Springfest / Photo: Micah Laney
A more than thirty-five year tradition in Fayetteville has come to an end.
Organizers of the annual Springfest street festival last week announced that the festival won’t return in 2020.
The festival, which began in 1983 by merchants on Dickson Street as a way to celebrate the history, culture, and flavor of Fayetteville, became a late-April staple each year featuring a pancake breakfast, lots of live music, arts and crafts vendors, and the annual “bed races” along Dickson Street.
A new group, the Northwest Arkansas Musicians Coalition led by local musician Amanda Rey, had taken over then event in recent years. The group had previously announced plans to host the festival on April 11 of this year.
A press release cited recent growth in the Fayetteville’s Entertainment District on Dickson Street as the reason for the cancellation.
There is at least some hope for the fans of the event. The festival missed its thirtieth anniversary in 2012 after the organizers at the time kind of ran out of steam, and it was resurrected with new leadership the following year.
For now, though, folks are going to have to find another way to celebrate the spring season in Fayetteville on Dickson Street.
