69th Annual White River Water Carnival Draws Near August 27 th, 2012, Batesville
The Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce White River Water Carnival Committee is pleased to present the 69thWhite River WaterCarnival which will be held on September 8th , 2012.
Crystal Johnson, President/ CEO stated “the events have been organized to be fast-paced and high energy, leaving the festival attendees with plenty to do. We hope to have a great turnout this year so we can continue this time-honored Batesville tradition. It is an important piece to community development and would not be possible without the support from our area businesses and volunteers.”
The theme for the White River Water Carnival will be “A New Spin on an Old Tradition.” This year’s event will showcase the local poultry and lawnmower industries.
A new event to the line-up is the Chicken Wing Cook-Off. Area connoisseurs will
be cooking their best chicken wings in hopes of winning the Best Buffalo, Best
Alternative, Best Overall, Best Dressed Booth, or the coveted People’s Choice Award
($750 cash prize). There are preselected judges for all categories except the People’s
Choice Award.
This award will be determined by the public. Packages can be purchased for $5 at the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce. Each package includes 10 tokens and a voting ticket. After sampling wings from each cooking team, voters will have the opportunity to vote for their choice. Wings will be ready for sampling from 6-7pm.
The Bone Collector: Hot Wing Eating Contest will be held at 8:00 on the amphitheater stage. Finalists were chosen after a series of preliminaries. They are Josh Seymore, Rachael Teague, Tyrone Paige, Chris Kent, Eric Booth, Phil Brissey, Mark Reynolds, and Randy Seale (Big Daddy Randy). These contestants will have 5 minutes to chow down on as many hot wings as they can. Adam Curtwright, Bone Collector Coordinator, stated “the finalists will each have their own walkout song and “fight name”. Some of these guys have been practicing for months so you definitely do not want to miss this event.”
The anchor event, White River’s Got Talent, will continue to be a huge draw for the Water Carnival with youth finals at 7pm and adult finals at 8:15pm.
This year’s concert will feature Ryan Couron. His style mixes traditional country, southern rock, and new country creating a winning sound that has established his strong fan base throughout Arkansas. His comfortable and confident stage presence combined with original songs off his debut album, “Play What I Feel Like”, makes Couron a must-see performer.
Arts, crafts, and food vendors will be open from 3-10pm the day of the event.
The schedule of events is as followed:
3:00PM White River Water Carnival Parade “Happy 200 th Birthday Batesville!”
5:00PM Chicken Wing Cook-Off
5:00PM Celebrity Lawn Mower Race
5:30PM Arkansas Lawn Mower Racing Association Race
5:30PM Rubber Ducky Regatta
7:00PM White River’s Got Talent Youth Finals
8:00PM (During Intermission) “The Bone Collector Hot Wing Eating Contest Finale
8:15PM White River’s Got Talent Adult Finals
9:00PM Ryan Couron
10:00PM Fireworks Display
Other weekend events include an art show at UACCB, a luncheon for former Miss White
River title holders, the Sara Low Memorial Race, bass fishing tournament, and the White
River Water Carnival Dance.
Parade forms, Rubber Ducky Regatta tickets, arts and crafts vendor forms, Chicken
Wing Cook-Off registration forms and judging tickets are available at the Batesville Area
Chamber of Commerce. For more information call the Batesville Area Chamber of
Commerce at 870.793.2378 or visit www.whiteriverwatercarnival.com.
