For the full Arnold Days special section, see the Sept. 18 Arnold-Imperial Leader.
The 53rd annual Arnold Days festival will provide three days full of entertainment and fun.
Festivities are scheduled for 5-10:30 p.m. Friday; 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Admission is free for the event, which will be held in Arnold City Park on Bradley Beach Road off Jeffco Boulevard near the Meramec River.
The weekend will be packed with live music, fireworks displays, the annual Arnold Days Parade and a bevy of returning attractions, mixed in with some new ones.
“It is a three-day community festival, and we have a lot of things that are free or have a minimal cost,” said Ajsa Roach, Parks and Recreation deputy director. “We just invite everybody to come out. It is nice because there is something for everyone.”
Roach said city officials hope weather cooperates all three days. Last year, Arnold had to cancel the activities scheduled in the park for the last day of the event due to heavy rain that soaked the fairgrounds.
Friday
The fun kicks off at 5 p.m. Friday with carnival rides, vendor and food booths and the Micro Reality Racing game. The first evening also features photo opportunities with superheroes, an air brush tattoo artist, professional wrestling matches, performances by the Retro Nerds band and the fireworks and laser show.
■ Micro Reality Racing is making its Arnold Days debut. Game World Event Services of St. Charles operates the racing game, giving players the chance to race miniature Sprint Cup-style race cars around a banked oval track.
Racers need to purchase a ticket for each race. One ticket costs $3, and four tickets cost $10. The track will be under a checkered tent on the old tennis courts.
“The winner receives a little checkered flag at the end,” said Karen Fay, Parks and Recreation procurement specialist. “It is pretty cool.”
■ Little Egypt Shows of Marion, Ill., will operate at least 12 carnival rides, Roach said. One ticket is required for each ride. Discounted tickets are available for $3 each until 4 p.m. Friday at the Arnold Recreation Center, 1695 Missouri State Road. During the festival, tickets cost $4 each.
“I know they (the carnival rides) are a huge hit,” Roach said. “Little Egypt has nice, attractive rides, and the lights are great at night.”
■ Friday night will also be the first chance for fairgoers to purchase an array of carnival foods.
Roach said food vendors will sell funnel cakes, hamburgers, doughnuts, boba tea, barbecue and other carnival classics. The Arnold Jaycees will operate a beer booth and snow cone booth.
“There are plenty of food vendors who may offer something you haven’t tried before,” Roach said.
■ On both Friday and Saturday, Arnold Veterans Commission members will sell tickets for a 50/50 drawing and other raffles, including a chance to win Blues hockey tickets. Commission member Larry Boyce said the proceeds will be used to fund future additions to the Arnold Veterans Memorial near the gazebo outside the Arnold Recreation Center.
He said winners will be announced Saturday night, and the commission will contact those who win prizes.
■ Two new features will debut from 6-8 p.m. Friday – an airbrush tattoo artist from Circus Kaput of Maryland Heights offering tattoos for $3 each at the Kiwanis Pavilion, as well as cast members from Dream Time Prince Events of St. Louis, who will be dressed as superheroes and pose with people at the fairgrounds for photos. Caitlin Overkamp, Parks and Recreation supervisor, said people will need to use their phones or cameras to take pictures with the superheroes.
“Typically, kids get excited when they see characters and superheroes,” Overkamp said.
■ Dynamo Pro Wrestling returns to Arnold Days for a second straight year. The ring will be set up near the food vendors.
Roach said the matches drew large crowds last year, and people may set up their own chairs and blankets around the ring’s barricades to watch the matches. On the first night of the festival, matches are scheduled for 5:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
■ The Retro Nerds, an ’80s video tribute band, will perform from 6:30-10:30 p.m., and the first of two fireworks and laser shows is scheduled to start at about 9:30 p.m. The fireworks shows are put on by Gateway Fireworks Displays of St. Louis, and Arnold will pay a total of $105,000 for the two shows, according to City Council documents.
Roach said the first night’s show will be synchronized to electric dance music (EDM).
“Gateway does an amazing job,” she said. “I just feel like we are one of the best fireworks shows in Jefferson County.”
Keaton Saffa, 7, of Arnold participates in the Arnold Days fishing tournament.
Saturday
■ The second day of the festival kicks off Saturday with the annual Children’s Fishing Tournament, which the Jefferson County Optimist Club and Arnold Parks and Recreation Department put on. No fee is charged to participate.
Registration for the fishing tournament starts at 7 a.m., and children will fish from 8-10 a.m. The tournament is open to children 15 and younger, who will compete for prizes in five age groups – 5 and younger, 6-8, 9-10, 11-12 and 13-15.
Some poles will be available for children to use, but children are encouraged to bring their own. Roach said the city pays $1,885 for the park’s lake to be restocked with fish on Friday afternoon, and the parks and rec department asks people to refrain from fishing in the lake from the time it is restocked until after the festival ends.
The Optimist Club also will draw names for fishing participants to win one of two bicycles during the awards ceremony, which is scheduled to start at about 10:30 a.m.
■ Also during the fishing tournament, members of the St. Louis Longbeards, a chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, will help children make birdhouses at 9 a.m. The Longbeards also will operate a BB gun shooting range starting at 9 a.m. and help children with archery shooting at 11 a.m. The Longbeards events are free.
“People have told me they enjoy (those morning activities) because it is where they start their Saturday,” Roach said.
■ The Farmers Market, which is held every Saturday from late April through early November, will be open from 8 a.m. to noon during the festival. Roach said shopping at the market is another way festivalgoers like to start their day.
“You can do some shopping at the market and then walk down to the festivities,” she said.
■ Also on Saturday, the Arnold Police Officers Association and Arnold Kiwanis Club will hold the 12th annual Back the Blue Car Show. Those who want to enter the show may begin arriving in the park at 7 a.m. Judging for the car show will start at 10 a.m.
“It is awesome to have that,” Roach said. “I know a lot of people come for the car show.”
■ The craft fair opens at 10 a.m. Saturday and runs through 7 p.m. Roach said 25 craft vendors are expected to be at this year’s fair, which will be held on the former tennis courts.
“They sell things like vinyl printing, 3D-printer creations and personalized tumblers,” she said. “There is all kinds of fun stuff. People should come out and shop.”
■ The fairgrounds also open at 10 a.m., and carnival rides will begin operating at noon. On Saturday, people may purchase armbands for $25 providing them with unlimited rides from 1-4 p.m.
“It allows the kids to have more variety and ride more rides,” Roach said. “I think offering the armband is a benefit.”
■ Dynamo Pro Wrestling will start its second day of matches at 11 a.m. Matches are also scheduled for 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
■ The second day will also feature a magic show by Circus Kaput from 1-1:45 p.m. at the bandstand.
“I think kids get excited for magic tricks, and (the magic show) is a pretty engaging thing,” Overkamp said.
■ A reptile show by Serengeti Steve will also be held at the bandstand, from 4-5 p.m.
Overkamp said Serengeti Steve is expected to have an alligator, a large python, smaller snakes, lizards, tarantulas and a scorpion at his show.
■ After the reptile show, the first of three contests will be held near the bandstand.
A baby-crawling contest, for children 15 months and younger, will start at 5 p.m. to see which youngster crawls the fastest.
A children’s cupcake-eating contest for children 14 and younger starts at 5:30 p.m., and the Grasp for Glory challenge, for people 21 or older, starts at 6 p.m.
The cupcake-eating contest is limited to 60 entrants, and the child who eats a cupcake without using his or her hands the fastest is the winner. The Grasp for Glory challenge is limited to 15 entrants, and the winner must hold a pitcher of water in one hand with his or her arm extended for the longest amount of time.
“I think (the baby crawl) was my favorite contest last year,” Roach said. “There were a lot of people who just watched without entering a child. They were cheering on the babies
“I think the kids really enjoy the eating contest, and they get a sweet treat out of this. It is nice to see the competitiveness between friends and sometimes co-workers in the Grasp for Glory.”
■ The Plastic Kings, which plays a variety of covers from different decades, will perform from 6:30-10:30 p.m.
■ The fireworks and laser show is scheduled to start at about 9:30 p.m., and the display will be set to rock ’n’ roll music, Roach said.
“I have been to Arnold Days prior to being a staff member, and the fireworks has been my favorite part,” Overkamp said. “It is the best fireworks display I have seen.”
Cody Keefe, 5, and his grandma, Jami Anderson of Oakville, ride the Ferris wheel at the Arnold Days carnival.
Sunday
The final day of the festival begins at noon with carnival rides and vendor and food booths open until 8 p.m.
■ The annual Arnold Days Parade is scheduled to start at 1 p.m., beginning at the Fox C-6 Service Center, 849 Jeffco Blvd., and ending at the park. The stretch of Jeffco Boulevard between the service center and park will be closed during the parade, starting at 12:30 p.m. and remaining closed until all participants have entered the park.
The theme for this year’s parade is “Arnold Stands Together,” which highlights the contributions individuals and groups make to better the city.
Gina Zogorean was chosen from among six nominees the city received to be the parade grand marshal. She is an active member of the Rockport Elementary School Parent Club and helps run the Jefferson County Youth Association’s cross country program, that holds meets for Fox C-6 School District elementary school students and homeschool students who live in the district’s boundaries. She also volunteers for other Fox C-6 and community events.
■ The Rock ’n’ Rascal band, which plays ’70s to modern day hits, is scheduled to perform from 5-8 p.m.
Logistics
Free parking will be available in Arnold City Park from Friday through Sunday, and ATMs will be available near the food vendors and carnival rides throughout the festival.
Coolers, alcohol, pop-up tents and glass bottles or containers are not allowed at the event.
Roach said the city will spend about $100,000 on the three-day festival, which is sponsored by Arnold’s community partner Arsenal Credit Union.
For more information, call 636-282-2380, go to the Arnold Parks and Recreation Facebook page or visit the city’s website, arnoldmo.org.
Click here to see pictures from last year's festivities:
New activities, old favorites draw big crowds to annual festival