Dogwood Festival set for this weekend
After months of planning, reservations and cravings for fried food, the Dogwood Festival will roll into town this weekend.
Siloam Springs’ annual spring festival will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend in historic downtown. More information on the festival, including schedules and maps, can be found in a special section of today’s paper.
Food, arts and crafts vendors from across the country and from right here in Siloam Springs, will set up shop as the downtown district becomes a gathering place for the entire city and for visitors from miles away.
“The Chamber looks forward to the Dogwood Festival each year,” said Mary Fears, Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce Director of Operations. “It is an opportunity to showcase our quaint, beautiful town to so many visitors. In addition to our vendors who come from as far away as Chicago and Florida, we welcome thousands of visitors from neighboring cities.”
Those visitors will get to choose from more than 200 vendors selling food ranging from seafood to turkey legs, and items from self-defense equipment to original, hand-made art and decorations.
“We hope that they see a little something here that makes them want to come back for more,” Fears said.
Joining the smells of festival food in the air of the festival will be the sounds of a meticulously assembled roster of musicians and performances. The main
stage will be expanded and shifted this year to University Street facing west, to be a more prominent part of the festival. A larger platform will also allow the festival to accommodate larger and more well-known bands.
From the main stage, a trail of vendors will lead along Sager Creek to the Kids Zone in Bob Henry Park, where younger festival-goers can enjoy carnival games and lighter refreshments. Perennial favorites like the Amazon obstacle course and helicopter rides will be joined by new attractions like Art on a Mission, a booth run by John Brown University students selling hand-made jewelry, art prints and quilted bags, or Le Jardin Cottage, a new vendor selling succulents in glass globes.
“Our Dogwood Festival is not only possible because of the work of the Chamber, but a committee of volunteers that work year round, the generosity of our city helping with everything from trash to organizing Community Service workers and so much more,” said Fears.
Fears also said the event relies on a network of volunteers that help set up and tear down the event itself, including a group of around 70 from First Assembly of God Church.
“Rain or shine, everyone shows up with a smile and a helping hand to show just what Siloam is made of,” Fears said.
“Personally, I love seeing the festive atmosphere downtown, said Kelsey Howard, Executive Director of Main Street Siloam Springs. “I remember coming downtown with my grandma and have about $15 that I was allowed to spend on whatever I wanted.”
For Howard, part of the appeal of the festival is the nostalgia, but a bigger part is getting to see people experience the downtown that she lives and works in every day.
Howard said she and her organization appreciated the work done by the chamber to make the dogwood festival the event that it is.