Hope
MELON MARVELS The town that claims both former President Bill Clinton and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as native sons will host the 32nd annual Hope Watermelon Festival from Aug. 7-10 in honor of its famously large fruits. Events will include watermelon eating and seed-spitting as well as horseshoe tournaments, an antique engine show, a gospel show and sports car show. The festival will also have more than 200 arts and crafts booths and live music. Admission is free except for the gospel show, which costs $4. Parking is $3. For details, call (870) 777-3640 or visit www.hopemelonfest.com.
Jacksonville
BOOK IT The 23rd annual Arkansas Book & Paper Show will take place Aug. 9-10 at the Jacksonville Community Center, 105 Municipal Drive. The event, sponsored by the Arkansas Antiquarian Booksellers, will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 9 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 10. The show will feature more than 40 vendors selling and displaying books, post cards, historical documents and personally autographed books. Admission is $5 with a $2 rebate coupon for show purchases. For details, call (501) 336-9213 or visit www.arkansasbooks.com.
Memphis
CALL YOUR BLUFF Those without plans this weekend might want to head east for the Blues on the Bluff at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The concert, which will take place at the Riverbluff Pavilion on the grounds of the National Ornamental Metal Museum on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, will feature blues acts Robert "Wolfman"Belfour, The Bo-Keys, Blind Mississippi Morris & The Pocket Rockets. Local barbecue vendors will be on hand to satisfy patrons' appetites. Admission is $15/adults and $8/children 12 and younger. For details, call (901) 528-0560 or visit www.wevl.org.
Mountain View
THE COWBOY IN ME The Ozark Folk Center State Park will host the Cowboy Gathering and Folk Humor & Storytelling Weekend from Aug. 8-9. Concerts featuring music, storytelling and poetry recitations from working cowboys will take place at 7:30 p.m. on both nights, plus a matinee show at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 9. All shows will take place in the center's main auditorium. Admission for a daytime pass into the park and a night show is $17.50 adults and $8.25/children 6-12. Admission for the matinee is included in the purchase of a daytime ticket, which is $10/adults and $6/children ages 6-12. Children 5 and younger get in free. The park is located at 1032 Park Ave. For details, call (870) 269-3851 or visit www.ozarkfolkcenter.com.
Tulsa
LEGENDS LIVE ON STAGE Two iconic performers will take to the stage of the Brady Theater for two separate shows. First, country queen Emmylou Harris will perform at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 3. She will be followed by Bob Dylan at 8 p.m. Aug. 27. Harris, a 10-time Grammy Award winner, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame last February. Dylan, who has claimed nine Grammy Awards and five top albums on the Billboard charts, is considered one of popular music's biggest influences. Tickets for Aug. 3 Harris show are $42.75-$53.50. Tickets for the Aug. 27 Dylan performance are $55.50-$74.50. For details, call (918) 582-7239 or visit www.bradytheater.net.
THE ART OF ANSEL The Gilcrease Museum will feature an exhibition consisting of 138 prints of famed photographer Ansel Adams from Aug. 14 to Jan. 4. The works, which were on loan from the Meredith Collection in Austin, Texas, will represent his entire career, highlighted by photos of some of the country's most vast landscapes. The museum is located at 1400 Gilcrease Museum Road. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays. Admission is $8/adults; $6/seniors 62 and older and active military and $5/college students with ID. Children 18 and younger get in free. For details, call (888) 655-2278 or visit www.gilcrease.org.
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