Sweet smells and sounds will be in the air in late October as the Lowndes County United Way kicks off its first Best Bands and Barbecue Festival.
The Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau board voted Monday to provide $4,000 in funding for the festival, which will be held Oct. 30-31. The United Way hopes to hold the two-day festival at the Columbus Riverwalk.
The event is not intended as a fundraiser, but rather to bring visibility to the area and United Way agencies while serving as a primer for the annual Holcim charity golf tournament to benefit the United Way, said Lowndes County United Way Director Jan Ballard.
“We wanted to develop a signature event for the area and the United Way,” Ballard said. “We wanted something a little bit different for that time of year.”
Different will come in the form of multiple bands, representing various genres, providing entertainment while visitors help themselves to plenty of grilled cuisine.
The event is still in the planning stages and no bands are on board yet, but Ballard is hoping to attract 3,000-5,000 visitors to Columbus from Northeast Mississippi and Northwest Alabama.
“We”d like to encourage everyone to mark their calendars for a unique weekend of entertainment and golf,” said Ballard. “It”s just such a pretty time of year to have an outdoor event.”
In other matters, the Columbus CVB board
n Approved funding for a couple of other events at its Monday meeting.
The board approved $10,000 for the annual Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival in early October and $4,000 for the Christmas Festival.
n Tabled a request from Mississippi University for Women President Dr. Claudia Limbert to support the college”s name change. After months of committees and research, Limbert has proposed changing the name of the school, which has been admitting men since 1982, to Reneau University, honoring one of the school”s founders, Sallie Reneau.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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