Written by Elliott Coombs and Makayla Malotte \/\/ Graphic by Ben Evans<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Main Street Searcy hosted Sunday on the Square April 7, a street festival to hype up the eclipse. Many downtown businesses were promoted to attendants, and vendors from in and out of Searcy had booths to promote their products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of these booths was Searcy business Topshelf Productions, operated by Kyle Payne and Alec Bruer, who sold paintings. Their table featured live paintings made with spray paint. Payne said he thought Sunday on the Square was a great way to bring people together in Searcy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s great,\u201d Payne said. \u201cI think Searcy\u2019s always been really good about community and bringing the community together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Payne said he was grateful to have a booth available on the square during the weekend of the solar eclipse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty excited,\u201d Payne said. \u201cI have a booth, and it\u2019s going to bring a lot of people here, and I\u2019m kind of excited for the town of Searcy in general.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bruer, who was working alongside Payne, said the city means a lot to their business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe plan on making the most out of today,\u201d Bruer said. \u201cWe always love Searcy \u2014 we always get a good outcome from it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another booth featured traditional blacksmithing from Casey Arms with a full welding forge. Based out of Romance, Arkansas, Casey Arms works with leather and metal to create swords, knives and many other items. The booth could be recognized by the Scottish and Irish flags celebrating the ancestry of traditional bladesmith Daniel Casey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of people come through,\u201d Casey said. \u201cWe\u2019ve given out a lot of business cards and made a couple sales, and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about, getting your face out there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Casey said he was excited to meet more local people, and do more demonstrations in the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt started out a little slow this morning, and the wind\u2019s giving us some trouble, but from what I hear, there\u2019s a lot of people that have come into town already, so I\u2019m excited,\u201d Casey said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to vendors, the festival included live stage music, face painting, a petting zoo, pony rides, bouncy houses and fire breathing performances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Searcy police officers and firefighters were at the festival to help keep the roads clear and keep people safe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re stationed here all day just in case anybody needs any first aid, or if anything happens, we\u2019re here to make sure everything\u2019s okay,\u201d firefighter John Gernenz said. \u201cI love being out with the public and talking because we really appreciate them. In this city everybody\u2019s so good to us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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