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Update: Stuttgart Cancels Wings Over the Prairie Festival

3 min read

The Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce announced Thursday that organizers have canceled the Wings Over the Prairie festival, an annual event that draws about 30,000 people to the city’s downtown.

The weeklong festival was scheduled to begin Nov. 21. It includes the World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest, a duck gumbo contest, a 10K race, exhibits, rides and a carnival — all held in downtown Stuttgart (Arkansas County).

Organizers voted Wednesday not to hold the event “based on the degree of uncertainty” surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in Arkansas, according to chamber CEO Bethany Hildebrand. The chamber said it plans to hold the festival in 2021.

“This is one of the hardest decisions the chamber and board has had to make,” Hildebrand said in a news release. “Knowing the rich history and tradition behind the festival, I can assure you this decision was not made lightly or without extensive conversation amongst the board, community groups and leaders.”

Festival Chairman Bill Free said the organization will hold several events “in honor of the festival.” Those include its Downtown Open House and its Great Duck Race 10K, which will take place virtually.

It’s the first cancellation of the festival, which serves as the unofficial kickoff to Arkansas’ duck hunting season. The first National Duck Calling Contest was held at Stuttgart on Nov. 24, 1936, in connection with the annual Arkansas Rice Carnival, and it was sponsored by American Legion Post No. 48. There were 17 contestants competing for a hunting coat valued at $6.60, and Thomas E. Walsh of Greenville, Mississippi, took the prize home.

Stuttgart bills itself as the duck and rice capital of the world, and duck hunting means millions of dollars to the local economy. In an interview with Arkansas Business, Hildebrand said duck season injects $1 million per day into the local economy — a figure that doubles during the festival.

According to Hildebrand, the chamber board voted to cancel the event based on recommendations from committees that oversee the duck calling championship and the festival. She said the health and safety of the community was the most importance piece of the chamber’s decision.

Hildebrand said the logistics of the festival and its various events made it difficult to proceed safely. The festival takes place downtown and has no entry gate, making temperature checks and other safety measures difficult — and costly — to implement.

There was also the matter of the duck calling contests, which can attract around 300 people and have qualifying events that take place around the country. Those events haven’t happened amid the pandemic, Hildebrand said. And changing contest rules to accommodate an open event wasn’t something the committee was willing to do, she said.

“We just didn’t feel, with the guidelines as they are currently, it would be easy for us to be in compliance with what needed to be done,” she said.

Wings Over the Prairie is the chamber’s top fundraiser. This year’s was going to be especially important, as it included “Champion of Champions” and senior world champion duck calling contests. Hildebrand said a recent run of strong festivals has allowed the chamber to put money into an emergency fund, but the organization has also shortened some staff hours.

Contestants who have qualified for the duck calling contest will automatically be qualified for the 2021 championship event, according to the chamber. And the “Champion of Champions” and senior events will also take place next November.

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