Special event

Cornbread will be king for three days of festivities in Little Rock

Savory, sweet, traditional and sophisticated, there will be cornbread for all palates at the annual Arkansas Cornbread Festival.
Savory, sweet, traditional and sophisticated, there will be cornbread for all palates at the annual Arkansas Cornbread Festival.

This Saturday, the big debate on Little Rock's South Main Street won't be about presidential candidates. It will be about cornbread and that all-important question: savory or sweet?

"A lot of people have particular, decided ideas about the way cornbread should be," says Arkansas Cornbread Festival coordinator Ann Owen. But she promises the sixth annual festival "has something for everybody."

Arkansas Cornbread Festival

11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, South Main Street, Little Rock

Tickets: through today $8, children 6-12 $4; at the gate $10, $5

(501) 313-3963

arkansascornbreadfe…

Traditional, sophisticated, savory, sweet, even in the form of ice cream, the servings will cover all the bases.

New events have broadened the festival from one afternoon to three days.

It all starts today with "Food, Culture and Community," an event with readings by University of Arkansas at Little Rock contest semifinalists and with judge, author Caroline Randall Williams at the Bernice Garden.

Williams co-wrote Soul Food Love, a cookbook-memoir, and she will have a signing and program at noon Friday at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

Then, at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Capital Hotel, Williams will be the special guest at a "down-home, elegant, country-style dinner" with dishes from her book. Tickets are $125.

From 9-11 a.m. Saturday, people can warm up their taste buds at a pancake breakfast hosted by First United Methodist Church.

But even with the new lineup of cornbread-related events, the big draw is still Saturday's festival, which takes over the South Main district with vendors, music, children's activities and lots and lots of cornbread.

Instead of a main stage for music, groups Buffalo Gals and Big Still River will perform sidewalk busking-style around the grounds, making the music more accessible.

It will also be easier for adults who want a little brew with their bread. Instead of a designated beer garden, people can pick up a drink and mill around.

As for the cornbread, people will have to wait a little bit to dig in. While in the past the competition started at 11 a.m. with the rest of the festival, this year it will start at noon.

Owen explains, "We're starting the competition just a little bit later so that competitors can get all settled with their samples and keep the cornbread from running out so soon."

Last year only the amateurs competed, but they've reinstated the professional categories this year, with cash prizes going to the first- and second-place winners and to the team with the "best side." Winners will be chosen by attendees, who can vote with their smartphones and who can keep track of which contestants they've visited with handy punch cards.

There will also be celebrity judges who will give out blue ribbons of their own.

Owen anticipates plenty of creativity with entries such as the Capital Hotel's cornbread ice cream.

Several organizations such as the Hunger Relief Alliance, the Hillary Clinton Children's Library and Learning Center, Historic Arkansas Museum and the Museum of Discovery will give children plenty to stay busy in the Bernice Garden children's area, offering cooking demonstrations, food-related chemical experiments, and a chance to meet Winnie the Pooh.

This year, there will be a vintage motorcycle show.

But the focus remains on the cornbread, Owen says: "They started the festival to build community and bring people to the South Main area and just really celebrate Southern heritage and cuisine. That's really what this is, a celebration of Southern culture.

"Everybody relates to cornbread, even if you're not from the South."

Weekend on 10/27/2016

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