Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie

Call Directions Website Contact the organization

Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie Agriculture and Pre-Columbian

While the Rice Carnival didn't continue after 1937, the celebration of harvest didn't stop. Celebrations continued the ...
10/23/2026

While the Rice Carnival didn't continue after 1937, the celebration of harvest didn't stop. Celebrations continued the following year as the Duck Calling Contest which had been introduced to the 1936 Rice Carnival through the efforts of Thad McCollum, Dr. H.V. Glenn, and Verne Tindall.

The Queen Mallard Pageant was added to the festivities in 1956 with Pat Peacock winning the inaugural year. The Arts and Crafts Fair was added in 1978, and the earliest reference of the festival name change to Wings over the Prairie was found in a 1982 Sportsman's Guide. A Junior Queen Mallard Pageant was added in 1991.

This year marks the 91st Annual World's Championship Duck Calling Contest & Wings Over the Prairie Festival, and while the name and the slate of events has changed over the years, the desire to celebrate the harvest and the importance of waterfowl continues today.

For more information the events of this year's festival check out stuttgartduckfest.com.

10/22/2026

Remember when a LION was on Main Street? Check out this video of the 1928 Rice Carnival! Do you see anyone you know?

Throughout human history, harvest time requires a celebration. The early years of rice farming on the Grand Prairie wer...
10/21/2026

Throughout human history, harvest time requires a celebration. The early years of rice farming on the Grand Prairie were no different.

In 1909 after just a few successful rice harvests, a casual conversation between Anna Stoops, G.W. Fagan, and Ray O. Burks birthed the idea of a celebration to share the "gospel of our rice fields to the world."

Anna enlisted Mrs. L.G. Lentz to help her, and two months later, the Rice Carnival was celebrated in the heart of Stuttgart rather than the fairgrounds which was deemed "too inaccessible." Prizes were given for the best decorated home (W.M. Price won) and decorated cars (John Ellis won). Decorated floats paraded the streets along with little boys on decorated bicycles and mothers pushing baby carriages with infants that were "dolled to perfection." Silver spoons were given as prizes to the Woman's Needle work and Art Department.

Plans were made to make the carnival an annual event, and in 1910 the town celebrated again attempting to make the celebration bigger and better. However, the 2nd Annual Rice Carnival was the last to be held due to financial issues with the carnival committee donors and the onset of World War I.

The tradition was reborn in 1921 and was held every year until 1928. After another hiatus, the carnival was held for two more years in 1936 and 1937.

A history of the Rice Carnival was written by Mrs. A.F. Knoll and printed in the 1928 Arkansas Rice Carnival program. It is available here at the museum if you would like to read it in it entirety.

SOLD!!!DEEP discounts on the last bit of Department 56 Halloween decorations. Get them while you can!We also have a few...
10/21/2026

SOLD!!!

DEEP discounts on the last bit of Department 56 Halloween decorations. Get them while you can!

We also have a few items on our $2 table.

Our last stop on our tour of Delta Destinations on the Arkansas Delta Byways is the Lakeport Plantation Museum in Lake...
10/20/2026

Our last stop on our tour of Delta Destinations on the Arkansas Delta Byways is the Lakeport Plantation Museum in Lake Village. The home was built in 1859 and put on the National Historic Register in 1974. "The Lakeport Plantation Museum house is the only remaining plantation home in Arkansas located on the Mississippi River. Today, visitors can tour the site thanks to a 2001 gift to Arkansas State University from the Sam Epstein Angel family."

"The Plantation has remained in continuous cotton production since the 1830s when slaves carved it from the heavily forested Arkansas frontier. Thus, it provides complete documentation of agricultural development in the region and the accompanying changes in the African American experience. These include the transition from frontier and plantation slavery, to sharecropper and tenant farmer systems, to agricultural mechanization and the resultant mass exodus of African Americans to factories in the North, to large-scale corporate farming."

Tours of the museum are available Monday-Friday 9am-3:30pm. Admission for guided tours is $15/person and self-guided tours is $10/person. For more information visit https://www.astate.edu/outreach/history-and-heritage/heritage-sites/lakeport-plantation-museum/index.html

Our stories matter...History is more than events.It is the sharing of experiences.History is more than items and artifac...
10/19/2026

Our stories matter...

History is more than events.
It is the sharing of experiences.

History is more than items and artifacts.
It is what people accomplish while using them.

Our museum exists so the people who settled this area, built our communities, schools, and churches, created our economy, and innovated the machinery and technology we use today are not forgotten.

We study them, the impact they made, and the legacy they left.

We exhibit them so others can learn and understand. We exhibit them so our youngest guests can see themselves and their own potential through their ancestors.

If we don’t tell their stories, who will?

Your financial support ensures we continue to do that.

We exist solely due to the generosity of our donors and we are deeply grateful.

https://www.grandprairiemuseum.org/donate

We are very excited to offer Christmas cards this holiday season. The three designs feature original art by two local ar...
10/19/2026

We are very excited to offer Christmas cards this holiday season. The three designs feature original art by two local artists, Doris Saul Beck and Linda Uhiren. Cards can be purchased online below and we will carry a limited inventory in the Museum Shoppe also. Orders placed by November 2 will be available for pick-up by November 17.

To purchase online:
Celebrate the Season: https://square.link/u/mOAi82hy
First Christmas: https://square.link/u/Tz0smWIz
Prairie Christmas: https://square.link/u/JzPOpydE

If you would like to purchase multiple designs in one purchase, our staff would be happy to take that order by phone and invoice you.

While duck hunting season may be limited, the preparations happen year-round for land owners, guides, and retail establi...
10/18/2026

While duck hunting season may be limited, the preparations happen year-round for land owners, guides, and retail establishments. This October 30, 1954 Rice & Duck Edition of The Daily Leader is full of ads encouraging hunters (and their wives) to prepare for the season which was set to run November 17 through January 10.

How are you preparing for the season?

Mark your calendars and save the date for the 48th Grand Prairie Rice Festival on October 24! The Hazen Chamber of Comm...
10/17/2026

Mark your calendars and save the date for the 48th Grand Prairie Rice Festival on October 24! The Hazen Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring this event that begins at 10 am with an Antique Tractor Parade. More details can be found on their page.

Stuttgart High School Football Team of 1919Wearing football equipment that bears little resemblance to today's uniforms,...
10/16/2026

Stuttgart High School Football Team of 1919

Wearing football equipment that bears little resemblance to today's uniforms, the 1919 version of of the SHS team pose for their picture.

Front row (from the left): Buddy Rhodes, Ralph Ray, Curtis Hyde, George Leibrock, Hugo Reinsch, Otey Rhodes and Horace Jean.

Second row: Ora Massey, Earl Byrd, Bob Bruce, Warner Doty, Hayney Hall, and Walter Kleimann.

Back row: Howard Conrey, Rhoten Lewis, Coach Carlson, and Dale Wiley

Mascot Issac Bilsky is seated in the front.

Do you recognize or a name from this picture from our Museum Archives?

Address

921 E 4th Street
Stuttgart, AR
72160

Opening Hours

Tuesday 8am - 4pm
Wednesday 8am - 4pm
Thursday 8am - 4pm
Friday 8am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

(870) 673-7001

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie:

Shortcuts

Share