Bobby Rush will be a headliner at the second annual Red’s Old Timers Blues Festival scheduled for Saturday, May 25 on Memorial Day weekend.
In an effort to help promote the event, the Coahoma County Tourism board provided the festival with a $5,000 grant for marketing during the Wednesday, April 10 meeting. Red Paden, owner of Red’s Blues Club, and Mac Crank, who has served in many capacities for the city of Clarksdale since 2008, put together Red’s Old Timers Blues Festival.
“We’ve got to have the receipts of what you spend on advertising,” said Coahoma County Tourism board attorney Ed Peacock, adding the Paden and Crank would be reimbursed after showing what they spent.
The festival was later in 2018.
“It took place in September of last year and they moved it to Memorial Day (weekend),” said Coahoma County Tourism executive director Bubba O’Keefe. “I think it was a great move.”
With the Juke Joint Festival in the rearview mirror after last weekend, Crank and Paden will be doing more to promote the 2019 Red’s Old Timers Blues Festival.
“I think we were going to hold off being too aggressive until we get through with Juke Joint,” Crank said. “Don’t want to split it all up, but we are going to use Juke Joint for distribution materials, so we’ll have cards ready for them and all that.”
Crank said a barrel was at Fred’s during the JJF for donations.
“We have lost so many of these artists and have never had a chance to do anything for them while they were alive,” Crank said. “This is something Red wanted to do a long time. We did it last fall. I think we were successful. We didn’t have a lot of turnout, but it was also raining – the first time.”
Crank said this is the first time an event has been put together during Memorial Day weekend in Clarksdale and is will be at the Martin Luther King Park stage once again.
“I think it’s time,” Crank said. “Another advantage of it is trying to get another venue going. The visibility of it will certainly help.”
Crank was also glad Rush will be a headliner at the festival.
“We’ve been waiting for this one,” Crank said.
O’Keefe praised Paden’s efforts when it comes to entertaining audiences, even when the crowds are small and people are leaving.
“Just because people are leaving, you don’t call it an early night,” O’Keefe said.
O’Keefe said the grant would help let people know Rush will be a headliner at the festival.
“We’ve got to have a grant application to promote it properly for a Bobby Rush,” O’Keefe said. “That’s my feeling on the matter.”
Crank said Red’s Old Timers Blues Festival could help promote tourism.
“I think tourism should take advantage of the event itself,” he said.
In other business:
n Peacock said there is no new information to report on Penn Mills of the state auditor’s office investigation of former tourism director Kappi Allen for allegedly misappropriated funds.
Peacock sent a letter at the request of the board requesting information on the investigation.
“There’s no further information,” Peacock said. “They told me not to call them anymore. They’re working on it.
“They will get back in touch with us at the appropriate time.”
Peacock said the state auditor’s office would let him know when the investigation is complete.
“There is no point in calling back because they will let us know when they are ready to make a presentation,” he said.
n O’Keefe brought up the issue of reserving four spaces in the tourism parking lot behind the old Greyhound bus station for RV parking. The board approved letting O’Keefe allow four RVs to park in the lot at a time on a trial basis.
He said a Canadian couple came in an RV and parked for four days. Two more RVs followed with individuals who were Canadian and Dutch.
O’Keefe said none of them wanted to park by the Coahoma County Expo Center where the other RVs are because it is too far from downtown.
“It blew my mind that we have these international people that are RVing across America,” O’Keefe said.
