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'Wild, Wild West' is this year's theme

By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net

The theme for the 74th annual Arkalalah Festival is "Wild, Wild West." The festival will include three parades, carnival rides, street celebrations and food, entertainment and the crowning of a queen from Cowley College. The event will be held Oct. 26-29.

Groups and individuals are building floats for this year's parades, Arkalalah organizers say. They include churches, schools and businesses that will vie for prizes in a judged competition.

Information on how to participate in the parades can be obtained at the Arkalalah Office, 106 S. Summit St.

"Big Fat Fun" will kick off the entertainment at the festival the night before activities begin downtown. The Wichita band will perform a free concert 7 p.m. Tuesday, in the Wilson Park rotunda, festival organizers said. The music is scheduled to continue that night until 10 p.m.

"It's a really good band," said Dustin Quint, a member of the Arkalalah Festival Executive Committee.

The band's name matches the meaning of Arkalalah, now in its 74th year. As such, it is Arkansas City's oldest, longest-running festival. The word Arkalalah is coined from "Ark," short for Ark City, and "alalah," an Indian word meaning "good times."

More festival entertainment is in store on Wednesday evening. Irish songwriter, singer and guitarist Gerry O'Beirne will perform twice that evening at Brown's Store, 225 S. Summit, at 7 p.m., an hour before the annual Parade of Lights. After the night parade, O'Beirne will perform again at Brown's.

Tickets for O'Beirne's performances cost $5 apiece and may be purchased ahead of time at the store or at the door that evening.

O'Beirne is a native of Ennis County, Clare, Ireland. He is a self-taught master of six- and 12-string guitars.

Arkalalah-goers also can enjoy performances of marching bands in the annual Big Parade that will take place downtown at 2 p.m., Saturday. This year, 19 high school and middle school bands are signed up to march in the parade, four more than last year.

The idea for the "Wild, Wild West" theme came from Terri Schroeder, coronation chairwoman with the Arkalalah Executive Committee, said Peggy Ball, secretary in the Arkalalah office.

Kenton Gibbs, the 2005 Arkalalah chairman, commented on the theme: "We thought this was the best fit for Arkansas City -- being an old cowtown during the land rush. We have a lot of western heritage."

All 24 food vendors who set up booths along Summit Street for last year's festival will return, Ball said. They offered items including sausages, pork burgers, corn on the cob, Indian tacos, pretzels and funnel cakes.

The most dramatic moment of Arkalalah takes place Friday evening, when Queen Alalah 74th is crowned. The coronation ceremony will take place at 8 p.m. at the Brown Center on the Cowley College campus at Second Street and Fifth Avenue.

Admission price for the coronation is $5, and tickets may be purchased at the Arkalalah Office.

Five Cowley College are finalists for Queen Alalah LXXIV: Christina Mauzey, Arkansas City; Candace Hunt, Arkansas City; Addie Snyder, Cedar Vale; Ashley Bland, Ponca City, Okla.; and Sarah Coury, Arkansas City.

The Arkalalah queen has always been chosen from the student body at Cowley College. But there have been various methods of selecting the queen over the years. Currently, candidates for queen must meet the following requirements: they must be a sophomore, a full-time student, have a grade-point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and never have been married or had children.

The queen will be selected by a vote of all those present at the coronation ceremony.

The carnival this year, as in recent years, is run by Evans United Shows, a touring carnival based in Plattsburg, Mo. The company will set up downtown early the week of Arkalalah. It will open the rides and game booths with an "all you can ride night" from 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday. Ticket booths will open at 5:30 p.m., and tickets at the carnival that night will cost $15 per person. However, discount tickets can be purchased in advance for $10 apiece. Ticket outlets include the Arkalalah Office and CornerBank, Home National Bank and Union State Bank.

The annual, and increasingly popular, Parade of Lights sponsored by SBC Communications, will be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday on Summit Street. SBC provided a grant for $750 to fund costs associated with the annual fall festival's Parade of Lights to be held at 8 p.m. Oct. 26 downtown.

On Friday, the carnival opens at 10 a.m. and it runs all day and well into the night. School is out that day and there are plenty of activities for kids. At 2 p.m. at Fifth Avenue and Summit Street, there will be the crowning of Little Miss and Mister Arkalalah, sponsored by Cowley County Lady Ambucs. This will be followed by the Children's Parade at 3 p.m. No pre-entry is required for participation in the parade.

Also on Friday for those with big appetites, there will be a "stuff and strut" concession marathon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., sponsored by KSOK Radio and the Arkalalah Executive Committee. It is billed as "an eating extravaganza of gastronomical proportions." The winning team in the contest will take home a trophy and $150.

Saturday's activities begin early, at 5:30 a.m. with the opening the traditional Kiwanis Club pancake feed, held in a large garage building on First Street just north of Fifth Avenue. It is a time for local residents and former residents, their family and friends, and anyone else who likes pancakes to sit down and enjoy a meal. Pancakes will continue to be served until the Big Parade starts at 2 p.m. Last year, about 2,400 people were served.

Both Friday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. , tours of the Burford Theatre, 114 S. Summit, will be offered. The Burford is a downtown landmark and former movie theater that opened in 1924. It closed last year, but is being restored to its original appearance by community volunteers in a project sponsored by the Arkansas city Area Arts Council.

More children's activities are planned for Saturday morning at the annual "street games" at Summit and Fifth Ave. The games begin at 11:15 a.m.

All day Saturday -- once an hour -- prizes will be raffled off and winners will be picked from people who have picked up a button at the Arkalalah Office, 106 S. Summit St. For a donation of $1, people can win various prizes including the grand prize -- a flat-screen computer. The grand prize will be raffled off at a laser light show Saturday evening. The light show will be held during a marching band competition at 8:30 p.m. at Curry Field. The button-holder whose number is picked must be present to win the computer.

Arkalalah is a time of reunions, too. Former Ark City residents and graduates of the local high school return year after year to gather with classmates. This year, reunions are planned for high school classes from the 1940s and '50s as well as the following specific Arkansas City High School classes: 1960, 1965, 1980 and 1985.

Foss Farrar is publicity chairman for the Arkalalah Festival.