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ARKANSAS TRAVEL: These 12 spring festivals cover all bases, nooks, crannies

There’ll be lively music galore April 20-21 during the Arkansas Folk Festival in Mountain View.
There’ll be lively music galore April 20-21 during the Arkansas Folk Festival in Mountain View.

Spring is prime time for festivals in Arkansas, as the Natural State's chilly months recede in the rear-view mirror and the energy-draining heat of summer lurks down the road.

Festival themes vary as widely as do the flatland settings of the Delta and the mountains of the Ozarks. Topics stretch from gumbo to beefsteaks, automobiles to railroading, folk music to the blues, threatened elk to hopping toads, rotary-tiller races to steam-punk gear.

Many of the events are hardy perennials, boasting a track record that goes back decades. A few are relatively new. It's often free to roam the festival grounds, with admission sometimes charged for concerts and other special events.

Here's a sampler of the looming family fun, presented pithily to include as many festivals as possible:

Arkansas Folk Festival, Mountain View, April 20-21. The Ozark Folk Center is one of our liveliest state parks. And it's rarely more perky than during this vernal celebration of homespun Arkansas music and crafts. Entertainment also takes place on the lawn of Stone County Courthouse.

Hot Springs Gumbo and Crawfish Festival, April 21. Spa City Blues Society sponsors this savory event. For the $10 admission fee, organizers promise "unlimited gumbo samples" from the competing cooks. "But we do not guarantee you will be able to sample gumbo from all the teams." Crawfish will be sold separately.

Fordyce on the Cotton Belt, April 23-28. Once upon a time a major employer in Arkansas, the long-gone Cotton Belt line stirs nostalgia in communities it served during the first half of the 20th century. Along with the choo-choo focus, there's a steak-grilling competition on April 28.

Dogwood Festival, Siloam Springs, April 27-29. This year's fest is partnering with the Miss Dogwood Pageant, an affiliate of the Miss America competition. More than 200 vendors of crafts and other commodities from around the United States will be selling their arts, crafts and other wares.

Old Timers Day Steampunk Festival, Van Buren, April 28-29. "Steampunk," according to this fest's organizers, "consists of elements such as steam power, gears, and wheels -- with a backdrop of Victorian England or America's Wild West." Included are "pop-up acts, stilt walkers, fire breathers, sword swallowing, acrobats, and so much more!"

Toad Suck Daze, Conway, May 4-6. "Toad suck" was how 19th-century locals pictured the riverboat crews slurping their liquor in the area's rustic taverns. At this bustling Faulkner County event, races among hopping toads are just one highlight of the frolicking.

Southern Food and Wine Festival, El Dorado, May 4-5. As El Dorado's Murphy Arts District continues to develop, this flavorful get-together will include a high-falutin wine dinner for $175 on May 4. Musical acts ensue on May 5, along with an afternoon tasting of wines from around the globe. Saturday tickets are $20.

Magnolia Blossom Festival and Championship Steak Cook-off, May 18-19. Multiple anniversaries will be marked at this hybrid event. It will be Magnolia's 30th annual blossom festival, its 29th steak cook-off and its 68th yearly art show. Prizes totaling $10,000 will go the best steak grill teams.

Lum & Abner Festival, Mena, June 1-2. Take a nostalgic trip to the 1930s, when radio ruled as home entertainment. Back then, the fictive Lum & Abner were national celebrities airing their backwoods humor. Festival attractions include a quilt show, basketball and softball tournaments, fishing derbies and a baby-crawling contest.

Eureka Springs Blues Weekend, June 14-17. Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge just south of Eureka Springs is the prime venue for what the publication Blues Festival Guide calls "The Who's Who of the Blues." Visitors can also admire the menagerie of tigers and other big cats rescued by the refuge.

Buffalo River Elk Festival, Jasper, June 22-23. There's a lot of worry about the health of northern Arkansas' reintroduced herds of elk. But these shy and handsome creatures can still be seen around Ponca and other river towns. This festival celebrates their presence in the Buffalo River environs.

Purple Hull Pea Festival and Rotary Tiller Race, Emerson, June 29-30. Among wacky competitions, it's tough to choose between June's racing tillers in Magnolia and the July 28 cardboard-boat contests in Heber Springs. Emerson's lagniappe is the purple-hull peas, said to be tastier than their black-eyed pea cousins.

Information on these and other festive events can be found at arkansas.com.

Style on 04/17/2018

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