These 7 Arkansas Towns Have The Most Unique Festivals
Where else can you witness outhouse races, vote by sipping a dozen margaritas, or cheer boxcar train racing before an official rib cook-off? These aren't your average calendar weekends in Arkansas. They are personality parades, backed by the locals loving bizarre, bold, and delectable things. If you want more than food trucks and the carnival experience, this list is for you. Some of these events are so unusual that they’ve been covered by national media. Others are just waiting to be discovered. So go ahead and grab your calendar. You're about to plan seven bizarre road trips.
Mountain View
When it comes to quirky festivals, Mountain View packs more into a weekend than most towns do in a year. Can you imagine a three-day biker rally? From August 15 to 17, 2025, the Mountains, Music & Motorcycles rally will be held in town, and it will include biker games, a beard contest, and musical acts. A full street of food vendors, the sound of loud pipes echoing through the hills, and the Poker Run bring participants from all over the state.
Then, on October 24 and 25, the Bean Fest and Championship Outhouse Races will take over the square. Teams will cook 1,000 pounds of beans in cast iron pots and then serve them with cornbread at noon. Then, it’s the people-powered outhouse races, complete with a parade and prizes that take the shape of toilet seats. What can be more Ozarks than this?
Eureka Springs
Eureka Springs turns into a paradise for car enthusiasts twice a year. From August 22nd to 24th, Volkswagen Weekend takes over with three sequential shows featuring slammed rides at the Foul Air Overflow and an overall German extravaganza at the Ozark Euro Rally. The big moment? A colorful VW parade through downtown on Saturday afternoon.
Fast forward a few weeks, and Jeep Jam (Sept 11th-14th) takes the reins with trail rides, a Show & Shine, night cruises, live bands, and the raucous downtown Jeep Parade. It's more than just the vehicles. It's a weekend full of laughter, engines, and strangers who turn into your trail buddies.
Hope
This isn’t your average festival town. Hope packs the calendar with ribs, trains, and watermelons. From August 7-9, 2025, Hope’s Watermelon Festival will be in Fair Park with pony rides, antique engines, duck races, and tens of thousands of pounds of watermelon. The headline concert on Saturday night will be Jason Scheff (CHICAGO) and Tommy DeCarlo (BOSTON), right after the Watermelon Olympics, the seed-spitting contest, and a full day of odd and fun family competitions.
Earlier in the year, Train Day brings just as much energy. Every May, Train Day arrives in downtown Hope to offer kids train rides, bounce houses, a petting zoo, and live bands playing all day near the historic depot. Add on a rib cook-off, box train races, a magic show, and the Twisted Pistons Car Show, and it gives locals and visitors ample opportunity to enjoy an entire Saturday filled with free, small-town fun.
El Dorado
Here, sweet fruit and Southern soul turn spring and summer into a showdown. El Dorado’s Mayhaw Festival stands out by celebrating a fruit most people have never tasted. The mayhaw berry grows wild in local swamps and is turned into jelly, punch, and pie you won’t find at typical fairs. Held at the historic Newton House, the event mixes heritage with small-town fun, including live music, vintage cars, and a rib cook-off. It’s a rare Southern tradition rooted in place and flavor.
Next comes the Southern Soul Showdown, taking place in August at the Union County Fairgrounds. This event is put on by Mr. Mike's Productions. It's an annual friendly contest between blues and Southern soul artists, and the judges are the audience, applauding the loudest for each artist. The winning artist is then crowned. It's a rare music event where the audience decides the champion.
Siloam Springs
From vintage booths to wild margarita face-offs, Siloam Springs knows how to party. Typically, on the last full weekend of April, the Dogwood Festival brings over 40,000 visitors to Siloam Springs' downtown. The festival has over 200 vendors selling handmade crafts, vintage finds, and regional food. There are live music performances, and the Kenneth Gutierrez Fun Zone features rock climbing, inflatables, and mechanical bulls to keep the kids occupied. It's one of Arkansas's largest pageants of spring.
July brings forth a fun twist to the NWA Margarita Festival. Local competitors battle against each other to win "Most Magnificent Margarita" by creating an interesting recipe that is then judged by public vote. Bartenders, restaurant owners, and regular folk compete while attendees sip margaritas and soak in the music. Past flavors offered for tasting have included jalapeño mango, blackberry basil, and prickly pear on tropical ice in a festive summer environment.
Harrison
Each May for the past 33 years, Harrison has hosted the Crawdad Days. Expect more than crawdads here. A blacksmith demo, baby contest, camel rides, and strange competitions like mullet/mohawk judging, bubble-blowing, and crawdad eating for kids. The square is filled with food vendors, carnival rides, live clogging, and non-stop country bands.
Later in the year, in September, the Arkansas Hot Air Balloon State Championship launches from Anstaff Soccer Complex. There are balloon glows, key-grab flights, helicopter rides, a cornhole tournament, and tethered night rides. There are also petting zoos, food vendors, and jazz bands. The views are the best at the start since hot air balloons launch at sunrise close to First Baptist Church.
Hot Springs
From red carpets to baseball royalty, Hot Springs brings the big names. Every October, the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival transforms Bathhouse Row into a nine-day presentation of true stories. As the oldest nonfiction film festival in North America and an Oscar qualifier, it features more than 100 films, filmmaker panels, and screenings given by volunteers in historic venues on Bathhouse Row.
In August, the Hot Springs Baseball Weekend commemorates the city's legacy in spring training history. This two-day event at the Convention Center features legends of the past, storytelling, memorabilia, and talks from the golden age of baseball in the actual city where Babe Ruth trained.
Real Towns, Unreal Festivals
What makes Arkansas festivals unique isn't just the schedule. It's the people. It's not just local people attending an event. It's local people hosting it, cooking for it, decorating the floats, and making the posters. It's genuine. It's busy. It's full of character. Nothing has been mass-produced. The paint on the outhouses and the progress of the crawfish races are not professionally or commercially created. The people who live it and love it made it, and they put that pride into it. The result is a bouquet of meaningful celebrations as fabulous as the towns they inhabit. If you're tired of seeing the same food trucks or have already seen your fair share of cookie-cutter festivals, Arkansas has your cure. So put it on the calendar, fill up the tank, and prepare for a special experience.
