Growing HarvestFest to add beer garden, gumbo cook-off

For years, Little Rock's Hillcrest neighborhood has chosen one Saturday in October to welcome fall with face painting, bounce houses, crafts and food.

But this year, HarvestFest almost didn't happen.

The festival is presented by the Hillcrest Merchants Association and, as this year's festival co-chairman Tippi McCullough says, the whole production began to get too unwieldy for the handful of organizers.

"It used to be a smaller neighborhood festival," she says. "It got really big. To be honest, I don't know how they've been doing it, just that small group."

There was talk of taking a year off or scaling back, but McCullough and other volunteers stepped forward at a neighborhood meeting to help tackle the project. Now McCullough says there are 50-60 volunteers signed up for festival day.

McCullough, who co-chairs the event with Jessica Davis, says preparing for HarvestFest has been eye-opening: "I've lived in Hillcrest for about 17 years, and I've been to HarvestFest, but I guess I just always thought I just stepped out the door and it just happened. There are so many moving pieces, the people who come to the festival have no idea."

Those moving pieces include parking -- visitors are encouraged to use church parking lots and to be respectful of residents' spaces -- and the issue of restrooms -- additional portable toilets with visible signs are being added.

As for entertainment, there will be music on two stages, one at each end of the festival. This year's performers include Little Joe & The BKs and Adam Faucett.

A fashion show by E. Leigh's boutique will help wrap things up in the evening.

Food and drinks are highlights of any festival and HarvestFest is no different. There will be the usual pancake breakfast at 7̶ ̶a̶.̶m̶.̶ 9 a.m.* at Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church. But this year, the consumables are being kicked up a notch.

There will be a beer garden spotlighting local craft beers from brewers including Lost Forty Brewing, Diamond Bear Brewing and Stone's Throw Brewing.

"We've always had beer and wine but this year there's going to be a special emphasis on that," McCullough says.

HarvestFest will also get some national attention thanks to the Cooking Channel, which will film a segment on Southern Gourmasian's barbecue in the kitchen at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church. The food will be brought to the main festival for judging and tasting.

In past years, HarvestFest has had a cheese dip competition, a warm-up of sorts for the World Cheese Dip Championship. This year, however, the big championship is the same day. So instead, HarvestFest will have a gumbo cook-off.

Also the same day is Race for the Cure.

McCullough says, "By the time Race for the Cure is over, we hope everybody will still feel like coming down."

Those who do will find dozens of vendors, children's games and crafts and shopping opportunities.

The future of HarvestFest is still up in the air. McCullough says the organizers will evaluate after this year, whether to continue ahead or to scale back.

For now, though, "It's just a fun place to get together with friends and family and to showcase what we believe is the best neighborhood in Little Rock."

Weekend on 10/20/2016

*CORRECTION: HarvestFest’s pancake breakfast begins at 9 a.m. Saturday at Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church in Little Rock. The time was incorrect in this article.