Perry County event to commemorate WWI

The Perry County Heirloom, Heritage and Arts Festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in Perryville. Making plans for the festival are Kim Thibodaux, from left, County Judge Toby Davis and Karen Brazil. Activities will be on and around the Perry County Courthouse Square, including at the Perry County Historical Museum.
The Perry County Heirloom, Heritage and Arts Festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in Perryville. Making plans for the festival are Kim Thibodaux, from left, County Judge Toby Davis and Karen Brazil. Activities will be on and around the Perry County Courthouse Square, including at the Perry County Historical Museum.

PERRYVILLE — Perry County is joining other counties in the state in celebrating May as Arkansas Heritage Month. This year’s theme is A State of War: Arkansas Remembers World War I.

The Perry County Historical Museum and the Perry County Conservation District are partnering with others in the community to present a World War I commemorative event on Saturday. The event — the Perry County Heirloom, Heritage and Arts Festival — will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on and around the courthouse square in Perryville. Not only will the festival showcase a collection of World War I items on display in the Perry County Historical Museum; the event will also celebrate life as it might have been in 1917 in Perry County.

The Perry County Historical Museum at 408 W. Main St. is home to a variety of exhibits that reflect the county’s history. The museum itself is historic; it is housed in the former American Legion Hut, which was built in the 1930s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building features a light fixture made from a World War I airplane engine.

Mike Allison, president of the Perry County Historical Museum Board of Directors, has loaned his collection of World War I artifacts to the museum for display during Arkansas Heritage Month.

“It’s a hobby,” Allison said of his collection. “It started with World War II stuff. I started collecting things in honor and memory of my dad and my grandfather.

“My parents, the late Merrell and Era Allison, were both the fourth or fifth generation of families living in Perry County,” said Mike Allison, who grew up in Perry County, graduated from Perryville High School in 1965 and retired three years ago as an attorney and member of the Public Defender Commission serving Conway, Yell, Scott and Logan counties.

“My dad, Merrell, was Perry County sheriff and on the [Perryville] City Council,” Mike Allison said. “He served in the Philippines and Japan during World War II. My grandfather, Ferrell Allison, and his brother, Lee Allison, both served in World War I, but neither had to go overseas.”

Mike Allison said he would be at Saturday’s festival. His World War I collection includes several uniforms and weapons, as well as sheet music from songs that were popular in World War I, such at “K-K-K-Katy.”

Kathy Rankin, museum board secretary and Perry County Veterans Services officer, said she does not have statistics on how many Perry County residents served in World War I, but she said, “71,862 Arkansans were sent to serve, including 18,322 African-Americans.”

A monument on the Perry County Courthouse lawn lists six World War I veterans — Verland H. Burch, James G. Gaston, Benjamin F. Green,

Larkin W. Leach, Albert R. Martin and Clarence E. Thornburg.

Kim Thibodaux, office manager of the Perry County Conservation District, said Saturday’s festival will feature educational, interactive booths set up on the courthouse square.

“In addition to a blacksmith, there will be Dutch-oven cooks who will give demonstrations and offer samples, and a goat farmer who will display goat-milk lotion and soaps. A quilting bee will be set up inside the museum,” she said.

“In our [conservation district] booth, Tamara Walkingstick, associate director of the Arkansas Forest Resource Center and associate professor of forestry for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, will tell us what bark we can eat from what tree,” Thibodaux said, laughing.

“I think the Perry County Cooperative Extension Service will set up a small cotton gin in its booth,” she said.

Thibodaux said representatives of the conservation district would also show heirloom gardens and plants. “We will also have bees and beekeepers.”

Arts-and-crafts vendors will demonstrate their art and sell their wares a few blocks away from the courthouse, in an open field across Arkansas 9 from the Perry County Arts League’s Hidden Gallery.

The Tindells will provide entertainment from 2-4 p.m. on the courthouse square; the local family plays country and gospel music.

Saturday’s activities are free and open to the public.

Karen Brazil, vice president of the museum’s board of directors, said the museum is normally open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the fourth Saturday of each month. The museum is also open during Fourche River Days, in December when the Christmas parade takes place, and for special events like Saturday’s festival.

Other members of the Perry County Historical Museum are Beverly Doremus, treasurer; Gary Willett; Nancy Tindell; Tommy and Debbie Parks; and Patty Allison.

For more information on the Perry County Heritage Heirloom and Arts Festival, call (501) 889-8060 or email information@perrycountyhistoricalmuseum.org.

Upcoming Events