Friendly City Books owner Emily Liner has watched the Possumtown Book Festival draw more than 1,000 visitors downtown in the two years since its inception, but rising operating costs have come hand-in-hand with the event’s increasing success.
The festival’s rapid growth left organizers struggling to find the funds to rent an adequate venue for the full four-day stretch they need to set up and tear down the event, Liner told The Dispatch.
Fortunately, a $2,500 grant from the Lowndes Community Foundation awarded to help with this year’s festival has provided organizers with some much-needed support, Liner said.
“It’s a big relief to be able to take care of that big expense … so that we can focus the rest of the funding we have on the day itself and making it the biggest and best we can,” Liner said. “By offsetting some of the basic costs of the festival, we can invite more authors and more famous authors.”
LCF, an affiliate of the CREATE Foundation in Tupelo, is a local charity foundation that has reinvested almost $282,000 to 49 organizations across Lowndes County since its establishment in 2003.
The foundation has invested in supporting vulnerable communities, education and culture by awarding grant money to area nonprofits and community organizations such as the Good Samaritan Clinic, Cook Elementary, Helping Hands, Junior Auxiliary of Columbus and Possumtown Book Festival.
LCF co-chair Chanley Rainey said the foundation is bringing Casino Night back for its sophomore appearance in an effort to raise their grant endowment and raise awareness for the foundation.
“As we’re able to raise funds and build that endowment, the annual pot of money that we can give out to different causes in the community gets bigger and bigger,” Rainey said.
Casino Night will be held from 6:30-9:30 p.m. July 31 at the Trotter Convention Center, and tickets can be purchased through their website by making a gift to their special project fund.
Tickets are $100 and include $500 in casino chips, hors d’oeuvres, one free drink and one raffle entry with the chance to win a weeklong stay at a beachside condo on Highway 30A in Florida, among other donated prizes.
The BAMA Casino Company will DJ and run table games including craps, blackjack, roulette and poker. While winnings can’t be cashed in for actual money, they can be cashed in for additional raffle tickets, capping at 10 total tickets.
“The dealers are great,” Rainey said. “They know how to make it fun for people who are card sharks as well as novices.”
The foundation awarded more than $38,500 in grant money last year, but LCF co-chair Tyler Covington said he hopes this year’s event will allow the foundation to award closer to $50,000.
“Those dollars aren’t just going to benefit Lowndes County today, they’re going to benefit Lowndes County indefinitely,” Covington said. “Every dollar we put (in) there increases how much we have to give in grants each year.”
Liner, who volunteered at the event last year, said Casino Night is the best opportunity the foundation has to raise money for the community all year and encouraged people to show up and show out.
“Casino Night has been really helpful to spread the word about the Lowndes Community Foundation, … but it’s only as strong as the people who are involved in it and the local support that it receives,” Liner said.
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