RISON - Next weekend will mark the return of the Pioneer Crafts Festival after a 15-year hiatus.
The Pioneer Village is reviving the festival for two days of fun, Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20.
The event will kick off Friday evening at 5 p.m. with a “Beans and Greens” supper including live music from The Johnson Family, a bluegrass family band from Mayflower.
Meals can be purchased for $10 for dine-in or carry out.
Saturday’s festivities run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and include a variety of vendors, craft demonstrations and more. Admission on Saturday is $5 at the gate.
The Johnson Family will return Saturday to play throughout the day at the Village.
Demonstrators will cover a wide variety of crafts and skills including blacksmith, Morse code telegraph operations, wood shingle making, tanning, candle making, dutch oven cooking, crocheting, handicrafts and more being added.
Other activities include the tea room inside the McMurtrey House, goods for sale inside the Mercantile, as well as a Civil War encampment set up on the grounds.
Inside the Exhibit Halls, vendors will be set up including Teresa Haustein with silicone beaded keychains, wristlets, car charms and more; Lana Jane Creations with mesh wreaths; Kathy Wilson with shelf setters, center pieces, summer crafts; Laura Lotu with wreaths, bows, headbands, jewelry and more; Patricia Wyant with freeze dried candy; Friendship EHC with fried pies; Regina Pickering with crafts.
Additional vendors are still being added. Sharon Gray noted there is also a limited number of booth spaces available for anyone still interested.
The day will also feature two unique contests that afternoon - a watermelon seed spitting contest and a best beard contest.
Those participating in the contests are asked to be on-site by 1 p.m. for registration. Cornhole games will also be set up for playing throughout the day.
Looking back at its peak, the festival was a two-day event that attracted dozens of crafters showing off and selling their hand-made creations. There were times when so many visitors were trying to make their way to the Pioneer Village that alternative parking areas had to be set up and visitors had to be shuttled back-and-forth to the Village. However, as mass-produced crafts began to emerge within the industry, the number of people making hand-crafted items began to decline and so did attendance to craft festivals. In its last five years of existence, the Pioneer Crafts Festival had been reduced to a one-day event before event organizer Betty Lisemby finally decided to end it after its 38th season in 2009. She cited the economic conditions at that time as being a major factor as crafters had cut back on their crafts and shoppers were holding onto their money rather than buying anything.
Now 15 years later, the Pioneer Village is looking to revive the Pioneer Crafts Festival, but in a little different way than the original.
Organizers hope the revival will bring back a Rison tradition, but also allow the Pioneer Village to showcase its latest additions and renovations. The group has made significant progress in over the past few years of restoring the historic structures that are the highlight of the Village as well as making other improvements.
Three of the historic structures - the Mt. Olivet Methodist Church, the McMurtrey House and the Mercantile - are now climate controlled with both air conditioning and heating. Bowlin said that move is part of the group's overall goal to make the Pioneer Village into an event venue suitable for weddings, reunions and other small group meetings.
The Pioneer Village is still accepting vendors and demonstrators. Anyone interested in demonstrating or setting up a vendor booth can call Marty Bowlin at (870) 540-7545, Sharon Gray at (870) 692-3130 or Malinda Berry at (520) 4905903.