Emmie Perkins, 2022 Miss Mississippi, highlighted Co-Lin’s “Grit and Grace” women’s conference that was held on Wednesday, May 17, at the Thames Center. The conference, begun in 2019, brings together area women of all ages, and seeks to provide an inspiring educational and empowering experience for them. This year, the conference theme is “Clothing Yourself in Strength and Dignity.” Co-Lin calls the annual conference “Grit and Grace” to honor and encourage successful women who have to make tough decisions and overcome obstacles, while maintaining graceful dispositions. “This special conference is designed to help women develop themselves professionally and find fulfillment in everything they do,” says Co-Lin President Dr. Jane Hulon Sims, who significantly is culminating her successful career at Co-Lin at the end of next month. “There are absolutely no limits to what women can achieve, especially when they are equipped with the right tools, the right plan and the right attitude. That’s what this conference is all about. Participants will go away with meaningful insights as they learn from others who face the same life situations.” In addition to the educational aspect of the conference, the event provides an opportunity for participants to network as they enjoy a three-course luncheon prepared by Chef Chris McSweyn, who formerly prepared meals and was a manger/owner at Porches Restaurant, a dining landmark in Wesson for many years.

By Bob Garver How wrong I was about 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” When I saw the first trailer, I remember groaning about starting a fourth big-screen Spider-Man continuity when we were still in the middle of the Tom Holland version, hadn’t had a proper conclusion for the Andrew Garfield version, and weren’t far enough removed from the Tobey Maguire version. The live-action continuities eventually sorted themselves out, but more importantly, the animated “Spider-Verse” quickly became the best continuity of all. And with “Across the Spider-Verse,” it continues to be the best continuity. The new movie takes place about a year after the original. Miles “Spider-Man” Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen “Spider-Woman” Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) have not seen each other since returning to their respective universes. Both struggle with family drama, namely the decision of whether or not to reveal their alter egos to their parents. Miles wants to tell his mother Rio (Luna Lauren Velez) and police lieutenant father Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry), but that would mean admitting that he’s been lying and putting himself in danger with no intention of stopping. Gwen wants to tell her police captain father George (Shea Whigham), but that would mean admitting that she’s been lying, endangering herself, and responsible for the death of close friend Peter Parker (who in her universe was The Lizard). Gwen tries to take her mind off things by joining a band (in an opening sequence that’s equal parts pulse-pounding and head-bopping) and stopping villains that hop over from other universes. There’s still a big hole in the multiverse that nobody can close, so villains can get through, but so can other Spider-People, like the pregnant Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), anarchist Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), and the humorless Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac). The latter is the leader of the Spider-Society, which employs Spider-People across all universes. He reluctantly lets Gwen join the organization, though he’s concerned about her relationship with Miles, who is about to have a very important role to play in the fabric of the multiverse that can’t be compromised. Miles is stressed with juggling school, his father’s upcoming promotion to captain, and Spider-Man business. Still, he’s delighted when Gwen pays his universe a visit, even though she’s there for other business and can’t stay for long. Her business ties into a new villain called The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), whose gimmick is that he can create portals through space at will, a complex power that he doesn’t quite understand himself, but makes for a great stream of visual gags. Still, he’s destined to go from bumbler to serious threat in a real hurry, though the Spider-Society can’t stop him just yet for reasons that tie into that great responsibility for Miles. I’m just skimming the surface of the story, which includes the return of Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), now married with a baby, and a lengthy trip to a universe where NYC and India combine into the city of Mumb-hattan. The action is exciting, the jokes are funny, the animation is stunning, and the pace is frantic. Plus there are literally hundreds of secret goodies hiding in every corner of the screen that are easy to miss on a first viewing, but if any movie this year is worth seeing more than once, it’s this one. The movie ends on a cliffhanger and a setup for a future movie, much like the recent “Fast X.” But unlike that movie, I don’t feel like this movie was “sacrificed” to set up a more exciting movie down the line, it’s an entire feature in and of itself. That said, I’m actually skeptical of the upcoming “Beyond the Spider-Verse” because the ending of this one sets up some twists that represent some of my least-favorite conventions of comic book movies. “Across the Spider-Verse” never officially loses its footing, but it ends weirdly, by giving me the feeling that this series is about to plummet in quality. Grade: B “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is rated PG for sequences of animated action violence, some language and thematic elements. Its running time is 140 minutes. Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.

Tornado are threats throughout the year in Mississippi, and the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) says storm readiness should begin before an event occurs so lives can be saved and illness prevented. 1. Prepare for a Weather Emergency: Identify potential home hazards that could develop during a tornado, such as those involving gas, electricity, chemicals and structural damage. Provide escape ladders for multi-story structures. Establish an assembly point where family members will meet. Give your relatives and friends the name of a contact person who will know where you are and how you are doing. Show family members how to shut off the gas, water and electric mains. Store copies of your important papers in a safe location. Inform local authorities of any special needs: for example, elderly or bedridden people or anyone with a disability. 2. Food safety: Preventing Food-Borne Diseases: Throw away all food including fruits, vegetables and other produce that comes in contact with any flood water. Throw away all screw cap or crimp cap containers that are submerged. Discard any cold or cool food that has warmed. Food that is still frozen or cold (45 degrees Fahrenheit or less) is safe to prepare. Do not eat food from cans that are bulging or have an opening. Cans with screw caps, soda pop bottle tops, pop-tops or twist-caps cannot be disinfected and should be discarded. Undamaged, commercially canned foods can be used if you remove the labels and then disinfect the cans in a bleach solution. Use one fourth cup of bleach in one gallon of water; re-label the cans including expiration date and type of food. Assume that home-canned food is unsafe. The basics of breastfeeding during an emergency are much the same as they are in normal times. Continuing to breastfeed whenever the baby seems hungry maintains a mother’s milk supply and provides familiar comfort. The release of hormones while a mother is breastfeeding relieves stress and anxiety and is calming to both mother and baby. 3. First aid, even for minor cuts and burns, is extremely important if exposure to waters potentially contaminated with human, animal, or toxic wastes occurs. Immediately clean out all open wounds and cuts with soap and clean water. Most cuts, except minor scratches, sustained during flood cleanup activities will warrant treatment to prevent tetanus. If you are injured, contact a physician or clinic to determine the necessary type of treatment. A tetanus shot should be administered every 10 years, but if a patient can’t recall the date of the last shot, another tetanus shot can and should be administered. 4. Sanitation and Hygiene: Preventing Waterborne Illness. Contamination levels, if any, vary among water systems. If your area is officially notified that emergency water purification is necessary, the MSDH advises the following: Vigorously boil water for at least a full minute before using. Disinfect by adding unscented chlorine bleach in these amounts: two drops of bleach for each quart of clear water or four drops of bleach for each quart of muddy or dirty water. Let the water stand at least 30 minutes before using. Basic hygiene is very important during this emergency period. Always wash your hands with soap and water that has been boiled or disinfected before eating, after toilet use, after participating in cleanup activities and after handling articles contaminated by floodwater or sewage. Flooding that occurs after a tornado may mean the water contains contaminants from sewage systems, agricultural and industrial waste and septic tanks. If you have open cuts or sores exposed to the floodwater, keep them as clean as possible by washing them with soap and clean water. Apply antibiotic ointment to reduce the risk of infection. If a wound or sore develops redness, swelling or drainage, see a physician or consult clinic staff. Do not allow children to play in floodwater. They can be exposed to water contaminated with fecal matter. Do not allow children to play with toys that have been in floodwater until the toys have been disinfected. Disinfect with one fourth cup of bleach in one gallon of water. 5. Power Outages: Preventing Fire Hazards: Use battery-powered lanterns and flashlights instead of candles. If you must use candles, make sure you put them in safe holders away from curtains, paper, wood or other flammable items. For more information on hurricane preparedness, visit the MSDH website at www.HealthyMS.com.

By Kara Kimbrough The past week was filled with dichotomies. I went from sampling what can only be described as "peasant food" - tuna salad and white beans - to the following night, dining on fresh seafood topped with a heavenly homemade sauce. The meal was a special treat, but simple foods are most likely the ones I'll reach for as summer arrive and temperatures hover in the high 80's. Cool, easy and here's that word again - simple foods that we might dismiss during other times of the year are appealing in our never-ending quest to keep our homes cool without the heat of an oven. My peasant food meal came about after viewing a post on an online cooking page I follow on which members post descriptions, photos and recipes of their meals. Someone who's known for her advanced culinary skills posted the following simple almost-summer meal menu: "Tuscan white bean and tuna salad with pimento cheese-topped crackers. Drizzled with Tuscan olive oil." An accompanying photo of the light meal, enjoyed outside under a leafy tree, was enough impetus for me to head to the supermarket and purchase the items for a similar supper. The following night I found myself in a Gulf Shores restaurant enjoying a meal of crisp, cool wedge salad topped with a homemade remoulade dressing, followed by stuffed shrimp and fried green tomatoes topped with delicious cream sauces. A conversation with the chef revealed the intricate steps and the perfect blends of cream, seafood and spices leading to the culmination of the finished product. I couldn't help but think of my simple supper the night before. As I mentioned the two meals to the chef, he remarked that not every dish on the menu required multiple steps or a great deal of time to create. Shrimp scampi, one of the restaurant's favorite side dishes, can be stirred together in mere minutes. As he ticked off the list of ingredients and preparation steps, I grabbed my cell phone and began texting the recipe to myself. Getting the recipe for this delectable dish was one of the highlights of my trip. Back home, I perused the cooking page for Memorial Day menus and photos. As expected, simplicity was the overriding theme. One menu included "Kansas City spareribs on the grill, tomato salad, grilled corn on the cob, fresh butter beans and watermelon salad." Another was filled with "Grilled burgers topped with blue cheese crumbles, pickle relish, red onion, lettuce, sliced tomatoes and homemade mayonnaise, potato salad loaded with vegetables and baked beans, with blueberry pie for dessert." However, not every poster chose All-American cuisine on the patriotic holiday. Billed as "My annual splendid Memorial Day paella," the appetizing photo featured smoked chicken, Country Pleasin' sausage, smoked ham, shrimp and clams and rice. A fancier Memorial Day meal featured "Lobster bucatini with lemon, capers and brown butter, Delta wet salad and focaccia bread." I've already messaged the poster of this meal asking for the recipe for this meal filled with all of my favorite ingredients. My past week's meals and menu suggestions received from the cooking page prove one thing: meals don't have to take hours of preparation or multiple ingredients to be delicious. And on the flip side, every now and then, it's important to treat ourselves to a "fancy" meal, whether we visit a restaurant to find it or prepare it ourselves. To kickstart your "simple can be delicious" journey, here are two recipes I discovered this week. One was provided by the seafood restaurant chef and the other was uncovered in a Depression-era cookbook. Both take just minutes to prepare but you'd never know it from the appearance and taste of the finished products. Gulf Shores One-Dish Shrimp Scampi 1 pound linguini 1 pound shrimp, peeled, washed and deveined 1/2 cup chicken broth (more to taste as dish cooks) 3 tablespoons olive oil 3 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons minced garlic 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (this was not in the chef's original recipe, but I added it for flavor) Juice of half of a lemon 1 teaspoon chopped parsley Salt and pepper to taste Parmesan cheese, optional Cook linguini according to package directions; drain and set aside. Melt butter in a large skillet, then stir in shrimp, garlic and olive oil. Stir and cook until shrimp turns pink (3-5 minutes). Add chicken broth, lemon juice and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 30-45 seconds. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour shrimp mixture over pasta; sprinkle with parsley and parmesan cheese, if desired. Note: I like to remove the shrimp tails prior to cooking for easier eating. Depression Pie Plate Cobbler 1 cup self-rising flour 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 3/4 cup milk 1 stick butter 2 cups peaches, coarsely chopped Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter on Pyrex pie plate and place in oven to melt. When butter melts, pour flour, sugar, baking powder and milk into plate and stir until combined. Add fruit to top and stir lightly. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until top is browned and fork comes out clean. Kara Kimbrough is a food and travel writer from Mississippi. Email her at kkrpco@yahoo.com.

Riley Furr Jimmy Johnson Co-Lin’s Workforce Center is offering monthly commercial truck driving (CDL) day and night classes on the Wesson Campus and at its Simpson County Center. The program recently graduated two Wesson Campus students – Jimmy Johnson of Jackson and Riley Furr of Crystal Springs – are licensed and road-ready after completing theory and road-time requirements, and then the driving test. Applications are being accepted for upcoming Wesson Campus day and night sessions slated to begin July 10, 2023, with a registration deadline of June 30, 2023. Enrollees must be 18 years of age or older and have obtained their CDL permit prior to the class start. Additional information about registration is available at Co-Lin’s website www.colin.edu/truckdrivingschool or may be requested by calling the Co-Lin Workforce Center at 601-643-8707.

Co-Lin sophomore Sara Catherine Potter of Yazoo County has been accepted into the Disney College food service program in Orlando, FL. Potter is a Culinary Arts Technology student on the college’s Wesson Campus. She will graduate from Co-Lin this semester and head straight to Disney to begin her four-month paid internship. “I have wanted to work at Disney for as long as I can remember,” said Potter. “I remember telling my mom at five or six years old that I don’t know, how but I’m going to work for Mickey Mouse one day.” Although she doesn’t yet know which area she will be working in during the internship, she’s hoping for an area that she’s passionate about. “I’ll be fine with whatever job they give me, but I am really hoping I can work in the confectionery,” added Potter. Following the initial four months, she hopes to stay on as a staff member at Disney or possibly further her education to earn a bachelor’s degree with a goal to become a pastry chef with her own bakery. She reflects on her time at Co-Lin positively. “I’ve had such a great experience in the Co-Lin culinary program with my peers, who I now consider friends, and Chef Rials, who is always there supporting us,” said Potter. “My favorite part of the program has been trying new foods, learning new techniques and recipes, and meeting new friends…who I’m going to miss while I’m at Disney.”

Wesson Garden Club members (above) brought home sixteen awards during the past year announced at Garden Clubs of Mississippi (GCM) 94th convention held in Starkville, Mississippi. April 18-20, 2023 awards received from Deep South Garden Clubs were Roadside Beautification (Group Award shared with the Chautauqua Garden Club) and Adopt-A-Park. The 2022 Commissioners’ Roadside Award (joint award with Chautauqua Garden Club) was received from the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Awards received from the Garden Clubs of Mississippi were Historic Preservation and Louise Godwin Highway Beautification (both shared with Chautauqua Garden Club), Social Media by Club Member, Adopt-A-Park, Public Relations, Arbor Day, Historic Preservation, Publicity Press Book, Pollinator Garden, Butterfly Conservation, Geraldine Dean Award (Yearbook), Special Service (Youth Related), and a $500 GCM Nature Grant Award. The Wesson Garden Club is a member of The Garden Clubs of Mississippi, Inc., National Garden Clubs, Inc., Deep South Garden Clubs, Inc., Natchez Trace District-Garden Clubs of Mississippi, Inc.

Fourteen high school seniors have been selected as incoming Presidential Scholars at Co-Lin. They are selected each year through an application and interview process. They are recipients of the Taylor, Pitts, Presidential Leadership and Leadership scholarship. Pitts Presidential Scholarship recipients are (from left) Will Loy from Wesson Attendance Center, Emma Kate Fimiano from Petal High School and Clifton Jernigan from Eupora High School. Taylor Presidential Scholarship recipients are Cara Jarancik (left) and Deanna Lofton, who are both seniors at West Lincoln Attendance Center. The Taylor Presidential Scholarship is the highest scholarship offered at Co-Lin, covering tuition, housing, meals, and a book stipend. Presidential Leadership Scholarship recipients are Elijah Martin from Brookhaven High School and Alisa Johnson of Greene County High School. Not pictured is Madison Craft of Simpson County Academy and Carson Hughey of Loyd Star Attendance Center. Leadership Scholarship recipients are (from left) Victoria King from West Lincoln Attendance Center, Reagan Newman from Brookhaven Academy and Anna Grace McCreary from Brookhaven High School. Not pictured are Emma Overstreet from Simpson County Academy and Anna Hester from Franklin County.

By Guest Cooking Columnist Charles Fortson, Jr. Old fashioned bread pudding is a popular Southern dessert the recipes of which have been handed down by many cooks. Well-known Wesson cook Clancy Hewitt, who worked with me and in more than a few area eateries, helped me develop this bread pudding adapted from recipes several cooks have passed on over the years. Bread pudding is not only a favorite for tasting so good, but it keeps well as a leftover because it reheats and freezes well. Ingredients: 12 eggs. Rum extract. 2 cups of pecan pieces. 2 cups of sugar. 3 hot dog bun eight-packs. 2 cups of white chocolate. 1 quart of heavy whipping cream. 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Directions: 1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. (Hold on to your lug nuts because something good is fixing to happen!) 2. In large bowl, add broken eggs, sugar, 1 cup of chocolate, ½ quart of whipping creaming, 2 caps of rum extract (drink a shot if you like) and 1 cup of pecan pieces. 3. Stir this mixture vigorously. 4. Tear the hot dog buns into small pieces and add to the mixture. 5. Pour the mixture into a large cooking pan (i.e., 13 x 19-inches). 6. Sprinkle cinnamon lightly over top of mixture, and then spread another cup of pecans over it. 7. Bake at 375 degrees in your pre-heated oven for 45 minutes. While your pudding is cooking, prepare the topping sauce: 1. In a sauce pan, mix 1 cup of chocolate, 2 caps of rum extract (again, drink another shot if you like) and ½ quart of heavy whipping cream. 2. Place over low to medium heat on your stove burner. 3. Stir constantly until chocolate has melted. 4. Pour sauce over pudding when cooked. For extra sweetness, add powdered sugar if you desire. Slice pudding according to your taste. Serves 24 for a party. EDITOR’S NOTE: Charles Fortson, Jr., is proprietor-chef at Uncle Ray’s across from Lake Lincoln State Park. He makes lunches and dinners to take out or for table service, while also operating a convenience store and bait shop at his Sunset Road location. Follow his cooking tips on Uncle Ray’s Facebook page or call 601-643-0174 to check on his daily specials.

Listless, undriven? Feel like you need a motivation just to get out of bed or roll off your couch? One sure-fire way to feel a spark of enthusiasm and vinegar that courses through your mind and body is to feel abrupt uncontrolled anger. Suddenly your body comes alive, with each nerve ending standing up and saluting everything in your path. Out of nowhere, your energy level explodes as if you had swallowed five monster energy drinks at once. Your brain begins firing on all cylinders, and your mouth obligingly opens wide to deliver exploding bombs of fury that are guaranteed to singe the hair off of a gorilla. The down-side of all this? The shot of adrenaline that created the explosion of “That’s not right, say something now!” eventually wears off. Then you have to deal with the aftermath. And that’s not pretty most of the time. It’s not uncommon for people to experience a physical let-down, as if a balloon suddenly was pricked with holes and lost all its air. “I don’t know why, but I am so exhausted!” And unfortunately, that loss of energy to do physical things affects the other areas of their life. Kids hungry? “Just go get a bowl of cold cereal, honey.” The boss at your job needing you to go the extra mile at work this evening? “I am so tempted to blow it all off and take a sick day instead.” Housecleaning that you promised yourself you would get done that day? “Who am I kidding? I couldn’t care less if all the cockroaches within a thirty-mile radius decide to take up residence with me.” And then there is emotional downside of an anger explosion. Guilt for losing control of your temper…again. Frustration, if you didn’t get the perfect results you were wanting. Feelings of helplessness, if your delivery of verbal cannonballs causes things in the situation to get even worse. Alienation, if the recipient of your ammo decides that knuckling under and going along with you just isn’t in the plan. And if all this happens, then you run the risk of a “Free Three-For-One Special, But Could Cost You Everything” in your life – high blood pressure, a vague or not-so-vague sense of anxiety, and depression that overlays everything you do. Eventually leading you to ill-health sometime in the future. ‘Tain’t worth it. Hours of exquisite energy and drive, but resulting in years of physical and emotional problems just isn’t a good trade-off. Better solution? Do the hard work. Find the reasons inside yourself that causes you to react so violently and so self-abusively. Then go a step further, and begin to discover ways to resolve all those triggers in your life. Learn the value of deep breathing and attempting to see the other side of the pancake, no matter how thin it is. Then you can hopefully have discussions instead of explosions. Now…if only I could remember to take my own advice.

By Douglas Carswell I have just finished reading a rather good book about Mississippi politics. ‘The Switcher’, by Judge Jim Herring, is a biographical account of Mississippi’s colorful election campaigns and candidates. First elected as a District Attorney in 1971, Herring ran for Lieutenant Governor in 1976 and then for Governor in 1979 – each time as a Democrat. Herring, however, ends up serving as Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party for seven years. ‘The Switcher’, as the name implies, is a book about one man’s personal journey from the Democrats to the Republicans. But it is also the story of how an entire state flipped to the GOP. Until Thad Cochran’s election as US Senator in 1978, Mississippi had not had any state-wide Republican politicians since the 1880s. Not much changed until 1992, when Kirk Fordice and Eddie Briggs were elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Even then, it was not until 2011 that the Democrats lost their hold on the state Legislature. Why did Mississippi flip? For Herring – and indeed for many Mississippians - Ronald Reagan clearly exerted powerful pull factor. A key moment the book refers to came when Herring heard ‘the Gipper’ speaking in Gulfport about the need for “steadiness of purpose, fidelity to ideals and love of country”. Reagan’s brand of conservatism, with its attachment to the free market, limited government and uncomplicated patriotism, attracted millions of traditional Democrat voters across the South. Mississippi's switch was made possible, too, thanks to the heroic efforts of Billy Mounger, Wirt Yerger and Clarke Reed. In some sense, one might even argue Mississippi's 'switchers' made possible not only the conversion of our state but perhaps too, the Reagan Revolution. Thank goodness for ‘switchers’! Without them, there would have been no Reagan Democrats, and the 40th President is unlikely to have been a conservative. Mississippi proves that you do not – or at least did not - need to be a Republican to be classified as conservative. Plenty of folks that voted for Jimmy Carter in 1979 and Bill Clinton in 1992 had conservative views when it comes to Faith, Flag, Free markets and Family. Herring himself remains consistent to his political principles across each chapter of the book, favoring limited taxes, light regulation and adherence to the Constitution. He, like many in our state, might have switched parties, but his conservative ideals remain largely unchanged. Being a conservative is more than just allegiance to a particular party. It ought to be about more than having the right bumper stickers or watching Fox News over CNN. Although Jim’s book doesn’t mention Edmund Burke, the great Anglo-Irish forefather of the conservative movement, reading it is clear to me that he is a Burkeian conservative at heart – like most folk in Mississippi, and perhaps indeed America. Burke, an early supporter of the American Revolution and doughty defender of free trade, believed that throughout a nation’s history, a process of trial and error means some laws and government arrangements survive, while others die out. Those that survive we should therefore regard as a sublime inheritance because they represent in effect the aggregated wisdom of past generations. That, to me, seems to be the essence of conservatism. Mea culpa. My bad. In a recent article on crime, I wrote that “from 2016 to 2022, violent crime in our state increased by 741 percent, according to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. We went from 538 violent crimes a year to 4,529.  That is 3,991 more violent crimes and more victims.” Actually, those numbers are wrong. I took the figures from the Mississippi Crime Statistics website in good faith, but it now seems that the website only includes partial data for 2016. To make the point that criminal justice leniency is fuelling an increase in crime, I should have stuck with the 260 percent increase in homicides in Jackson between 2013 and 2021. The actual statistics are grim enough without me needing to (inadvertently) provide erroneous ones. My apologies. Douglas Carswell is the President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.

Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson announced the dates for the 164th Mississippi State Fair. The upcoming 2023 State Fair will be held Thursday, October 5, through Sunday, October 15, at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds in Jackson. “We’re excited to announce the dates for this year’s annual Mississippi State Fair,” said Commissioner Gipson. “Fairgoers can expect all their favorite rides, events, livestock shows, concerts and foods to be on display across the 105-acre grounds. Our staff is working tirelessly to ensure we have another safe and successful fair, with even more family-friendly attractions and nationally recognized artists.” “We have been working very hard on the 164th State Fair,” said Michael Lasseter, director of the Mississippi State Fairgrounds. “We have new attractions and great entertainment, which we will be announcing soon. So mark your calendars for this annual, fun filled event coming in October!” Additional details regarding concerts and special attractions will be forthcoming soon. Follow the Mississippi State Fairgrounds on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.