With one week left before the start of county's biggest celebration in over 15 years, the headliners keep rolling in for the start of the Carroll County Pilgrimage.
Set to begin on Friday October 2, well-known names and elected officials have been added on the agenda for the weekend affair that is also the celebration of the county's 175 anniversary.
On Saturday morning beginning at 8:30 a.m., United States Senator Roger Wicker (R, Mississippi) will grace the audience on the steps of the historic Carroll County Courthouse on Lexington Street. In the meantime, State Sen. Lydia Chassaniol of District 14 will submit two resolutions from the state senate honoring both Carroll County and Carrollton.
According to Carrollton alderman Dr. Bernard Taylor, people are anxious, and they are expecting a big weekend once the pilgrimage rolls around.
"We are excited about getting started," Taylor said. "If the weather cooperates, we look to have a good crowd."
A staple of the past, the Carroll County Pilgrimage was once an annual event that brought in visitors throughout the state. The last pilgrimage was held in 1992, and the people in the county feels it’s due time for another.
"We are doing as much advertising as we can," Taylor said. "We have brochures at welcome centers throughout the state as well as magazine articles and local newspapers and radio. The mouth to mouth publicity has been wonderful."
More than 5,000 brochures were printed and issued to welcome centers across the state, all to get the word about the pilgrimage throughout Mississippi.
Pam Lee of the Carroll County Extension Service and Pilgrimage committee member said 3,000 of the brochures were mailed out and the additional ones will be handled throughout this region.
"I handed some of the brochures out in Birmingham last week, and people were interested in Carroll County," Lee said. "We have lots of calls coming in, and the word is spreading at church and the streets -- it's exciting."
Starting at 9 a.m., 19 homes, buildings and churches will be available for public viewing throughout the town. According to Lee, tickets for the tours are $25, which is good for the entire weekend. Homes and buildings in Carrollton are some of the oldest in the state, and that is one of the highlights of the weekend event. The Carroll County Courthouse, one of the buildings to be toured, was built in 1876 and stores some of the oldest records in Mississippi.
Other attractions to the weekend festivities will be the Big Sand Creek Opry located at the North Carrollton Tabernacle. The cost of the Opry event will be $5, according to Lee.
For the much anticipated Wild Game Cookoff, the entry fee will be $25. There cookers will showcase their talents with deer, rabbits, fish, and other game.
"Many of the hunters have stored their meat in the freezer," Lee said. "The meat will be judged, and the winners will be handed ribbons."
Pioneer Day, which is Saturday, October 3, will include educational booths that will include lessons on quilting, dulcimers, the music of John Hurt, open-fire cooking, farm implements, log shaping and wood shingles.
According to Lee, educational exhibits will consist of farming techniques by Ernie Flint, the county's extension agent, and a look at the old forestry industry and shape logs by the Carroll County Forestry Association. The Homemaker Volunteers of Vaiden will educate the crowd on quilting, and Mary Hurt-Wright will give a presentation about her grandfather, the blues legend Mississippi John Hurt. Even the Boys Scouts will give a presentation on open fire cooking. The cost of Saturday's Pioneer Day is free.
For more information on this year's celebration visit www.visitcarrolltonms.com and for more information concerning the pilgrimage, contact Martha Cain at 237-6673 or the Carroll County Extension Service at 237-6926.
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