STARKVILLE — It’s been 10 long years since the sounds of the Black Hills Festival echoed throughout the neighborhoods around J.L. King Memorial Park, off of North Long Street.

This Saturday, however, nearby residents will once again be greeted by a drum call and day-long celebration when the event returns to Starkville.

“The community asked for it,” said Helen Taylor, one of the festival organizers and CEO of the nonprofit Brickfire Project, which is putting on the event. “Every year I’ve been saying I’m going to bring it back, but this seemed to be the right year. The community, the city, everybody was behind it.”

The event was a community mainstay until a decade ago when it became “too much” for the Brickfire Project staff to handle, Taylor said. The Brickfire Project was busy enough with its regular functions, such as child care, after-school programs and other activities, to continue the festival, she said.

“My first obligation is to my child-care programs and I wanted to make sure they were going good, and then we could come back and do this,” Taylor said of the hiatus.

Now, Taylor and her staff are preparing for a day full of international music, food, children’s activities and more, all taking place at J.L. King Memorial Park.

Events begin around 7:30 a.m. with a drum call to “wake up everybody in the community,” Taylor said. A community prayer will follow at 9 a.m., and then there will be a Native American “friendship” circle, Taylor said, which is meant to “bring everybody together and tighten them up as friends.”

Throughout the rest of the day, those in attendance will be greeted by magicians, a children’s theater from noon-2 p.m., Native American demonstrations, a “Mr. and Mrs. Black Hills” pageant, a talent show, sack races and other activities.

Live music also will be on hand, from African drums and reggae to blues and jazz.

Taylor is excited to help bring the Black Hills Festival back to Starkville, especially for those residents on the north side of the city.

“It is geared toward an underserved part of our community,” Taylor said. “Not that it’s all African-American — this is a multicultural event — but it’s definitely there for them to promote tourism and economic development and make that part of the community stronger.”

The entry fee is $5, though admission is free for children who have not yet reached high school, Taylor said.

The Black Hills Festival isn’t the only event taking place this weekend in the Starkville area.

Horse Park Anniversary celebration

The Mississippi Horse Park, just south of Starkville on Poorhouse Road, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this weekend, with professional bullriding, harness racing, carnival rides and other activities. For information on the event, which begins today and runs through Sunday afternoon, visit www.msucares.com/centers/agricenter.

National Wildlife Refuge Week celebration

The Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, located on the Oktibbeha/Noxubee/Winston County lines, will celebrate National Wildlife Refuge Week Saturday at the visitors center on Bluff Lake Road.

The event will give children and adults the chance to get hands-on practice with a number activities, including archery, tomahawk and knife throwing, rod and reel casting, canoe rides, shooting sports and crosscut sawing, among other things.

Mule cart rides also will be available, as well as arts and crafts, food and live music.

Several departments from Mississippi State University will set up information booths, including Wildlife and Fisheries, Anthropology, Entomology, Forestry, Biological Sciences, Extension Service, and the Geo-Science Institute. Additionally, the Museum of Natural Science, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, the Army Corps of Engineers, Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery, Wildland Fire Equipment, Turtles at Noxubee NWR and Friends of Noxubee will set up informational booths.

The event begins at 10 a.m. and will run until 2 p.m.