The past two years have not been kind to the Dardanelle Area Chamber of Commerce. In summer 2019, central Arkansas was hit with a massive flood from May until June as a result of heavy rainfall and the failure of the Dardanelle Levee.
Now, this year, Dardanelle and the rest of the country are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For the past two years, we haven’t been able to host our biggest fundraiser of the year, the Free State of Yell Fest,” said Stacey Daughtrey, executive director for the chamber. “In 2019, we weren’t able to have it due to the flood, and now again, due to COVID-19, which costs us about $40,000.
“That is a huge hit for a small chamber.”
She said the money raised from the festival not only covers payroll for the chamber, but the funds are used for advertising to bring people to the area to eat in the restaurants and shop at the stores. She said that without proceeds from the event, the chamber doesn’t have the advertising money it desperately needs to bring tourism to the area.
“Every weekend, our local parks are packed with people coming from all over the state,” Daughtrey said. “I have family who live in Houston, and they told me, even down there, they are talking about our monument trails in Dardanelle. We’ve got to have that money to advertise to those folks in Houston to come to Arkansas.”
Fortunately, the 73rd annual Mount Nebo Chicken Fry, the chamber’s second-largest fundraiser, is still happening this year. It will be a drive-thru event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Veterans River Front Park, 200 Front St. She said that for safety measures, the drive-thru crew will include a minimal number of volunteers, and they will wear gloves and face shields.
“It is such a big festival for our area,” Daughtrey said. “When we were growing up, families went to the chicken fry, and we used to have a big dance on Saturday night, which was the highlight of the event.
“People would bring their own ice chest, and Rawhide would be the band that always played until about midnight. … I’ve heard all these stories through the years about going to the dance, and I just laugh at it now.”
Daughtrey said the chicken fry will consist of Tyson Foods’ award-winning chicken dinners, and T-shirts will be ready for those who preordered them. Daughtrey said she will have a limited number of T-shirts for sale at the event. For more information, call (479) 229-3328.
The choice for meals includes a half-grilled chicken for $8 or four chicken strips for $5. All meals include the famous Mount Nebo Cumin Rice, baked beans, potato salad, a pickle spear, a slice of bread, a cookie and a bottle of water.
“We get rice from Riceland in Stuttgart, and it is a recipe that we have had and served as far back as the ’80s, maybe longer,” Daughtrey said. “It is famous because we are the only ones who have the recipe, and we don’t share it.
“The ladies who have been cooking that rice, which includes former Mayor Carolyn McGee, have [been making that rice recipe] for at least
25 years. There is a lot of history and a lot of tradition with this meal.”
Last year, it rained the day of the chicken fry, and Daughtrey said the chamber “barely broke even.” Originally, the event was a fish fry on the mountain, and it turned into a chicken fry to promote and pay homage to the poultry industry, Daughtrey said.
“It used to also be a political event, where we would get together and meet everyone in the area,” she said. “If you were running for any type of political seat in the state of Arkansas, this is the event where you announced your candidacy.
“So it was really huge in the political scene. In the late ’70s and ’80s, [former governor of Arkansas] Bill Clinton used to attend, and that’s when the event was really in its heyday.”
Daughtrey said that throughout the years, the chicken fry has tapered off some, and in 2017, Tanya Hendrix, a former executive director for the chamber, moved the event back up to the mountain. Daughtrey said she vowed the chamber would never move the chicken fry back to town.
“This year we are eating crow. Thankfully, it tastes like chicken,” she said.
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.