TYLERTOWN — An extra-large dose of fun awaits this weekend at the 40th annual Walthall Dairy Festival.
Opening ceremonies are at 8 a.m. Saturday on the stage at Holmes Water Park, and the food, fun and games start rolling immediately afterward.
The baby contest starts at 8:05 a.m. on the stage. Entrants must register by Friday at the county MSU Extension office. Entry fee is $4. Children birth to 48 months are eligible.
More events command the stage all day, with various entertainment from 9:15 to 10 a.m., 11 to 11:45 and 1:45 to 2:30 p.m., a gospel singing at 4 and the band Bulletproof at 6.
The candidates for Dairy Festival queens will take the stage at 10 a.m., and dairy products will be front and center starting at 11:30 when the ice cream eating contest starts near the stage.
After the entertainment segment ends at 11:45 a.m., the annual butter churning contest takes the stage. The resulting butter will be auctioned off after the contest by the Rev. Jerry Wayne Dillon.
Sack races begin in the stage area at 12:30 p.m., and a mooing contest starts there at 1:30. If you can’t moo, maybe cow-calling is more your style — that contest starts at 2:30 p.m.
For something completely different, try the bubble-gum blowing contest at the stage at 2:45 p.m.
Or sign up for the 3 p.m. turtle races. Registration begins at 2, and all racing turtles must pass the inspection of turtle doctor Javier Pacheco. Kalencom Factory Outlet will provide T-shirts for the first 120 children who register.
Those who buy tickets in the Spring Fling drawing will find out if they won anything at 5:30 p.m.
Away from the stage, there will be plenty to do there as well.
Is anything cuter than kids on little pedal tractors dragging a load of chain? Find out at 10:45 a.m. in the festival’s Area B. Lots of John Deere toys will be given away to the participants, making the event very popular.
At 10:30 a.m., the Walthall General Hospital booth hosts the festival bake-off contest. As with the butter contest, finished products are auctioned off afterward.
The festival concludes about 9 p.m. with a fireworks display near the softball field.
Ongoing activities all day include:
• Political cartoonist Ricky Nobile will do free caricatures for festival-goers on a first-come, first-served basis. The Dairy Festival Committee contracted with Nobile to do the sketches for the festival.
• Farm Bureau sponsors Kirkland Farms Petting Zoo, and Brandi Ellis Kirkland brings along her seven different types of rabbits, mini-chickens, Chinese silky rooster, Muscovy ducks, red and gold pheasant, tea cup pig, mini pygmy goat, hair sheep, chinchilla, ferret, unscented skunk and ponies. They’re offering free pony rides to kids, too.
• Cream Pitcher Fun Farm, Pike National Bank’s games and jumpers area.
• Antique engines and tractor show.
• Ham radio demonstration.
• Arts and crafts vendors.
• Food concessions.
• Street rods and vintage cars — the Cow Bag Nationals — sponsored by Mac’s Used Cars.
• Guess the cow weight, sponsored by Livestock Producers and Walthall Livestock Association.
• Commercial displays.
• Political booths.
• Air ambulance/ground ambulance.
• Tylertown Fire Department truck.
• Shiitake mushrooms presented by Alcorn State University Extension.
• Chainsaw art by Mike Hobgood.
• Free kiddie train rides on the Southland Express sponsored by Southland Trucking.
• Kids’ activity from the National Guard.
• Spinning wheel demonstration by Dale Majorie.
• Free helium-filled balloons from Golden Living Center.
Limited parking is available adjacent to the park, but Southwest Events Center is the preferred area, with direct walking access to the festival grounds.
No private tents may be pitched on the main festival grounds, but families and individuals may use a set-aside area to the west side of the road, right after entering the park grounds, bordering Magee’s Creek near the observation deck.
As always, no dogs, cats or pets of any type are allowed at the festival with the exception, of course, of service animals.
Both Tylertown Police and Walthall County Sheriff’s Department will have a presence at the festival with headquarters set up near the stage.
n n n
Doug Walker of the Tylertown Times contributed to this report.
