisco Festival began in 1984, it was called Crazy Days and local businesses used it as a time to conduct sales, families bought children's school supplies and entertainment included skits such as re-enacting train robberies.
The entertainment has changed, bringing in more live music, fitness activity and about 120 vendors this year, but the central value of connecting people to downtown Rogers remains the same, Kruger said.
The kid zone has expanded this year to include magicians, street performers and games, according to the event's Facebook page. It will include pony rides; Orbotron, a ride that children stand in as it flips and spins in all directions; a climbing wall; a trampoline; and an electric pig that kids can ride, similar to riding an electric bull.
"We're excited and have the potential for great weather this year," Rush said. "It's a fun, very grassroots community event at a great time, just after school got started."
Relatively new to the festival is the Frisco Inferno BBQ Contest, which will feature 20 vendors who will talk to the public about their cooking process as their culinary creations are smoked. Rush said it makes a nice tradeoff. Though the streets will be closed, they will smell like barbecue.
For more information about Frisco Festival, visit mainstreetrogers.com.
NW News on 08/25/2016