The Southside Blues Festival will return to Townsend Park today for its 20th year of celebration.
Southside native and District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith said the festival has come a long way since it was first held in 2003.
“You can’t compare in support, and you can’t compare in cost,” Smith said. “… This whole thing started 20 years ago with a DJ and two local bands. … Now here we are 20 years later. We have the credibility. We have enough of a lineup to suggest that we’ve grown and improved every year that we’ve done this, and the support has grown with it.”
Festivities will kick off tonight with a softball tournament and Youth Night events, both beginning at 6 p.m.
Youth Night, hosted by the city’s Reclaiming Our Youth program, has been held in conjunction with the festival for three years. The event welcomes children of all ages to enjoy games like cornhole and darts along with free hotdogs and hamburgers.
Youth Night organizer and Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett said Youth Night is an opportunity for children to step away from their devices and interact with the community.
“We’re excited about the event, and one of the reasons is because we want to tell children, ‘Put your phone down, put your devices down, and let’s play these games,’” Garrett said. “… (It’s) just family fun and showing them that they can actually have fun outside. We know it’ll be hot, but we still want them to come out and enjoy themselves.”
Live entertainment will begin at 5 p.m. with eight performances from southern gospel, R&B and soul musicians. Mike Clark Jr. will headline tonight’s event. L.J. Echols will headline tomorrow night, and Steve Perry will be the final performance for Saturday.
Festivities will continue tomorrow morning with a bracket championship softball tournament. The start time for the tournament is yet to be determined.
Attendees will take a break after the tournament ends and return to the park at 6 p.m. for live music featuring four musicians. On Saturday night, live music will begin at 5 p.m. and will feature four musicians as well.
Rick “Don’t Go” Mason, a local DJ and talk show host, will emcee the festival. Mason said that performances will be family-friendly – at least while the sun is still up.
“When the sun goes down, we ask that the kids are home and in a safe place because it turns into an adult atmosphere after the sun sets,” Mason said. “So each and every night, we ask that the parents either have their kids embraced or take them home and come back to enjoy themselves.”
Mason said attendees should be prepared with towels to lay on and umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun.
“We’re looking forward to a big turnout, and the weather looks like it’s going to be great,” Mason said. “We’re going to be doing some giveaways on stage and interacting with the crowd. We look forward to having a great time.”
Throughout the weekend, 12 vendors will be in the park selling food and other items for attendees to enjoy.
“We may not have the amount of vendors these other big festivals have, but we have the heart, and we have the passion,” Smith said.
Smith said he and former Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor, who passed away in 2019, started the event as a way to bring the community together.
“At the time, there was a lack of activities during the holidays, especially in the community (we) grew up in,” Smith said. “… There were about five of us from the community, and we organized a small informal entertainment for the holiday weekend. Something at that time was better than nothing.”
The initial event brought about 1,500 people from the community together to celebrate. Years later, Smith said the festival sees several thousands of people coming together from all across the region.
“It brings people from different walks of life together to celebrate life (and) to celebrate each other,” Smith said. “… We feel we’re doing the right thing, and we’ll continue to be a positive part of Lowndes County.”
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