Looking for a smokin’ good time while celebrating American history and bluegrass? The 2018 Gulf Coast BBQ and Bluegrass Festival at Beauvoir may just be the activity for you.
Saturday and Sunday the grounds of Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library at U.S 90 and Beauvoir Road, will be filled with 50 food and craft vendors, live Bluegrass music, a barbecue competition, kids activities, and more to make up the inaugural affair.
“We are the excited about it because it is the first barbecue and bluegrass festival of its type on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and we are proud to be the host,” said Beauvoir Executive Director Tom Payne. “We’re going to be pickin’, chillin’, and grillin’.”
The two-day festival will feature bluegrass bands playing throughout each day, live history demonstrations such as basket-weaving, quilt-making, and butter-churning, along with cooking demonstrations, re-enactors wandering the grounds, a children’s area with fair rides and jump houses, and a barbecue competition.
“The barbecue competition will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday,” said Andrea Little, of Beauvoir. “We will have three categories: brisket, chicken and ribs, and some of the competitors will be taste testing.”
Tickets for the 2018 Gulf Coast BBQ and Bluegrass Festival, a partnership with the Mississippi Barbecue Trail, are $5 for adults and free for ages five and younger. The event is open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Elsewhere this weekend: The annual Hop the Trail to Bunnyland event for ages five and younger will be held at the Biloxi Town Green, String Celebration, a Gulf Coast Symphony production, will take place at the Saenger Theater, Brandon Bennett’s Elvis My Way will be at the IP and Irma Thomas will perform at the Golden Nugget.
Visit the Beauvoir website
See the Biloxi Community Calendar
See a complete weekend line up
News and notes: Army band, Senior Olympics, City Council, City Desk
Army band performance: The 41st Army Band of the Mississippi Army National Guard out of Jackson will give a free concert at Lighthouse Park Pavilion on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. To see the flyer, click here.
Senior Olympics registration: The deadline for active adults age 50 and older to sign up for the 2018 Mississippi Senior Olympics is Wednesday, March 21. For more information, click here.
City council meeting: The City Council, during a meeting Tuesday night, gave the green light to constructing a two-lane Howard Avenue downtown and designing new roadways along the CSX railway. The Hibernia Marching Society also showed up Tuesday night to receive a proclamation and make a special announcement. To see images from the meeting, click here. To see video of the Hibernia presentation, click here.
City Desk: Hear the latest on city issues, and a visit from the St. Patrick’s Day grand marshal in this week’s City Desk podcast. To listen, click here.
