Tiny Dancers
n Adeline Haney, left, dances with Zachary Melson on Saturday at the 49th annual Jonquil Festival at Historic Washington State Park, Ark. Thousands came from all over the region to enjoy the craft and food vendors, music and more at the event.
WASHINGTON, Ark.—While recent warm winter weather sent most of this year’s jonquils into full bloom prematurely and made them miss the 49th annual Jonquil Festival, the same couldn’t be said for festival patrons Saturday.
The festival’s second day and its mild temperatures brought thousands of residents from throughout Southwest Arkansas and much of the Four States Area to the festival’s site, Historic Washington State Park, a few miles north of Hope, Ark.
Once inside the park, visitors shopped through the rows of vendors, enjoyed the sunny skies and took in a few of the jonquils that managed to bloom on time, despite the earlier balmy weather’s enticement.
Josh Williams, park curator, said last month’s warm weather caused about 70 percent of the area’s jonquils to mature too early for the festival, but the event still seemed to draw a steady stream of patrons from within a 125-mile radius—and some from as far away as Little Rock and Dallas.
Many visitors eagerly explored the merchandise offered by the event’s 130 craft and food vendors—such as assorted spices, jewelry, candles, pottery and clothing, as well as woodwork and soaps.
Texarkana, Texas, residents Anita and Bill Pickard, along with Bill’s brother, Glen, sold wood craft items.
“Glen and I have been doing this type of work for about 30 years,” Bill Pickard said. “I’ve been a carpenter all my life. This hobby keeps me out of trouble.”
Bill Pickard said he and Anita started bringing wood crafts to the festival in about 2000.
Some of the Pickard brothers’ handiwork includes handmade cedar wood chests, end tables and coffee tables.
“Bill and Glen plane, sand, cut and build all of this,” Anita Pickard said.
Other vendors, such as Ashdown, Ark., residents Alex and Kristie Tyson, sold handmade goat milk soap.
“We’ve been making this soap for about eight years now,” Kristie Tyson said.
Besides selling their soap for the third time at the Jonquil Festival, Alex Tyson said they also offer it at area farmers’ markets.
“We also have a website,” he said.
Kristie Tyson said she received her inspiration to make the soap because of her daughter’s skin condition.
“Our little girl had sensitive skin, but this type of soap helped her, so we just started making this ourselves,” she said.
Today is the final day of the festival, which is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, but parking is $5.