Sunday, June 30, 2013
Pine Buff, Arkansas

Twenty-four years ago, the good people of Emerson, Arkansas, put on their first ever Purple Hull Pea Festival. That roll of the dice has yet to turn up snake-eyes. The festival continues to grow in popularity and attendance. This little town of 368 souls shows the big guys how the cow eats the cabbage when it comes to creating and growing a festival. Of course, it doesn't hurt that your namesake is a combination of staple and delicacy, a distinction shared by few dishes. In some corners, purple hull peas and cornbread are considered one of the basic food groups.

The idea and its first implementation were in the same year, 1990. Considering how long it takes municipalities of larger populations to make up their respective minds on anything of consequence, creating a major event and pulling it off in the same year has to be some sort of record.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Too).

World class tiller racing is not limited to good ol’ boys. Women take their turn as well and duke it out in the dirt for braggin’ rights and a nice cash prize for winning the big one. The pink-striped racer in the foreground was the overall winner in the women’s class.

The late Glenn Eades, an Emerson writer and humorist, came up with the idea for the festival and its star attraction, “The World Championship Rotary Tiller Race.” Eades believed his town needed a good livening-up. He observed that “the town was so boring it didn’t even have a cop.” I’m not certain how the town fares on the lively scale the other 364 days of the year, but during the festival, things are hopping.

The festival schedule includes: 

• A tractor exhibition
• The Great Purple Hull Peas and Cornbread Cookoff
• Emerson Purple Hull Pea Meals
• All sorts of entertainment
• The World Pea Shelling Competition
• The world renowned Million Tiller Parade (sometimes they do fall a bit short on this one)
• The World Championship Rotary Tiller Race
• The Peas Got Talent youth talent contest
• The Purple Hull Pea Festival Pea-tacular Fireworks Show
• the Pea-stompin’ Street Dance, this year with music by the “Band of Step-Brothers.”

As aforementioned, the world renowned “Million Tiller” parade sometimes falls a tad short on numbers but makes up for that in brevity and fun.

999,997 Short

What the “Million Tiller” parade lacks in tiller numbers, it more than makes up for in fun and originality. The “Rolla Rebel” is the prime mover for the “Till Billys,” a highly competitive rotary tiller racing team.

A Moving Museum

The “Million Tiller” parade included this meticulously restored 1951 M38 U.S. Army jeep. Close behind is a local fire truck of right around the same vintage — and it's for sale, just in case owning an antique fire truck is on your bucket list. Speaking of bucket lists, attending at least one annual Purple Hull Pea Festival is a good addition.

Take notice:  Emerson, Arkansas is prima-facie evidence that bigger is not necessarily better.