SPRINGDALE — Salsa — the dance and the condiment — will be featured in October when ArkansaSalsa Fest hits downtown Springdale.
OneCommunity, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing communities together, is sponsoring the event, slated to run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 26.
The festival will raise money for college scholarships and programs that promote community leaders working together, said Diana Gonzales Worthen, an organizer of the event.
At A Glance
ArkansaSalsa Fest
The festival will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 26 on Emma Avenue in downtown Springdale.
Those interested in sponsorships, vending and exhibiting can go to www.onecommunityar.org.
Source: OneCommunity
The organization held its first festival in Fayetteville in 2011, said Patricia Rodriguez, with OneCommunity. After skipping last year, the festival was moved to Springdale, Rodriguez said.
The celebration will close Emma Avenue between Commerce and Main streets, Rodriguez said. Vendors will sell food, arts and crafts. A beer garden and "indie market" is planned, she said.
The events include a 5-kilometer run and 1-mile walk, a best tasting salsa contest and a car show. The cars will line up by the year they were manufactured for a history of transportation parade. Children will be able to play in a Feed Your Brain Kids Zone.
Calle Soul, Voces De Mexico and Soulful Sounds are scheduled to play at the fest, Rodriguez said. Zumba and salsa dance lessons will evolve into performances with participants picked out of the audience, Worthen said.
The Arkansas Educational Television Network will have a booth, Worthen said. Details are being worked out on having some of the Public Broadcasting System’s children’s characters at the festival, she said, such as Clifford, the Big Red Dog, Arthur and Cat in the Hat. Strike and Sinker, mascots of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals baseball team, will also be at the festival, Worthen said.
The event will wrap up with Dinner on the Salsa Train, sponsored by Arkansas & Missouri Railroad. The train will leave Springdale at 7 p.m. for Winslow. The trip will be catered by local Mexican restaurants, said Brenda Rouse, passenger train operations manager for the railroad.
Pricing for train tickets hasn't yet been set, Rouse said.