Mississippi Roads meanders over to the 31st annual Prairie Arts Festival in downtown West Point this week.
http://www.wpms.net/wp_paf.htm
The Prairie Arts Festival began in downtown West Point in 1978. It is always held on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend from nine until five with free admission for all.
As its name implies the festival puts a heavy emphasis on the arts. The fine arts competition is the highlight of the event. Five categories of different medians are judged and each category is awarded cash prizes for first through third place and one talented artist will be selected as best in show for the entire competition and is awarded a one thousand dollar cash prize.
And speaking of talented artists; our first story highlights an Aberdeen native who has created a name for himself and his work in the competitive world of make-up art.
Well, you might not know who Billy Brasfield is but, a whole lot of celebrities do. Billy B, as he’s known in the fashion world, has a remarkably creative gift, and incredible reputation as a professional makeup artist. In fact, he is one of the most sought after makeup artist in the world. http://www.billybbeauty.com/
Today, Billy has taken that remarkably creative gift and has gone from making beautiful faces to making beautiful places. It was as a kid growing up in Aberdeen that Billy developed a fondness for the grand old houses there and now he wants to restore them before they are all gone. During his numerous visits to his hometown of Aberdeen, you can usually find him hard at work restoring an old house. Mind you, he’s not restoring just a one or two of them but twenty of them at last count.
His goal is simple. Billy wants to restore the community one house at a time. He hopes by applying his creative talents it will inspire others to do the same and hopefully one day, restore all of Aberdeen. http://saveaberdeenlandmarks.com/
You can find something for all tastes at the Prairie Arts Festival in West Point. The Mossy Oak Street Rod and Antique Car Show will certainly rev up some peoples engines.
If you are not into cars; don’t worry, some six hundred vendors converge on downtown to offer antique booths, arts and crafts, a flea market, a kids town with rides and games and plenty of food options to satisfy any appetite.
But if you want to get some exercise before you dive into all that food and fun; come down early for the 5K run that begins at 8:00 am and takes you on a tour of historic residential West Point.
In our next story, we take you on a journey through town and you won’t even have to leave your couch.
http://www.wpnet.org/
How did a city in east Mississippi end up with the name West Point? And how did it get started in the first place? We answer these questions as we take a tour of the town and the prairie countryside when we visit West Point.
If you like music, come on over to West Point during Labor Day weekend to get your ears full. On Friday, the Howlin’ Wolf Memorial Blues Festival brings in famed blues acts to pay homage to West Point’s most recognized native son Chester Arthur Burnett, more famously known as Howlin' Wolf.
At the Prairie Arts Festival on Saturday the music continues with four stages playing host to musical acts throughout the day with one of those stages completely devoted to gospel music. The Gazebo Stage in the downtown park makes for a wonderful setting for the entire family to spread out and enjoy the beautiful day plus the various musical styles.
And speaking of family and music, our next story features a family from Tupelo who has played this festival in West Point plus many more around the world.
Homemade Jamz is known as “America’s Youngest Blues Band.” The Tupelo based group is made up of three siblings ranging in age from 17, to 15, to 10.
The Perry youngsters, guitarist Ryan, bassist Kyle, and drummer Taya have been performing together for the past three years and have two C.D’s to their credit.
Since placing a respectable second among hundreds of competitors at the 2007 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, the band’s popularity has skyrocketed. The band has toured extensively across the United States, Mexico and Canada. In the summer of 2009 they had the opportunity to perform in Norway
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Notwithstanding all of their success; family is the ultimate priority. Throughout the years of practice, recording and travel; parents Tricia and Renaud Perry have been right there with them each step of the way. They have home schooled the children, managed the band, written the songs and provided encouragement to the kids to be the best musician and the best person they can be. If you have the opportunity to see them perform and meet them in person; you will agree that they truly are a family in tune.
http://www.hmjamzbluesband.com/
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