MISSISSIPPI (WLBT) - Mississippi state parks are inviting visitors to celebrate America’s 250th birthday at seven showcase parks across the state.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is calling the celebration “Seven Parks. Seven Themes, You Decide.” Employees said the events have been planned for the past year.
“We’ve chosen seven showcase parks across the state, northern to southern parks that are hosting different things throughout the state,” Ursula Claxton said.
Events planned across seven parks
Brian Ferguson said visitors can expect fireworks, food vendors, a carnival at Percy Quin State Park, trails, disc golf competitions, concerts at John Kyle State Park and a night pool party at Buccaneer State Park.
Lacy Henderson said John Kyle State Park will host a concert series featuring Keth Johnson and the Big Muddy Band. Johnson is the great-nephew of blues legend Muddy Waters and is known as the “Prince of the Delta Blues.”
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At Roosevelt State Park, Kristin Hinds said events will include a car show, classic games, a watermelon-eating contest, kayak races, relay games, bingo and activities at Shadow Lake, including a splash zone, pool, water slide and splash area.
“We have the car show, all the classic games, like watermelon eating contest, kayak races, relay games, bingo, of course, there’s a shadow lake splash zone, pool, water slide, splash area, so there’s going to be stuff happening all weekend long,” Hinds said.
Ferguson said the celebration is a two-day event starting July 3, with entertainment and activities on the first day. He said the main events will be held the next day at the seven parks and will end with fireworks shows.
Renovations and revenue growth
Park officials are also celebrating renovations, improvements and upgrades made since the “State of Our Parks” special reports. Funding allocated for work at state parks has changed sites, including cabins at Clarkco, John Kyle, Paul B. Johnson, Wall Doxey and Roosevelt state parks.
Harry Case, a camper, said the changes are noticeable.
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“We’ve been here over 20 years, and this is such a big improvement than what we had in the past,” Case said.
Ferguson said the park system is seeing visitors from Louisiana, across the country and outside the country.
“Being able to have facilities that people wanna come to has been a really huge impact on our visitation,” Ferguson said.
Andre Hollis said he is encouraged by the direction of Mississippi’s state parks.
“I’m so excited about state parks, in the direction we’re going,” Hollis said. “I’ve been doing this 29 years and I feel like the vision we got going forward is the best it’s ever been in my 29 years.”
Hollis said four parks have reached more than $1 million in revenue, a milestone he said had not happened before in Mississippi State Parks history. Those parks are Buccaneer, Roosevelt, Percy Quin and Paul B. Johnson.
As of June 20, Hollis said the four parks had made more than $4 million in the fiscal year, which was not yet over.
For more information, you can visit the MDWLFP website.
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