Festival planned to celebrate Grand Prairie’s 100th anniversary

by Kirk Dickey of Grand Prairie TODAY

Organizers plan a little something for everyone at Grand Prairie's Celebrating a Century Festival, March 28 at QuikTrip Park.

The event is designed to be a party with an eye toward history and community. Intermingled with the usual festival fare of face painting, food and games, the event will feature reminders of the city's past and present.

“We need to have one day that is really a celebration of community,” Parks and Recreation Director Rick Herold said. “We hope that this is it.”

Multiple stages and theaters will offer a variety of entertainment options.

There will be a celebrity theater, with local professional athletes signing autographs, including Charley Taylor, Jennifer McFalls and others. Another theater will show Grand Prairie historic films and news clips, including pieces on the Breeder's Cup and the restoration of the Uptown Theater.

An upstairs gallery will feature photographs and memoirs for people to ponder. Displays will offer a history of a community and it's first 100 years, as well as Texana history. And guests are invited to wear period costumes to get into the spirit.

Booths will be available for churches and local businesses.

The Wide World of Parks will be open for the younger set, along with inflatables and games around the ballpark.

The park's concession stands also will be open and offering refreshments for revelers.

Local entertainers, including local school groups, talent show winners and local American Idol contestant Jason Yeager, will perform on multiple stages beginning at 4 p.m. and early R&B star Chubby Checker will take the stage later that night.

The night will end with a fireworks display over the park.

Festival-goers will get all of that for the low, low price of $1 or a can of food to be donated to the Grand Prairie Food and Clothing Co-Op.

People also can get VIP seating in front of the main stage, where Checker and others will perform, for $22 through www.airhogsbaseball.com. Or they can rent a 20-person suite for $500 through the Grand Prairie Parks and Recreation Department. For that price, the purchaser gets18 lanyards that allow their party into their suite, and two more that will let them into a meet-and-greet with Checker.

“That's kind of a neat thing for just $500,” Herold said.

People interested in paying in a more humanitarian way can donate a pair of shoes to be given to the Co-Op and receive special section seating for the main concert.

Those donations reflect the history of Grand Prairie in a specific way. In researching the city's history, history book author Kathy Goolsby discovered that the city had given away shoes to needy children during the great depression. Organizers thought the parallel was apt.

It's touches like that, which they hope will draw people into the historic aspect of the festival, educating while entertaining.

“Anytime you know more about something, you like it better,” Grand Prairie Marketing Director Amy Sprinkles said. “You embrace it more. You are prouder of it. Fostering that knowledge and that sense of home and pride is part of this endeavor. The festival gives us the opportunity to educate and to celebrate.”