27th annual Magnolia Festival kicks off in Durant

DURANT, Okla. (KXII) - This weekend, Durant’s 27th annual Magnolia Festival is getting underway at the Choctaw Event Center.

The festival started on Thursday night, but continues into Friday and all day on Saturday.

“We are so excited because we have expanded our vendor space - we are just full of everything Choctaw culture, western heritage, all of the great gifts that you want to start doing your Christmas shopping early with,” Durant Chamber of Commerce CEO Kara Byrd said. “We have the turtle races, a 5k, we have a concert on Saturday, we have 13 food trucks. We have all of the great fun things, it’s exciting to be back.”

It’s the biggest the festival has ever been with more vendors than ever before, including both plenty of locals and even some like artist Juan Martinez with his business Indio Art making the trip from Austin.

“I’m a native artist, a Hispanic artist so mom’s Apache, my dad’s Hispanic and it’s just all in my work I do,” Martinez said. ”I’m a wood carver, I do sculptures, pottery, a little bit everything.”

Along with the vendors, there’s a ton of unique experiences like turtle races, live music on Saturday night, and of course, the carnival.

For the adrenaline junkies, there’s even a mechanical bull brought all the way from Fort Towson by Frank Rendon with his rodeo business Ride Hard Entertainment.

“This is the first time for some to get on a mechanical bull or a photo bull and they get a realistic feel of what it’s really like,“ Rendon said. ”We just travel and then provide entertainment for anybody who wants to have a little family fun."

For a full schedule of events throughout the weekend, click here.