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What is Forrest Fest & Where Is It?
Forrest Fest is a multi discipline arts festival held annually in Lamesa, Texas, and the only poetry festival in the south plains of the West Texas cap rock. It is Located in Forrest Park, which runs along Sulphur Draw, home to a 50-year-old growth of Willow, Elm and Pecan trees. Free RV parking and tent camping is available in the park. We are child, elder and pet friendly.The festival features local, area, and international poets, writers, story tellers, artists and musicians, and is dedicated to advancing literacy and multi-cultural exchange on the caprock. It draws members of the academic community as well as folk musicians and acclaimed community poets.The 1950's in Lamesa, Texas, was a time of inspiration among the businessmen of the community. Many officed downtown where Turner's Cafe, and later the Green Hut, were handy coffee shops for bankers, lawyers and businessmen of the town. Walking around the town square was the handiest mode of transportation in that day as they carried on business in the corner bank or the county courthouse. Suit and tie, and hat, were the attire of these gentlemen, who were not above rolling up their shirt sleeves to sweep downtown streets if a nasty wind filled them with sand. Edith Standifer, in gloves and hat, had just returned from her trip to Jerusalem and was busy selling real estate to these businessmen.McCall drug, soda fountain included, and merchants such as Baldwins and Collins, were thriving. The Palace theatre, where murals of cowboys riding painted ponies whirling lariats after steers and calves amidst cacti and mesquite were painted on the walls, was the main Saturday afternoon entertainment. Children were watched carefully over by usher Jimmy Westbrook (whole lota' chasin' goin' on) and owner, Mrs. Cox.Don Walser picked and yodeled out at the Sky Vue Drive Inn, and teenagers promenaded in cars around the square (boys on the inside, girls on the out) and wrote their names on Wall Street. The words "Go to Wall" implied romance or camaraderie.Lamar Forrest, although he was not a resident of Lamesa, was the owner operator of Forrest Lumber company, just a block off the "square," and administrator of his successful business.By the mid-fifties Lamesa had a thriving population of young people with few accommodations for outdoor activities. According to the late and honorable Judge Lindsey's history of this community, S. Lamar Forrest, one of the inspired businessmen, recognized the communities need, and donated the land for Forrest Park to the City of Lamesa around May of 1952. By 1955 funds had been raised with the assistance of the deceased Mr. Forrest's family, the Forrest Foundation, to build a memorial building to honor his memory. In 1956 the building was dedicated.Many Lamesans remember this as an exciting event; not only was a new community building badly needed by the city, but there were trees, a commodity almost as rare as rain, planted on this auspicious occasion. Children, adults and teenagers gathered to celebrate the event wondering if the trees would survive the harsh West Texas climate.Fifty plus years later, Forrest Park has grown lush and verdant, surviving drought and weather mayhem at the careful hands of city planning personnel, and plays host to many festive events such as Cinco de Mayo and the fourth of July Celebration, the Society for Creative Anachronism’s Bonwick Barony and many family reunions. Its newest park celebrants, Forrest Fest Poets, have made this extraordinary stand of trees along Sulphur Draw their home for five years. This year poets plan to plant another tree in Forrest Park to show their appreciation for this grove of trees and a safe place to play, celebrate language and nature, and dream.Y'ALL COME -- Forrest Fest 2007 Organizers
