Prairie Grove Presents The 68th Annual Clothesline Fair

ANNUAL FAIR FEATURES SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE; DOUGHNUT BURGERS NEW THIS YEAR

PRAIRIE GROVE — The Prairie Grove Lions Club invites you to attend the 68th Annual Clothesline Fair over the Labor Day weekend. The fair opens Saturday, Aug. 31, and runs through Monday, Sept. 2.

One of the oldest arts and crafts festivals in Arkansas, the Clothesline Fair has something for everyone. The fair is free to the public. The state park charges a $5 parking fee each day. Other lots also are available for paid parking.

Craft vendor tents, sponsored by the Arts Center of the Ozarks, will open at 8:30 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and will operate from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Labor Day. More than 100 craft booths will feature artisans selling, displaying, and demonstrating their handmade wares.

Food trucks and various drink concessions will be open all day, each day of the event. Food choices this year include a barbecue tent, funnel cakes, foot-long, hand-dipped corndogs, hamburgers, nachos, roasted corn and kettle corn. New this year are a doughnut burger and an ice cream truck.

In addition to food and crafts, there will be square dancing, antique farm equipment displays, Civil War interpretative programs and activities and musical entertainment.

There’s a little bit of everything,” said Craig Battles with the Lions Club.

Battles, who also organizes the square dancing, said the club’s goal is to “keep the fair fresh and growing” each year.

“It belongs to everyone. It belongs to the community,” Battles said.

Hindman Hall Museum & Visitor Center will be open daily from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. The museum features interactive exhibits, artifacts and videos, along with the park gift shop and restrooms. Park grounds, picnic areas, and restrooms are open daily from 8 a.m. until dark.

The state park has planned several interpretative programs throughout the weekend. These include learning how to shoot a Civil War cannon, making an 1860s spinning top, experiencing first hand the life of an infantry soldier in the Civil War and becoming a junior historian.

The annual Clothesline Fair Parade starts at 9 a.m. Saturday. The parade, sponsored by Prairie Grove Area Chamber of Commerce, starts at the middle school, goes through downtown and ends at Battlefield State Park.

Members of the Rustic Relics Club will display a variety of antique tractors and other farming equipment throughout the fair with special demonstrations for visitors.

Activities will move to the amphitheater for square dancing at 2 p.m. Saturday and again at 2 p.m. Monday. Square dancing will go on the rest of the day, with the competition groups taking the stage afterward.

Gospel music is the featured program on Sunday starting at 1 p.m. Several gospel and country/ southern gospel groups are scheduled to sing Sunday afternoon.

The Prairie Grove Lions Club sponsors the square dancing and coordinates all concessions at the Clothesline Fair. Proceeds are used to help others, especially those with vision needs. The Club once again will have chicken dinners, chicken legs and smoked bologna sandwiches for sale at the Latta Barn.

Arts Center of the Ozarks handles the craft show and Battlefield State Park staff prepares the grounds and takes care of needs throughout the three-day event.

For more information contact Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park at 479-846-2990 or by e-mail at prairiegrove@arkansas.com.

For more information about the crafts show, contact Arts Center of the Ozarks, 479-751-5441, or visit the ACO website http://www.acozarks.org.