The first installment of the fourth annual Classics in the Courtyard featured not only food and music, but the revelation of a big surprise for the Southern Cultural Heritage Center.

The center is receiving $24,200 from the National Park Service’s Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative in the form of a grant named for the late Hobbs Freeman.

“Mr. Freeman was an artist, sculptor, builder, jewelry maker, cook and gardener,” said Annette Kirklin, executive director of the SCHC, at Friday’s outdoor, lunchtime concert. “He could create art from items only he could imagine. He spent the majority of his time in the Mississippi outdoors and was an ambassador for both art and nature.”

The Hobbs Freeman Arts and Nature Celebration and Festival grant will enable the center to a conduct a series of workshops, performances and events, beginning in 2012, that will encourage participants to appreciate nature and engage them in art. The series will culminate in a Nov. 3 festival.