GRAVETTE -- The popular Renaissance festival, sponsored the last few years by the Gravette Public Library, is now in its fifth year. Fans of the annual event are invited to attend the 2016 festival, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 5, in Old Town Park. Attendance has grown each year of the festival, and this year's event will again offer a variety of attractions, according to Steve Huckriede, chairman.
Admission fee for the festival, sponsored this year by the Chamber of Commerce, will be $5 per person, with children under 8 admitted free. Festival guests are encouraged to wear period dress but costumes are not required.
Festival entertainment will feature singing, dancing, comedy, storytelling and much more, Huckriede said. The main attraction will be a show featuring falconers and demonstrations of their birds of prey. These bird handlers, from Royal Gauntlet Birds of Prey in Coweta, Okla., were one of the most popular attractions at last year's event. Their shows feature several rescued birds, including an American kestrel, a great horned owl, a Eurasian eagle owl and a Harris hawk.
Other popular entertainers returning from past events include Jingly Bits, a trio of minstrels who perform English and Irish folk tunes, and Wonder Elixir of Life, a pair of actors who travel from Wisconsin to perform their shows. New this year will be performances from Native Souls, a dance group, Huckriede said.
Events will be held in the lower area of Old Town Park, at Hwy. 72 and NE 8th Street, and vendor booths will be set up offering craft items and a variety of food and drink choices. Food vendors will include the local Subway store, Q Concessions of Rogers and several specialty vendors. The Gravette Lions Club will have a booth providing Lions membership information and selling pecans, pralines and chocolate-covered peanuts.
New this year, Mercy Hospital staff will be on hand from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with their mobile van. They will be giving free flu shots to persons desiring them.
Community on 11/02/2016