Local law enforcement organizations are planning for a long, busy day and night Wednesday, when the Luke Bryan Farm Tour comes to Holtcamp Farm near Artesia.
Access to the site of the country music concert is limited to one two-lane road off of Highway 45 Alternate which turns into a half-mile gravel road leading to the concert site. The address for Holtcamp Farms is 485 Pritchard Road.
“We’re ready to go,” Lowndes County Sheriff Mike Arledge said. “We’ve had regular meetings with the concert organizers and we’re prepared.”
Arledge said about 60 members of his department, including off-duty and reserve officers, will help provide security and traffic control along with other area law enforcement, including the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department and the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
“It’s a concert at a farm and that means there’s one way in and one way out,” said Arledge, who urged concert-goers to leave early.
Parking opens at 2 p.m., gates open at 5 p.m. and the show begins at 7 p.m.
“Traffic aside, the most important advice I can give is to be sure to have a designated driver,” Arledge said. “It’s going to be a challenge as it is, so safety is absolutely critical. We want everyone to be safe.”
The Lowndes County event was to have been the fifth of eight Farm Tour events, which raise scholarship funds for rural students. Weather has intervened, however. Tour stops in Knoxville, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; and Columbia, South Carolina were postponed by rain and the threat of Hurricane Joaquin. The Lexington Farm Tour event has been rescheduled for Tuesday.
The forecast for Wednesday’s show is promising — clear skies with a low temperature of 60 degrees.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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