on location: south � randy mink

Looking for creative ways to whetthe appetites of potential travel-ers? Then consider concocting aDeep South itinerary that in-cludes such gut-busting extrava-ganzas as the World Catfish

Festival or Hog Wild BBQ Festival. Itcould be a recipe for tour recess.

Everyone likes to eat, and food festsoffer foot-tappin’ entertainment, shop-ping for locally made crafts andchances to meet friendly folks whoprovide a taste of their hometown cul-ture. Small-town festivals take travelersoff the beaten path, exposing them toplaces and events that had never en-tered their minds.

Following are some Mississippi food

festivals that reflect the spirit of theSouth:

Slugburger Festival, Corinth. Tak-ing place the second weekend in July inthe state’s northeast corner, this food festpays homage to one of Corinth’s localdelicacies.  What is a slugburger andwhere did its name come from? Whileopinions vary, one thing is forsure...slugburgers are not made from theterrestrial gastropod mollusk of the samename.  The most widely agreed uponstory is that during the Great Depres-sion, an extender (such as cornmeal) wasused to make the ground beef supply lastlonger.  Each hamburger sold for  anickel, also known as a slug; thusthe  slugburger was born.  These days,

A juicy eating

contest highlights the

Mississippi Watermelon

Festival in Mize.

From Corinth to Biloxi, flavorful food fests highlight

culinary traditions and agricultural heritage

Festivities at the Muscadine Jubilee in

Pelahatchie, Miss. include a grape stomp.

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32 October 2010 LeisureGroupTravel.com

slugburgers are still made with a mix-ture of beef and extender (usually soy-bean meal). They are deep fried to agolden brown and served on a ham-burger bun with mustard, pickle andonion. Many local diners specialize inthe slugburger. The festival, sponsoredby Main Street Corinth, featuresevening entertainment, carnival ridesand a slugburger-eating contest. 2011dates: July 7-9. (662-287-1550, slug-burgerfestival.com)

World Catfish Festival, Belzoni.Bring your appetite and feast on friedcatfish and hushpuppies in Missis-

sippi’s Delta region. Attracting 20,000people, this celebration has madeABA’s Top 100 Events in NorthAmerica. The downtown party, heldsince 1976, pays tribute to the farm-raised catfish industry in HumphreysCounty, the “Catfish Capital of theWorld.” Festivities include a catfish-eating contest, crowning of Miss Cat-fish, musical entertainment and fourstreets devoted to arts and craftsbooths. At the Catfish Museum andWelcome Center, a video tells the storyof catfish, from fingerling to fryingpan. Outside is “King Cat,” the world’s

largest catfish at over40 feet tall. Catfishon Parade, a down-town public art proj-ect, showcases morethan 40 catfish stat-

ues. 2011 date: April 2. (662-247-4838, belzonims.com)

Vardaman Sweet Potato Festival,Vardaman. Billing itself as the “SweetPotato Capital of the World,” Vardamancelebrates its claim to fame for a weekstarting the first Saturday in November.At tasting booths on the kick-off day,visitors can try everything from sweetpotato punch to pies, cakes and candymade by farm families from the fiber-rich vegetable full of beta-carotene,potassium and vitamin A and C. Theday also features arts and crafts, a bar-becued chicken dinner and pie-eatingcontests, plus an antique tractor showand displays of sweet potato farmequipment used on the fertile soil ofNorth Mississippi. The festival com-mittee publishes a sweet potato cook-book packed with recipes for treats likesweet potato sausage balls and sweetpotato chewy bars. 2011 dates: Nov. 5-12. (662-682-7559, vardamansweet-potatofestival.org)

Mississippi Watermelon Festival,Mize. It’s all you can eat – all day long,courtesy of Smith County’s watermelonfarmers. Besides slurping up juice fromred and yellow melons, visitors enjoycountry music, clog dancers, camelrides, a classic car show and an auctionfor the largest watermelon. There alsoare watermelon-eating and seed-spit-

on location: south �

Chicken wings and blues music

keep guests crowing at the

Wing Dang Doodle Festival in Forest.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Go online and check out the three Mississippi events

that made the American Bus Association’s list of Top 100

Events in North America for 2011. Log on to http://leisure-

grouptravel.com/?p=20342.

ting contests. Held the second-to-the-last weekend in July, the festival (look-ing ahead to its 33rd year) is set amongthe pines, oaks, dogwood and magnoliastypical of South Central Mississippi.2011 dates: July 22-23. (601-733-5647,mswatermelonfestival.com)

Biloxi Seafood Festival. Fans offresh seafood are in heaven during thesecond weekend in September as theygo from stall to stall, sampling shrimp,oysters and other catches from the Gulfof Mexico. Treats also might includeshrimp tamales, crab cakes in lemonbutter sauce, jambalaya and crawfishpies in Creole sauce. The public cansample entries in the gumbo contest.Music, arts and crafts, and children’sfestivities round out this family-friendlyfest, which is held on the Biloxi TownGreen. The 2010 festival was one ofthe ABA’s Top 100 Events in NorthAmerica. Festival organizers received agrant this year from Harrison CountyTourism, which passed on money re-ceived from the BP oil spill fund. 2011dates: Sept. 10-11. (228-604-0014,biloxi.org.)

Wing Dang Doodle Festival, Forest.Staged on the last Saturday in Septem-ber, this event features two favoriteMississippi products—blues and chick-ens. The day of music and food ishighlighted by wing-eating and cook-ing competitions. Some of the cookingteams dress up as chickens. Top prize is$1,000. The fest’s name comes from“Wang Dang Doodle,” a song by thelate Mississippi blues artist WillieDixon. 2011 date: Sept. 24. (601-469-4332, forestareachamber.com).

Hog Wild BBQ Festival, Corinth.Savor barbecue pork sandwiches at thisKansas City Barbeque Society-sanc-tioned event, which draws cookers fromall over the country to historic down-town Corinth. More than $8,000 inprize money and trophies is given insuch categories as barbecue sauce,chicken, ribs, pork and brisket. HogWild features a carnival and stage en-

tertainment each evening. 2011 dates:Sept. 29-Oct. 1. (662-287-1550, hog-wildfestival.com)  

Muscadine Jubilee, Pelahatchie.This late-summer festival pays homageto the muscadine grape, used in South-ern wines, jellies and pies. Folks can buygrape goodies, shop for crafts and enjoymusical entertainment. (Country starMarty Stuart performed this year.) Alocal berry farm sells bags and boxes of

muscadine grapes, plus the actual plants.Local politicians and celebrities take partin a grape stomp, using their bare feet tomake juice. 2011 date: Sept. 10. (601-854-5224, pelahatchie,org) LGT

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.

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.

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 infl uence on the West.

1-866-VIEW ART | msmuseumart.org380 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

LeisureGroupTravel.com October 2010 33

Obtain Mississippi

visitor guides and

itineraries – and

contact group-

friendly suppliers

directly – at

leisuregrouptravel.com/instant-info