HEBER SPRINGS — The World Championship Cardboard Boat Races in Heber Springs was a big winner at the Arkansas Festivals & Events Association conference.
The cardboard boat races was named Event of the Year by the association at the end of January at a conference in Little Rock. The Arkansans Love Festivals & Events, or ALFIE Awards, are given in several categories.
Toad Suck Daze in Conway won Event Photo and second runner-up in two categories, Event Website and Social Media Campaign. The winning photo was of a young girl racing a toad, said Mary Margaret Satterfield, director of Toad Suck Daze and events for the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce.
Julie Murray, executive director of the Heber Springs Area Chamber of Commerce, said the cardboard boat races “is our signature event.” The event is held the last Saturday in July each year.
The community celebrated the 29th annual World Championship Cardboard Boat Races last year. The theme was Flip-Flops and Pop Tops, a tribute to the longtime laid-back singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett.
The chamber applied for the ALFIE Award but didn’t know until the conference whether the cardboard boat races had won, Murray said.
She gave credit to Theresa Bobo, the chamber’s events manager, for getting a binder of information submitted for the award.
“She spent a couple of weeks gathering up media exposure, number of volunteers and volunteer hours — it was a lot of work to get all that data together,” Murray said. “It had to be in presentation form.”
It’s also a lot of work to pull off the event each year, Murray said.
“The credit goes to the team of volunteers,” Murray said. She said about 75 volunteers spent 375 hours last year on the boat races, which are held on Greers Ferry Lake.
“To spend all day in late-July Arkansas heat — that’s dedication,” Murray said.
Joe Tournear has volunteered at the event for 20 years, and he said it is “certainly exciting and certainly very deserving” to receive the honor.
“It’s a great event; it draws a lot of people in. All the volunteers here are very proud of it,” he said.
“It’s quite an attraction from land and water,” Murray said. She said the event usually draws 5,000 spectators on land, plus about 2,500 who watch from their boats.
She said it’s not hard to understand the event’s popularity.
“I think there are a couple of things — I think, one, it’s unique; I think, two, it’s the location and the setting. It’s one of very few beaches on such a beautiful lake, and being on Greers Ferry Lake, one of the top-10 cleanest in North America, I think that’s a huge part of it, too,” Murray said.
Although the event is traditionally held at Sandy Beach, last year the races had to be moved to the smaller Dam Site Park because of high water.
Still, the event was successful, Murray said.
“It went really, really well, especially considering we had to move it at the last minute because of high water,” she said.
The races pit teams against each other. Prizes are given, including the Pride of the Fleet for the “engineering marvel design,” Murray said. The Captain’s Award is for the most creative team and boat, and The Titanic Award is given to the boat that sinks despite a valiant effort to keep it afloat.
BHP Billiton of Searcy won Pride of the Fleet last year, she said.
“They had this amazing parakeet boat — a big, red
parakeet,” Murray said.
She said the chamber received a plaque, a certificate and a “big banner” proclaiming Heber Springs’ World Championship Cardboard Boat Races as 2015 Event of the Year. Murray said with a laugh that she plans to hang the banner “everywhere we go.”
“We’re really, really looking forward to this year because it’s our 30th,” she said.
Tournear said the 30th anniversary will be “a big deal; a very big deal. We hope to make it the biggest and best one ever.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.