THE DAILY LEADER / RHONDA DUNAWAY / The planning committee for the Mississippi Spring Festival and Fair recently met in the conference room of the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce. At the meeting are (from left) Kay Burton, chamber marketing director; Natalie Davis, public information director of Copiah-Lincoln Community College; Quinn Jordan, director of Lincoln Civic Center; Jennifer Calhoun with First Methodist Church; and Sheriff Steve Rushing.

Winter may still be around for awhile, but plans are already under way for the Mississippi Spring Festival and Fair in Brookhaven.

Lincoln Civic Center Director Quinn Jordan met with members of the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce’s fair planning committee last week, and Jordan said the committee is open to new ideas for attractions at the fair.

The event is slated for Mother’s Day weekend at the Lincoln Civic Center, 1096 Beltline Drive, Brookhaven. It will open Wednesday, May 7, and continue through Sunday, May 11.

“We are open to ideas from the public on how to make this event grow,” Jordan said. He said he wanted to reach out to African Americans and involve local schools and their activities and talents.

“I want to reach out to the African American community better than we have in the past,” Jordan said. “We need to let everyone know that this is a community-wide event.”

He said that he wanted to see local schools and students more involved and have a chance to show off their skills.

“We would like to expand what we do to let the public know what our schools are doing,” he said. The committee discussed an arts show, a pageant and a possible writing contest. Jordan said that they were especially interested in things the Mississippi School of the Arts could offer the spring fest.

Present for the planning meeting were Natalie Davis with Copiah-Lincoln Community College who is in charge of sponsorships and parking, Jennifer Calhoun with First Methodist Church who is organizing the rodeo and entertainment segment of the fair, and Sheriff Steve Rushing and Brookhaven Police Chief Bobby Bell, who will be directing the security staff for the fair.

Calhoun and Jordan discussed the rodeo, which will be Friday and Saturday night this year instead of just Friday nights. Calhoun said this will help with the usual overcrowding that happens on Friday night and will hopefully increase the number of people coming into the fair each night.

Calhoun said the talent show, which is a preliminary for the Mid-South Talent Fair Youth Talent contest for ages 13 to 21, will be part of the weekend entertainment, and she is working on having a free mid-day show for kids in the arena underwritten by Farm Bureau.

Davis is in charge of parking arrangements. She said that Co-Lin might be able to offer golf carts to shuttle visitors from the civic center parking lot and an overflow parking lot on Saturday to the gate. The center’s parking lot has spots for 600 vehicles with reserves for handicapped visitors.

Bell said that the police department is usually three or four deep on the weekdays and more on Friday and Saturday nights.

“Tell us what you expect for security,” Bell told Jordan, “and that’s what you’ll get.”

Sheriff Rushing said the same goes for sheriff’s deputies. Jordan told Rushing and Bell that the fair will need security for the midway and parking lot and an officer to direct traffic on Friday and Saturday nights.

Jordan said sponsorships will be available for $400. Davis and Jordan will soon be putting out fliers to promote sponsorships that tell prospective sponsors how their money is allocated.

For more information on development of the spring fair, call Jordan at 601-823-9064.