Submitted News
Festival season in Adams County continues this weekend as the Bentonville Harvest Festival comes to the small community on Saturday, September 12 with a full day of activities.
The day begins with an 11 a.m. Opening Ceremony featuring the National Anthem performed by Mark Tolle, Pledge of Allegiance from Hunter Shelton and prayer by Pastor Jimmy Thomas. Door prizes with Bentonville School trivia will continue throughout the day and at noon the Kids Contests begin, led by Tabitha Spires.
Elvis impersonator Bryce Thompson makes another festival appearance at 12:30 p.m., leading up to the Grand Parade at 2 p.m. with the theme “Bentonville Strong” and Grand Marshals Clarence “Buzz” Wilkerson and his wife Andrea, “Buzz” being the final high school principal at Bentonville.
According to festival organizers, Clarence Wilkerson grew up in Manchester, attended Manchester schools and then Miami University. He began teaching at the Bentonville Elementary School in 1`961, teaching fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades. After a few years, he became the head teacher and also was the school’s basketball and softball coach.
He and his wife Andrea moved to Bentonville in 1870 and raised their children, Bob and Sarah, who both attended Bentonville school and had their father as one of their teachers, where they, like other students, had to memorize the “Terms and Rules” of the English language.
“Buzz” was still head teacher at Bentonville when it closed in 1989 and he then moved to the principal’s job at Manchester Elementary and stayed in that position until his 1995 retirement. After retirement, he taught Adult Basic Education classes at Southern State for 10 years, taking Fridays off to play golf, which became a passion for many years. His entire professional life was dedicated to education but his favorite was always the Bentonville school, staff and community.
After the parade at 3 p.m., auctioneer Jeff Newman will be auctioning off Bentonville School items and baked goods, with the proceeds going towards new Christmas lights for the village.
For those attending on Saturday, t-shirts to commemorate the event will be available for $15.