HEBER SPRINGS — Every Saturday night during the summer, music will once again be coming to Spring Park.
Music in the Park is a free series of concerts from 7 to 9 p.m. that began on June 2 and will run through Sept. 1. But it isn’t only music, Music in the Park coordinator Rick Gardner said. It is a variety show that includes jugglers, magicians, comedians and poets who will be interspersed with the musicians.
Gardner said that until sometime in the 1980s, Spring Park was alive with music on Saturday nights when what locals called the Hootenanny went on for hours.
“In the 1930s or ’40s, it would start at 6 Saturday night and go through Sunday morning,” Gardner said. “Tom Whittaker was a druggist in town, and he was the last one to run the Hootenanny, into the mid-1980s.”
Gardner said that after Whittaker died, so did the Hootenanny. Heber Springs Mayor Jackie McPherson approached Gardner, who owns Red River Music Co. in Heber Springs, and asked if he would coordinate the weekly events.
McPherson remembers going to the Hootenanny when he was a kid.
“I remember Tom Whittaker all dressed up in a Colonel Sanders-type suit, and he emceed,” McPherson said. “Mostly back then, it was bluegrass. People would spread blankets out on the lawn. It was family-friendly.”
He said he remembered it being very casual, and musicians would just show up and perform, and people would stay as long as there was music playing.
The new program won’t be limited to bluegrass music but will have a variety of genres, Gardner said.
“I really think it’s going to go over well, and it’s something we can do for years to come,” McPherson said about Music in the Park.
The amphitheater at the park seats about 500, Gardner said, and the first show brought about 100 people to see Posey Hill, a band from Texarkana.
Sponsored by the city of Heber Springs Advertising and Promotions Board, Music in the Park also has private sponsors, such as Subway, Freddie’s Frozen Yogurt, First Arkansas Bank and Trust, and the Red River Music Co.
The first hour of the show is 10- to 15-minute sets of local talent, and Gardner said the second hour is a performance by a headliner band.
“I think it’s a great thing that we picked up this old tradition and started doing this again,” McPherson said.
Music in the Park is an activity that families visiting Heber Springs can attend after a day on the water, McPherson added.
Acts that would like to be considered for Music in the Park may call Gardner at (501) 250-6395.
To learn more about Music in the Park and scheduled events, like it on Facebook at facebook.com/HeberSpringsMusicInThePark.
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 142 on 06/10/2012