SPARTA, MO — The 35th annual Persimmon Days Festival in Sparta promises to be the biggest ever! Ozark Chevrolet donated money for portable toilets and hand washing stations; they are the main sponsor, and much appreciated! Many Sparta businesses chip in, and local law enforcement helps every year at the event! Wowzers. Thanks y’all!
A whopping total of 145 vendors are scheduled for the 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. event Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21-22. Parking is in a large field west of the site, Roller Park, at 837 Division Street just west of Sparta High School.
BIG NUMBERS, BIG FUN
Approximately 1,000 folks are expected to show up on Friday, and between 3,000 and 6,000 on Saturday…that’s HUGE for a town of 2,500, give or take! The festival has grown every year and had 100 vendors in 2020 when most festivals shut down for Covid!
VENDORS
Vendors start setting up early, most of them from the region. Handmade knives, crocheted items, wooden signs, arts, crafts and so much more! They love it, and there’s more of ’em every year, due to word of mouth. Folks can’t keep a good thing a secret!
FOOD
Yummy smells and yummier tastes abound at Sparta Persimmon Days. BBQ, pizza, hamburgers, tacos, kettle corn, pork rinds, pork tenderloin sandwiches, and hand-crafted sodas and lemonade are sure to please any pallet!
MUSIC
Attendees browsing arts and crafts and munching on good food, will also be treated to the sounds of live music drifting from the large pavilion. Here’s the lineup:
Friday 1-3 p.m. County Line Band, Johnny Mace, Jack Wilson, Eli Stigall, Melodee Glossip
Saturday 10:30-11:30 a.m. Brandyn Wiles and Eli Stigall
12-1 p.m. Larry Perkins
1:30-2:30 p.m. Brandy Lee
3-4 p.m. Jared Grimes
4:30-5:30 p.m. Jim Ellis
HEAD PERSIMMON LADY
Head Persimmon Lady Valorie Watts starts prepping for the event in the Spring. She’s a busy, busy Persimmon Lady, too, always adding the stuff that makes festivals so darn charming.
Here’s a secret you won’t hear from “nowhere else”… Valorie would be kinda shy ’bout it, but she spends a bunch of her own money on extras for the event, ‘cos she flat out cares so much!
It’s people like Valorie that make small town festivals worth coming back to every year! She’s been fronting the event for five years. The event was held on Main Street, but that interrupted traffic and proved risky with the main highway.
If you wanna help her next year, guess what? Here’s a quote from the Head Persimmon Lady Herself: “I can’t do it all by myself. I don’t want to do it all by myself. Come on over and I’ll put you to work!” (Okay, that last sentence the Trumpet kinda embellished, but you get the idea…wonderful volunteers make the clock tick!) She can use time and /or money for next year! Contact Valorie at 417-838-1854.
RIFLE RAFFLE
Say that three times fast: Rifle raffle, rifle raffle, rifle raffle! Sounds cool, don’t it? Like a choochoo train! Rifle raffle, rifle raffle, woooot woooooot!!
Welp, they got one at the Persimmon Days Festival! Tickets are a buck each.
WHAT IS A PERSIMMON???
For those not native to the area, or who don’t venture into tick and chigger country much, persimmons are among the most weirdest fruit ever grown in these here Ozark hills and hollars.
Yep, I said “most weirdest”. They are. They taste, well… gushy, tangy, tart, make your jaws quake, and then, if they are ripe enough, kinda like a mushy peach mixed with citrus and alum.
But those persimmons are seedy. Big, macho, fierce seeds. Large. Really big, as Trump would say. Huge!
WHY PEOPLE KEEP COMING BACK
People come back because of the vendors, the music, the food, and the time of year. “There’s a bit of a wait in our single lane of traffic on Division,” Valorie warns. But it’s worth the effort.
“Our volunteers help with security, trash, setting up and taking down, and I appreciate them all, because together we make this a memorable experience,” Valorie told the Christian County Trumpet.
Event parking and admission is free. Contact Valorie Watts to donate for next year at 417-838-1854.
SPARTA PERSIMMON DAYS PARADE
Saturday, Oct. 22 at 10 a.m. is the annual Persimmon Days Parade. Lineup begins at 9:30 a.m. at Sparta Middle School. No fees to join parade!
Community kids invited to walk or ride bikes in parade.
Costume contest following parade in front of the Middle School.
PRIZES for:
Scariest Costume
Cutest Kid
Best Adult
Best Group
Funniest Costume
Most Creative
Best Couple
Best Family
Best Pet
Best Decorated Bike
TRUNK OR TREAT
Trunk or Treat, hosted by Sparta First Baptist Church, is from 1-3 p.m. Saturday at Roller Park! Candy for the kiddies!
The weather will be perfect for the Persimmon Days Festival! Quit reading this and get over to Roller Park in Sparta!