With a major announcement about MusicFest 2022 just days away, Main Street El Dorado is juggling several balls as it also prepares for its summer events.
MSE is expected to announce the headliners for MusicFest during an invitation-only party from 7 until 9 p.m. Thursday in downtown El Dorado.
The announcement will follow First Thursday, which is scheduled from 4 until 7 p.m.
The monthly event is sponsored by the Downtown Business Association. The theme for the June installment is "Decade Night."
Main Street is bringing MusicFest back to Union Square following the dissolution of a nearly five-year partnership with the Murphy Arts District to co-present the festival, with MAD booking the headliners for its venues and MSE handling the "festival" portion of the event with attractions, vendors and side stages on the square.
MusicFest is set for Oct. 7 and 8 (the Miss MusicFest Pageant will be held Oct. 2) and while organizers are working feverishly to book talent and attractions, they are also planning events to fill the many months between now and then.
MSE will kick off Summer on the Square July 1 and 2 with a double-steak cookoff, a Steak Cookoff Association-sanctioned event.
The competition will include cash prizes for first - 10th-place winners.
Cookers will also have the opportunity to show off their grilling skills, score more points and win more prizes in the Dual State Steak Duel (Double), which will be held July 3 in Junction City.
The Dual State cookoff is also sanctioned by the SCA.
Beth Brumley, MSE executive director, said the group is planning ancillary activities on July 1 and 2. During a regular MSE board meeting on May 9, she said an anonymous donor has paid for live music throughout the day and Brookshire's will assist with the steaks for the cooking competition.
The August installment of Summer on the Square is set for Aug. 27.
As has become tradition over the past few years, the theme is Back to School Bash and MSE board members said there will be plenty of activities for area school children.
MSE board members have said a summer favorite, Showdown at Sunset, may make its return in August after a two-year hiatus due, in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Showdown is a historical re-enactment of a fatal gunfight that took place on the Union County Courthouse square and left three men dead.
The gunfight was part of a long-running feud between two local families, the Tuckers (antecedents of former Gov. Jim "Guy" Tucker) and the Parnells.
Admission is free for Summer on the Square events. Some activities may be paid.
For more information, visit www.mainstreeteldorado.org or the MSE Facebook page.
Also, call the MSE office at 870-862-4747.
For more information about the Dual State cookoff, call John Green at 870-314-0704 or send an email to [email protected].
Promoter of the Year nomination
Four days after MusicFest headliners are announced, MSE will learn if it has a statewide award winner in its midst.
Brumley has been nominated for Promoter of the Year by the Arkansas Country Music Awards.
She is one of five nominees from around the state. Winners will be announced during the awards ceremony on June 6 in Conway.
To be eligible for nomination, candidates must have been born in Arkansas, resided in the state for an ample time or promoted Arkansas country concerts on a regular basis.
Brumley was named executive director of MSE in 2017, having previously served as a board member and volunteered for numerous MSE events.
This is her second nomination for Promoter of the Year for the ACMAs. She received a nod for the award in 2021. POY nominees cannot win the award for consecutive years.
Political candidates
With election season in full swing, MSE board members discussed allowing candidates and other politicians to rent booths during MSE events.
The board agreed to allow candidates to pay the same rental price as vendors.
Candidates will not be allowed to distribute campaign materials during an MSE event if they do not purchase a booth.