The 2017 Bald Knob Homefest is set to be a big one.
This is the 30th anniversary of the annual festival, said Erin Evans, Bald Knob Chamber of Commerce president. Homefest will take place Thursday through Saturday in the Bald Knob downtown courtyard.
“This is a big one for us,” she said. “It is just getting the community together like what they do at the fairgrounds, but on a smaller scale.”
Evans said the event is similar to those that a lot of other small communities have, such as Augusta Days.
“It is a lot of work,” Evans said, referring to the festival having lasted for 30 years.
“I’ve been president for two years,” she said. “It’s had its ups and downs, but it’s a lot of work. There are 12 of us on the board who come up with changes. We have to vote on music and get everything together.”
Board members include Evans, vice president Shelia Martin, secretary Rita King, treasurer Teresa Hanney, Vince Vire, Melissa Gipson, Nancy Corbit, Jeremy Tharp, Jon Hopkins, Melissa Wammack, Leece Miller and Carl White.
Thursday’s music lineup includes Jason Coleman, By His Grace, Michael Watkins and singers from Warden Baptist Church. The show will start at 6 p.m.
Friday’s lineup includes the Clark Family. A talent show, the Voice of Bald Knob, will also be presented Friday. Students from the school district auditioned for Hanney and Bald Knob Junior High School music teacher Holley Story on April 10. The show will begin at 6 p.m.
Saturday activities include the following:
• Breakfast will be served at the Methodist Church, across from the post office, from 6-8:30 a.m.
• A car show will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• A parade will start at 10 a.m. and will line up in the Bald Knob schools parking lot at 9 a.m.
• A magic show will start at 1 p.m.
• The Studio will perform at 4 p.m.
• Singer Anna Marie will entertain at 6 p.m.
• Southern Country will take the stage at 7 p.m.
• The Zyndall Raney Band will perform at 8 p.m.
“It’s for older people,” Evans said of The Zyndall Raney Band. “[People] will come out and dance and have a good time.”
In addition to the music, there will be carnival rides for young children, as well as the adults, along with food and craft vendors.
Bald Knob Chamber office manager Bertie Yates said some people had complained about the carnival rides in the past, so the chamber hired a new carnival, Johnson Brothers Amusement of El Dorado.
“We’ve got a new carnival coming this year,” she said. “It was at Augusta and McCrory, and they are bringing some food trailers.”
Hanney said the carnival has vendor spots, which are all gone this year.
“They will have a lot of the old, traditional rides,” Hanney said. “[Vice president] Shelia Martin and I saw the carnival and interviewed the guy who owns it. They have the merry-go-round, the Ferris wheel. They have the big Ferris wheel for the big kids and the small one for the small kids.”
Yates, who has lived in Bald Knob since 1991, said Homefest attendance was down for several years because of varying factors, including strawberry producers leaving the area, but that chamber officials have high expectations for this year.
“We’ve already got more business sponsors, and I think it’s different music,” she said.
Hanney said the Voice of Bald Knob talent show will help increase attendance at the festival.
“[The talent show] will draw in more people from our community,” she said.
Evans said the board has monthly meetings to get ideas from volunteers in the community.
“We try to get volunteers out of our community who are not on the board to come and give their ideas,” she said. “We have a meeting once a month for them to bring their ideas to the board; then the board votes on it.”
Planning for the Homefest starts in February after the new officers and board are in charge.
“When we get the new officers on the board, we start then,” Evans said. “It’s not a lot of time. This year, we had five new board members. To get new board members on and for them to get caught up, it took a little bit to start our planning process.”
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.