By ANTHONY DAVIS of the Gazette Staff

Fouke, Ark., received a social and cultural shot in the arm Saturday at the Hope Watermelon Festival
when city officials were presented with grants totaling $7,500 for the Miller County Fair Association
and the local historical society.

Fouke is remodeling an old church for a museum that will feature memorabilia from area families,
cultural items and genealogical information for the public.

"We hope to use the money to help in the completion of the museum," said Wanda Harris, recording
secretary for the historical society. "It will probably go toward a new heating and cooling system for
the building."

Harris is hopeful that the museum will be ready to open by spring. The group continues to raise money
for the museum with fund-raisers and donations from the public.

"We had published 'The History of Fouke, Volumes I and II,' and we have sold all of those, and we
used all the proceeds from that as a fund-raiser," Harris said. "We are getting them reprinted for sale,
and we sold 500 of each. We have had two large donations. We had a $25,000 donation from Virgil
Waggoner in honor of his mother-in-law Ruby Schneider, who was 90 in January. He donated the
money at her birthday party. Mr. Stanley Davis donated $20,000 to us several years ago, and we
acquired the building with that money."

A $2,500 grant was awarded to the fair association through the Department of Rural Services with the
assistance of state Sen. Barbara Horn, D-Foreman. The fair board will have discretion over how the
funds are spent, Fouke Mayor Cecil Smith said.

"The fair will probably use it for the remodeling of the bleachers or as the board deems necessary,"
Smith said. "All of this will be turned back to the people here in the city and the surrounding area.
We're hoping to have the community center and the museum completed without it costing the taxpayers
a penny. Not one penny."