CARIN SCHOPPMEYER
NWA Democrat-Gazette
Historic Cane Hill in western Washington County is the site of the second four-year university chartered by the state of Arkansas, the first public library, first Sunday school, second college and first public coeducational college. It’s also home to one of the longest running community festivals in Northwest Arkansas, said Amanda Cothren, Historic Cane Hill programs and events coordinator. The Historic Cane Hill Harvest Festival, to be held on Sept. 20 on the Historic Cane Hill College campus, marks the season and celebrates Ozark culture with time-honored traditions and crafts.
“It gives the feeling that you’re connecting with generations that have come before when you’re celebrating the harvest — a multi generational process that we have had as as humans.” Cothren said. “We’ve made it through this hottest part of summer, now the crop is bountiful, and it’s a beautiful time to get together as the seasons are changing.”
The day’s full slate of family friendly opportunities will include an Ozark country breakfast, live pie auction, quilt show and drawing, the Arts and Eats Market, craft demonstrations, children’s activity area, historic building tours, sorghum pressing and a printing press.
The festival will feature artisans such as Abby Hollis, textile artist, who will demonstrate spinning wool on a spinning wheel, drop spindles and hand cards. Hollis said the craft has been a way to be connected to her community and people she comes across in the process. “By being a spinner, I get to have a relationship with sheep farmers, and I get to have a relationship with the Spinning Guild, and the weavers, and all of these different people along the value chain of textile production.”
The festival will also mark the 100th anniversary of the election of Maud Duncan, the first female mayor in Arkansas. She and her entirely female slate of candidates won city government in Winslow in 1925. The Cane Hill College alumna also published the Winslow American Press, Cothren said. As part of the celebration, representatives of the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, will be on hand with four hand tabletop presses for festival-goers to make their own prints.
The Cane Hill Harvest Festival will begin with an Ozark country breakfast at 7 a.m. Festival activities will be held from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on the grounds of Cane Hill College, 14219 College Road in Cane Hill.
Tickets to the festival are $5 for adults, kids ages 12 and younger are admitted free.
Breakfast tickets at $8 for adults and $5 for ages 12 and younger. Bundled breakfast and festival admission tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for children 12 and younger.
HCH members get two free adult admission tickets, and membership may be purchased at the festival or online at historiccanehillar.org/festival. Parking is free.
2025 Schedule of Events DINE WITH US Enjoy the Country Breakfast $8 – Adults – (Adult festival & breakfast ticket bundle only $12!) $5 – Kids (12 & under)
HISTORIC CANE HILL HARVEST FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
7 a.m-10 a.m. — Ozark Country Breakfast, $8 for adults, $5 for children 12 and younger
FOOD TRUCKS (prices vary)
10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
• 3 Chicks Cones- Concessions and Catering
• Blue’s Concessions
• Dave’s Iron Skillet
• Deep South BBQ
• Nolen’s Kettle Korn and Cinnamon Roasted Nuts
LIVE PIE AUCTION
10 a.m. — Sweet-tooths will be satisfied with the purchase of pies from community members and area businesses.
LIVE MUSIC
8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. — Sit and tap your toes or get up and strut your stuff to a full day of live music to include:
• Meadow Makers, 8 a.m.
• Squirrel Jam, 10:45 a.m.,
• Jumpsuit Jamey and the Can’t Wait to Playboys, 12: 30 p.m.
• Boonsboro Bandits,* 2:15 p.m. • The Broncos,* 2:35 p.m.
• Cane Hillbillies,* 3 p.m.
(*Historic Cane Hill Roots Music youth student groups)
ALL DAY ACTIVITIES
8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
• Kids Zone: Activities from Macaroni Kids, Washington County 4-H, the University of Arkansas Entomology and Plant Pathology department, free face painting and more
• Arts and Eats Market: Local artisans and crafters will be selling their wares
• Sorghum Pressing Demonstration: See the process of pressing sorghum cane with an antique press using local draft horses to transform the cane juice into sorghum molasses.
• Craft Demonstrations: Will include lace tatting, textile spinning and weaving, blacksmithing, beekeeping, antique tractors
• Community Creative Center’s Wheel Mobile: Have a ‘wheel’ good time hand throwing pottery. Free 30-minute mini-workshops are available to ages 10 and older.
• Quilt Show and Drawing: Featuring antique and contemporary quilts from the region
• Historic Building Visits: Take the unique opportunity to peek inside the 1886 Cane Hill College and 1891 Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, learn about the Kirby-Colburn House, winner of a 2024 Arkansas Preservation Award for Excellence in Preservation through Restoration.
• Treasured Chests: 19th Century Furniture by Northwest Arkansas craftsmen at the Historic Cane Hill Gallery “celebrates the rich furniture-making traditions of Northwest Arkansas, featuring selections of more than 25 pieces of historic handcrafted work from Cane Hill and the surrounding area.” The Historic Cane Hill Gallery is located 14327 S. Arkansas 45.
• Buddy Up with the Bur Oak: The Arkansas Co-Champion Bur Oak tree grows on HCH’s campus and is noted as a “witness tree’ to the Trail of Tears.
• Ask a Master Gardener: Washington County Master Gardeners will be on site to answer questions about incorporating native plants in the garden.
— Source: historiccanehillar.org/festival/
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