Hobbs FreemeanWeekend gathering is culmination of yearlong festival
Published 2:00 am Sunday, October 28, 2012
Artists’ demonstrations, musicians, vocalists, storytellers, lectures, food, arts, crafts, exhibits and a movie will fill the Southern Cultural Heritage Center for the Hobbs Freeman Arts and Nature Festival on Saturday.
The festival is the conclusion of the Hobbs Freeman Arts and Nature Celebration that began January 2012, said Annette Kirklin, executive director of the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation, which operates the center, and was made possible by a grant from the National Park Service’s Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative.
“The festival will offer something for everyone,” Kirklin said.
Artists are scheduled to demonstrate crafts in front of the complex on Crawford Street, between Adams and Cherry, which will be closed to vehicles, Kirklin said. Musicians will perform throughout the day on the SCHC stage, in the academy building.
The Leatherwoods, an acoustic group from Mountain View, Ark., will perform several styles of music, including bluegrass, folk and gospel, and will bring with them a clogger, she said.
Storytellers and exhibits will be set up in the former Sisters of Mercy convent, and the lectures will be in the academy building.
Children’s activities, including arts and crafts and storytelling, will be centered in the gymnasium on the northeast corner of the complex, and the movie will be at 6 p.m. in the center courtyard.
Kirklin said food vendors will be set up in front of the SCHC on Crawford Street.
Admission to the festival and all its activities is free, she said.
Hobbs Freeman was an artist, sculptor, builder, jewelry maker, cook and gardener who served as a longtime member of the board of directors for the Vicksburg-Warren County Historical Society and the SCHF.
He died in June 2009 at age 62.
The year of events at the center, a former school, convent and chapel of the Sisters of Mercy and dating to the 1860s, was scheduled to honor Freeman and his life’s works.
Events included art workshops, seminars, contests, music and exhibits that included a workshops and performances in cooking, photography, drawing, chair-caning, painting, floral design, tablescapes, bluegrass and Broadway concerts — all to honor Freeman and his life’s works.
For more information, call 601-631-2997 or visit www.hobbsfreemanartsandnature.com.
If you go
The Hobbs Freeman Arts and Nature Festival is set for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Southern Cultural Heritage Center, 1302 Adams St. The classic movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” will begin at 6 p.m. in the Southern Cultural Heritage Center courtyard. The festival and movie are free. For more information, call 601-631-2997 or visit www.hobbsfreemanartsandnature.com.
Saturday’s schedule
In the auditorium, musical performances
• 9 a.m. — The Leatherwoods
• 10:45 a.m.— Nick and Julia Blake
• Noon — Hawthorn Brothers
• 1:15 — Osgood and Blaque
• 2:20 p.m — Harmony
• 4:14 p.m. — Ralph Miller
In the convent,
storytellers
• 9:15 a.m. — Bobby Robinson
• 10:15 a.m. — Gordon Cotton and Charles Riles
• 11:15 a.m. — Doug Hassell
• 12:15 p.m. — Mary Lou Halpin
• 1:15 p.m. — Will Halpin
In the academy building,
lectures
• 9:15 a.m. — Retired Brig. Gen. Parker Hills, “Art of Commemoration”
• 11 a.m. — Virginia Dubowy, “Historical Landscaping”
• Noon — Dr. Jim Brannon, “Fruit Trees for the South”
• 1 p.m. — Joelyn James, “Growing and Using Herbs”
• 2 p.m. — Sonny Hale, “Old Fashion Vegetable Gardening”
• 3 p.m. — Jeff Richardson, “The Art of Landscape”
• 4 p.m. — Dr. Judy Pennington, “Low-Maintenance Landscaping”
In the gymnasium,
children’s activities
• 10 a.m. — Julie Bryan
•1 p.m. — Karen Biedenharn and Regina Renot