Mayhaw and Southern Food and Wine Festivals successes
The 26th annual Mayhaw Festival was yesterday, bringing participants from around the county and elsewhere to the Newton House for some sweet mayhaw jelly.
The mayhaw jelly breakfast at the Newton House was a hit, with hungry festival-goers lining up throughout the day for biscuits and jelly. Several food vendors were also in attendance. The Old Hickory Sauce Company, based in Smackover gave away free samples, with sausages slathered in barbeque sauce, beans and hot water cornbread.
One vendor from Ruston, Louisiana was selling natural, homemade honey at the event. Aaron Jennings, of Jennings Apiaries, had raw honey that he harvested and bottled himself. He said festival organizers contacted him after having difficulty finding local beekeepers. When asked how he liked El Dorado, he couldn’t complain.
“Everyone’s been super friendly,” Jennings said. For more information about his honey, visit his instagram page at @JenningsApiaries.
Also featured at the festival was a car and bike show. Porsches lined one end of the parking lot where the show was held, while antique cars and “pimped out rides” filled the remainder of the lot.
One car owner featured his two Ford Mustangs, one from 1992 and the other from 2015. Dumas Bright said he comes to the festival every year to show his cars and that he always has fun doing it.
Wade Gilbert and LaJoy Pepper showed off their “Gucci’d out” Denali SUV. The car was covered in a Gucci-inspired decal and had four speakers and two television screens in the trunk. Gilbert said the front grill also held two speakers. All the cars had crowds around them as proud owners described their specifications.
Across from the car show, several bands took the stage to entertain the festival-goers. First up was Roses and Revolvers, followed by the Haley Creek Band, then The Captain Ledge Band, with Ashtyn Barbaree making up the finale.
Captain Ledge’s Lonnie Lay said he and his wife drove 5 hours in the rain to make it to El Dorado. However, he was glad to do it, he said.
“It’s worth it. We always have a great time here,” Lay said.
Some festival-goers were
attending for the first time. Aimee Beebe was guiding her friend Stacey Johnson around the festival for Johnson’s first time to attend. Despite having lived in El Dorado for twenty years, she had never had the opportunity to go to the festival.
T.R.K. Shavma and V. Vidyavathi were also attending for the first time. They said they were visting El Dorado from India, and that they were having a fun time at the festival.
The Union County Animal Protection Society had an information tent and a pen with dogs waiting for adoption. Festival-goers were also welcome to bring their dogs, which several did.
Anita Tennyson brought her dog Punk, who she rescued after meeting at last year’s Mayhaw Festival. People crowded around the pup and she licked their faces, enjoying the attention.
“We enjoy it. We just come to take a break, see people and get some mayhaw jelly,” Tennyson said. “We come to support the community.”
Also featured at the festival was a petting zoo, the Union County Sports Hall of Fame Museum and mayhaw products as far as the eye could see.
Later in the afternoon, the Southern Food and Wine Festival picked up where it left off Friday evening, with workshops at the Griffin restaurant and a Grand Wine Tasting at the Murphy Arts District Amphitheater.
A large crowd gathered in the amphitheater to sample wines from France, California and elsewhere. Sommelier Suzie Long was in attendance and said she was impressed by the selection.
“Whenever you plan a tasting like this, you want to get a good variance, and they have,” Long said. “I had a really fun and interesting one from France.”
Shane Feazell said that he came for the wine and sense of community. He attended to two previous Food and Wine Festivals and said that he’s had a great time every time he’s come.
Fine dining workshops in the Griffin were at high capacity. Sixteen people could be seen swirling their wine glasses as master sommelier Dustin Wilson presented his “Taste Like a Master” workshop.
Emily Cole and Matt Benson rocked the stage at the start of the tasting with classic rock hits. Trey Johnson was up next. The threepiece played a lively acoustic set. Maggie Koerner finished the afternoon up.
Other workshops at the festival were the “Reidel Wine Glass” class, which showed participants how to pick the right glass for their wine, and the “Food and Wine Pairing” class, which showed how to match a food with the right wine.
Two performers from Arkansas Circus Arts strutted through the amphitheater courtyard on stilts. Beka Poland and Heather Sanders also performed at the MAD grand opening last October.
The two festivals brought hundreds of people to the downtown area of El Dorado.