CONWAY -- The first weekend in May -- long a tradition of funnel cakes, amphibians, contests and crowds -- came and went without the annual Toad Suck Daze festival, brought to a halt for the first time in its 38-year history by the coronavirus pandemic.
In the city and county, the pandemic is keeping government offices shuttered to the public, city and county employees working from home, jails restricting visits and hospitals stretching resources to meet increased demand.
"We decided in March to postpone Toad Suck Daze. We were fairly certain, even at that point, that it wasn't going to happen," said Mary Margaret Satterfield, festival director for the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce. "We're not sure about rescheduling it for later this summer or not. We have not completely given up on the idea."
As of Saturday afternoon's count from the Arkansas Department of Health, 88 Faulkner County residents have tested positive for the coronavirus. There have been three deaths from the virus in the county: DeVonte Sargent, 25, who died April 2; Larry Earnhart, 76, who died April 12; and Norman Moyer, 66, who died May 11.
"It's going as good as can be expected," said Jim Baker, county judge of Faulkner County. "I know it's slower and all, but right now, we're better off than some folks. Our revenue is going to take a pretty good shortfall. If [the shutdown] doesn't last a whole lot longer, I think we're going to be OK."
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The county road crews are still at work, while the county government offices work on skeleton in-person crews with most working from home, Baker said. The county continues to operate, and the public can still access services, but only by following social distancing rules. Physical access to the offices is limited.
The county uses drop boxes in which the public can drop off documents that need to be filed, and many of county services can be accessed online.
"It's all working," Baker said. "I'm proud of the fact that we haven't had to furlough any employees and that there are no covid-19 cases with our employees or in our jail system."
Faulkner County Clerk Margaret Darter said the doors may be locked, but the office is still serving residents by appointment.
"We do serve individuals that do not have an appointment, but only if we are not currently serving someone when they arrive," Darter said. "We are doing approximately seven marriage licenses a day. We recently started doing passports again by appointment only and have done approximately eight since last Monday."
All of the county clerk's employees are back in the office and are practicing social distancing.
"We clean and sanitize after every person we serve," Darter said. "I have installed hand sanitizer on the door before entering our office, which everyone is taking advantage of to help stop the spread of the virus."
Likewise, Conway Mayor Bart Castleberry said most of the city employees are working from home, but city services continue -- within guidelines to protect the staff and public from contracting the virus.
"We're still meeting with the department directors through Zoom daily," Castleberry said. "The phones will still be answered, just as if we're here."
Castleberry said he is working with the city's "covid czar" Ty Ledbetter, a Conway firefighter and paramedic, to lessen the exposure of citizens and employees to the virus.
"We're planning for when we eventually open back up," Castleberry said.
Among the accommodations is splitting up employees who typically share offices and staggering the times when city inspectors go to the office to collect their orders, the mayor said.
So far, the city has had three employees who were quarantined because of suspected exposure to covid-19.
"All negative," Castleberry said. "They didn't develop symptoms, and they're back on schedule."
Baker and Castleberry said they encourage the public to take precautions seriously and to respect one another.
"The public needs to wear masks and protective equipment," Baker said. "This virus is still present. I'd really like to emphasize that it should be taken seriously."
Castleberry said he's really been stressing the need to take personal responsibility.
"We're not here to police anyone, businesses or churches or anything else. It's a personal decision," Castleberry said. "If you're concerned about the virus, do what you need to do to take care of yourself, but also respect those who choose not to wear masks or not to wear gloves. And respect the ones who do, as well. It all boils down to a personal decision."
The medical facilities in the city are still screening, testing and treating patients for the virus.
Matt Troup, president and chief executive officer of the Conway Regional Health System, said the amount of community testing has decreased, but overall testing by the hospital has increased because of the Department of Health's requirement of a negative test before undergoing elective surgeries or procedures. All patients are also tested if they are admitted to the hospital.
"This has been an unprecedented time in our field, but I could not be prouder of the way our team has responded to the challenge," Troup said. "At Conway Regional, it is the very fabric of our culture to answer the call to serve, and the covid-19 pandemic has highlighted that within our staff. Many team members have volunteered to care for covid-19 patients on our isolation unit. I'm proud of our team's adaptability, willingness to serve and passion for protecting our community."
Tim Bowen, president of Baptist Health-Conway, said his hospital has seen a slight increase in the number of tests performed, but a slight decrease in the number of positive tests.
"Seeing our caregivers and employees respond to this crisis in ways that health care has never seen before has been humbling," Bowen said. "We have spent the last few weeks trying to express our gratitude to our staff during Nurses Week, as well as Hospital Week. There really aren't enough words to describe our thankfulness. They truly are heroes in the ways they have served our patients and families -- many times being the family for a patient when they couldn't physically be there because of visitor and patient safety policies, which are, of course, for the health and safety of our patients, their families, our community and our caregivers."
As for Toad Suck Daze, Satterfield said festival officials are working hard to keep the spirit of the Central Arkansas festival alive and well.
There may not be a World Championship Toad Race this year, but the festival is taking its show to the virtual world by partnering with community organizations like the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas state parks and the Museum of Discovery.
The partners produce virtual events such as the popular Museum of Discovery's "Messtival Science," where messy science experiments -- like mixing Mentos and Coke -- are filmed.
The annual omelet-breakfast fundraiser, "Omelets With the Toad Master," was held virtually with guest chef Marvin Williams making an omelet waffle. Milestones Services sold T-shirts and "tickets" online. A purchased ticket unlocked the log-in for the virtual event and secured admittance if the fundraiser is rescheduled for the fall.
"We will continue to do things during the summer," Satterfield said. "We're still able to provide some family entertainment and fun to the Central Arkansas community."
The virtual events are an alternative way to raise money for the festival's main purpose: educational scholarships. Since the festival's inception, more than $1.7 million in scholarships, scholarship endowments and preschool funding have been awarded.
"We're going to announce some of the college scholarships in the coming weeks," Satterfield said. "There's some stuff we'll still be able to do, but we'd like to do more. It's a little harder now."
Still, the lack of the average 100,000-plus crowd will be a loss to Conway businesses, hotels and restaurants, Satterfield said.
Satterfield said festival organizers are taking their cues from Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the state Department of Health on if and when it will be safe to reschedule the festival.
"There was a weekend in the mid-2000s that downtown Conway flooded," Satterfield said. "We canceled one day of the festival, but we've never had to cancel the whole thing."
SundayMonday on 05/17/2020