Represent Your City Wiggins-Lucedale

Lucedale's 'Good Ole Days' offer old-fashioned food, fun and fellowship 

 

Seven-year-old Aleigha Holland of Bexley poses with Jack at the inaugural Good Ole Days Festival in Lucedale on Saturday, March 31, 2012. 

 

LUCEDALE, Mississippi -- Jack, a red Bantam judged the "Purdiest Rooster" at the inaugural Good Ole Days Festival, was almost never hatched.
That's because his mama was a rescue biddy, nurtured back to health after being abandoned by its mother.
"No one thought the biddy was going to make it," said Denise Watts of the Bexley community. "But the kids said, 'Let's give it a chance.' So we prayed over it, sang over it, and it turned into a fine hen.
That hen laid the egg that produced Jack, which was raised by Watts' daughter, 7-year-old Aleigha Holland.
Aleigha and her sister, 13-year-old Loral Holland, are both members of George County 4-H. Earlier today, they posed proudly with a docile Jack and the plaque proclaiming him "purdiest."
The girls, along with their mom and stepdad, Joe Watts, were among the several hundred people who poured through the festival gates throughout the day Saturday. A greased pig contest was planned later in the afternoon, and the dozens of vendors set up throughout the George County Fairgrounds sold an eclectic array of food and merchandize.
'If you go'
What: Good Ole Days Festival
When: Events continue today until 7 p.m., and open Sunday with a 9 a.m. worship service. Sunday activities are from 11-5.
Where: George County Fairgrounds, 9162 Old 63 South, Lucedale.
Cost: $2 admission, to benefit Habitat for Humanity; parking is free.
There were pork skins fried up crisp on the spot, fresh lemonade, homemade ice cream and traditional fair food, such as funnel cakes and nachos.
Hand-crafted goods included rough-hewn wooden bed frames, quilts, and unique jewelry made from repurposed silverware, to name just a few.
Under warm, sunny skies, families milled about, and a band played on a stage in between events.
Danny Clark, festival committee chairman, said the event was unfolding just as planned. By the end of today, he expected up to several thousand people to have passed through the gate.
"I'm happy, very happy," Clark said. "George County didn't have anything like this, and we've got a lot of support. People are already lining up for next year, so there's no doubt that it will grow."
The festival is a partnership between the Good Ole Days Festival Committee and George County Habitat for Humanity. Admission is $2 per person, with proceeds benefiting Habitat, a Christian organization that provides housing for low-income families.
True to its name, the event hearkened to the "good ole days," with displays such as horse-drawn wagons and vintage tractors.
Watts said it provided a fun learning experience for the kids.
"She's a big 'Little House on the Prairie' fan," she said of Aleigha. "And this gives her a chance to see sort of how it was like back then."
Demonstrations, which continue today, include quilting, horse-plowing, knife-making, spinning and cow milking.
Keisha and Vinson Smith of Memphis said George County Habitat Community Outreach Director Annis Dailey easily persuaded them to bring their food-vending van, Lighthouse Wings and More, to Good Ole Days.
The Smiths, who specialize in savory handmade tamales, said business had been better than expected by midday Saturday.
"We'll definitely be back next year," Vinson Smith said.