The 2nd Annual Arkansas Cornbread Festival

Music, enticing aromas and the promise of family fun drew 3,000 people to downtown Little Rock on Saturday, Nov. 3, for the Second Annual Arkansas Cornbread Festival.

The festival, on the 13th through 16th blocks of South Main, not only attracts people to the South Main Street area and highlights all the neighborhood’s progress, but it also encourages patrons to return to eat, shop, tour and visit often. After all, bonding over cornbread is a southern tradition, and once you’ve had a taste of South Main, you’ll have to come back for more.

The 2012 cornbread and side dish entries were judged by everyone attending the festival as well as a panel of celebrity judges. Along South Main, vendors displayed and sold Arkansas art, handmade crafts, clothes, jewelry, home furnishings, locally produced food and gifts of all sorts.

FunDunk provided a Kids’ Area, and Oxford American magazine sponsored the music, which included the bands Mockingbird Hillbilly Band, Rodney Block and the Real Music Lovers, Buffalo City Ramblers, Tsar Bomba, Tyrannosaurus Chicken and Don’t Stop Please.

The 2012 Cornbread Festival Winners:

Best in Show – Fresh Ideas at Philander Smith
Prizes: $500, trophy and a gift basket

Best Professional Traditional – Fresh Ideas at Philander Smith
Prizes: $100, T-shirt and a gift basket

Best Professional Non-Traditional – Loblolly Creamery
Prizes: $100, T-shirt and a gift basket

Best Professional Sweet – Brown Sugar Bake Shop
Prizes: $100, T-shirt and a gift basket

Best Professional Overall – Fresh Ideas at Philander Smith
Prizes: $100, trophy and a gift basket

Best Side Item – The Root Cafe
Prizes: Trophy and a cast iron Dutch oven from Lodge Cast Iron

Best Amateur Non-Traditional – William Fisher
Prizes: $100, T-shirt and a gift basket

Best Amateur Traditional – Terry Wright
Prizes: $100, T-shirt and a gift basket

Best Amateur Overall – William Fisher
Prizes: $100, trophy and a gift basket

For questions or more information about the festival, contact Liz Sanders, coordinator of the Bernice Garden and the Arkansas Cornbread Festival, at bernicegarden@gmail.com or call 501-617-2511.

Big Thanks to Our Sponsors:

The Bernice Garden
FunDunk, Inc.
The Oxford American magazine
Historic Arkansas Museum
Pulaski Technical College
Golden Eagle of Arkansas
Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau
Bancorp South
Bray Sheet Metal
First Security Bank
Little Rock Recycles
Pinnacle Signs and Graphics
Streetz 101.1
UALR – William H. Bowen School of Law
Ashley Ann’s Event Planning Service
The H Group Real Estate
R & E Supply Co.
Edwards Food Giant
Flywrite Communications, Inc.
United Systems of Arkansas
Philander Smith College
Little Rock Historic Properties
Community Bakery
Lawson & Co. Graphics & Printing
Webster University – Little Rock Metropolitan Campus
Aristotle
Urban Bounty
Paul Page Dwellings, LLC
The Green Corner Store
Lodge Cast Iron
Stellar Sun
Mountain Valley Spring Water
Whole Foods – Little Rock
Arkansas Times
The Point 94.1
The Downtown Little Rock Partnership
KABF 88.3
@urban magazine