Mule love it: Festival offers up amusements for all ages

By Pete Tattersall

Mar. 28, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
The 7th annual Old Time Festival, Mule Pull and Rodeo, a two-day event featuring everything from a rodeo to a talent show to arts and crafts to a dance to a Purrtiest Rooster Contest and more, takes place today and Saturday at the Jackson County Multi-Purpose Arena in Vancleave.

"It's a fun-filled family weekend," said Liz Guagliardo, president of the South Mississippi Mule and Horse Association, which is sponsoring and hosting the event.

The fest kicks off with a parade through the Vancleave area, past several local schools, at 9 a.m. today. And throughout the day (and Saturday), there are a number of attractions, including a petting zoo, a chainsaw artist, a bungee rock climbing wall, a display of artwork by local school children, storytelling (in a teepee) and a paintball booth, to name a few.

Today's highlights include a wagon train, featuring covered and uncovered wagons arriving at the festival between 5-6 p.m., and the rodeo, which kicks off at 7 p.m.

"We've got bulls, broncs and barrels -- riding bulls, riding broncs and barrel racing," said Guagliardo.

Saturday begins with a Welcome Ceremony at 9:15 a.m., in the arena. At 10 a.m., there's the Mississippi Champion Mule Show, where mules are judged on such attributes as their appearance and grooming. At 11:30 a.m., David Rogers and his sheepdogs will perform an "on command" presentation, showing the audience how he commands his canines to herd sheep, using actual sheep in the demonstration. At noon, Brice Chapman, a "rope spinning cowboy" who once performed before the President at the White House, performs together with his horse, Crossfire, and his dog, Sooner.

At 1:30 p.m. meanwhile, there will be several age categories for the Gold Rush, in which 100 one dollar bills are hidden in a stack of hay, and "we tell the kids ready, set, go, and they dive in and find as much money as they can," said Guagliardo.

At 2:30 p.m., the Mule Pull features different weight classes of mules that, working with their teamsters, compete to see who can pull the heaviest loaded sled the farthest.

"At the end it gets down to inches, and that's what makes it so exciting," said Guagliardo.

On Saturday there's live music from 10 a.m. on, and the event also features a wide variety of food, including boiled crawfish, burgers, poboys, funnel cakes, barbecue and more.

"We usually draw about 5,000 to 7,000 people during the course of the weekend," said Guagliardo.

(Admission is $10 for ages 13-65; $5 for those older than 65 and for ages 7-12; and kids 6 and younger enter free of charge. To get to the arena from I-10, take Exit 57 and travel about nine miles north, turn onto Jim Ramsey Road, then take Ballpark Road to the arena, which is located at 5700 Ballpark Road. For more info, visit smmha.com.)


If you go

What: The 7th annual Old Time Festival, Mule Pull and Rodeo.

When: 9 a.m. to about 9-10 p.m. today and Saturday.

Where: Jackson County Multi-Purpose Arena in Vancleave. From I-10, take Exit 57 and travel about nine miles north, turn onto Jim Ramsey Road, then take Ballpark Road to the arena, which is located at 5700 Ballpark Road. For more info, visit smmha.com.

Cost: Admission is $10 for ages 13-65; $5 for those older than 65 and for ages 7-12; and kids 6 and younger enter free of charge.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0021-24095156