Heritage Festival raises funds for Community Clearinghouse Backpack program
by April 10, 2010 9:57 pm 59 views
story and photos by Joel Rafkin
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A slice of cultural awareness was served up throughout downtown Fort Smith on Saturday during the second annual Heritage Festival benefitting the Community Services Clearinghouse Meals For Kids program.
The event raised several thousand dollars last year and this year’s goal is $5,000, said Rick Foti, executive director. Sponsorship funds enable weekend meals to be sent home on Fridays for 2,481 deserving children from 74 school districts in and around the River Valley, Foti said. All the events during the Heritage Festival were funded by donations and were free to the public.
Activities at the Fort Smith Convention Center included a powwow hosted by the Natchez Nation, arts and crafts vendors, a concert by Cold Water Dog, Mexican, Irish and Laotian dance and activities for children.
Other venues, seven in all, included tours of Immaculate Conception Church, the site of former President Zachary Taylor’s home. Presentations were made discussing Taylor’s role in Fort Smith’s history Miss Laura’s Visitor Center, the only bordello on the National Register of Historic Places. Belle Point Park hosted Deer Acres Zoo and some of their animals.
The Fort Smith Museum of History featured a Native American Realism Photography Exhibit of images made in Indian territory during the 1800s.
The Fort Smith National Historic Site had actors portraying living history events pertaining to justice on the frontier in the 19th century.
The Fort Smith National Cemetery gave guided walking tours of the final resting places of notable people who shaped the history of Fort Smith.
Historical re-enactors from the group Lawbreakers and Peacemakers staged a wild west shootout in a mock town of facades outside the Sebastian County Courthouse. Barbecue was available for purchase from a chuck wagon during lunch hours and western music was provided by Herschel Parker.
Link here for a video snapshot of scenes from the festival.
