To say the Juke Joint Festival is all about making money off the blues would be rude and unbecoming to Southern culture and the hospitality that Mississippi is known for.
But it does help.
From the beginning of the tourism economy’s development in Clarksdale, the community has worked hard not to just see tourists as dollar signs.
The goal is to get them to town, make sure they have a good time, send them back home to tell others about Clarksdale and hopefully come back next year.
“The Juke Joint Festival — and every festival in Clarksdale — helps spread the Clarksdale story and the culture of the Mississippi Delta,” said Roger Stolle, Juke Joint Festival co-founder. “It’s goal intially was to mix the community and neighborhoods and showcase the downtown business district.”
And the festival achieved that. Then COVID-19 hit last year and Juke Joint was cancelled for safety.
“We thought we could just take what we have done in the past and plug it in this year,” Stolle said. “It hasn’t been that simple, but we have put together another Juke Joint and I think Clarksdale will be pleased.”
This year’s event will not have some of the children’s events it has had in the past or those things that prompted people to stand shoulder to shoulder.
“We’ll still have more than dozen stages and we’ll still have monkeys riding dog and racing pigs,” Stolle said with a smile. “But we have thought through the crowds and safety of the community.”
Stolle said Juke Joint was also formed for people wanting to celebrate spring and celebrate the blues Clarksdale is famous for.
“It gives us a chance to mix people from all different cultures from all across the world and in our community, too,” said Stolle. “The locals become the ambassadors for Clarksdale and for Mississippi.”
Stolle said while people are drawn here for the music it is their discovery of Mississippi culture and hospitality that brings them back.
“I’ve seen it happen over and over,” said Stolle. “People come for a festival, they get to know somebody and develop a real connection to Clarksdale. Then they look around and say ‘Hey, this really is a neat town and I could bring my business here.’”
