Frisco Festival wraps up
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
In the weeks leading up to the Frisco Festival, Main Street's Marge Wolf knew it would be big. People were calling her office to ask how much things cost and were amazed to hear that most of the events and all the rides were free. That meant, she reasoned, that many people were planning on attending for the first time.
When the Rogers High School cheerleaders helped kick off Frisco Festival 2008 with the confetti toss, there might have been 8, 000 people in the audience, Mike Johnson of the Rogers Police Department estimated.
"Standing up on the stage, looking down, there's just a sea of people," Wolf said, about opening the traditional Friday night Street dance. "I wonder if these two streets are going to be able to hold them all."
It's difficult to estimate how many people attended, Johnson said, because people come and go over the two-day festival. There might have been as many as 20, 000. There was one arrest for battery, Johnson said, but most everyone else behaved well.
The crowd comes in all ages, shapes and sizes, Wolf said.
"It's still a family-friendly festival," Wolf said, explaining that even the vendors are supervised to make sure their wares are not offensive to anyone. Every age group is represented at the festival from senior citizens to toddlers, she said.
Volunteers do much of the preparations for the festival, but there are actually fewer volunteers than people think. Main Street only recruits about 100 volunteers to work at the festival, but some of them recruit their own helpers, she said. Many volunteers return year after year to do the same jobs and that means, Wolf said, that things runs very smoothly.
This year three different car shows lined the outer streets of the festival and vendors with everything from cotton candy and corn dogs to arts and crafts set up along First and Elm streets.
Besides the free rides and the entertainment offered on the main stage, competitions are an important part of Frisco Festival.
Saturday began with a 5 K Run that started in Lake Atalanta Park and ended at the top of the hill nicknamed "the Elminator. "Two Rogers High School cross country runners, twins
One of the most popular competitions is the Chili Cook Off. Businesses, civic clubs, even some churches compete for three titles "Crowd Pleasin'Chili," a showmanship award and a corporate challenge. People who paid $ 5 for a chili tasting kit had the chance to vote in the first two areas.
This year First Security Bank won the crowd pleasing title, Grace United Methodist Church was second and the Lion's Club was third.
The Showmanship award was won by Waco Title, with Digital Printing Services coming in second and Simmons Bank, third.
There was also a salsa recipe contest won by David Henry and a Jalepeno eating contest with Armando Serrano taking first place.
Later in the day firefighters from all over the area competed in a traditional Fireman's Muster. The Centerton Fire Department placed first in two events, the attack line and the rescue, and that made them the overall winner. The host department, Rogers, placed first in the bucket brigade and ended up in second place for the event. In third place overall was Gravette.
In the Junior Division, ages 11 to 13, James Underwood of Bentonville came in first, Gabby Chronister of Centerton was second and Kelsie Everett of Springdale was third.
Finally, in the Senior Division, ages 14 to 17, Palmer Lee of Rogers was first, Brittany Moore of Rogers was second and Trey Graber of Huntsville was third.
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