I had no idea what I was about to experience. I just knew I was going to cover a competition between teams cooking up their best attempt at gumbo made with duck. What I didn’t realize was that it wasn’t just an event or a cook-off. It’s a significant feature of Stuttgart culture, a Bacchanalia that happens once every year.
duck blind structures complete with viewing decks on top, often with ladies in skimpy clothes or guys in funny hats throwing beads into the crowd. The creativity in these structures was extreme, and the décor fell between Razorback ultra fandom to duck hunter’s delight to taxidermy havok to… well, let’s just say anything went.
Cotton wind was blowing, with little spiderweb-like strings in the air on a crisp November Saturday when I ventured into that giant tent on the parking lot at Producer’s Rice Mill on Highway 165. Identification shown, wristbands applied and my photographer and I merged into the mass of humanity beyond.
Early on it was very relaxed — a couple of hundred people flitting in-between the different stands, chatting with others and nibbling on the provided nibbles. There were a lot of these — lots of cheese and crackers, sausages and such. One booth had quartered pork barbecue sandwiches, another sausage balls and spinach dip, another salami and olive appetizers on skewers, another beef and bean chili. In-between those croissant-wrapped Lil Smokies and cheese balls with Fritos there were competitors hovering over pots, every different sort of color of roux going from deep brown to bright red to pale green.
It was early, and it looked a little crazy but about on-par with other festival happenings I have attended. Each of the competitors has their own booths, and in those booths they must come up with a suitable gumbo in just a few hours consisting of half duck and half whatever else they serve up. But those booths — now, they’re something else and they consist of everything from a couple of tables and a banner to stories-tall
And the scents… the lovely smoky scent of sausage and the wild bite of duck combined with all sorts of things — okra and celery and tomatoes and bell peppers
They come for many reasons. For the bulk, it’s a chance to make the annual pilgrimage to Mack’s Prairie Wings, where customers will literally be shoulder-to-shoulder both inside the gigantic store and out in the tents specially erected for the festival. They’ll head to Main Street for blocks and blocks inside end-to-end tents checking out duck calls, duck blinds, clothes, beverages, trucks, food and whatnot. There’s always a festival. There are a bevy of different dinners and such to enjoy. And then there’s Duck Gumbo. It’s a secretive little affair... in fact, before going myself
Duck Gumbo festivities have been compared to Mardi Gras by many event goers. Fall 2011 Arkansas Wild | 19