EL DORADO — Now that The Quilted History has wrapped up its Black History Month events, the organization is rolling forward with another celebration that highlights the history, heritage and culture of the region.
The biannual Dinner on the Grounds and Trail Ride is scheduled Saturday, starting with the lineup at 9:30 a.m. in Junction City Park on U.S. 167 and the pull-out is at 10 a.m.
The caravan of horses and horse- and mule-drawn buggies and wagons will proceed 11 miles north to 2277 Iron Mountain Road for Dinner on the Grounds.
Dinner will include wash-pot cracklings, Frost Famous Tea Cakes, hay rides, a demonstration of the making of lye soap, and a Brush Arbor service
The Iron Mountain Road property is also the site for The Quilted History Museum.
The event is free and open to the public. All ages are welcome. Horseback riders are encouraged to wear western attire.
Carolyn Williams, event organizer and curator, manager and owner of The Quilted History, said word continues to spread about the event, which is in its 18th year.
The trail ride and dinner are held each year on the last Saturday in March and October.
Williams said the event drew people from 11 states in March 2016, and eight states were represented last October.
“That’s usually how it happens. We typically get more people in March than in October,” she said.
Williams said a greeter keeps tabs on attendees and where they are from, and out-of-state visitors are recognized during the event.
L. “Big Money” Morris of Haughton, Louisiana, will serve as the greeter this year.
Visitors have come from Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and the Carolinas.
In October 2016, a group of Mennonites from Indiana, Michigan and Canada reached out to Williams and attended Dinner on the Grounds and toured The Quilted History museum, which displays such artifacts as quilts, a laughing barrel, chains and other devises that were used to shackle slaves, old letters and historical documents.
The Mennonite Church has strong ties to the local community, having managed Hudson Memorial Nursing Home for decades after the facility opened in 1960.
The then-Union County Nursing Home board of directors had heard about an Amish Mennonite group who had successfully run a nursing home in Harrison.
While Hudson was under construction, the board reached out to Conservative Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities, whose offices were in Ohio, and in 1959, the group sent two delegations to El Dorado to negotiate an operation and maintenance deal with the county board.
Williams said groups from Birmingham, Alabama, and Mustang, Oklahoma, are expected to attend Dinner and Trail Ride on Saturday, noting that many visitors begin arriving the Wednesday before the weekend of the event each year.
The group from Oklahoma first attended the event last October, she said.
“The groups from Oklahoma and Alabama are groups that travel from camp to camp and trail ride to trail ride. This time, Clarence Carter, I call him ‘CC’, is bringing his family and church members from Birmingham,” Williams said.
“This time we’re looking for more people because the word is passing on,” she said.
The mule skinner for the trail ride will be Henry Rochell, and Charles Phillips and Cletus Charles will serve as trail boss and chief scout, respectively.
Scouts will be Williams and Theodis Cornelius, and wagon bosses will include Jewel Smith and Zummie Law.
For more information, call Williams at 870-881-0443 or 417-217-2986.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.