on location: south ❖
randy mink
A juicy eating contest highlights the Mississippi Watermelon Festival in Mize.
From Corinth to Biloxi, flavorful food fests highlight culinary traditions and agricultural heritage
L Festivities at the Muscadine Jubilee in Pelahatchie, Miss. include a grape stomp. LeisureGroupTravel.com
ooking for creative ways to whet the appetites of potential travelers? Then consider concocting a Deep South itinerary that includes such gut-busting extravaganzas as the World Catfish Festival or Hog Wild BBQ Festival. It could be a recipe for tour recess. Everyone likes to eat, and food fests offer foot-tappin’ entertainment, shopping for locally made crafts and chances to meet friendly folks who provide a taste of their hometown culture. Small-town festivals take travelers off the beaten path, exposing them to places and events that had never entered their minds. Following are some Mississippi food
festivals that reflect the spirit of the South: Slugburger Festival, Corinth. Taking place the second weekend in July in the state’s northeast corner, this food fest pays homage to one of Corinth’s local delicacies. What is a slugburger and where did its name come from? While opinions vary, one thing is for sure...slugburgers are not made from the terrestrial gastropod mollusk of the same name. The most widely agreed upon story is that during the Great Depression, an extender (such as cornmeal) was used to make the ground beef supply last longer. Each hamburger sold for a nickel, also known as a slug; thus the slugburger was born. These days, October 2010 31
on location: south ❖ slugburgers are still made with a mixture of beef and extender (usually soybean meal). They are deep fried to a golden brown and served on a hamburger bun with mustard, pickle and onion. Many local diners specialize in the slugburger. The festival, sponsored by Main Street Corinth, features evening entertainment, carnival rides and a slugburger-eating contest. 2011 dates: July 7-9. (662-287-1550, slugburgerfestival.com) World Catfish Festival, Belzoni. Bring your appetite and feast on fried catfish and hushpuppies in Missis-
sippi’s Delta region. Attracting 20,000 people, this celebration has made ABA’s Top 100 Events in North America. The downtown party, held since 1976, pays tribute to the farmraised catfish industry in Humphreys County, the “Catfish Capital of the World.” Festivities include a catfisheating contest, crowning of Miss Catfish, musical entertainment and four streets devoted to arts and crafts booths. At the Catfish Museum and Welcome Center, a video tells the story of catfish, from fingerling to frying pan. Outside is “King Cat,” the world’s largest catfish at over 40 feet tall. Catfish ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Go online and check out the three Mississippi events on Parade, a downthat made the American Bus Association’s list of Top 100 town public art projEvents in North America for 2011. Log on to http://leisureect, showcases more grouptravel.com/?p=20342. than 40 catfish stat-
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Chicken wings and blues music keep guests crowing at the Wing Dang Doodle Festival in Forest.
ues. 2011 date: April 2. (662-2474838, belzonims.com) Vardaman Sweet Potato Festival, Vardaman. Billing itself as the “Sweet Potato Capital of the World,” Vardaman celebrates its claim to fame for a week starting the first Saturday in November. At tasting booths on the kick-off day, visitors can try everything from sweet potato punch to pies, cakes and candy made by farm families from the fiberrich vegetable full of beta-carotene, potassium and vitamin A and C. The day also features arts and crafts, a barbecued chicken dinner and pie-eating contests, plus an antique tractor show and displays of sweet potato farm equipment used on the fertile soil of North Mississippi. The festival committee publishes a sweet potato cookbook packed with recipes for treats like sweet potato sausage balls and sweet potato chewy bars. 2011 dates: Nov. 512. (662-682-7559, vardamansweetpotatofestival.org) Mississippi Watermelon Festival, Mize. It’s all you can eat – all day long, courtesy of Smith County’s watermelon farmers. Besides slurping up juice from red and yellow melons, visitors enjoy country music, clog dancers, camel rides, a classic car show and an auction for the largest watermelon. There also are watermelon-eating and seed-spitLeisureGroupTravel.com
ting contests. Held the second-to-thelast weekend in July, the festival (looking ahead to its 33rd year) is set among the pines, oaks, dogwood and magnolias typical of South Central Mississippi. 2011 dates: July 22-23. (601-733-5647, mswatermelonfestival.com) Biloxi Seafood Festival. Fans of fresh seafood are in heaven during the second weekend in September as they go from stall to stall, sampling shrimp, oysters and other catches from the Gulf of Mexico. Treats also might include shrimp tamales, crab cakes in lemon butter sauce, jambalaya and crawfish pies in Creole sauce. The public can sample entries in the gumbo contest. Music, arts and crafts, and children’s festivities round out this family-friendly fest, which is held on the Biloxi Town Green. The 2010 festival was one of the ABA’s Top 100 Events in North America. Festival organizers received a grant this year from Harrison County Tourism, which passed on money received from the BP oil spill fund. 2011 dates: Sept. 10-11. (228-604-0014, biloxi.org.) Wing Dang Doodle Festival, Forest. Staged on the last Saturday in September, this event features two favorite Mississippi products—blues and chickens. The day of music and food is highlighted by wing-eating and cooking competitions. Some of the cooking teams dress up as chickens. Top prize is $1,000. The fest’s name comes from “Wang Dang Doodle,” a song by the late Mississippi blues artist Willie Dixon. 2011 date: Sept. 24. (601-4694332, forestareachamber.com). Hog Wild BBQ Festival, Corinth. Savor barbecue pork sandwiches at this Kansas City Barbeque Society-sanctioned event, which draws cookers from all over the country to historic downtown Corinth. More than $8,000 in prize money and trophies is given in such categories as barbecue sauce, chicken, ribs, pork and brisket. Hog Wild features a carnival and stage enLeisureGroupTravel.com
tertainment each evening. 2011 dates: Sept. 29-Oct. 1. (662-287-1550, hogwildfestival.com) Muscadine Jubilee, Pelahatchie. This late-summer festival pays homage to the muscadine grape, used in Southern wines, jellies and pies. Folks can buy grape goodies, shop for crafts and enjoy musical entertainment. (Country star Marty Stuart performed this year.) A local berry farm sells bags and boxes of
muscadine grapes, plus the actual plants. Local politicians and celebrities take part in a grape stomp, using their bare feet to make juice. 2011 date: Sept. 10. (601854-5224, pelahatchie,org) LGT Obtain Mississippi visitor guides and itineraries – and contact groupfriendly suppliers directly – at leisuregrouptravel.com/instant-info
February 19 – July 17, 2011
More than 200 important and beautiful works of art—including paintings, prints, and decorative objects—illuminate the development of Japan’s enduring influence on the West. 1-866-VIEW ART | msmuseumart.org 380 South Lamar Street, Jackson, Mississippi The Mississippi Museum of Art and its programs are sponsored in part by the city of Jackson and the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau. Support is also provided in part by funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
The Annie Laurie Swaim Hearin Memorial Exhibition Series
William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916), The Japanese Woodblock Print, circa 1888. oil on canvas. 20.16 x 24.25 in. Collection of Neue Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemaeldesammlungen, Munich, Germany. Inv. 8401. Photo Credit: Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz / Art Resource, NY. Unknown Artist (Japanese, 19th century), no title, circa 1870. watercolor, ink, metallic leaf on off-white paper. 15.75 x 25.39 in. Courtesy National Park Service, Longfellow National Historic Site.
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