Color and activity plentiful in the Mulberry River area

story by Connie Las Schneider

October is a month of color and change and the Mulberry River area is a great place to experience it, whether you want kick-up your heels or kick back.

A dense canopy of trees provides spectacular fall color along the scenic Pig Trail (Arkansas 23). Track the best days for the changeover on-line through the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism website.

If camouflage and orange is your favorite color combination, you’ll see plenty of that in the Ozark National Forest surrounding the Mulberry River area. Bowhunting season for deer and bear in Arkansas opened Oct. 1.

Like the colors of blue grass music? World famous pickers will be jamming at the 6th annual Harvest Music Festival at Mulberry Mountain Event Center.

If 4x4s or ATVs are your thing, Byrd’s Adventure Center has two events for you.
Prefer wings over wheels? Take a sightseeing ride in an airplane or try your hand at flying over the canopy on a zip-line. Watch experimental aircraft that look like motorized go carts with sails fly 1,000 feet above the Mulberry River.

Water lovers can see a flotilla of yachts carrying political and business leaders travel up and down the Arkansas River and stay to watch fireworks over the Ozark Bridge.

For community festivals, go to Wiederkehr Wine Fest in Altus and the Ozark  Old Fashioned Square Gathering.

For a Halloween mash-up, put on your best costume and party at the Monster Bash in Mulberry.

Whatever your pleasure, you’ll find a favorite “haunt” this October in the Mulberry River area.

THE ACTIVITIES
Foliage
Arkansas’ Department of Parks and Tourism has spotters around the state to report weekly fall foliage reports for each area and suggest scenic drives. The report is posted every Thursday on the tourism website, or you can call 1-800-NATURAL (1-800-628-87825).

Hunting
Bowhunting for deer lasts until Feb. 29, 2012, and bear hunting continues through Nov. 30, 2011. Visit this page on the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission website, for more information on licensing and bag limits for bowhunting in Arkansas.
 
ATV Rally
Oct. 7 to Oct. 9 is the Fall ATV Rally at Byrd’s Adventure Center. Bring your ATVs and enjoy scenic trail rides, good food, and lots of fun on beginner, intermediate & advanced trails. Special trails and games will be available for kids. Several dealerships will be on hand for demos. There will be a poker run for fun prizes. Call Byrd’s at (479) 667-4066 for more details.

Wine celebration
Oct. 8 is the 48th Annual Wiederkehr Weinfest in Altus. Admission is free. Tyrolean-style activities are scheduled 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., so bring “die Familie” to “zelebrieren!”

Festival entertainment includes free tours and tastings, live entertainment, ethnic foods, a championship Grape Stomp, appearances by Bacchus (the Roman God of Wine), a conga line dancing through the wine cellars, a sing-along in German and English, contests and door prizes. Visit [email protected] or call 1-800-622-WINE or 479-468-WINE.

Harvest music
Oct. 13 to Oct. 16 is the 6th Annual Harvest Music Festival at Mulberry Mountain. There will be more than 50 live performances on 4 Stages, including sets by the legendary Bella Fleck and the Flecktones, Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth and the Emmitt-Nershi Band. More than 5,000 attendees are expected and camping and food will be available. Tickets & information are available at the festival website.

Ozark Square
Oct.15 is the 39th Annual Old Fashioned Square Gathering on the Courthouse Square in downtown Ozark. There will be arts, crafts, music, food and all day fun for the entire family. Contact Main Street Ozark at (479) 667-5337 or email [email protected]

Autumn wings
Oct. 20 to Oct. 23 is Byrd’s Autumn Camp and Fly. Pilots gather yearly at Byrd’s riverside grass landing strip to enjoy the fall colors along the Mulberry River, give aerial tours and fly around in their sometimes strange flying machines, including powered parachutes, trikes, and airplanes. Other activities include ATV trails, zip-line rides, waterfall hikes, campfire cookouts and sightseeing flights over the Ozark Mountains.  For more information call (479) 667-4199.

River travelers
On Oct. 25 — from afternoon to evening — bring a picnic blanket down to the Arkansas River in Ozark to watch a giant flotilla of yachts carrying state potentates debark in Ozark for a gala private reception at 6 p.m. followed by a fireworks display over the Ozark Bridge. Call (479) 667-2525 for information.
 
Rocktoberfest
Oct. 28 to Oct. 30 is Rocktoberfest at Byrd’s. Enjoy 4X4 trails, competition, and lots of fun & games for the kids. The is a  4×4 rock crawling competition where drivers pit their vehicles and driving skills against boulders bigger than their rigs. This event is held by the Rockcrawlers 4X4 club and publicized as a family event. Spectator rates are $10 per person/day. Call (479) 667-4066 for more details.

Mulberry bash
Oct. 28 is Monster Bash in Mulberry, with a live band and chili supper with “all the fixins.” The event is a fund raiser for the city’s “Shop with a Cop” program. Call Barbara at (479) 997-8117 for more information.