Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – The Skirmish: A Delta Gravel Festival will be returning to Jonesboro for its second year this spring.

The festival is scheduled for May 28-31. It will include various festivities, rides, and an all-day competition with four races of varying lengths taking cyclists across Craighead County and greater Northeast Arkansas.

“The heart and soul of the event is on the 29th and 30th,” Jonesboro Advertising and Promotion (A&P) Commission executive director Craig Rickert told JRN. “Friday night is the big festival downtown with live music and all the riders come and get their packet, registration and learn about the course and all that. And Saturday morning is when all the riders take off.”

Rickert said that, compared to last year, not much will change, although he noted the number of cyclists expected was higher. The 2025 festival drew about 210 riders, while closer to 300 are expected this year.

| READ MORE: First Skirmish Delta Gravel Festival Rides

The festival will feature vendors, some specific to cycling, as well as live music and activities for kids.

In addition to the competitive race on Saturday, May 30, there is also a shorter Skirmish Fun Ride scheduled that day. This free, roughly 4-mile race is designed for families to participate in together. It will start in downtown Jonesboro, take riders to the Arkansas State University campus, and then come back to downtown.

“It’s only a few miles, and it’s really a pretty easy ride. It’s not gravel like the rest of the race; it’s on a trail system that gets over there from downtown to A-State. It’s just a fun, free family experience,” Rickert said.

For the competitive cyclists, the Skirmish will have four races with different lengths: a 24-mile, 43-mile, 63-mile, and 100-mile. All races start and end in downtown Jonesboro.

The 24-mile race will take place exclusively in Craighead County. The 43-mile route will go through Craighead and Poinsett counties, the 63-mile route takes riders into Harrisburg before they return to downtown, and cyclists on the 100-mile race will go all the way into Cherry Valley before returning to downtown Jonesboro.

Before the competition kicks into high gear, there are two smaller rides, called “shakeouts,” set for Friday, May 29. Rickert described these as rides to warm up cyclists and show off Jonesboro to those who may not be from the area. There is also a community slow roll set for May 28, and a cooldown ride scheduled on May 31.

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“[These rides will] take some of the folks in town that are wanting to get out and kind of get a taste of the course before Saturday,” he said. “It’s just a chance to really show off our hospitality, but the goal is to bring people to town to say, ‘You’ve got something special here,’ which we really do.”

Rickert said the festival aims to promote sports tourism in Jonesboro. Gravel cycling, he said, was one of the fastest growing outdoor sports, and the Skirmish aims to capitalize on that and make the city a hub for outdoor activity.

“We have good elevation with Crowley’s Ridge. It provides a challenge without breaking you like some of the hills in other parts of the state. We have nice, flat Delta farmland, so you can go fast as well. So, it really sets the table for a great course if you’re in the world of gravel cycling,” he explained.

While the A&P Commission promotes and provides some funding for the event, Rickert said All Sports Productions, a sports management company based out of Northwest Arkansas, puts on the event. It runs other cycling events, such as the Big Dam Bridge. The company is providing timing systems, radio communication, and more for the festival.

Registration is still open for the Skirmish. Click here to register for the competitive races, and here to register for the Skirmish Fun Ride. For more information about the festival, click here.

“It’s an event for the community,” Rickert said. “We call it a Delta Gravel Festival, because we want people to come and go to the vendors, listen to music, come downtown and eat, and see the cyclists come zipping across that line.”

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