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County conflict: Fair parade same day as Salt Bowl |
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Friday, 15 August 2008 |
Two popular events on Sept. 2
Thousands of Saline County residents will have a choice to make the day following Labor Day.
The annual county fair parade in Downtown Benton is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2.
That’s an hour and a half before kickoff of the annual Salt Bowl football brawl between county rivals Benton and Bryant, and a half-hour after the start of the game’s well-attended tailgate party.
The Salt Bowl at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock will launch the high school football season in Arkansas. In recent years, the game has attracted more than 20,000 fans.
“We’re aware of the conflict,” Edward Jetton, Saline County Fair Board president, said Thursday.
“The board discussed this over and over and decided there is not a good time that week to have the parade other than when it is scheduled, so we are leaving it like it is.”
“It’s one of those things where you get hit and just go on and do the best you can,” said Tom Wallace of Benton, who is serving as parade chairman for the third year.
Jetton, in his first year as board president, said board members did not want to hold the parade on Labor Day. Reportedly, a suggestion was made to hold the fair parade in conjunction with Benton’s inaugural Staycation celebration at Tyndall Park on Labor Day.
“We thought too many people might be out of town on Labor Day,” Jetton said.
Many people attend church on Wednesday nights, and the board ruled out Thursday night because there’s a junior high football game at C.W. Lewis Stadium in Downtown Benton.
“That’s where we park and line up for the parade,” Wallace said, “so that sure wouldn’t work with a game going on.”
The fair starts the night of the parade and continues through Saturday night, Sept. 6, at the fairgrounds in Benton.
State Sen. Shane Broadway, who is heavily involved in promoting the Salt Bowl, said the game could not be played Friday night, Sept. 5, because the Arkansas Razorbacks play their second game of the season the following night at War Memorial Stadium.
“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Broadway, D-Bryant, said of the conflict. “We talked to the fair people as soon as we knew there was a conflict. Nothing could be worked out on either side. There’s no way the game could be moved.”
The Salt Bowl was played in late August in previous years. However, the Arkansas Activities Association adopted a rule prohibiting high schools from opening their football seasons prior to Labor Day this year.
“The soonest the game could be played is Sept. 2 because of the new AAA rule,” Broadway said. “Everybody’s hands were tied on that one.”
The AAA is the governing body for public school activities, including athletics.
“We’re trying to work together as a community on this,” Broadway said. “We have told the fair board and others that we will promote the fair any way possible during the Salt Bowl. We can promote fair activities on the giant scoreboard screen at the stadium, for example.”
Broadway said it is possible for people to attend the fair parade and then go to the Salt Bowl. “It’s not far to Little Rock and there will be plenty of parking,” he said.
The Salt Bowl tailgate party lasts from 5:30 to 7:30 on the east side of the stadium. The tailgate party attracted thousands of fans last year.
“I don’t particularly like this situation either, but this wasn’t my decision alone to keep the parade date,” said Jetton, who lives in the Salem community. “The board decided we didn’t have an alternative. We’re sort of boxed in.”
If the Salt Bowl is played at the same time next year, Jetton said, the fair board could consider moving the county fair to the following week. “We’d have to make that decision when we know more,” he said.
Nanette Webb of Benton, in her first year as fair board secretary, said it would be difficult to change the fair dates.
“We’ve had this date for a long time,” she said. “People may not realize how difficult it would be to move the fair dates because our dates coincide with surrounding counties. We would infringe on someone else’s fair if we moved our dates, so I’m just not sure that could happen.”
Moving the parade date, however, “is a definite possibility if we find out that there may be another conflict next year,” Webb said.
Several fair board members, including Jetton, don’t think parade attendance will be affected greatly by the conflict. “I think there will be a lot of parents and grandparents taking the youngsters,” Jetton said.
Wallace disagreed. “I sure do think this will hurt our parade attendance,” he said. “I don’t see how it couldn’t.”
Wallace said he isn’t sure how parade entries will be affected.
“I can’t guess on that one,” he said. “Last year, we had about 130 entries. I have had some people ask if they could get close to the front because they want to go to the Salt Bowl when the parade ends. That’s mostly the politicans and such.”
He said is trying to get the Harmony Grove High School band to lead the parade.
“Benton’s band was in the parade last year, and the cheerleaders from the different schools are there,” he said. “We had a middle school band from Bryant, but I can’t ever get the Bryant High School band to participate.”
Until recent years, the parade was held on Thursday, when the rodeo begins.
“That changed because people were riding horses in the parade and having trouble getting to the arena in time for the parade,” Wallace said.
If there is a silver lining, Broadway said, it’s that the Salt Bowl date should boost fair attendance.
“There won’t be a high school game in the county that week,” he said. “Benton and Bryant won’t play on Friday night and Bauxite will be at Bald Knob. From a financial standpoint, the fair should be better off because of the Salt Bowl being played early in the week.”
Opening night is traditionally the slowest at the fair, Wallace said.
“We’re hoping to change that this year,” he said. “We’ve added a junior bull riding program for Tuesday night and we hope that will bring more people to the fairgrounds.”
Jetton, 61, moved to Saline County in 1981 from Magnolia. He has served more than four years on the fair board.
Webb and her husband, Gary, have served on the fair board more than 10 years.
Nanette Webb works with the county Cooperative Extension Service. She coordinates the 4-H programs at the fair. Gary Webb is a past fair board president and vice president.
There are about 25 active fair board members, Nanette Webb said.
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Razorbacks
