Published: September 07, 2008 06:24 pm      

Woodward Main Street Hometown Festival set

There promises to be something for every type of art lover at the fourth annual Woodward Main Street Hometown Festival which is set for Sept. 20.

For the young and the young at heart, there will be a caricature artist and a balloon artist showing off their talents in the kids zone, according to Main Street Manager Kathryn Upchurch. There will also be wearable art in the form of face painting provided by the Boomer Dance Team, she said.

Other activities in the kids zone will include games like panning for gold and rides like a 20-foot inflatable slide and a bungee bounce, Upchurch said.

However, if you’re looking for some more sophisticated types of art, there will be a fine arts show held at the Josie Adams Cultural Center during the festival.

In addition to displaying a variety of finished artwork from paintings to photography, art show organizer Clarice Rosser said there will also be pottery and basket weaving demonstrations during the show.

Entries for the art show will be accepted until Wednesday, Rosser said. For more information about the show or how to enter, contact Rosser at 254-5800 or Angela Clem at 256-4513.

And if you prefer art that can be set in motion, there will be both a car and a motorcycle show held at this year’s festival. The car show will feature a variety of models from antiques dating back before the 1950s to muscle cars. There will also be a variety of motorcycles on display from custom bikes to sporsters to foreign makes.

There is no fee to enter either show and registrations are still being accepted for both shows. To register for the car show stop by Mead Jewelers at 911 Main St. before the festival or contact Jay Mead at 256-6373 for more information. For the motorcycle show contact Delbert Covalt at 334-6927 or stop by his store The Mercantile at 809 Main St. to pick up a registration form.

If you’re looking for art that can be seen and heard, the festival will have a variety of musical talent on offer, including Woodward area bands Borderline and Overdrive, said festival organizer Kim West.

Also among this year’s live entertainment talent will be the Whiskey Moon Band, which hails from Helena, West said. The band features father and son team Mike and Jake Bowers and a lead guitarist who once played for Journey, she said.

Local singer Chelsay Adams and local DJ Steve Stewart complete the musical lineup, West said.

“We’re excited about having all these local guys,” she said, noting that their performances are “going to be awesome.”

For those who have a taste for culinary art, local radio station K101 will be sponsoring its second annual “Backyard Bar-B-Que Cookoff.”

Categories for this year’s cookoff include beef brisket, spare ribs, chicken, and pork roast, which means there will be something for every palate.

“It’s going to be huge,” according to K101 personality Dan Ridenhour, who claims that it will be “the biggest barbecue cookoff to happen on this side of the Mississippi since 1832.”

Registrations for the cookoff will be accepted until Sept. 17, Ridenhour said. Entry forms and a list of rules are available at the K101 website at www.k101online.com.

There will be a variety of other contests held throughout the day, including hot dog and ice cream eating contests and a dance contest sponsored by local radio stations KWDQ and KWFX as well as the traditional drawings for $5,000 in cash and Main Street bucks, which serve as the big festival finale.

To enter the eating contests, you must sign up with at the Boomer Dance Team’s booth in the kids zone the day of the festival. To register for the dance contest, contact LaDonna Herber at 256-0935 before Sept. 15. And to get your name in for the cash and Main Street bucks drawings, for which you must be present to win, simply visit participating Main Street merchants anytime before the festival to pick up your tickets.

All the festival fun will kick off at 10 a.m. on Sept. 20 and will wrap up around 4 p.m. All events will be held between 7th and 11th Streets along Main Street.

For more information about any of the festival events or to find out how you can get involved or volunteer during the festival, contact Upchurch at 254-8521.