Rison in the Fall BBQ To Return Next Spring

RISON - While Rison in the Fall is now less than two months away, organizers of the event have announced that the Rison in the Fall Barbeque Contest will be back in April next year under a new name and a new time. It was decided during a Rison in the Fall meeting last week that the barbeque contest that was once a main attraction at Rison in the Fall will return as a separate event during the spring. In addition, it was decided to revive the former Rison in the Fall Pageant at the same time as well but under a new name. "We had several requests to bring it (the barbeque contest) back into the fall festival, but with the way the festival is now structured, there is no space or time available to put it," said Douglas Boultinghouse, organizer of Rison in the Fall. "We wanted to make it a stand-alone event." Boultinghouse said they spoke with some past participants in the barbeque cookoff about the best time to have it, and he said they liked the spring. He noted that any money raised from the (continued from page 1) event will support the Rison in the Fall Festival. With Rison Mayor Charles Roberts wanting the city to have a tie-in with next year's solar eclipse on April 8, the decision was made to have the barbeque cookoff on Saturday, April 6, in downtown Rison, the same location as it was held before. Boultinghouse said the pageant will be held during the cookoff as well. While Cleveland County is not within the path of a total eclipse, it is just outside that zone and is close enough for people to experience a near total eclipse. According to the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium (ASGC), Cleveland County will see anywhere from 99 to 97 percent of the sun covered by the moon during the eclipse. Locally, the eclipse will start shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Monday, April 8, and will end at about 3:10 p.m. The peak will between 1:51 and 1:52 p.m. Despite not being in the direct path, Roberts said experiences from the Aug...