Main Street Batesville Plans for Southern Food Festival
May 10, Batesville, AR — After two successful years of hosting the Southern Food Festival, Main Street Batesville will do it again on Saturday, June 1.
The festival will kick-off with the Main Street Batesville Farmers Market in the Pocket Park at 8 a.m. with other vendors opening on the street at 10 a.m.
“We invited our local restaurants and food trucks to participate and cook up a Southern dish that they love. We will have punch cards to sell for $10 that will allow each card holder to enjoy 5 samples in addition to a fresh -squeezed lemonade,” stated Mandi Curtwright, Main Street Batesville Executive Director.
Punch cards can be purchased at White River Now, ARCare, Melba Theater, Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce, and online at www.mainstreetbatesville.org. Two blocks on Main Street will be closed for the Southern Food Festival so that attendees can roam and visit the vendors.
The festival will also feature activities for children, including a petting zoo, Big Poppa Bubble, and “Downtown Drizzle”. Big Poppa Bubble will feature an inherently unique experience that involves gigantic soap bubbles. “Downtown Drizzle” will be a water play area on the lower block of Main Street that will include a large water slide and a slip-n-slide.
Other additions will be “Chicken Alley” and “Movie in the Pocket Park”. “Chicken Alley” will be an opportunity for festival goers to enjoy a meal in the Pocket Park block. Local cooks will prepare the chicken and downtown restaurants will provide the sides. Tickets are $10 and are available at mainstreetbatesville.org. There will only be 200 tickets available. “Movie in the Pocket Park” will begin at dusk and the feature will be “The Goonies”. The movie is free and open to the public.
“It’s a laid-back atmosphere,” Curtwright said. “We will also have live music on the street throughout the day.”
The festival is presented by Peco Foods. Other sponsors include Citizens Bank, FutureFuel, Autry’s White River Furniture, Fringe Salon, Southern Bank, Centennial Bank, and the Bank of Cave City.
Cathy Drew is a lifelong resident of the region that she loves to promote. She was born in downtown Batesville in the late ’60s, located in one of the eight counties she now enjoys encouraging people to visit.
Drew became associated with the Ozark Gateway Region in 1990 while working at the ad agency (The Media Market Inc.). The agency handled marketing for the regional association, where she and her co-workers produced an annual tabloid publication. She began working as the Ozark Gateway Region director in June 2000.
After Drew became director, she took the region to the next level by helping the tourism organization create a new website and moved it from the old newspaper paper tabloid publication to a color magazine format. She helped open a visitor center for the Ozark Gateway, allowing visitors to pick up information from the entire state 24/7. Over the years, Drew has helped the organization meet new marketing goals, such as in- and out-of-state marketing, assuring that all 100,000 copies of their magazines are distributed each year.
In 2016, she assisted in creating the first Ozark Gateway Region Golf Classic. The tournament continues to grow each year, allowing the organization to expand its co-op program and helping each county have dedicated promotion. Drew stays busy at Ozark Gateway as the ad sales manager, magazine editor, day-to-day office operations, trade show representative, and magazine distribution representative, all while ensuring that the region is represented all over Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Drew was featured in several local and statewide publications over the years, as well as the 1997 cover of the Ozark Gateway Region tabloid, along with her then 4-year-old son, Jon. She has received several awards, such as the Batesville Rotarian of the Year in 2010 and a three-time Paul Harris Fellow.
She also has served as an Independence County election commissioner for several years. She now serves as their co-election coordinator, helping with behind-the-scenes management of voting equipment, day-to-day election deadlines, and poll worker training.
Drew is Batesville Rotary Club Past President, and is the Rotary Clubs’ current membership chair.
In March of 2018, Drew was honored with induction into the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame for her many years of dedicated service to the tourism industry.