GRAVETTE -- Gravette's Main Street was bustling with activity Thursday evening, Oct. 20, with the largest crowd yet coming out for the final third Thursday event of the season.
Vendors' booths lined both sides of the street, with several returnees and a few first-time vendors offering everything from gift items to clothing, candles and home decor. One booth even had a few cuddly puppies for sale. Food items were popular, with jams and jellies and baked goods, including a decorate your own cookies kit, selling well.
Several Gravette businesses stayed open late and visitors were able to drop into Gravette Nutrition for a healthy shake or specialty tea or enjoy ice cream treats at Lili's Bubble Waffle. Kim McDougal set up a booth outside her shop, Total Bliss, and offered markers and accessories for dressing up for Halloween. She painted the faces and the fingernails of some youngsters who visited.
Members of the Old Town String Band brought their instruments and entertained the crowd in front of the Chamber of Commerce office. Most band members are Lions Club members and they were also selling bags of pecans for holiday baking and tickets for their crockpot festival fundraiser.
As darkness fell, vehicles began to arrive for the evening's Glow and Show, organized by Shane and Jenny Hargrave from the Gravette Cruise and Car Meet. Several cars were decked out with bright lights, and glow sticks were distributed to persons in the crowd who were soon seen with glowing necklaces and bracelets they had fashioned from their gifts.
Winona Brackeen of Bella Vista, president of the NWA Camaro Club, brought her white Camaro with red and blue trim. When she opened the hood, a striking emblem of the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty against a colorful flag background was painted on the hood and engine block.
A van from KIX 105.3 radio station in Fayetteville added to the display with its lights that flashed on and off in ever-changing colors.
This was the last of the third Thursday events for this year, but the Chamber is planning a Hometown Christmas event Saturday, Dec. 10, which will bring food, fun, and holiday treats back to Main Street. A variety of vendor booths will again be set up, and activities will include a Kids Zone with carnival games, a live nativity or petting zoo, a window decorating contest for area businesses, a business bingo game, and a Christmas tree lighting.
Westside Eagle Observer/SUSAN HOLLAND Winona Brackeen, of Bella Vista, poses with her white Camaro that features a striking emblem of the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty against a colorful flag background. The image is painted inside the hood and on the engine block. Brackeen is president of the Northwest Arkansas Camaro Club. She came to Gravette to participate in Thursday’s Glow and Show event.
Westside Eagle Observer/SUSAN HOLLAND Virgil Boggs (left), account executive with KIX 105.3 radio station in Fayetteville, and Artavius "Spida," KIX radio personality and account executive for the CTG record label, brought the station’s van to participate in Thursday evening’s Glow and Show event on Gravette Main Street. The van added to the colorful display with flashing lights that cycled from one color to another.
Westside Eagle Observer/SUSAN HOLLAND As darkness fell Thursday evening, vehicles began to arrive for the Glow and Show event organized by Shane and Jenny Hargrave of the Gravette Cruise and Car Meet. Many featured flashing lights, and soon the street was lit up with this colorful display. Glow sticks were distributed to visitors, and several people could be seen walking around with necklaces and bracelets to match the lighted vehicles.
Westside Eagle Observer/SUSAN HOLLAND
Kim McDougal, owner of Local Bliss Collective, set up a booth outside her shop offering markers and accessories for painting one's face. Here she paints the fingernails of young Bellamy Summerlin, 3, of Gravette. Bellamy and her brother Canan, 4, who had already had their faces painted and hair colored, smile for the camera while McDougal does her decorating.