Saline County, AR — Thursday night, Sept. 3rd from 5pm-7pm at Everett Buick Pontiac GMC in Bryant, there will be a county-wide Salt Bowl Pep Rally where members of the media will compete to “Throw the Football in the Truck” for the media bragging rights.

Coaches, players, cheer, drill teams and bands from Benton and Bryant will be on hand for a pep rally leading up to Friday’s Salt Bowl.

The media will be given a chance to land the football in the truck.  If more than one is successful, we will have a “throw off” to decide the winner.  So come on out to see if you can take the trophy back to the office!!

There will also be a drawing for the participants for Friday night’s “Throw for a Truck” and “Kick for Chicken” contests that will take place during half time of the Salt Bowl game.  Plus, the local banks and credit unions will bring in their tally’s from collecting for the Arkansas Rice Depot and the winning branch gets to sit in “Hog Heaven” on Friday night!

There will also be Salt Bowl tshirts available for sale.  This may be your last opportunity to get your Official Salt Bowl tshirt before the game.

For the Salt Bowl game, there will be space near the NE side of the War Memorial Stadium for media outlets to set up. Coach Tom Farmer, Gary James and Jasen Kelly will be out at the stadium beginning at 10am on Friday.

Each school will hold their campus pep rally’s on Friday morning. The Panthers at Benton Arena around 9:30am and Bryant at the Hornet’s Nest Gym around 11:30am.  Shane Broadway will be at both with Salt Bowl trophy in tow.

Proceeds from the shirts sales benefit the athletic programs at both Benton Schools and Bryant Schools.

Salt Bowl T-Shirts are $12 each.

Bryant Fans get your blue shirts.

Benton Fans get your maroon shirts.

Let’s paint War Memorial Stadium Blue on one side and Maroon on the other side!!

HOW TO GET YOUR 2009 SALT BOWL SHIRT:

1) order from the store on this site (local orders are hand delivered by our sales team; not-so-local orders are sent U.S. Mail)

2) check the calendar of events (view all of the events where the tshirts will be sold)

If you work locally (Benton / Bryant area), we will gladly deliver your shirts to your workplace.

Thanks to our major sponsors for your commitment and dedication to helping take Saline County sports to a level that we have only dreamed about in the past.

You can thank our sponsors by being loyal to them and the services they provide.

Buy a car at Everett Buick Pontiac GMC…  drive over to Big Red Stores to get gas…  buy a Coca-Cola product while you’re there… when you get home, call Jones Heating and Air to get comfortable as you watch the Salt Bowl on DVD.

In conjunction with the Salt Bowl, local banks and credit unions in Saline County will once again host Arkansas’ Largest High School Tailgate Party. The event will be from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on the east side of War Memorial Stadium.

Free hot dogs, chips, and Coca-Cola will be available and each will have a tent set up along the drive into the stadium. Midtowne Church will sponsor a Family Fun Zone, complete with football throw, bounce house, and football bungee run.

There are also booth spaces available for others to showcase their business. Several spaces are available but are going fast. For more information, contact either the Benton Chamber of Commerce at 315-8272 or the Bryant Chamber of Commerce at 847-4702.

Thank  you to our corporate sponsors.  Shop local.  Buy local.

Sponsors for the 2009 Salt Bowl are Big Red Valero, Everett Buick-Pontiac-GMC, Jones Heating and Air, Sonic of Benton, Coca-Cola, Bryant Fitness Zone, Bryant Area Chamber of Commerce, Benton Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Saline County Economic Development Corporation.

Bryant Fitness Zone is again the sponsor of the Salt Bowl trophy and will also present a $500 check to the winning team to go into the Booster Club’s scholarship fund.

Each ticket has a coupon on the back for a buy-one-get-one-free burger at Sonic of Benton.

Little Rock, AR – The Press Conference to announce the 2009 Salt Bowl plans will be held at 1:30pm, August 11, 2009 at War Memorial Stadium. State Representative Shane Broadway will make the formal announcement which will officially kickoff the 2009 Salt Bowl schedule of events.

Activities around this event include the annual Benton Athletic Booster Club Fish Fry, Swarmfest in Bryant at Mills Park, the 2nd Annual Salt Bowl Golf Tournament at Longhills Golf Club and the largest high school tailgate party in Arkansas on the War Memorial Stadium parking lot.  The tailgate party will begin at 3:30 the day of the game, September 4th.

The Salt Bowl was established to feed the frenzy of the Benton/Bryant Football rivalry that has been a tradition for many years.

Unlike the past several years, the official Salt Bowl tshirts for 2009 are featured in school colors.

Yes, that means if you are a Bryant fan, you can now purchase a blue shirt… and if you are a Benton fan, you can now purchase a maroon shirt.

The decision to go with school color shirts this year stemmed from a meeting with Scott Neathery, Benton Athletic Director, Tom Farmer, Bryant Athletic Director, and team members from YourAdTeam, Shaun McFarland and Bradley Lattin.

“It seems awkward to be walking into a football game, or any sports event, and not be wearing your team colors,” says McFarland.  “Especially the Salt Bowl game!  If you have all white shirts, nobody really knows who is on the Bryant side and who is on the Benton side.  Let’s paint one side of War Memorial maroon and the other side of the stadium blue this year with the Official Salt Bowl shirts.”

The design of the shirts this year is credited to Lindsey Blakley, Senior at Bryant, and JoAnna Curtis, Senior at Benton.  A contest was held last year that allowed only the Junior class to enter so they would be Seniors the year the design was used.