Weekend full of fiddles, potatoes, golf

By Jeff LeMaster (Contact)

LITTLE ROCK — If you can’t find something fun to do in Horseshoe Bend next weekend, you’re not looking very hard.

Sweet fiddle music will fill the air - along with golf balls and projectile potatoes. It’s all part of the city’s second annual fall festival, which has been dubbed “Legends weekend” because of this year’s capstone festivities - appearances by members of the LPGA Legends Tour and a pro-am tournament.

It all gets started Friday with a performance of the Oaklawn Opry show, featuring formerstate champion fiddler Henry Matthews, at the Horseshoe Bend Theater. Following on Saturday will be a potato-shooting contest, as well as a performance at the theater of the local Music In The Mountains show, which will be co-hosted by LPGA Legend Kathy Whitworth. On Sunday, Sept. 28, more Legends will be on hand at Turkey Mountain Golf Course for a putting contest and clinic, and the pro-am tournament with between 15 and 20 LPGA Legends will begin with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 29.

Booking the Legends was a process that began last year when Turkey Mountain golf pro Chuck McKnight and Horseshoe Bend Mayor Bob Barnes traveled to Florida to play in a pro-am tournament. While they were there, they made contact with a couple of LPGA Legends officials and started conversing about hosting an event in Horseshoe Bend. The result is a five-year commitment from the Legends Tour to come to Turkey Mountain each fall.

“This year it’s set up to be more of a social event and a pro-am. Our goal is to grow it every year,” McKnight said, adding that eventually the eventwill be a three-day, stroke-play tournament that he hopes will be televised on either The Golf Channel or ESPN.

The golf portion of the weekend will kick off at 2 p.m. Sunday with a putting contest featuring Whitworth. That will be followed by a clinic put on by Whitworth and fellow Legends Cindy Miller and Sandra Haney.

There will be plenty of opportunities for participants to interact with the Legends, with a social hour planned for 5 p.m. Sunday followed by a dinner party at 6. At the dinner, which will include all of the Legends players, amateurs who’ve signed up to play and media covering the event, names will be drawn to see which amateurs play with which Legends.

Participation in the golf events is offered at many levels and ranges in price from $5 (admission to watch Sunday’s events or the pro-am on Monday) to more than $6,000 (team registration for the pro-am). McKnight said spots are still available to play in the tournament. All proceeds are being donated to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.

“We’ve already covered our expenses for the weekend, so we’re well into putting together a big check for Children’s Hospital,” McKnight said.

Anyone who wants to participate at any level in the golf events and needs more information should call McKnight at (870) 670-5252.

But before the festivities take to the links, there’s plenty of finger-pickin’ and potato-firin’ fun to be had.

Melodie Clemmons, who headlines the Music In The Mountains show, said she’s excited to bring Henry Matthews to Horseshoe Bend. She and Matthews have performed a lot together at various venues in southwest Arkansas (the Oaklawn Opry show is based in Texarkana).

Clemmons said hosting Matthews’ show will draw people from far and wide.

“Since I reopened that theater, this is one of the major events that we’ve had,” she said. “I’ve had people call from everywhere: Missouri, Arkansas, Texas. We’ve had a great response.”

Saturday’s show promises to be great fun, too, with the theater’s own Alta Street Blues Band performing along with Joe Hutchison of Evening Shade, a 6-year-old Elvis Presley impersonator.

“What makes Joe really fun to watch is that he doesn’t just look like Elvis, he can actually sing,” Clemmons said.

For ticket information foreither show, call Clemmons at (870) 373-3303.

And then there are the spuds.

Barnes couldn’t help but laugh while talking about the potato-firing contest, but the competition promises to be serious. The mayor said the city’s even looking into making the event the official “state championship” of potato firing.

“We’re trying to make sure there’s not one somewhere that we don’t know about” before officially calling it the state championship, Barnes said.

There are regulations on the type of potato cannon that can be used, such as all cannons must be made from PVC pipe and be powered by hairspray, and there will be two classifications of competition: one classification for cannons with 2- and 3-inch muzzles and one classification for cannons with 4-inch muzzles.

There will also be an “outlaw” division that will be more of a demonstration than a competition, Barnes said.

“They’ll let ’em shoot anything they want to,” he said.

Ten to 15 people participated in the competition last year, which was the first year of the competition. Barnes said he expects about the same number this year but hopes to see thecompetition grow in years to come. He’s even asked around about getting sponsorship.

“Hopefully we’ll get one of the potato-grower organizations [to sponsor the event],” Barnes said. “We talked to one [this year], but he didn’t come through.”

More information about the potato-firing contest is available by calling Barnes at (870) 670-5113 or Rich Emmens at (870) 670-5203.

There’s an excitement in thecommunity about the upcoming festival, and Barnes said he hopes this will help raise Horseshoe Bend’s visibility in the region. Future plans include moving the weekend back so as to take advantage of the area’s fall foliage. Barnes half-jokingly added that in addition to getting the Legends golf tournament televised, he hopes to maybe get the potato shoot on TV as well.

- jlemaster@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 111, 126 on 09/21/2008