No truck giveaway at this year's picnic

A committee made up of members of the Piggott Cemetery Association board voted recently to end the long standing tradition of giving away a new pickup at the annual Fourth of July Picnic and Celebration. Instead, there will be three winners drawn that night and each will receive a check for $5,000.

Over the course of the past several years, the Cemetery Association has faced escalating prices for the grand prize, while maintaining ticket sales at a steady pace. As a result profits were slowly falling each year as the price of the truck continued to climb and the price and number of tickets sold remained the same.

Longtime association board member Royce Williams offered the suggestion at the last two annual Memorial Day weekend meetings, citing the increasing overhead involved in giving the truck away. The current economic climate and its impact on events such as the picnic made the decision to make the change fairly easy.

"By giving away three prizes of $5,000 each instead of the truck, we'll be around $10,000 farther ahead on money for the upkeep of the cemetery," board member Sharon Tillman noted recently. "Plus there will be three people going home as winners and not just one. The feedback I've gotten has been positive."

During recent history the truck drawing has been a standard part of the annual celebration, but that hasn't always been the case. Years ago there also were drawings for cars and at least one year the pickup was a used model.

The cemetery association still will send out ticket books as usual. Tickets for the cash also will be on sale in their booth at the picnic grounds. The big drawing still will be one of the highlights of the annual Fourth of July picnic, but this year there will be three winners going home happy.