News

Jul 09, 2023

PurpleHull Pea Festival boils down 2023 event to parade, lunch, auction

Wesley Houldridge was the winner in 2015 of what was then called the magnoliareporter.com /KZHE-FM World Championship Rotary Tiller Race. The 2023 Emerson PurpleHull Pea Festival will be conducted at

Wesley Houldridge was the winner in 2015 of what was then called the magnoliareporter.com /KZHE-FM World Championship Rotary Tiller Race.

The 2023 Emerson PurpleHull Pea Festival will be conducted at a greatly reduced level, and its signature World Championship Rotary Tiller Race is on indefinite hiatus.

The festival, which is traditionally held on the last Saturday in June, made the announcement on its Facebook page.

CLICK HERE to see the festival’s Facebook page.

Events this year will be conducted as a fundraiser for the 2024 festival.

Doors to the Emerson School Cafeteria will open at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 24.

There will be a parade through the school grounds starting at 9:30 a.m., and the Pea Shelling Contest will start at 10 a.m.

The Purple Hull Pea Meal of peas and cornbread will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with entertainment provided. Meals are $10 per plate. A silent auction will also be held during the event with items donated by community members.

“Due to time and personnel constraints the running of the tiller race could not be held this year nor could the many vendors participate. A small group of passionate Emerson residents volunteered to put together the pea meal as a fundraiser for the 2024 Purple Hull Pea Festival,” the festival said in a statement.

Sawblade.com, a direct sales company, dropped its sponsorship of the festival after the 2022 event.

The festival was created in 1990 and has been conducted annually with the exception the COVID-19 year of 2020.

It was the Arkansas “Festival of the Year” in 2002. The World Championship Tiller Race has been featured worldwide in print publications and on network and syndicated television programs about travel and tourism.