Cabot Fest to add former homecoming tradition
CABOT — Going into its 36th year, Cabot Fest will continue to bring tradition and community back to the city of Cabot through the annual hometown celebration.
The festival, sponsored and organized by the Cabot Chamber of Commerce, has been a tradition in a town that continues to grow.
“As Cabot has grown, Cabot Fest has grown,” said Amy Williams, executive director of the Cabot Chamber of Commerce.
CabotFest started in 1978 to bring the community together after a tornado tore the town apart, and Williams said the festival is one way the community has rallied together year after year.
“It began after the tornado killed several here in town and did quite a bit of damage to the town,” she said. “Cabot residents decided they were going to revive and put on a CabotFest, so they have every year since then.”
This year, committee members suggested bringing back a city tradition that has not been part of CabotFest in the past. The festival falls on the same weekend as Cabot High School’s homecoming. One of the school’s homecoming traditions that faded years ago was a street dance where people would literally take to the streets with dancing after the homecoming football game.
After more than 20 years without the homecoming street dance, the tradition will make a comeback as part of CabotFest this year.
“We’re going to use the street dance Friday night to kick off CabotFest,” Williams said. “Back about 20 to 25 years ago, they’d do a street dance on Friday night after homecoming. We’re going to bring that to CabotFest, and we hope people will join us after the game. We’ve got a DJ coming in, and it should be a really fun time.”
The festival takes place annually on the second Saturday in October. The festivities will start Friday night and continue into a full day of fun and music Saturday.
Activities will include bingo, a car show, a photo booth, Build-a-Pal, paintball and cricket spitting — which Williams said is exactly what it sounds like.
“They have markers like on a football field, and kids, adults, everyone, put crickets in their mouths, and they spit them,” she said. “It’s a huge draw, and people really talk about it. It’s just kind of fun.”
On Saturday night, three musical numbers will provide entertainment for the festival. First, the a cappella group The Blend will bring back music from the ’50s and ’60s — with a twist. Following The Blend, country music singer Matt Dame will take the stage.
Finishing out the night, Christian singing group Anthem Lights will perform for what Williams said is expected to be a large crowd, especially considering that one of the group’s singers, Alan Powell, is in the feature film The Song.
“I’ll probably have a whole parking lot of screaming girls,” Williams said. “We’ve had a lot of interest from around central Arkansas when we announced they were coming. Everyone I’ve come across who has heard of Anthem Lights loves them.”
CabotFest will take place on Second and West Main streets in Cabot in front of City Hall, Regions Bank, the Police Department and First Security Bank.