The Red, White and Blue Festival returns later this month, and organizers are seeking donations and sponsors to help re-launch the event.The festival will be held on Friday, June 25, and Saturday, June 26, on the campus of Arkansas State University-Mountain Home and will include classic RWB Festival events like a parade, live music and the fireworks show. This will be the 22nd year for the event, which had to be canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
RWB Festival chairman Pat Ballard talks about needing the public’s support to get back on track this year.
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Organizers announced last May that the 2020 festival was canceled due to the COVID pandemic. Ballard says fundraising was still in the its early stages when last year’s event was called off.
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Event coordinator Joel Bratton says he hopes that Twin Lakes Area businesses and residents will rally around the festival this year.
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People interested in supporting the event may pre-order a RWB Festival shirt at redwhitebluefestival.com. The t-shirts, provided by Arvest Bank, come in one of three colors and in a variety of sizes. Youth sizes are also available for children.
Bratton says there are other ways to donate besides ordering a shirt.
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Lonestar — the country group with 10 No. 1 country hit songs, including the 1999 crossover smash “Amazed” — will perform that Friday night on the ASU-MH campus. The festival’s fireworks show — the largest in north central Arkansas — will light up the sky over the college campus and cap off events that Saturday night. Some of the other RWB events include the turtle races, a car show, a kids zone with inflatables, informational booths for local businesses and organizations and food vendors.
Bratton talks about what visitors can expect to see at the festival.
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Ballard says that most of the RWB activities are free-of-charge, with attendees only having to pay for their food.
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The Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the RWB Festival’s parade on Friday evening. Eastside Baptist Church will sponsor this year’s turtle races, H&L Inflatables will sponsor the kids zone and the Bad Habits car club and the Cruisers of Mountain Home will sponsor the event’s car show. The Twin Lakes V-Dubbers will also have a Volkswagon show during the festival. The Mountain Home Police Department will hold the event’s annual 5k run that Saturday morning.
The festival’s rodeo will be held both Friday and Saturday nights at the Mountain Home Saddle Club Arena.
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