Mayfest draws large crowd

Blytheville's annual Mayfest event took place this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday in what was a fun-filled and successful weekend.

Interim Main Street Blytheville director L.C. Hartsfield told the CN that the Saturday event had 71 vendors as opposed to 51 vendors last year. While he did not have an exact count of people who attended the events, he did say that it appeared to be more than what has been seen in the past. Hartsfield estimated a possible 5,000 people in attendance.

Vendors varied from craft sales to food. Some even sold atypical food items for events like Mayfest such as egg rolls and beans with cornbread.

"More vendors than we've had in the last few years and more variety of vendors than we have had. As far as I'm concerned everything went great. The kids had a great time down there; we had a whole block dedicated to kids…nobody is complaining yesterday or today," Hartsfield said.

One of the biggest parts of the weekend's festivities was the Flying Cortes trapeze act. The "Circus Mayfest" was held near the Blytheville bus station and included acts like the trapeze, a dog show and acrobatics.

"This is the first year the trapeze has been here. The last two years the tightrope people were here…this is the first time we've had the trapeze and I think that people like them more. The kids really enjoyed it and we had over 500 kids watching this thing Friday afternoon," Hartsfield said.

The horse show and dog show are annual events at Mayfest but the main event typically changes every few years. However, according to Hartsfield, all the performers are kin through marriage.

"They met here because this was kind of a place where all of them could get together. The Cortes were coming from Pittsburgh and they stopped here and met the others," Hartsfield said.

Hartsfield said that Main Street will probably have to look into new ideas for nightly activities on Saturday. The live music is not drawing in the numbers quite as much as Main Street Blytheville would like and, though no formal decision is close to being made, Hartsfield believes changes will need to be looked at.

"People are tired. Especially all of us volunteers…most people on the street were ready to go and once people leave, it’s hard to get them to come back to Main Street," Hartsfield said.

Butts on Broadway also held their competition along with Mayfest on Saturday. The completion included 10 teams competing in Ribs and Butts. Many teams also participated in a people's choice competition.

Several businesses informed Hartsfield that they did record business on Saturday during the events of Mayfest. The museum also saw heavy traffic during the event.

"All in all, it was a very successful event. We started Thursday night over there (Chamber of Commerce) with the crayfish party…I know there had to be several hundred down there because it was packed…we had probably 500 people down there Friday night for BBQ," Hartsfield said.

Hartsfield stated that Main Street officials are now beginning to turn their heads towards the Chili Cook-Off.

"If the weather cooperates, I think we will see our events grow," Hartsfield said.

gwilliams@blythevillecourier.com