One of the sure signs of spring is the arrival in Southwest Arkansas of thousands of beautiful yellow flowers known as jonquils. Another sure sign of spring is the annual Jonquil Festival at the Historic Washington State Park.

The 41st annual Jonquil Festival at the state park in the historic town of Washington, nine miles northwest of Hope on U.S. Highway 278, will take place Friday through Sunday. Festivities will begin daily at 9 a.m., ending at 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
General festival admission is free, with a $5 fee charged for parking. The festival’s wide appeal is linked to the fact that it offers a little something for everybody. Close to 200 vendors with handmade crafts and specialty items will display their wares arond the 1874 Hempstead County Courthouse and inside the 1940 WPA gymnasium.

Featured regional acts performing bluegrass, folk, gospel, and other music types are key to the event. Kids’ games will offer engaging activities for the young while alluring smells from food vendors will entice visitors of all ages with everything from barbecue to funnel cakes. Not to be forgotten is the lunch buffet offered at the park’s Williams’ Tavern Restaurant from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. each day.

Guided tours of historic homes, a candle shop, a 19th-century kitchen, the park’s print and weapons museums and the 1836 Hempstead County Courthouse that served as the state’s Confederate capitol from 1863-1865 will be conducted. Tickets including all tour sites are $8 for adults and $4 for children. Lesser admissions are charged for visiting individual sites.
The event will conclude with a specially featured performance of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s Sturgis Quartet.

 This string quartet includes Geoffrey Robson, who is in his first season as associate conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. He will  serve as violinist and will be joined by Tatiana Kotcherguina, David Gerstein and Andrew Harvey. The concert is scheduled from 2:30-4 p.m. in the upstairs courtroom of the 1874 Hempstead County Courthouse. There will be no charge to attend the concert, but there will be the regular $5 parking fee.

One of Arkansas’s earliest towns, Washington became a gathering place in the 1830s for those plotting to free Texas from Mexico. Such famous figures as Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, and Davy Crockett are known to have passed through the town. The southwest Arkansas community later became a jumping off point for volunteers headed to the Mexican-American War in 1846.
For additional information on the festival and the park, call 870-983-2684.