Featured photo: Clark McLendon tends grill at Flying Heart Brewing and Pub in 2017.
When Clark McLendon, owner of Running Dog Sportswear, showed me the flyer for his upcoming Corn Dog Busker Arts Festival, the first thing that I noticed was the official event hashtag: #ILIKECORNDOGS. With a hashtag that good, the festival itself is bound to be a triumph of the first order. The first-ever Corn Dog Busker Arts Festival will be held, 12-9 p.m., Saturday, March 24, in Bossier City’s new East Bank District and Plaza. The free event will include free corn dogs and lemonade, a corn dog-eating contest (and the crowning of a Corn Dog King and a Corn Dog Queen), and live music performed by buskers. All money raised – whether by donation to the musicians or as a donation to the festival – will benefit Camp Rainman of Northwest Louisiana.
The Bossier Arts Council, located just across the street from East Bank Plaza, is involved in the event. Listening to McLendon lay out his vision for the artistic elements of the festival was, honestly, the highlight of my 2018 thus far.
“We’re going to paint corn dogs. We’re going to use corn dogs to paint,” McLendon said. “We’re going to do everything artistic that you can do with corn dogs.”
Musical acts that have signed up to participate range from a barbershop quartet to a tap dance group, with lots of guitar-playing folks in the mix. Anyone who’d like to perform as a busker during the festival can sign up to do so by contacting McLendon at runningdogsportswear@gmail.com or 318-423-9231. They can also just show up on the day of the event, set up a donations jar, and start playing. There are no details yet on the exact time of the corn dog eating contest, but McLendon hopes to nail that info down soon.
So, I asked, why corn dogs?
“Well, because everyone likes corn dogs,” McLendon said. In his voice, I detected the slightest hint of anger that I would even ask such a ridiculous question. “You tell anyone that you’re having a corn dog festival and they say ‘I like corn dogs.'”
Here’s a flyer for the first-ever Corn Dog Busker Arts Festival, which McLendon hopes that you’ll share far and wide:
How many of you noticed the flyer features a chicken in boots?
That is the Solo Rooster logo. I’m glad you saw that.