CABOT — More games for kids to play will be a big highlight of the 17th annual Cabot Junior Auxiliary Strawberry Festival.
The annual event will take place Friday and Saturday in downtown Cabot. Carnival rides will be open from 5-10 p.m. Thursday.
“This is a big event for us,” said Cher Bear, Strawberry Festival chairwoman. “We’ve been working with the same carnival company for the past five or six years. We have all our vendors come in, and we’ve got sponsors.”
The festivities will run from 5-9 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Bear said she expects more than 15,000 people to attend the festival.
“We’re bringing in more games for the kid zone,” Bear said. “And we’ll have more musical entertainment acts. The kids will have laser tag and many more inflatable games. There is an archery station right next to the kid zone this year.
“We’ve also got a trackless train this year.”
“We’ll have over 100 vendors, including three strawberry growers,” she said.
Those are Holland Bottom Farms, Barnhill Orchards and the Cabot Patch.
Ekko Barnhill of Barnhill Orchards said she looks forward to being part of the Strawberry Festival.
“Barnhill has a bumper crop of strawberries this year,” she said. “Sharing our strawberries with the Cabot community through the Strawberry Festival has become a time-honored tradition that we appreciate and support.”
Bear said there are eight food vendors scheduled for the event, including Say Cheese, Debbie’s Burritos, Seth Wynne’s Barbecue, W&M Concessions, the Fun Food Factory, Kristian’s Hawaiian Ice, Hot Dog Weiners and Ocko’s Hibachi Island.
Entertainers will perform on the stage in the Cabot Police Department parking lot. The headline acts for Friday are Rodge Arnold and Mayday By Midnight, which will perform from 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Bear said 13 acts are set for Saturday. The headliners and their times include Do It Henry from 4-5 p.m., Bad Habit from 5-6 p.m., Riley Biederer from 6-7:30 p.m. and Redwood Black from 7:30-9:30 p.m.
The Junior Auxiliary usually holds a Strawberry Festival pageant, but because of meetings in Memphis that weekend, the group will be down several members. Bear said the pageant should return next year.
Sponsors for this year’s Strawberry Festival are Bill’s Fence Co., Greystone Medical Clinic, Hertzog Family Eye Care, Waco Title, Action Sign & Neon, Rotary International, Owen Orthodontics, Cabot Advertising and Promotion, the Mobile Video Game Station, Cool 104.7, IDM, Cabot Church of Christ and Cabot Parks and Recreation.
Bear is in her second year with the Junior Auxiliary.
“I love Junior Auxiliary, and I love being a part of it,” she said. “It’s an amazing, extraordinary group of women who come together and volunteer their time. A lot of us put our own funds into it to make sure certain needs are met.”
Bear holds the office of welfare chairwoman in the auxiliary, working with the 19 schools in the Cabot School District.
“We have a clothing closet,” she said. “People donate things to use all the time. We make sure everything is washed. Anytime we have a welfare need, we’ll go to that closet first. If we can’t, we use funds from the Charity Ball or the Strawberry Festival. Kids get new shoes and clothes.”
Additionally, the Junior Auxiliary provides dental screenings for kindergartners and reads to first-graders, and those students get a copy of that book, Bear said.
For more information about the Junior Auxiliary of Cabot or the Strawberry Festival, visit www.facebook.com/strawberryfestivalcabot.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.