Mississippi Roads comes to you this week from downtown Oxford. We are at the twelfth annual Double Decker Arts Festival. http://www.doubledeckerfestival.com/
Taking its name from the town's authentic double decker bus imported from England in 1994, the festival brings together visitors and residents alike on the last weekend in April for a daylong celebration of music, food, and the arts held on the picturesque Oxford Square.
Starting at 10:00 am and running late into the evening music can be heard on two different stages throughout the festival. Top notch performers like Robert Earl Keen, Emmylou Harris, Los Lobos, Marty Stuart and Buddy Guy have performed here at the Double Decker Arts Festival.
And speaking of top notch, in our first story we travel up to the Mississippi/Tennessee border for a fall festival that features some top notch syrup makers. http://www.burtonsugarfarm.com/
What people used to do in the old days; what they had to do like hand-stitch quilts, work on the rail road, pick cotton by hand and the like, cut their own boards with their own saw mill, nowadays, somewhere, somebody will be having a festival to celebrate it. Here’s another one, the annual Sorghum Festival held every fall at Burton Sugar Farm out from Michigan City, Mississippi, not far from Memphis.
It’s a time to celebrate the old ways and show off the old things. The festival revolves around making sorghum syrup. But that’s just a part of what the festival has grown in to.
If you are looking for creative and inspiring art work then you need to come to the Double Decker Arts Festival. More than one hundred visual artists from the region will display their creations. Art vendors include painters, potters, photographers, glass craftsmen, woodworkers, and folk artists.
There are a lot of well known artists here at the festival like chair maker Greg Harkins and acclaimed photographer Dick Waterman. But there are also some extremely gifted people here that you have probably never heard of but I would suggest you check them out.
In our next story, we introduce you to a world champion runner who lives and trains here in Oxford that you probably haven’t heard of either.
Brian Pope of Oxford lives to run but he also runs to live.
And he is pretty good at it too. Brian holds three national
Distance records and two world relay records at the Masters
Level; which is the forty years and older category for
runners.
Brian began running in junior high school at Jackson Academy, he then moved
over to Jackson Prep for high school where he set numerous running records. He
was recruited by Ole Miss and ran on one of the best cross county teams the
University has ever had.
If you are a kid or just young at heart you need to check out the children's Square Fair on the First Presbyterian Church lawn. There are magic shows, face painting, clowns, jugglers, story telling and a petting zoo. The highlight of the afternoon is the Best Dressed Pet Contest when participants, hoping to win the coveted first prize, parade their dogs, cats, rabbits, ponies, and even chickens onto the stage dressed in elaborate costumes.
In our next story, we track down some unusual animals from down under that have become pets for some people in Mississippi.
Sugar Gliders are the pets that are being raised in Potts Camp Mississippi. The closest description for these guys is Australian squirrels.
The animals will normally give birth to one or two joeys at a birthing. They are referred to as a Joey just like a kangaroo or a Koala bear because they do have a pouch. Conception to birth is 17 days. The babies are born totally pre-mature and mom and dad will take and put them into the pouch. And once in the pouch they do all of their development in that external pouch over 70 days.
If you look at their body you can see the Koala in the body here. You can see the kangaroo in the tail. And if you look at their little face, you’ll see the wombat. Well they’re all four related. They’re all four cousins in the marsupial group.
http://www.mississippirebelgliderranch.com/
What would a festival in Mississippi be without food? Well you don’t have to worry about that question at the Double Decker Arts Festival in Oxford. Just stroll through the "Taste of Oxford" food court featuring a sampling of culinary treats from some thirty-two local restaurateurs.
Places like Abner’s, Taylor Grocery and the Downtown Grill will surely tempt you with their mouth-watering fare.
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