The 77th Annual Soybean Festival features festivals, parades and fun

Lineup will take place at 6:45 p.m. in the Main Street Community Center parking lot. The parade starts at 7 p.m

On Wednesday, the Ministerial Alliance will host a service on the Grand Stage on Main Street at 7 p.m.

There will be plenty of marching bands, royalty, floats and more during the annual Soybean Festival Grand Parade on Thursday at 7 p.m. This year’s Grand Marshal is Rodney Walls, a longtime community member recognized for his contributions to Portageville.

According to Klipfel, last year’s parade was one of the largest in recent history.

“We hope to continue that trend and this year it’s even bigger,” he said. “The parade always attracts our largest audience, who line the streets so excited to hear the bands and see the creativity of the floats.”

This year’s categories for participants include youth groups, marching band, commercial business, political, farm, car/truck, pageant, dance/cheer groups, military, motorcycle, float over 10 feet in length, float over 10 in length Feet or less and more unrated displays or floats.

Lineup for the Grand Parade will take place from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Lineup numbers will be distributed via email or phone call the morning of the parade.

Friday is reserved for the public to participate in Portageville High School football homecoming activities. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play Father Tolten High School from Columbia.

Activities begin early Saturday when Main Street Madness begins. Main Street will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to allow stalls selling food, arts, crafts, information, home decor, fundraisers, raffles and more to remain open

The fee for a 12′ x 12′ booth is $10 if received by October 10th at noon.

For more information, contact Clint at (573) 391-0109 or Haylie at (573) 391-0014.

The week of events ends with the Bean Bash, which begins on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the community center parking lot. A shrimp boil prepared by JoJo’s Crawfish is scheduled from 5 to 8 p.m.

The Portageville Jaycees will host a corn hole tournament as part of the event. There will also be a beer garden.

Dustin Rector Music plays from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., followed by Backroad Drive from 9:00 p.m. to midnight.

Forms for all events are available at local businesses, on the Chamber’s Facebook page or by email at [email protected].