"Fordyce on the Cottonbelt" Festival

Joe Bill driving Johnny Cash & June in Festival 1982
Joe Bill driving Nashville singer Erika Jo in Festival 2009
Tammy (stall manager) and fellow stall holder Becky & me
Murray playing the didgeridoo at Fordyce Middle School
Festival Food Stall
Bloomin' Onion

The annual 'Fordyce on the Cottonbelt' festival is one the largest festivals of a small town in the state of Arkansas, and attracts a crowd of 10,000 people. Can you believe it all started with an idea Joe Bill had back in 1980, hoping to inject some life and vitality into his hometown? Not that I discovered this until I did a bit of internet research this evening!

As the railroad was a major part of the town's lifeblood - the train carrying cotton went from St Louis to Texas, passing through Fordyce, Joe Bill and his chamber of commerce committee decided to call the festival just that...'Fordyce on the Cottonbelt'. They try and attract a guest singer each year, and in 1982, Johnny Cash and his wife June were on the program, and Joe Bill took them (and their son) in the parade on his horse drawn buggy. This year he drove the guest singer, Erika Jo (Nashville) in his red convertible (yes, we had a ride in it too). Each year they design a special T-Shirt for the festival, and the proceeds from the sales fund the festival. I am sure that every man, woman and child in town bought and wore a T-Shirt - I helped Sandy and the other ladies sell them for a few afternoons, and scored myself a nice pink one in the bargain. The festival starts on a Monday, and each day there is something different happening, and usually with a music show each evening. One of the main events is the Fordyce high school reunion dinner which is held on the Friday night. Many past students who live out of town return for the reunion. We attended this years as guests, and were amazed at the school years' represented (400 people attended)- Joe Bill's mother, who says she is 'doing fine for 99', graduated from the school back in 1928. She has attended every reunion since they started 28 years ago, and Joe Bill was the Emcee of the night - did I also mention he was the Chairman of the Festival? It is a wonder he had time to entertain us with all of the civic duties he was responsible for. The main parade was on Saturday and while I saw a bit of it, I was busy holding a bead stall (along with a few aussie souvenirs to add to the interest). That was a lot of fun, and some of the kids from the middle school (we had done a presentation on Australia at their school the day before) came up and bought their friends and parents to meet me.

Speaking of the school presentation, we gave a 30 min presentation to two groups, the first comprising grades 5 & 6 and the second grades 7 & 8. The only room with enough space was the gym, so the kids piled in and sat on the floor. As part of our presentation, we planned to give a didgeridoo demonstration. We had picked up a didgeridoo for Joe Bill & Sandy while we were in Mountain View, with the plan that Joe Bill was going to practise playing it ready for the demo. Well, he didn't do too well on the didgeridoo classes (perhaps I was a lousy teacher), but Murray picked it up quickly and did a great job.

Back to the festival...I just have to tell you aussies about the food we ate. One stall (pictured) sold bloomin' onions (the largest onions we have ever seen). They have a special cutter that keeps the 1lb onion intact, but slices each one to resemble a flower. They dip it in a spicy batter, then deep fry it and serve it with a dipping sauce - it is very tasty, but you need a few friends to help eat it all. It is H-U-G-E. At the same stall they sold Fried Green Tomatoes - remember that movie? I thought it was an odd name for a movie, but obviously no American would have questioned the title! Anyway, I had to try one, and it was good too. That was lunch. For dinner we shared a large polish sausage done up like a hot dog and served with fried sliced onions and capsicums - yum. Yes, I have a few extra rolls of fat that need some serious attention. Now where have I hidden my joggers??