The 29th mural on the flood wall at City Front, which depicts the historic Mississippi Flood of 1927, will be unveiled Wednesday.

Slide show features the murals, click here

If you go

The unveiling of the 29th mural will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Front. Warren Central High School’s Big Blue Band will perform at 1 p.m. The Mississippi River Commission will hold a public hearing on the MV Mississippi V at 9 a.m. and offer tours of the boat after the unveiling ceremony.

Sponsored by the employees and retirees of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Mississippi River Commission and people of Vicksburg, the mural is one of the last four planned for the project.

“I am so proud,” said Nellie Caldwell Riverfront Murals Committee chairman. “I am elated it’s coming to an end and it’s as beautiful as we knew it would be.”

Retired Brig. Gen. Robert Crear will be the master of ceremonies at the event that will include elected officials and guests from the Corps of Engineers.

George Grugett, the executive vice president of the Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association, will be the guest speaker.

Guests will include the director and commander of the ERDC, Dr. Jim Houston, and Col. Gary Johnston.

Before the 1:30 p.m. unveiling, the MRC will dock the MV Mississippi V at City Front for a public hearing, part of the Corps’ annual high-water inspection. The MV Mississippi IV is on dry ground nearby in anticipation of becoming the centerpiece of a Corps intepretive center.

After the unveiling, the MV Mississippi V will be open for public tours. Incorrect information was reported Sunday.

Crear said the hearing is for citizens and local interest groups to provide testimony on river and water issues to the commission and have the feedback sent to federal engineers in Washington, D.C.

The mural depicts a detailed scene from the Flood of 1927. Like the other murals on the east side of the city’s flood wall, the flood mural was painted by Louisiana artist Robert Dafford.

The flood, which inundated 162,000 homes along the lower Mississippi River, was considered the worst natural disaster in U.S. history before Hurricane Katrina. More than 700,000 people were moved into refugee camps, some were taken to high ground in Vicksburg and several hundred people died.

“The artist pulled together all the important things to depict what happened during the flood,” Caldwell said.

The remaining three murals — honoring Kirk and Pat Fordice, LeTourneau and the Glass Kitchen and Jitney-Jungle grocery stores — are to be unveiled this year.

The concrete flood wall is the property of the Corps and has been used with permission given to the City of Vicksburg for the murals. Almost all of the panels were privately initiated and funded.

*

Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchanprasith@vicksburgpost.com.