Come To Pa Mac’s Caddo Gap Heritage Festival, in Caddo Gap, Arkansas!

Come and take part in one of southwest Arkansas’ most unique festivals dedicated to preserving the old ways of life in and around the Ouachita Mountains and foothills region: The Caddo Gap Heritage Festival, a day of family-friendly fun for all ages. The event features vendors, demonstrators, and artisans showcasing skills, chores, and lifestyles since the days of the first settlers in southwest Arkansas. This one-of-a-kind event is free to the public and each year on the first Saturday of October at the historic Gap Mercantile, 35 Vaught Street in Caddo Gap, Arkansas.

A variety of festival demonstrations recreate life as it was in the 1800s and up to through the era of the Great Depression. Walk into a Civil War camp while listening to re-enactors describe life during the War Between the States, watch a blacksmith forge simple metals into beautiful and practical tools and utensils, and talk to Spanish conquistador re-enactors who talk about what Hernando DeSoto’s expedition saw when they first came into the Caddo Gap area. Featured demonstrations also include a tractor-powered grist mill, broom making, hide tanning, wool spinning, rope making, and several others.

The festival takes place in and around the Pa Mac’s Gap Mercantile store in downtown Caddo Gap. And there’s no more fitting place for a festival celebrating the cultural roots of southern country living in southwest Arkansas. Gap Mercantile was established in 1932 and has been a historic fixture in the area ever since, originally providing merchandise and support to the suffering folks of the Caddo Gap area during the Great Depression.

And Pa Mac is on hand to demonstrate his Old Time Farm Ways at the festival, including making old-fashioned wood shingles and hewing logs.

Be sure and follow www.facebook.com/gapmercantile for up-to-date information on the festival, or follow the link below to download a vendor/demonstrator application.