Frances Franco has been attending the Tontitown Grape Festival since she was a little girl, and she’s happy to say many of its traditions have survived as long as she has.
Franco, 77, was born and raised in Tontitown. Her grandparents came to Tontitown fromItaly with the first settlers in Franco the late 1800s.
She loves everything about living in Tontitown, she says, especially the fact that it’s a small town and she knows most of the people. She will be attending this year’s 115th festival and selling raffle tickets.
When she was little, Franco went to the grape festival with her mother, who helped out with the spaghetti dinners. She saw her mother and others dress and cut up the chickens out under the trees. She enjoyed watching and being around the festival, she says.
“I remember as a girl, they’d give me a quarter or so for the grape festival that night, and by the end of the night, I was always begging for another nickel for one more soda pop,” Franco says.
The spaghetti dinners are still offered today, served up with two pieces of chicken, spaghetti, a roll, salad and iced tea, says Alice Walker, director of advertising and publicity for the festival. Spaghetti dinners are $12 for adults and $6 for children, and they are offered Thursday and again Aug. 9 and 10.
Franco says the festival many years ago included a Tontitown baseball teamplaying a game every afternoon and western movies shown in a tent.
Although these events are no longer part of the festival, some traditions like the spaghetti dinners and playing bingo remain, she says.
Walker adds that other festival traditions include grape ice cream and the grape stomp.
The festival also offers carnival rides, an arts and crafts fair and free live entertainment, Walker says.
Franco loves seeing people get together and work together at the festival. To her, the Tontitown Grape Festival means “the continuation of a tradition that has gone on for a hundred-plus years.”
Whats Up, Pages 12 on 08/02/2013