VIDEO: Hundreds Of People Prepare To Indulge In Some Fun And Fellowship During The Annual Artesia Day Festival

ARTESIA, Miss. (WCBI)- Thursday kicked off a big celebration in the small town of Artesia.

Music, hot food on the grill, kids playing games, and everyone having a good time, that’s what Artesia Day is all about.

“If you never been, is just something different because you meet different people and there’s different food that you can eat and it’s just good entertainment,” said Ethel Brewer, who’s attended the event for 15 years.

Artesia Day first originated twenty years ago.

“They used to have an Artesia Hay Festival and then it died down,” said Tresa Sanders, the town clerk. “Then they got a new mayor, which is Mayor Jimmy Sanders, we came in office and we said, we need to do something for our community, and that’s how it started. It started out as just giving to the community.”

From there it’s continued to grow.

The festival went from being a one-day event to now being a four-day event.

“It’s grown from maybe 100 people, now to almost 10 to 15,000 people coming through our little town of 496 people,” said Sanders.

Sanders has attended the fun filled event for several years, and said it’s an event many people mark on their calendar each year to attend.

“It’s kind of like people now they don’t even come home for the Fourth of July, because that when they used to come home, but now they wait until Artesia Day,” Sanders explained. “We have Cincinnati, Arkansas, Louisiana, we have them all coming in.”

With so much success coming from the event, many other cities have tried to host similar events in their town.

However, when asked what makes Artesia Day so unique and different from the rest, Sanders said.

“Just the people in Artesia,” she expressed. “We are a great community and we love each other in Artesia, and it’s just a community that works together.”

“Every year is different,” said Brewer. “We have different activities, different performances, and so people just come out just to enjoy that. Just to be in the midst.”

The festival will take place all weekend long.  On Friday, things will kick of at 5 P.M., and on Saturday and Sunday, things will begin at 2 P.M.