Burnsville Waterway Festival and Rodeo Set This Weekend

Burnsville’s biggest weekend of the year is here. The Burnsville Waterway Festival and its companion Buckin’ on the ‘Bigbee Rodeo take over the small Tishomingo County town Friday and Saturday, Sept. 25-26, with live music, dozens of food vendors, a car show, a craft fair, kids’ activities and two nights of professional rodeo action.

The festival is set up behind Burnsville City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce building on Gross Avenue. The town of roughly 600 people sits along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, and the annual event celebrates that connection while drawing visitors from across Northeast Mississippi.

Burnsville Waterway Festival schedule

• Friday, Sept. 25: Buckin’ on the ‘Bigbee Rodeo at 8 p.m. Gates open at 6:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Sept. 26: Festival activities begin at 10 a.m., with the rodeo returning at 8 p.m.

Rodeo tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students, and children 4 and under get in free, according to organizers.

Food, music, bingo and a car show

Shana Hollon, president of the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce, said the festival has something for every age group. “There will be plenty of games there for kids and adults to participate in,” she said.

Highlights planned for the weekend include:

• Dozens of food vendors serving nearly every kind of fair food
• A craft fair with more than 75 vendors
• A car show featuring vintage vehicles
• A petting zoo, bounce houses, a dunking booth and other kids’ activities
• A morning 5K run
• Live music throughout the day, including gospel, country and rock acts, plus local school choirs
• A bingo tournament

Bingo is back by popular demand. Hollon said some people come to the Waterway Festival just for the bingo tournament and ask every year whether it will return.

Fourth year for the Buckin’ on the ‘Bigbee Rodeo

This is the fourth year the festival has included a rodeo. The event is produced by Rafter M Rodeo, an International Professional Rodeo Association contractor, and features bull riding, barrel racing, team roping, calf roping and bareback riding, along with a rodeo clown to entertain the crowd.

Burnsville Mayor Laurie Lawson has said the festival brings more than 1,000 people to town each year, which she called a huge show for a community Burnsville’s size.

“We want people to come out and enjoy two days worth of community, good food, entertainment, and hopefully good weather,” Hollon said. “We want people to come and see what Burnsville has to offer.”

The forecast looks cooperative. Check our latest NWS Memphis weather update before heading out, and see our story on MDOT paving work on area highways if you’re traveling through Iuka.

Source: Mississippi Free Press; Daily Corinthian