There won’t be any bull-riding at this year’s Pine Tree Festival in Dierks, but there will be donkey races with some 50 riders including several of Howard County’s finest.
The Celebrity Donkey Races will take place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6 with five heats with final playoff to decide overall winners.
The event will be presented by Dairyland Donkey Ball LLC.
Dierks Chamber of Commerce President Garth Burgess said “celebrities” lined up so far for the races include law enforcement officers Colt Kuykendall, Trent Coffman, Todd Tallant, Dillon Roberts, Turner Reed and Howard County Sheriff Bryan McJunkins.
Also scheduled to race are “outsider cowboys” Charlie Cox, Jeremy Frady, Madison Yandell, Shane Hill, David Benbow, Adrian Gable, Andrew Heifner and Jason Archer.
Some the wrestlers from Friday’s night event will also return to race on Saturday along with “outsider cowgirls” Annette Dixon, Virginia Rider, Tiffany Smith, Katie Rice, Haven Gass, Megan Richie, Jamie Doss, Macie Ritchie, Quincy Heifner and Ashley Smith.
Special weekend events will include the Battlefield Laser Tag from 4-8 p.m. and the New Hope Extreme Wrestling from 7-10 p.m. There will be a meet-and-greet before the matches with a total of eight bouts.
Admission for the wrestling will be $5 ages 7-12; $10 13 and up; ringside $15; and free for 6 and under.
The Pine Tree 5K Race will be held Saturday morning with sign-up at 6:00 and a 7:00 start time.
Friday and Saturday, the Dierks Chamber of Commerce will be giving away a $500 cash prize to one lucky ticket holder ages 13 and up. Ages 7-12 will have a chance to win a boys or girls bike.
The Pine Tree Festival Parade will roll from downtown Dierks to the city park at 10 a.m. Saturday.
There will also be a bake off on Saturday and some of the more traditional festival events will also be held, including a chain saw competition (1:00), Archery shoot and loader competition (11:00) and a corn hole tournament (1:00).
Attendees are urged to bring their own lawn chairs.
