With a fitting theme of “Back In the Day”, El Dorado Days 2018 is set to roll July 1 - 4.
Per usual, the biennial homecoming celebration will be jam-packed with activities that are designed for attendees to reconnect with old friends, family and the community that many once called home.
Now in its 54th year, El Dorado Days sprouted from formation of the SEARCHERS Social and Charity Club.
The framework for the SEARCHERS was laid in Los Angeles in the early 1960s when a group of El Dorado natives began seeking out or “searching” for other El Dorado residents who had relocated to the West Coast metropolis.
The group began hosting festive get-togethers in their homes, and in 1964, a dance drew 250 people.
The SEARCHERS resulted from that event and other chapters sprang up in other major cities across the country with sizable clusters of El Dorado natives.
Most members were alumni of Booker T. Washington High School, now Washington Middle School.
Washington High was an all-black high school that was renamed Rogers Junior High following the integration of El Dorado schools in 1969.
The SEARCHERS began hosting annual celebrations and reunions, rotating between several cities throughout the U.S. before coming home to El Dorado in 1976 during the country’s bicentennial celebration.
Groups of SEARCHERS descended upon the city in droves, with one group chartering a plane that landed at South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field.
The group was greeted by a committee, that included then-city officials, who welcomed them home with open arms.
In the 1990s, the SEARCHERS decided to host the reunion every two years in El Dorado.
Organizer Athaline Moore became involved in 2004, and the El Dorado days moniker followed.
Moore has worked to keep the event and its legacy going, including encouraging more graduates of El Dorado High School to become part of the event, which brings scores of people — many of whom are not El Dorado natives and did not attend Washington or El Dorado high schools — to town.
Moore recently clarified some questions and confusion that have arisen about the 2018 El Dorado Days schedule of events.
Terry Davis, an El Dorado native and 1987 EHS graduate who lives in Atlanta, frequently returns home for El Dorado Days.
This year, Davis has planned events that precede El Dorado Days, including one event that carries the name of the event.
Davis is owner of Mystique Entertainment, a full-service event management company based in Atlanta, and has previously booked events, i ncluding blues concerts and a comedy show, in his hometown.
Davis and Moore said he spoke with El Dorado Days organizers in an effort to partner up and add to the 2018 El Dorado event roster, but the groups did not reach an agreement.
Events that will be hosted by Davis and his team are auxiliary events for El Dorado Days, but the events — an ti-bullying workshop, football camp, women’s empowerment brunch and an all-white ( WHITE ATTIRE), meet-and-greety party — will be held on June 30 and are not sponsored by El Dorado Days organizers.
The El Dorado Days schedule is:
• 7 p.m., Saturday. A ball will be held in the cafeteria of Washington Middle School. The event. a fundraiser for the Nile and Marzell Smith Museum of African American History, will include hor’d ourves and a slideshow presentation highlighting WHS classes, events, and former students and athletes.. Attire is former/semi-formal. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased in advance by calling Brian Smith at 870-862-6063.
• 3 p.m., July 1. A memorial service will be held at St. James Baptist Church, 608 Martin Luther King. The program will posthumously honor former WHS staff, teachers and administrators. Former WHS student George Van Hook, who retired last year as judge of the 35th Judicial District Court, will also be honored.
The history and legacy of WHS will also be presented.
• Nightly activities will begin with a Meet and Greet at 8 p.m. July 1 at the “Hot Spot” (the Union County Fairgrounds, 1430 E. 19th). There will be refreshments and DJ Mooney Man will provide the music. Attendees are asked to wear WHS and EHS school colors and/or T-shirts from former El Dorado Days events or from class and family reunions.
Activities will also be held at fairgrounds at 8 p.m. on July 2, 3, and 4.
July 3 will have a “Back in the Day” theme, and attendees are asked to fo old school with afros, bell bottom pants, platform shoes, mini-dresses, dashikis, etc.
Admission is $10 for the nightly events at the fairgrounds.
• 5 - 7 p.m., July 2 and 4, a tour of the Nile and Marzell Smith Museum of African American History.
• 6 - 6:30 p.m., July 3, Bible study with Ralph Smith, St. James Baptist Church.
The WHS Class of 1968 is hosting its 50th reunion June 29 - July 1.
“We hope everyone comes out and supports it and we want everyone to reminisce and have a good time, as usual,” Moore said.
For more information about El Dorado Days, call Moore at 870-875-1553.
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The schedule for events hosted by Mystique Entertainment is:
The Don’t Be a Bully Youth Empowerment Experience, which is scheduled from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday. The free event will include an Anti-Bullying Workshop in the old James Johnson Gym, which is adjacent to Mattocks Park; a Football Clinic; and Let’s Talk, a mentoring session for boys, ages 10 - 18.
Registration forms are available online at www.123formbuilder.com.
The deadline to register was Wednesday.
• Soul Food Sessions with Niya, a women’s empowerment brunch that will be held from noon until 3 p.m. on Saturday at Myrtelle’s House, 323 W. Oak. The intimate session will be led by Niya Brown Matthews, an Atlanta-based a life coach, author, motivational speaker, radio host, real estate professional who has been featured in Ebony, Black Enterprise and Mommy Noir magazines and on ESPN and the Wendy Williams show. Ticket sales ended Thursday.
• El Dorado Days All White Meet and Greet Party from 6 until 11 p.m., June 30 at Myrtelle’s House. The event is open to the public.
Guest speakers will include “legends” from the former Booker T. Washington (now Washington Middle School) and El Dorado high schools, and the event will include pre sentations and tributes about the histories of both high schools and El Dorado Days. There will also be food, a bar music from the ’70s ’80s, ’90s and more.
Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at Eventbrite, with a $2.49 fee. Ticket sales end Saturday.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com .