Deer Festival begins Thursday

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Deer Festival, Golconda's celebration during the shotgun deer season, begins Thursday evening and runs through Saturday.

The festival is a destination for hunters across the region to celebrate in the evening after a day of chasing Pope County's bounty of whitetail deer.

For Golconda, it is a major economic boost, according to Paul Kunath of the Rotary Club of Golconda.

"We have a population in the city of 750. Probably during the week it will grow by 10 times," Kunath said.

"It's a boost and it puts our little town on the map, so to speak. It helps all the businesses in town."

Late November is always a tricky time to hold a festival. Some years it is frigid, some years it is warm and some years it is raining. But weather won't deter the hunters nor the festival organization. This year looks perfect. It is chilly enough the deer meat should keep and there is no prediction of rain.

James Crim and his sons and grandsons will be cooking up barbecue, a staple of the festival. In fact, the festival began as a deer barbecue giveaway to hunters.

Now the Crim family barbecues pork on an open pit.

"We think it's the best," Kunath said.

"We've got a special barbecue and a special sauce."

Tonight the bonfire will be lit and the Crims will begin shoveling its charcoal into the pit. They will work in 8-hour shifts nonstop until about noon Saturday. Sandwiches will be available Thursday morning by the sandwich, pound or whole shoulder.

The bonfire becomes an important aspect of the festival.

"There will always be a lot standing around it at night when it gets cool, standing around and warming by the fire," Kunath said.

The major event of the festival is the Deer Queen Contest 7 p.m. Friday. Twenty-one high school girls are competing.

The big parade is 2 p.m. Saturday.

"We've got as good a parade as any place around as far as I'm concerned," Kunath said.

At 7 p.m. tonight several church congregations and choirs will meet in the Entertainment Tent for the Community Church Service.

The Baby photo and Little Mister and Miss Contest begins 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

Years ago there was a deer size contest. This year there will be a contest for largest doe, since they only need to be weighed. Kunath said the Rotarians hope to bring back the buck contest next year if they can find a deer scoring expert who can properly size the antlers for points. The doe weigh in is 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.

At 12:30 p.m. Saturday the Rocky Creek Band will perform in the reviewing stand.

At 4 p.m. Saturday is the Amateur Talent Contest.

There will be vendors throughout the tent and in the yard of Pope County Courthouse with baked goods, hunting equipment, shirts, craft items and food vendors.

-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.