Title

A Great Time in Magnolia

Category

The Blossom Festival

Where

Magnolia, AR

Where to Eat...

Breakfast

Magnolia's Blossom Festival has many activities, even a pancake breakfast. You need to head over to Central Baptist Church on Main Street for an inexpensive pancake breakfast the whole family will enjoy.

Lunch

Part of the fun of the Blossom Festival is finding just the right food vendor to visit around lunch time. You can find just about anything, from fried alligator to more standard carnival fare like corn dogs and lemonade. I usually find a local volunteer fire department selling boiled crawfish by the pound. They're here every year!

Dinner

You have to eat a steak dinner on the square! The festival brings steak cooking teams from all over the country. The best meal in town during the festival weekend is the steak dinner cooked by the contestants. The dinner includes rib eye steak, salad, a baked potato with all the trimmings, a drink and dessert. Three to four thousand people pick up their platters and head out to the cooker of their choice to pick out a steak. If you're lucky, you might pick one from the champion.

What to Do...

Morning

There are lots of activities on Saturday morning. There is a 5k run early. The parade of cookers usually starts about 10:00 a.m. You won't believe how complexity of the cookers. They put on a quite a show! After the parade you can walk around and look at all of these fantastic cookers while they get set up. You can also find plenty of shopping. Most of the downtown merchants have sidewalk sales, but the festival brings lots of arts and crafts from all over. The festival also features a sidewalk art show. There is a lot to see and do!

Afternoon

After lunch you should go back around to all of the cookers, most of them cook some tidbits on their grills while they get their coals right for cooking the steaks. You can almost make a meal on these treats. There is usually a car show, and a quilt show. There's something for everyone to see!

Evening

After dinner on the square, the crowd will head over to the main stage where the winners will be announced around 6:30 or 7:00. After all the winners have gotten their trophies and prize money, there is a free concert. Last year the entertainer was country music legend Aaron Tippin. Be sure to head over as soon as you finish eating to make sure you get a good seat!

Late Night

Sorry to say that after the concert is over, Magnolia returns to the sleepy little town that it is the rest of the year! You might be able to find a fast food restaurant open to grab a late night snack, but there's not much more than that! You will be so tired from your full day at the festival, you won't care that the sidewalks have been rolled up!

Comments

One weekend a year, the third weekend of May, the quiet little town of Magnolia, Arkansas has a great festival, the Magnolia Blossom Festival and World Championship Steak Cook-off.

By

Alice