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GROVES — This year’s 53^nd Annual Festival is for four full days from Oct. 13 through Oct. 16.

The Groves Pecan Festival Board of Directors encourages every one of all ages to come and visit the festival.

You can eat your way through the food area with ice cream, funnel cakes, pecan pie, fried desserts, curly fries, gumbo, hamburgers, barbecue, pork-a-bobs, boudain balls, nachos, pistolettes, breakfast food etc., then wash it down with freshly squeezed homemade lemonade and flavored teas.

Also, the craft area should have something for everyone. This year’s Platinum Sponsor is once again TotalEnergies, Inc.

The Groves Pecan Festival Carnival opens in Lion’s Park, along with the craft and food booths, on Oct. 13 from 5 to 10 p.m., Oct. 14 from 5 to 11 p.m., Oct. 15 from 10a.m. to 11 p.m. and Oct. 16 from noon to 6 p.m.

Additionally, there will be entertainment and events that will run throughout the festival. Lion’s Park is located at 6200 Jackson. There is no charge for admission.

Kenny’s Funland

Carnival Ride Arm Bands will be available Oct. 13 for $25 and Oct. 14 for $30. Arm Bands will also be available Oct. 15 for all day for $35. On Oct. 16, Arm Bands will be available for $30 from noon to 6 p.m.

Daily carnival ride wristbands can be purchased for the carnival rides for each day of the festival, and are good for only one day, the day they are purchased. $1 tickets will also be sold at the carnival, with rides requiring 2 – 5 tickets. Arm Band Sponsors are: Thursday night – MARKET BASKET and Friday, Saturday & Sunday nights – Gulf Credit Union.

More fun

Starting Oct. 10, the 2022 Groves Pecan Festival Treasure Hunt begins. Clues will appear on the “Groves Pecan Festival” Facebook page at 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. If needed, bonus clues for the golden pecans will be released the following day at 7 p.m. Bonus clues for the grand prize will be released at 8 p.m. Saturday and noon on Sunday if needed.

Hunters can find daily Golden Pecans worth $50 (Monday-Thursday), and there will be a grand prize of $400. This year’s sponsor will once again be Levingston Funeral Home.

The treasure is hidden in the city limits of Groves and destruction of property is not needed to find it.

PLEASE NOTE: The treasure IS NOT located in the Horseshoe Pit or in CELEBRATION PARK, located at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Coolidge. All treasures are on property accessible to the public.

If you think you have found the Golden Pecan and/or the Grand Prize, post on the Facebook page the confirmation code so the find can be confirmed. Then you will need to take it to the Groves Chamber office at 4399 Main Avenue Monday through Thursday or to the Chamber of Commerce booth on the festival grounds Friday through Sunday to receive your prize.

All efforts will be made to notify treasure hunters as soon as possible through Facebook that a treasure has been found.

ALL Golden Pecans and/or the Grand Prize which have NOT been turned into the Groves Chamber of Commerce before 6 p.m. Oct. 16 will be declared null and void.

For festival information, call the Groves Chamber of Commerce at 409-962-3631.

This year’s Treasure Hunt Chairperson is Ricky Brannen.

The Cooking with Pecans Contest, sponsored by Oak Grove Nursing Home and Julian Salter Insurance Company, will be held Oct. 15. Each entry will have an official entry form and a copy of the recipe on an index card/sheet at the time it is entered.

Entry must be submitted in a disposable dish or non-returnable dish.

“We will not be responsible for any dishes. We will not return any food left,” festival leaders said.

Entries & recipes become the property of the Groves Chamber and may possibly be used in a future Groves Pecan Festival cookbook.

PLEASE NOTE: If you enter multiple entries into the Cooking with Pecans contest, only one entry per category will be allowed to place in the awards should yours be chosen.

Entries will be accepted at the Chamber office located at 4399 Main Avenue from 1 to 3 p.m. Oct. 15. There will be entry forms available until noon Oct. 15 at the Chamber booth on the Festival grounds.

Judging begins at 3 p.m. Oct. 15, and winners are announced at the Festival stage area between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

Forms are available and may be picked up at Groves Chamber of Commerce and Merle Norman & Bella Boutique, 4300 Lincoln Avenue, Suite. #2.

The Groves Pecan Festival Pet Show, sponsored by Neighborhood Veterinary Clinic and Snooper’s Paradise, is Oct. 16 at p.m. at the Lee Rodgers Pavilion in Lion’s Park. Pet Show registration begins noon. The Chairperson is Carol Sigona.

The Horseshoe Tournament is held in Lion’s Park Horseshoe Pits, located at 6200 Jackson, on Oct. 16 at noon.

Entry fees will be $20 for the Doubles Horseshoe Tournament and $5 for Singles. The Doubles Horseshoe Tournament begins at 1 p.m., with Singles to follow Doubles. Sign-up begins 1 hour prior to start time.

Bring personal horseshoes.

Festival Weekend Schedule

Entertainment Sponsors are BASF TOTAL Energies Petrochemicals LLC & Groves Equipment Rental Co. Inc. & MCT Credit Union.

Oct. 13:

Continuous Entertainment: 5 to 10 p.m. – Carnival, Food, and Craft Booths Open.

Music by Beau Wilson of Electrifying Sounds DJ Service will entertain festivalgoers.

Oct. 14:

Continuous Entertainment: 5 to 11 p.m. – Carnival, Food, and Craft Booths Open

5 to 7 p.m. Music by Beau Wilson of Electrifying Sounds DJ Service

7 to 10 p.m. Band to Play, “The Rollin Bones” Band, Lee Rodgers Pavilion

Oct. 15:

Entertainment: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. – Carnival, Food and Craft Booths Open

11 a.m. – Festival Kick-Off – The National Anthem will be sung by Norma Touchette!

11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Tonalta School of Music

1:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. June Badon’s School of Dance

2 p.m. – 3 p.m. Armentor’s United Martial Arts

3 p.m. – 4 p.m. DANCEWORKS

4 p.m. – 5 p.m. Debbie’s Dance Etc.

5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Music by Beau Wilson of Electrifying Sounds DJ Service

6 p.m. – Introduction of the 2022 Groves Pecan Pageant Queen and her Court.

6:15 p.m. – Announce the winners of the “Cooking with Pecans” contest

7 p.m. – 10 p.m. Band to Play, “OLE LONESOME”, Lee Rodgers Pavilion

Oct. 16:

Continuous Entertainment: The Groves Pecan Festival Carnival opens in Lion’s Park, along with the craft and food booths from noon until 6 p.m.

Entertainment & Events:

11 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Music by Beau Wilson of Electrifying Sounds DJ Service

Noon Pet Show Registration at Lee Rodgers Pavilion.

The Groves Pecan Festival Pet Show, sponsored by Neighborhood Veterinary Clinic and Snooper’s Paradise is Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. at the Lee Rodgers Pavilion located in Lion’s Park. The Chairperson is Carol Sigona.

1 p.m. – 3 p.m. PET SHOW

3 p.m. – 4 p.m. Port Neches Middle School Choir

4 p.m. – 5 p.m. Groves Middle School Choir

5 p.m. – 6 p.m. Indian Chorale and PNG Choir

6 p.m. — END of FESTIVAL