Sultana festival earns state honors

Sultana festival earns state honors

City recognized by Arkansas Festivals and Events Association

news@theeveningtimes.com

Sultana Heritage Festival has been named the third best new festival in the state.

The event was honored on Jan. 25 by the Arkansas Festivals and Events Association at an award ceremony in Little Rock.

“Tracy Brick put that together and did a great job with it,” said Marion Chamber of Commerce president Mike Demster.

“We’re already working hard on this year’s event and have a lot of great presenters lined up.”

Brick said she was pleased when she heard the event had been recognized by AFEA.

“I was excited that we were recognized for our first one,” Brick said. “I had never planned anything that large before. So it was nerve-wracking. You never know how many people will come. It’s not an event where you RSVP or even buy tickets. I think we had a good event.”

This year’s festival will be held on April 22 at Trinity in the Fields Anglican Church from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The event will feature a lecture series with national and local historians, Civil War arts and crafts, living history demonstrations, period food and music, Marion Lake Trail buggy rides, a Civil War era church service, and museum tours. “We’ve scaled it back to one day instead of two and we will be focusing more on the history of it,” Brick said.

Brick said they are still in need of more living history exhibitors, vendors, and a couple more lecturers.

For more information contact Tracy Brick at 870739-6041 or tracy.brick@marionarkansas. com.

The Sultana Disaster Museum will also have a booth at this year’s Mid-South Military History & Civil War Show, which will be held March 4-5 at the Agri Center Show Place Arena in Memphis.

The show feature speakers, seminars, cannon fire, and over 200 vendors with WW1, WW2, Revolutionary War, and Civil War books, prints, weapons, relics, uniforms, documents, photographs and currency.

“We’re going to have a table and some materials and try and generate some interest,” Demster said.

By Mark Randall