79th annual Cotton Carnival underway

SIKESTON, Mo. (KFVS) - The 79th Annual Cotton Carnival is underway.

Hosted by the American Legion, the carnival began Tuesday, September 26 and goes through Saturday, Sept. 30 at the Sikeston Rodeo Grounds.

Some events include Little Mr. and Miss Sikeston Contest, Jr. Miss Sikeston Contest, live music, the Miss Cotton Carnival Pageant and the Miss Sikeston Pageant.

Don’t miss the parade at 10 a.m. on Saturday in downtown Sikeston. The theme is a Salute to the National Guard.

We talked with the American Legion Commander Frankie Adams, who said they expected to see thousands of people walk through, some from as far as Carbondale, over the course of the week.

“This is really, really spectacular,” he said. “We have a whole bunch of people that got involved, and our citizens are coming out and having a great time. They have lots of food, lots of rides, and we’re going to culminate at the end with a Cotton Carnival Parade.

He said the Cotton Carnival is their biggest fundraiser of the year. Without it, they wouldn’t be able to help the veterans and their families.

“For me, it means a whole lot,” Adams explained. “I spent 22-and-a-half years in the military, in the last state with the National Guard. To be able to give back to veterans that already served in Vietnam and Korea and help their families survive every day is a great thing.”

As far as food, there’s a variety at the carnival.

John Mchaffie, pastor of the First Assembly of God in Sikeston, said they have a whole list of things from corn fritters to deep fried Kool-Aid.

“This is a, this is deep fried Kool-Aid and you get three, three deep fried Kool-Aid balls on a stick and you get two sticks, so blue raspberry and cherry,” he said.

He said they came up with it as a team.

We talked with two people who were trying the fried Kool-Aid.

“I like it,” Luke Gadberry said.

“Pretty good. Definitely gonna spend about 20 bucks here probably,” Brody Nall added.

The First assembly of God is raising money for a drive-thru Christmas event for the community called Light up Sikeston with the Hope of Jesus. It takes place throughout the month of December.