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 Thank you to all who planned, coordinated, sponsored, attended, sold tickets, and bought tickets to the 49th Annual Poultry Festival! Each and every one of you made this event happen! After a 45-year run of festivals in Hot Springs and then 3 years in Little Rock, the Arkansas-Missouri-Oklahoma Poultry Federation held its 49th Annual Poultry Festival in Northwest Arkansas for the first time. Host hotel was Embassy Suites and the main events were held in the connecting John Q. Hammons Convention Center. The facilities were beautiful and very accommodating for the 3,000 plus attendees.Here are some highlights… All sporting events had record attendance in spite of the rainy weather! Winners will be posted on our website soon, as well as in our newsletter. Golf was held at the Kingsdale Complex in Bella Vista with over 400 golfers. Unfortunately, the afternoon flight had to be canceled due to the rain and lightening. The winners for this flight were randomly drawn. The traditional “horse race” drawing for the golf club sets was held at the All Sports Breakfast and Keith Childress won one set of golf clubs and Art Floyd won the other set. Skeet Shoot was held at the Highlands Gun Range in Bella Vista and over 75 men and women entered the competition. Congratulations to the complex winning team of Tyson Foods, Grannis.Horseshoe Tournament was held at Avalon Part in Bella Vista as 40 men, women, and children participated in competitive but friendly rounds of horseshoes and washers. Bass Tournament launched 50 boats on Beaver Lake! The anglers had some rain but the waters remained calm. Winning catch weighed in at 14.90 lbs. 5-K Race and Fun Run brought in over 125 participants. Fortunately, the weather was great for them on Saturday. This was a sanctioned race and was open to the public. Winners are posted on www.arkansasrunner.comLadies Luncheon was hosted by Debbie Murphy (Mrs. Gary Murphy) in the Ambassador Room of the JQH Center and over 150 women attended the event. Twelve members of the North Arkansas Symphony Youth Organization played for the ladies before and during lunch. Registered dietitian, Ashley Holifield, gave the women some helpful tips on dieting and nutrition. Chef Marcus Easley of Embassy Suites presented a delightful Banana Fosters dessert. Throughout the luncheon door prizes were given out including the beautiful center pieces. Each lady was given a colorful rooster cup and saucer set as a hostess gift.Set in the beautiful Grand Ballroom of the JQH Center, the Allied Industries Dinner/Silent & Live Auction was very well attended. The vast assortment of auction items was displayed for the bidders and there were numerous items of interest for everyone. The most anticipated auction item was Don Tyson’s trip for 2 to a Dallas Cowboy Football game in his private jet and seating in Jerry Jones’ private section. The auction crowd erupted with applause and cheers as Mark Simmons (Simmons Foods) finally outbid Dick Bond (Tyson Foods) and won the bid for $7,000. Total funding raised for scholarships was a whopping $43,000! WOW! You should have seen everyone shaking a tail feather at the Dance Party with Ultra Suede! This eclectic and electric group, who wore costumes from the disco era, was very entertaining as the attendees danced the night away. It was fun to watch some of the Festival committee members take the stage with the band; especially the men as they danced to “Shake Your Booty”.The Arkansas 4-H Barbecue Contest got off to an early start Saturday morning with the young contestants in the parking lot of the convention center. Winner in the senior division was Elizabeth Loveless from Rector. Winner in the junior division was Sarah Bunch from Batesville. Elizabeth qualifies for the national 4-H Poultry & Egg Youth Conference in Louisville, KY, in November. Good luck Elizabeth. You will represent us well!Tents and colorful displays lined the parking lot of the convention center for the Annual Barbecue Contest & Fair. 27 teams participated which is also a record number. The weather was sunny and bright and so was the mood of the fair! The food samples offered and cooked up by the teams were delicious. And what an array of food it was…from fresh grilled pineapple to lime chicken wings to chicken tacos. Yum Yum! The games were fun for kids and adults. You could walk a plank for the cold bottled water, compete in a bean bag toss (which ended up in a showdown), or get caught in a water gun battle. The booth themes and skits were so creative…from the Pirates of the Federation to Coyote Chicken Ugly Saloon to an Ode to Elvis. What creative people we have in our industry! Congratulations to Tyson Foods Grannis/Broken Bow for Grand Champion Cooking; Wayne Farms Danville for Grand Champion Theme/Booth; and Cooling & Applied Technology for Allied Champion.In the midst of all these festivities, we have to stop and take care of business and that’s what the Federation’s Board of Directors did at their Board Meeting and Annual Membership Meeting when they elected the 2008-09 Board of Directors and officers. A complete listing of your Board will be publicized in the next newsletter issue.The following industry individuals were recognized during Saturday evening Presentation of Awards: Jerry Moye, Cobb-Vantress for Festival Chairman; Allene Johnson and husband, Jimmy, on their retirement from the Federation’s NPIP lab; Roger Coots, Cryovac Sealed Air Corporation for Salesperson of the Year; and Gary Murphy, Simmons Foods for Industry Person of the Year. Gary Murphy was also recognized for his service as chairman of the Federation Board this past year. Raffle winners were drawn from the hopper for the stainless steel double deep fryer (Ronnie Coulson) and the women’s set of golf clubs (Alison Creasey).
An energetic and personable performance by the talented country music artist, Blake Shelton was the climax of the Festival. He was quite a story teller and kept the audience laughing at his humorous tales. He sang all of his hit songs such as: Nobody But Me, Austin, Ol’ Red, and The More I Drink. When Blake sang his country version of “Home” and his girlfriend, Miranda Lambert made a surprise visit on the stage and sang the background vocals with him, the crowd went crazy! For those few of you who are not followers of country music, Miranda Lambert is also a top performing country music artist and recently won ACM’s 2008 Album of the Year for “Crazy Ex Girlfriend”. Additionally, “Home” is now listed as number 5 on the Country Charts and continues to climb. After Blake’s performance the concert goers demanded an encore and Blake happily obliged and performed a couple of more songs. “The Blake Shelton Concert was probably the best I have ever seen since I have been attending,” stated one of our Federation members.This year’s Festival would not have been possible without the hard work and efforts of many people: the ticket sellers, the festival committees and chairs, the sponsors, the poultry companies, the allied companies and members, friends of the industry, and the business communities. The Federation Staff and Board of Directors thank you for your part in making the 49th Poultry Festival in Rogers, Arkansas, a great event! A post-festival evaluation will be sent out next week. We encourage every one to complete the evaluation and return it to us so that we can make the 50th Annual Poultry Festival even better than this year!
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