With its summer events slated to wrap up at the end of the month, Main Street El Dorado is ramping up preparations for a busy fall schedule, starting with its flagship event and largest fundraiser, MusicFest.
The 34-year-old festival will return to the Union County Courthouse square on Oct. 7 and 8 with a theme of "Back to the Streets" and MSE is looking for volunteers to help pull the event off.
"We need lots and lots of volunteers," Holly McDonald, MSE administrative assistant, said during a regular board meeting last month.
MSE is once again the sole organizer of a festival that it launched in the late 1980s.
MusicFest is considered to be South Arkansas' largest live music event and in 2017, MSE teamed up with the Murphy Arts District to present the festival.
MAD incorporated the 30th anniversary of MusicFest into its multi-day, grand-opening celebration by booking the headliners and hosting the concerts in its indoor and outdoor entertainment venues on Locust Street.
Two blocks north on the courthouse square, MSE handled the attractions, vendors and live music on side stages that spotlight local and regional performers.
The partnership continued for the next five years, save for 2020 when MusicFest was canceled because of the COVID pandemic, and ended earlier this year after MAD announced that it was restructuring some of its operations to bow out of the festival business to focus more on live shows and turn the "music" component of MusicFest back over to MSE.
After hearing the announcement from MAD, MSE scrambled to book headliners and in early June, the group announced a lineup that include iconic country music band Shenandoah; American Idol winner and country music superstar Chayce Beckham; Mitch Rossell, a country music singer-songwriter who has toured with Garth Brooks and penned the song "Ask Me How I Know", the second single off Brooks's 2016 album, "Gunslinger"; and rising country music artist Mae Estes, a Hope native who blends a classic country music sound with modern melodies and aesthetics.
Other featured acts on the main stage include:
• Cristina Amaro, a Selena tribute artist who is known as "The Queen of the Stage."
The late Tejano superstar's family recently announced the release of a new album, "Moonchild Mixes", featuring previously unreleased music that was recorded by Selena between the ages of 13 and 16 and adapted for a more mature sound for the album.
• Josh Walker and the Tennehill Band, a southern rock band who performs the music of The Eagles.
• The Karla Case Band, who performs the music of Stevie Nicks.
Plenty of local and regional acts are scheduled to perform a variety of musical genres during MusicFest, including HiSyde; Beaux Atkins; Blackstrap; Coupe Deville; Jacob Flores; Crutchfield; Trey Gauthreaux; Erick Meadows; Mason Halstead; JT Lee; Brody McKinney; The Bennett Hall Band; Josh Stewart; Shaw Revolver; The Side Street Steppers; Wyatt Putman and Huckleberry Jam.
Per usual, bands, choirs and orchestras from local schools will also perform on the school stage.
"We think we have good enough entertainment lined up and other things to make it a very successful event," MSE executive director Beth Brumley said previously.
However, MSE board members and officials have addressed some criticism about the musical lineup.
Lack of diversity
During an MSE board meeting in June, board member Paul Waschka reported that he had heard a complaint about a lack of musical diversity for MusicFest XXXIV.
"There was a complaint that we didn't have any Black artists or music for Black people," Waschka said. He did not specify where or from whom the complaint originated.
It's a charge MSE has faced in the past, particularly with protestations that MusicFest was heavy with classic rock and country-music acts and did not give any consideration to R&B, rap/hip-hop, neo-soul or other such acts for the main stage.
Over the past decade-plus, the group has responded to such complaints with efforts to broaden the MusicFest talent roster to appeal to wider audiences, much like other live-music festivals in the region.
MSE has brought in MC Hammer, Boyz II Men, Salt-N-Pepa, Tone Loc and more for MusicFest within the past decade.
MAD continued the efforts with a blend of rock, pop, country, R&B, rap/hip-hop acts, starting with its grand opening in 2017.
Migos, Ludacris, and the legendary Smoky Robinson were a few of the rap and R&B/soul acts who joined ZZ Top, Brad Paisley, Chase Bryant, Migos, Natasha Bedingfield, Train and others to celebrate the opening of the new arts and entertainment district.
Ice Cube, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Sheila E and Morris Day and the Time have also taken their turn on the main stage during MusicFest over the past five years.
In response to Waschka's comments, McDonald said charges that Black artists have not been booked for MusicFest XXXIV are not true, citing local and regional talent that includes HiSyde, a southern soul artist and Strong native, and Erick Meadows, a local law enforcement officer who has sung at numerous events around the region over the years.
With regard to complaints of no rappers in the MusicFest lineup, McDonald said, "No, technically, we don't have a rapper but we do have Black artists. I don't think we can put a full-blown rapper on stage at a family-friendly festival."
Noted Brumley, "MAD had late shows and they were open to 21 and up. Ours is outdoors and it's open to the public."
Both said organizers scrambled to assemble a diverse lineup for MusicFest 2022, given the funding and limited window of opportunity that the group had to book headliners.
Musical genres that will be represented at Musicfest in the fall include country, southern rock, bluegrass and R&B, Brumley said.
"We did the best we could on the budget that we have this year. No matter the color of their skin, we have to book talent that is festival- and family-friendly," Brumley said.
Fall schedule
MusicFest XXXIV will actually kick off Oct. 2 with the Miss MusicFest Pageant.
The festival will be followed up by the fifth annual Airstreams on the Square Oct. 20 - 23.
Presented by MSE and the Arkansas Razorback Airstream Club, Airstreams on the Square is a part of a campaign to stage Main Street/urban camping events across the country in order to promote the Airstream lifestyle and help stimulate economic development and vitality in small-town America.
El Dorado is the first and only Arkansas city to host such an event and since 2018, Airstreams has drawn campers from several states, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida and Ohio.
Forty airstreamers camped out in El Dorado in 2021 and MSE board members said even more may show up this year, noting that 33 signed up during the first day of registration in February.
The theme for the 2022 event is "It's Showtime!", the city's branding tagline.
"If you haven't come down for this event, it is a very fun event. They like to eat and drink and go shopping and they spend a lot of money and return money afterward," Brumley said.
Other upcoming events for MSE are:
• Oct. 22, International Chili Society Chili Cookoff.
• Oct. 29, Scare on the Square.
• Nov. 17, Downtown Holiday Lighting Ceremony.
• Nov. 20, Downtown Holiday Open House.
• Nov. 26, Shop Small Saturday.
For more information about any MSE events, call the MSE office at 870-862-4747 or visit www.mainstreeteldorado.org or the MSE Facebook page.
To volunteer for MusicFest, send an email to [email protected].