Hosted by the Roland Area Chamber of Commerce, the festival will have a variety of activities from which to choose, including live entertainment, a motorcycle and car show, children's activities, arts and crafts, and a dunking booth.
Jaci Pitts, chamber president, said the festival is a way to celebrate the town's history and provide fun and entertainment for the community.
Pitts said corporate sponsors helping with the festival include National Bank of Sallisaw, Armstrong Bank, Cherokee Casino Roland, Edwards Auto Parts, and First National Bank. She said festival T-shirts and hats are currently available for $10 each and will also be sold at the event.
Pitts said the daylong event will also feature a petting zoo, a horseshoe throwing contest sponsored by Roland Feed & Farm, a tractor showcase, a variety of food vendors, pony rides, bounce-around toys for children, and a turkey drop.
She said there are 225 slots in the turkey drop, and tickets for the opportunity to win the 50/50 pot are $10 each.
Local live entertainment will include Real Country from 10 a.m. to noon, a local clogging group performance at noon, and The Outlaws from 1 to 4 p.m.
Three pieces of framed artwork by Charlie Day of Roland will also be given away at the festival. Artwork tickets, at $1 each, are available for purchase at First National Bank in Roland, Armstrong Bank in Muldrow, and National Bank of Sallisaw's Roland location.
Pitts added that there is expected to be between 25 and 30 arts and crafts and food booths at the festival. Booth space is currently available for $45, or $55 with electric. A best decorated booth contest will be held, with the winner getting their booth fee back, she said. Those interested in setting up a booth may call Pitts or Ella Redden at (918) 427-5551.
In past years, the town held an Indian Territory Festival every year, which was held to raise money for the city pool. When the pool was built, the festival came to an end. The chamber revived the festival last year and renamed it Iron Mountain Festival because of the Iron Mountain Railroad (now the Union Pacific) that played a role in Roland's development.
According to Bill Day's account of the "The History of Sequoyah County 1828-1975," Roland as a settlement began during the Civil War when the first settlers from Missouri and Arkansas began pushing into the area and clearing the land for home sites.
The town itself did not exist until after the coming of the Iron Mountain Railroad in the early 1890s. The railroad line, as it runs today, was built from Fort Smith, Ark., to Coffeyville, Kan., to handle a growing cotton, passenger, and timber trade, Day wrote.
"The History of Sequoyah County" reports that on the present site of Roland, as soon as the railroad was finished, a whistle-stop depot was built, and at first it was called Garrison Creek Station, Roland's former name.
Soon after the turn of the century, the name of Garrison Creek Station was changed to Roland. According to Day's account, community members held a meeting and decided that Roland was a more appropriate name. They based their decision on the fact that the community is located at the foot of Mayfield Mountain with the Marshall Mountain to the northeast, and between the two are rolling hills.
Day concluded that by the early 1930s "the wholesale advent of the automobile combined with better roads changed the status of the railroad."
For more information about the upcoming festival, visit the chamber's Web site at www.rolandok.com.
For more information about the motorcycle show, call Tommy Sessums at (918) 427-3252, and for more information about the car show, call Ernest Edwards at (918) 427-5454.
