Page 4 - ToadSuckDaze May 5 2017

4VV • Toad Suck Daze • An Advertising Supplement to the River Valley & Ozark Edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Sunday, April 30, 2017
RVER VALLEY & OZARK FILE PHOTO
Jaycee Jean and her father, Josh Grant, jockey their toad in the toad races during the 2016 Toad Suck Daze festival.
BY CODY GRAVES
SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITER
Toad Suck Daze has been keeping festival guests entertained for 35 years with its classic events like the Mardi Daze parade, toad races and concerts, but it’s keeping things hopping with new attractions for the 36th year.
During the three-day festival, held Friday through Sunday, May 5-7, several new events and features will entertain both kids and adults.
For those with the need for speed, Toad Suck Daze will host the Boy Scout Pinewood Derby at 1 p.m. Saturday. This event will be the district meet for the Foothills District of Boy Scouts of America.
“They [Boy Scouts] were looking for a location, and they just called us just ask- ing about possibilities,” said Mary Margaret Satterfield, director of Toad Suck Daze and events at the Conway Area Chamber of Com- merce. “It was something we thought was
really, really fun. We like to do different things at Toad Suck Daze to bring in groups when we can, and this is a way to partner with a great organization, and to do something fun at the festival and fun for the boys.”
The pinewood derby is one of the Boy Scouts’ most popular events. Each Scout constructs a race car using a kit that includes a pinewood block, four plastic wheels and four nails that are used as axles. The Scout can then shape the block into a more tra- ditional car shape or something else from his imagination. The cars are loaded onto a ramp, and gravity does the rest. The fastest car in the heat moves on to the next round.
“There will be bleachers there, and peo- ple can watch it if they want to and see the fun in that,” she said.
Later Saturday night, a new event hits the Toad Suck Daze main stage. The festival will host a regional qualifier for the US Air Guitar Championships.
This event gives performers a chance to bring out their inner Eddie Van Halen or Zakk Wylde with their best outfits, air-guitar shredding and guitar faces. The US Air Guitar Championships was founded in 2003 and has grown into a national event. According to its website, the competition’s main goal is to promote world peace.
Satterfield said the decision to bring in the air-guitar contest was to dovetail it with the musical entertainment that night, which includes several hard-rock acts such as Kip Winger, of Winger, and Dokken.
“We decided to have some fun with that,” Satterfield said. “Let’s give people the opportunity to really have fun and participate. A couple of years ago, when MC Hammer came to town, at the end of his concert, he pulled a bunch of people on stage and everyone was able to dance. It was a lot of fun.”
Those who would like to show off their air- guitar skills can visit www.usairguitar.com/ entry to sign up for the competition. The top two finalists at Toad Suck Daze can advance to the next round July 22 in Philadelphia.
Another addition to the festival is a jum- bo television screen. The large screen, which will be located on Oak Street next to Centen- nial bank, will be used to display live video from the festival, prerecorded informational segments and information about groups and events at Toad Suck Daze.
Toadally fresh New events bring fun to Toad Suck Daze