Tag Archives: family fun

Arkansas Weekend Celebrations Centered on Homegrown Goodness

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Scripture says the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles was a harvest feast, a colorful and joyous time drawing great throngs to Jerusalem where all would enter carrying a piece of fruit. They called it “the season of our gladness.” More than 2,000 years later, many Arkansans recognize the bounty of the state’s largest industry in similar ways. Agriculture drives Arkansas’ economy and it’s celebrated on summer weekends with fruit festivals. Below are a few favorites to visit.

Cabot Strawberry Festival (May 2-4)

Bright red, juicy and delicious! Taste and purchase fresh strawberries while taking in a carnival, pageant, kid zone, 5k and more. The 20th annual festival focuses on family fun and promoting local businesses, but its stars are Lonoke County strawberry growers. The Junior Auxiliary of Cabot has grown it to one of the state’s most popular festivals with multiple food booths and 120 exhibitors. Facebook.com/StrawberryFestivalCabot

Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival (Jun 14-15)

One of Arkansas’ longer running festivals returns for a 68th year. Pink tomatoes first sold commercially in Bradley County in the early 1920s when cotton became less profitable. Tomatoes are characterized as a pink breed when the skin is translucent, and the interior looks more pink than red once mature. This ‘world famous’ event always happens the second full weekend of June (including a Friday) in the “Land of Tall Pines and Pink Tomatoes.” There is a tomato eating contest and “Great Bowls of Fire” salsa contest, pageants, truck and car show, and live music both nights. Pinktomatofestival.com

Johnson County Peach Festival (July 18-20)

Arkansas’ longest running festival started in 1938 and has only missed a few years due to wars and Covid. Peach Pickin’ Paradise, a local farm in Lamar, provides most of the peaches for the festival at the Clarksville Courthouse Square or you can pick your own at the orchard. There will be a peach eating contest, peach pit-spitting contest, a parade, multiple pageants (Baby Peach, Petite Peach, Princess Elberta) and lots of live music, featuring the Kentucky Headhunters on Saturday night. Festival president Milisa Woodard tells us the greased-pig chase on Saturday morning is her favorite event. Jocopeachfest.com

Cave City Watermelon Festival (July 25-27)

This festival started in the very hot, dry summer of 1980 with 2,400 attendees, including Gov. Bill Clinton. The weather had made melons hard to find but a grower named Herschel Runsick, who planted his in the nearby Strawberry River bottoms, produced enough for that first free feast presented by the Chamber of Commerce. The festival has expanded to three days with up to 10 area growers supplying “the world’s sweetest watermelons.” Catfish dinners, pancake breakfasts, talent shows, watermelon judging contests, 5k runs, ice cream making contests, car shows and local entertainment fill the weekend. Grab a lawn chair, lift a slice of melon and let the juice roll down to your elbows. Cavecitywatermelonfestival.com

Altus Grape Festival (July 26-27)

The 41st annual will include traditional attractions at Altus City Park, but just easing by the beautiful vineyards makes it worth the drive. If you take exit 41 off I-40, you’ll see rows of grapes on rolling hills and a majestic, Romanesque church built with stone in 1902. There will be a grape stomp at the festival, live music, food and beverage competitions, including an amateur wine competition with lots of taste testing. The wine industry has driven the Altus (population 662) economy since 1872. It is an official U.S. viticultural (wine growing) area. Facebook.com/altusgrapefest

Hope Watermelon Festival (Aug. 8-10)

It dates to the mid-1920s when close to 20,000 attended a one-day event and farmers sold ice-cold, giant melons (weighing close to 200 pounds) to passengers on the many trains that stopped in Hope. It became an annual event in the 1970s and is now a three-day celebration featuring chilled melons sold whole or by the slice. There will be close 150 arts and crafts booths from six states, dozens of food vendors, a car show, entertainment and other family-oriented activities like a melon-toss and seed-spitting contest. Hopewatermelonfest.com

Finding Fun During an Arkansas Winter

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Warm temperatures are the preference for most Arkansans. If you don’t believe us, just check the nearest body of water here in the Natural State any time between April and October. That said, we often get a little cabin fever during the colder months, so it’s good to have a list of climate-controlled activities that will keep your family active and smiling all winter long.

We’ve pulled together a list of some of the best spots to have a little indoor fun while we wait on the thermometer to rise a bit more. From Smackover to Jonesboro and Little Rock to Bentonville, here’s a list of 9 great options for non-stop action that should definitely hold you over until it’s shorts-and-sandals season again.

Mid-America Science Museum – Hot Springs

Mid-America Science Museum is a resource for innovative Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and serves as a unique destination for families. It provides an escape for curious minds of all ages and is located less than a mile from Hot Springs National Park.

Little Rock Climbing Center – Little Rock

This indoor hub of fun and fitness features climbing walls, top-rope stations, auto-belay stations, a fitness gym, large bouldering area and much more! Day passes are available and they’re open seven days a week.

Scott Family Amazeum – Bentonville

The Amazeum features approximately 50,000 square feet of exhibit and learning spaces inside the museum to bring learning to life and enhance family involvement, while evoking a sense of curiosity and discovery through hands-on activities.

Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center – Jonesboro

The Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center on the southern edge of Jonesboro tells the story of a unique ridge atop the Mississippi Delta with indoor and outdoor exhibits, films and trails. The three-story facility adjoins the southern boundary of Craighead Forest Park and includes a 5.5-acre prairie, 2.5-acre pond and approximately 100 acres of woodlands. Game and Fish Nature Centers are also located in other areas of the state. See a full list here.

U.S. Marshals Museum – Fort Smith

Complete with immersive exhibits and interactive storytelling, get the history of the U.S. Marshals Service. From tales of colonial days and the western frontier to challenges of a Marshal’s life today, you’ll encounter an America you never knew and be inspired by the men and women whose service and strength helps hold it all together.

Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources – Smackover

South Arkansas is home to the unique story of the 1920s oil boom. Inside the museum, tour a reproduction of a boomtown with an old jail and café. The streets are even lined with vintage trucks and gas pumps. Walking the grounds of the state park, you’ll see working oil field equipment used in the area, including a replica of a 112-foot derrick and a central power station that could pull up to 15 wells.

Blanchard Springs Caverns – Fifty Six

Located in Stone County, approximately 2 miles off Highway 14 near Mountain View, the Blanchard Springs Caverns is one of the most spectacular and carefully developed caves found anywhere. Visitors enter a “living” cave where glistening formations like stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and flowstones are still changing. 

Hijinx – Jonesboro

From bowling to ropes courses to laser tag and everything in between, there’s lots to choose from at this NEA hotspot offering a host of family entertainment options for fun-seekers of all ages and skill levels. The only problem might be getting your family to leave!

Museum of Discovery – Little Rock

The Museum of Discovery is Little Rock’s premier science and technology center, with a mission to ignite and fuel a passion for science, technology, engineering, arts and math through dynamic, interactive experiences. For kids young and old, the museum is a great place to explore the exciting world of science!