Arkansas Festivals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Turkey Trot

"The National Wild Turkey Calling Contest and Turkey Trot Festival" is more commonly known as Turkey Trot, and has been celebrated since the 1940s. It was once written up in the National Enquirer for the practice of throwing live wild turkeys out of airplanes.

The turkeys survive, and are paraded around the square by their young captors. They don't seem to enjoy the attention (the children that capture them sometimes sport scratches from their talons, and anyone admiring someone's catch should stay out of range of the beak), but at least the turkeys had a chance at freedom.

Bill Clinton once attended this festival.

Answer: The King Biscuit Festival

In 1941, Sonny Boy Williamson was hired to play on a blues radio show in Helena, Arkansas, called "King Biscuit Time," sponsored by King Biscuit Flour. The King Biscuit Blues Festival was started in 1986 as a one-day tribute to this man, and has grown amazingly since then.

It is estimated that there will be 100,000 people from all over the country in attendance at this year's festivities in 2008.

Answer: rice

Riceland Foods is the largest producer of rice in the United States. While headquartered in Stuttgart, Arkansas, they have a large plant in Weiner, near Jonesboro.

The Weiner Rice Festival is the second weekend of October, coinciding with the end of the rice harvest and also with National Rice Promotion Month.

Thanks to all the rice grown in Arkansas, we are also one of the major duck capitals of the US.

Answer: Trout

Cotter was written up in the "Wall Street Journal" in 2005 as the trout fishing capital of the world, and in "Field and Stream" in 2008, as having "some of the world's best trout fisheries."

April 2008 marked the 7th annual Great Cotter Trout Festival.

Answer: World Duck Calling Championship

Ok, I know, it's duck-calling, but apparently this festival is a lot of fun, and quite interesting, because the author Patricia Schultz, who wrote "1,000 Places To See Before You Die" included the "World Duck Calling Championship" in Stuttgart, Arkansas, as something you must see before you die.

Answer: Elk

The Buffalo River Elk Festival is a popular event in North-Central Arkansas.

Interesting fact: Arkansas is the only state in the US to have both an elk-hunting season and a alligator-hunting season.

Answer: watermelon

This festival, which has been an annual event since the 1970s, expects to attract about 50,000 people per year.

Answer: RiverFest

2008's music line up included ZZ Top, Better than Ezra, and Huey Lewis and the News, to name a few. This is a very lively event held Memorial Day weekend each year, starting Friday and continuing until Sunday evening.

Answer: Great Arkansas Pig Out

Apparently the most entertaining event at the Pig Out is the Pig Chase...according to the official website, there's "nothing more fun than watching scads of children chase after a pig in a HUGE pile of mud."

Like many Arkansas festivals, Morrilton's Pig Out draws many country musicians for entertainment, while creating a great deal of entertainment all on their own.

In 1998, the BBC actually sent a news crew to Morrilton to document the event.

Answer: Toad Suck Daze

The admission for Toad Suck Daze is free, and all proceeds from vendors go to higher education in Faulkner County, AR, home to three two colleges and one university. Over $500,000 have been awarded to students in the last 26 years.

Toad Suck Daze typically draws about 150,000 people per year -- not too shabby for a town of 50,000 people.

There are many events that are popular at this festival, chief among them being the 'The World Championship Toad Races' and 'Stuck on a Truck,' in which competitors compete to see who can keep their hands on a truck the longest. Whoever holds out the longest wins the brand new truck -- the record is over 90 hours.

We started the quiz in the first Arkansas town I lived in, Yellville, with Turkey Trot, and ended up in Conway, where I live now, with Toad Suck Daze. I hope you enjoyed this strange tour around the state. :)