A participant in the 2019 Mud Nationals tries to ride his ATV out of the mud at Hillarosa ATV Park.

If you like the way your All-Terrain or Utility Vehicle looks under a layer of mud and like the process of getting it that way (or like to watch as it happens to other people’s ATVs and UTVs), the event of the year will take place just north of Blevins starting Wednesday, March 30 and extending to Sunday, April 3.

The 19th Annual High Lifter Mud Nationals will draw thousands to take part in or simply watch a variety of competitions involving four-wheeled ATVs and UTVs. On the grounds of Hillarosa ATV park, about 1.7 miles north of Blevins down Highway 29, the competitions will include games of musical chairs, a spinning prize wheel, the endurance challenge, drag racing, cornhole tournaments, a “Show ‘N’ Shine” Contest and Bounty Hole. Expect a festival devoted to mud.

The site

Hillarosa ATV Park will host the Mud Nationals for the second time, having taken on the event in 2019 and  resumed it in 2021 after the COVID cancellation year. JJ Bonner and his family, owners of the park, had already been hosting ATV events after converting their cattle pasture to recreational use.  “The cattle business started going down,” he said. “We decided to try to do something else. It blew up from there.”

Over the years, Bonner made trips to the Mud Nationals when it was still happening in Jacksonville, Texas, in part to promote events at his own park. In 2018, found himself in a position to solve a problem for the event’s organizers when the Jacksonville venue closed. “I asked them, would you like to try [my] place out,” he said.

They did.  As High Lifter Events Manager Tracie Engi put it, “JJ contacted us, and we came out, and we rode their park. There’s certain things that we look for. His park had it all.” She noted that because the park’s location was reasonably near the one High Lifter used previously, “it just fit the bill for us.”

Engi also said the accommodations in the area, hotel rooms, access to fuel, water hookups and the sheer amount of space made Hillarosa a good choice.

What will Hillarosa look like when the Mud Nationals are over? JJ Bonner said, “The place would be destroyed. All the trails we spend all year fixing would be destroyed. That’s when we’ll start back and do it all over again. That’s why we only have two events anymore.” 

But for Bonner, the work is worth it. “It’s the Super Bowl of the industry,” he said.

Games and ATV/UTV Competitions

Musical chairs will take place Thursday (3 p.m.), Friday (11 a.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m.) on the Blackwood Lumber Stage, and the game will be played like you’d imagine it, with contestants competing for a diminishing number of seats when the music stops. The last remaining participant gets a prize.  As Susan Jones, who has worked Mud Nationals for eight years in both Texas and Arkansas said, the contests can get pretty physical: “It depends on how bad you want to win. When you get two people with half a cheek in each seat, and they start scooting each other around, it’s a lot of booty bumping.”

The Spinning Wheel will be set up beside the High Lifter tent. It will be spun for prizes starting Thursday (11 a.m.) and resuming Friday (3 p.m.) and Saturday (11 a.m.). “It’s like the Wheel of Fortune,” Jones said. “You can spin that big wheel and where you end up could be a hat, could be keychains, something from Gator Waders, maybe a raincoat. Any number of things.” She added that the Spinning Wheel does not require participants to sign up.

The Mud Nationals’ Endurance Challenge will take place Thursday. Under its rules, two participants can choose to ride either one or two ATVs around a notoriously muddy track and back. If one of or both vehicles become stuck, the participants can push, pull or use the other vehicle to winch their way out. In any case, both participants must be on a vehicle when they finish. One more thing, the track is around a deep pit. Another thing, leaving the track is disqualifying. The first, second and third-fastest times will win prize money.

The ATV/UTV Drag Races start at 1 p.m. Friday. On 5 p.m. that day, the Cornhole Tournament starts. An event in which ATVs and UTVs are displayed at their greatest advantage called the Show ‘N’ Shine will begin at 6 p.m. in front of the Blackwood Lumber Stage.

Perhaps the most anticipated event, The Sportsman Bounty Hole competition, some of which was recorded and uploaded to Youtube by Jp Stevens in 2021, takes place Saturday at 1 p.m. Jones explained what participants must do to win prizes. “You start at point A, and you go through one section and if you make it through that, [the next section is] more difficult,” she said.  But the rules of the competition keep it fair: “You’re in different classes, so you’re not having a little four-wheeler go against a turbo-powered bike.”

Before during and after these competitions, a vendor section and a food court will be set up nearby. Many of the vendors will showcase products for the ATV/UTV enthusiast. Meanwhile, the food court will cater to lovers of everything from burgers to barbecue.

Concerts, pageant and parties

On three successive nights, from Thursday through Saturday, appearing on the Blackwood Lumber Stage will be Mae Estes, (Thursday at 9 p.m.), Andrew Daniels (Friday at 8 p.m.) and Jon Langston (Saturday at 8 p.m.)

On her bio provided to the High Lifter Mud Nationals website, Mae Estes describes herself as a songwriter and performer now living in Nashville, Tennessee, trying to build her career as a country artist by appearing at local clubs and recording. She is the 2021 winner of Arkansas Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the year and a native of Hope. Her songs, which can readily be found on all music streaming services, include the rambunctious and propulsive “Hell You Raised” and “Roses,” a rueful showcase for her smooth Southern-accented melismata.

Anderson Daniels, described in his bio as “a straight line to creating the Midwestern sound in Country Music,” is the winner of the 2019 Midwest Country Association’s New Artist of the Year award and nominee for that organization’s Male Vocalist of the Year award for 2020. He did a headlining tour, which ended in early 2020, then focused on recording. Among the songs recorded that year is “Town Like This,” with its nostalgic lyric and its layering of harmonizing electric guitars. “You Go Girl,” a single released early this month, is a mid-tempo romantic goodbye by way of pep talk.

The headliner is Jon Langston of Loganville, Georgia, who came of age, according to his bio on the Mud Nationals website, “listening to Alan Jackson and the Eagles.” His bio credits him with 500 million career streams. Having had success with the first song he wrote, “Forever Girl,” Langston has played his own sold-out shows and opened for Luke Bryan on two tours. His music is mostly gritty, acoustic-guitar-laden country but occasional influences from hip-hop (“All Eyes on Us”) and contemporary R&B (his newest cut, “Back Words”) crop up amid his broad and infectious melodies.

On Thursday night at 7 p.m. on the same stage, the pageant will take place to choose the 2022 Miss High Lifter. Ten semi-finalists will compete for points from celebrity judges in the categories Outdoor Wear, Crowd Reaction and Interview Questions. The winner will succeed the 2020 and 2021 holder of that title, Bailey Dee, a business owner from Crossett, Arkansas.

Each night of the Mud Nationals will end with parties on Outlaw Island, where a DJ will be playing music and lighting things up with a laser show. Jones says the DJ’s choice of music will depend on crowd response. “If everybody leans toward country, then he does that. If they do a little Hip-hop, he does that. Or Country Rock. It’s a wide variety he does,” said Jones.

Ticket prices, competition rules and other practical information can be found on the HighLifter Mud Nationals 2022 website.

At all times, naturally, members of the Hempstead County Sheriff’s Department and Pafford Medical Services will be on hand to ensure safety for competitors and attendees.