Photos by Amanda Swain
Bartlett breezes through the 2014 fest and car show.
More than 6,000 people strolled through a mild fall weekend, soaking up a panoramic view from the Ferris wheel and experiencing tethered hot air balloon rides, pronto pups, live music and rows of gleaming cars and trucks on display at the 2014 Bartlett Festival and Car Show this weekend.
Mayor Keith McDonald said it was a great festival. “The weather could not have been much better. The Friday night events just keep getting bigger and bigger.”
Community relations director Debbie Morrison agreed. “This year the attendance for Friday night was awesome. I think that had to do with a combination of things — the great weather, the balloons and we had an awesome band that has a following around the area!”
Charity events
More than 120 car and truck owners took part in this year’s car show, a good turnout for the show’s 17th year, said car show organizer James Hicks of Bartlett. The competition named about 40 winners in different categories, including Brad King of Bartlett for his ’57 Ford pickup as the Mayor’s Choice.
The car show raised approximately $4,000 for the Baptist Children’s Home. Hicks said a similar event is planned for Oct. 18 at the Baptist Children’s Home.
A dunking booth also soaked some of the city’s notables and raised $662 for the Bartlett Education Foundation. A dampened McDonald walked through the festival Saturday, smiling and saying, “They got me.”
Other good sports who were sitting ducks in the dunking booth were David Stephens, Bartlett City Schools superintendent of education; Shan Criswell, Singleton Community Center facility manager; Terry Wiggins, Bartlett fire chief; Gary Rikard, Bartlett chief of police; Ethan Randell, Elmore Park Middle School principal; Susan Cavin, choral teacher at Bartlett Ninth Grade Academy; Blount Smith, Latin teacher at Bartlett High School; and Morrison.
General events
Festival-goers who took the free shuttle bus to the park passed the city’s eye-catching wooden stagecoach, an authentic replica of an 1860 Concord stagecoach, built by the Bartlett High School FFA in 1992-93 according to blueprints from the Smithsonian Institute. It reflects the city’s heritage as a stagecoach stop, starting around 1829.
Beyond this mobile monument to local history, live music belted out across the park, people pushed baby carriages and nibbled at sugar-dusted funnel cakes, and vendors at more than 115 booths attracted visitors. Vendors gave away trinkets, held drawings, signed up customers for services, explained the benefits of their associations, and sold merchandise that included jewelry, home décor, temporary tattoos, goat milk soap and more.
The city of Bartlett operated one of the booths, selling T-shirts and the collectible city Christmas ornaments. Both are still available from Morrison at Bartlett City Hall. Both the ornaments and T-shirts are $10.
Demonstrations on stage entertained festival-goers with cheer and twirling displays, martial arts, clogging, square dancing, police dog skills and belly dancing.
Musical acts included the Emma Webb Band, Almost Famous, the Bartlett Community Concert Band, the Rhythm Rockets, the Bouffants, Ronnie Caldwell & JoJo Jefferies and the Trey Jewell Band.
Sponsors for the 2014 Bartlett Festival and Car Show were The Bartlett Express (Platinum sponsor); Med-Post Urgent Care, the Commercial Appeal and Bartlett Weekly (Gold sponsors); Compass Storage, McDonald’s and Nationwide Insurance (Silver sponsors); and Hicks Convention Services and Special Events, Cotton City Electric Co. Inc. and Memphis Classic Chevy (Bronze sponsors).
Some festival guests were not happy about the extended wait times for the free shuttle bus from downtown pick-up points to the park, citing waits of 45 to 60 minutes.
Although this year’s bus company was an improvement over the one used previously, the city plans to improve the shuttle service for 2015’s festival, Morrison said.
She explained that in years past, fewer people used the service, and one of the two shuttle buses often traveled nearly empty. This year, the hope was that a single newer, bigger bus would handle the crowds.
“Next year we will have two buses and hope everyone will use them again,” she said.
Barbecue contest
A Southern fall festival without some kind of cooking contest can hardly earn the name of “festival,” and area cooks brought creative team names and barbecue magic to the Bartlett Festival’s cooking competition.
Winners in the ribs category were:
- First place: 3 Puttin’ Pugs
- Second place: Pull My Pork
- Third place: Smokin Goats
Winners in the barbecue sauce category were:
- First place: 3 Puttin’ Pigs
- Second place: To the Moon BBQ
- Third place: Q-Zene Smokers
Winners in the pulled category were:
- First place: To the Moon BBQ
- Second place: Hazzard Swamp Pit Crew
- Third place: Legend BBQ
Winners in the chili category were:
- First place: To the Moon BBQ
- Second place: Q-Zene Smokers
- Third place: 3 Puttin’ Pigs
Winners in the “Other” category were:
- First place: Pull My Pork (Chicken Sushi)
- Second place: 4 Irish Pigs (Loaded Deer Loaf)
- Third place: Legend BBQ (Shrimp and Grits)
Winners in the dessert category were:
- First place: Ministry of BBQ
- Second place: Hazzard Swamp Pit Crew
- Third place: 4 Irish Pigs
Cute Kids Contest
Bartlett’s cutest kids age 12 and younger vied for honors in a photo contest, and spectators at the festival selected the following winners.
For ages up to one year, winners were:
- First place: Anelynn Maharrey
- Second place: Avery Ward
- Third place: Arlee Scoggins
For ages two to three, winners were:
- First place: Jace Scoggins
- Second place: Abby McDaniel
- Third place: Kade James
For ages four to five, winners were:
- First place: McKenna Phelps
- Second place: Ellie Pitt
- Third place: David Aaron Hurd
For ages six to nine, winners were:
- First place: Ella Beaman
- Second place: Noah Presley
- Third place: Cameron Gatlin
For ages 10 to 12, the winner was:
- Andrew Headley
Civic pride
People attending the Bartlett Festival and Car Show this year had plenty of positive feedback, Morrison said. “I had a lot of people come up to me and tell me how this year’s event had a lot of community pride there. Maybe that has something to do with our schools.”
