While Catfish Alley isn’t the bustling hub that it once was for Black-owned businesses and Columbus citizens, on Saturday, the alley returned to a small piece of its former glory.
Throughout the day, the alley filled with life, as the annual Catfish in the Alley festival returned.
Frances Glenn, interim director of the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the festival is a celebration of Catfish Alley’s history.
“It was originally part of the Spring Pilgrimage, and then we did it as a standalone event starting in 2021,” she told The Dispatch. “It’s always been held in the alleyway, which was the hub of African American life at the turn of the century.”
The festival began about 16 years ago in recognition of the Black citizens of Columbus who contributed to the town’s cultural, historical and musical heritage, along with the Black-owned businesses and vendors that used to congregate in the alley.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the street was home to several businesses, including the city’s first Black doctor and first Black dentist. The street is remembered as being a melting pot during the era of segregation, one of the few places in town where citizens of all races came together. The parking lot on the south side of the alley was once home to an annual carnival.
Saturday, the lot filled with more than 15 artisans and food vendors selling original art, handmade jewelry, snacks and crafts. Traffic to the alley was blocked off, and the street was lined with tables and chairs where visitors could enjoy musical performances. Food vendors offered a range of choices from homemade pork rings and turkey legs to classic fried catfish plates.
Mesha Murray grew up just down the road on Fourth Street. But on Saturday, she came to Catfish in the Alley as a vendor. She said the festival pays homage to the legacy of Catfish Alley by creating a space for modern Black business owners to promote their products.
“Catfish Alley has a lot of history,” she said. “I remember my mom and my aunts used to leave us at granny’s house to come here and have a good old time.”
Murray was selling herbal hair oil and shampoo she formulated herself throughout the day. She said the festival gives local vendors an opportunity to get to know other creators in the community.
“I love the way that you’re able to come out here and promote, sell and do your thing locally,” she said. “When I get out to events like this, it makes it so much easier to communicate and network – just get familiar with people that’s right here doing the same thing I’m doing.”
Robert Rice said his family arrived at the festival early to beat the lines. He told The Dispatch there’s a lot of history in the street, much of which he learned from his father’s stories growing up.
“My dad would always talk about Catfish Alley,” Rice told The Dispatch. “This is where he would come to get jobs. They’d come early in the morning, somebody would come by needing four or five guys, then after work, they’d come back here to eat and relax.”
Rice said it was good to see that history is still bringing people together.
The alley’s legacy in blues and jazz music is memorialized with a Mississippi Blues Trail marker, which remembers performances of renowned artists like B.B. King, Duke Ellington and James Brown in Catfish Alley.
Four different musical performances played in tribute to that legacy Saturday, starting with local duo Keith and Margie Brown. Delta blues musician Terry “Big T” Williams took the stage next before The Columbus Community Gospel Choir.
Finally Mr. Sipp, an award-winning blues and gospel artist, closed out the festival, performing classics like Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” and asking the crowd to sing and dance along to the music.
Kara Skinner, who lives in West Columbus, told The Dispatch it was her first time visiting the festival.
“We didn’t know anything about it until it was over last year,” she said. “It sure is fun. We’ll be back.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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