Travelin’ the Southern Arkansas Timberlands: Events Taking Place During August

Zoie Clift, travel writer
Arkansas Tourism

In order to better serve your needs and to keep you from getting extremely long documents from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, we have decided to break down our Travelin’ Arkansas release into regions organized by date. This way you will be able to look only at the areas you are interested in covering. The territories covered in Travelin' Arkansas adhere to the six geographical regions found in the Arkansas Tour Guide. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions: communications@arkansas.com or 501-682-7606.

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The 33rd Annual Hope Watermelon Festival is set for Aug. 6-8 at Fair Park in Hope. The festival celebrates Hope's giant watermelons with events for families including melon eating and seed-spitting contests, 200 booths of arts and crafts, music and ice cold Hope watermelon by the slice. For more information visit www.hopemelonfest.com or phone 870-777-3640.

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A Walks through History Tour of Waldron Commercial Historic District takes place Aug. 8. Beginning at Memorial Hall at 96 South Main Street, we will discuss the commercial development of this western Arkansas town from its early settlement to the arrival of the railroad to the economic diversification of the 1950s. The district is dominated by early twentieth century commercial-style structures, but boasts some buildings with Italianate features as well as a few Art Deco buildings. Co-sponsored by Scott County/City of Waldron, the Scott County Historical and Genealogical Society, and the Waldron Area Chamber of Commerce. For more information visit www.arkansaspreservation.org or call 501-324-9880.

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August 29 hosts the last Showdown at Sunset performances of the summer in El Dorado. The performances, which take place at Courthouse Square, are historic re-enactments of the infamous Parnell-Tucker gunfight of 1902. This historic portrayal of life in El Dorado in the early 1900s includes live music prior to the showdown. Music starts at 6 p.m. featuring Lori McKnight with the re-enactment starting at 7 p.m. The annual Summer Concert Series will take place at 8 p.m. at the Oil & Heritage Park. The showdown was named one of the Top 100 Events in North America by the American Bus Association last year. For more information contact Mark Givens, Executive Director of Main Street El Dorado, at 870-862-4747.