DECATUR — DECATUR - The Decatur Barbecue and Bulldog Days will be held back-to-back on Aug. 6 and 7 and will officially be called the 57th Annual Decatur Barbecue Festival.
Chamber of Commerce members and Parks and Recreation Committee members met on Monday night and worked out some details for the combined events, including the new name.
Pat Austin, a member of both organizations, suggested updating the name so it would be easier to market in the local media and print on posters and T-shirts.
The Chamber of Commerce will be holding its traditional events, such as the parade,beauty contest and country music entertainment, on Friday, Aug. 6.
The Parks and Recreation Committee will host a car show, hot air balloons, miniature train rides and other events on Saturday, Aug. 7. The Parks and Recreation Committee may hold a church service with gospel music on Sunday as well.
Arts and Crafts vendors and concessions stand owners will be able to stay at the event for two or three days, so the Chamber and Parks and Recreation Committee discussed fees for booth space at great length. Some members wanted to charge a flat fee, while others wanted to charge 10 percent of the vendor’s profit.
The two organizations voted to charge all arts and crafts vendors a flat fee of $25. In a separatevote, they chose to charge all food vendors $50 for the booth space, a $50 utility fee and 10 percent of their profits. Non-profit organization such as local churches and the Decatur High School will be able set up booths and sell concessions for free.
Kim Beggs, who also serves as a member of both organizations, suggested hosting a pokerrun on Saturday. The money raised would be used to buy animals at premium from Decatur students at the Benton County Fair. Beggs said she has noticed many of the kids don’t get the support they used to receive at the fair.
The next Chamber of Commerce meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m., June 7, in the Gallery Cafe.
News, Pages 1 on 05/05/2010