The King Biscuit Blues Festival is an annual multi-day blues festival held in Helena, Arkansas which attracts upwards of 100,000 people. The name comes from King Biscuit Time, which was the longest running radio show. Sonny Boy Williamson II and other musicians played live on KFFA every weekday, pausing for King Biscuit flour commercials and announcements of their next night time performances. Jim O'Neal, the editor of Living Blues magazine at the time and an authority on blues history, said, “The King Biscuit hour was the thing that really crystallized blues music in this area. Muddy Waters and B.B. King would come home from working in the fields every day just to listen to the King Biscuit hour. The festival was temporarily renamed Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival from 2005 to 2010 due to problems arising out of rights of the name.[1]
The festival was started in 1986 under the guidance of the "Main Street Helena" organization, which is part of the "Main Street, USA" program. Its purpose was to revitalize the downtown area of the Mississippi River port city. In the intervening years the festival has grown into a four-day event with five stages, and attendance of 100,000 or more.
The five stages are the Main Blues Stage, the Houston Stackhouse Acoustic Stage, the Robert Lockwood Heritage Stage, the Emerging Artists Stage, and the Gospel Stage. The artists selected to perform at the festival are chosen based on the influence of Sonny Boy Williamson II and Robert Lockwood, Jr. on their work.
Other events involved with the festival include arts and crafts, children's events, a five kilometre run, and a barbecue cook-off. Food and beer are sold by street vendors throughout the festival. Festival venues are staffed by 400 volunteers.