"Obviously, we have a lot of the shopping and things for mom and dad, but the kids need some fun things, too," he said. "We wanted to give them more opportunities to have fun and enjoy the festival. Since we are Mississippi's premiere family festival, we want the entire family to have fun, and this was an area we felt like we could do a little more in."
The 35th Annual Ole Brook Festival will be held Friday night and throughout the day Saturday. To improve the children's area, the chamber has called mainly on two local organizations that are partnering together to take care of children of all ages.
One of the main attractions in the children's area will be a myriad of activities hosted by the Mississippi School of the Arts, which is taking a more active role in the community under new director Suzanna Hirsch. Approximately 50 MSA students will host activities, display art and hold performances at the festival, mostly between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.
"I'm a big proponent of community involvement on all levels. I think the youth need to know who's supporting their school; they need to be able to showcase their talent and the community needs to see them," Hirsch said. "Any opportunity we have to work in the community we'll take advantage of."
One of the main attractions MSA will present at the festival will be the Amazing Moving Museum, in which a group of around 30 students from the school's dance department will perform dances, form themselves into shape and "sculpt" each other. Children attending the festival will be invited to participate in the museum, Hirsch said.
MSA's visual arts students will also host a printmaking workshop, in which students and attending children will carve out foam shapes and transform them into art prints. Children will be allowed to take their prints with them.
"They will have their own little piece of artwork," Hirsch said.
Students from the school's theatre department will branch out all over the festival and hold street performances, recreating movie genres and pantomiming, Hirsch said. Additionally, many students from the school's vocal department are planning to compete in the festival's talent show, which runs throughout the day Saturday.
All of MSA's activities at the festival will be free, Hirsch said.
"All of our departments are going to be involved in some capacity, and our students from campus are going to come up to the festival and participate as well," she said. "Hopefully, everyone will see that this community is the reason this school exists. The students want to be involved and accepted in this community, and I hope this will start to build relationships with local businesses and the families in our community. Building relationships is the main thing I want to see happen, and this won't be the last time."
Festival organizers are delighted to see MSA participating in the festival. Chamber of commerce programs director Kay Burton said the school's participation would mark the first time MSA has stepped out into the community on such a large scale.
"It brings the community and the arts school together - it just helps get more exposure about the school and what they're doing," she said. "It's also bringing major workshops for kids that we didn't have to offer. I think it just adds a little more professionalism in the arts to our festival, and for families, it gives them a great opportunity to learn what MSA can maybe do for their kids one day."
Most of MSA's exhibits and performances will be geared toward older children, but the school's next-tent-neighbor will be on hand to take care of the younger children. The Junior Auxiliary of Brookhaven will feature a host of activities geared toward its theme, Healthy Children, Healthy Futures, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"You will get some really wholesome, good things going on in our tent," said JA President Emily Henderson. "JA's overall mission is to serve the children of Lincoln County, and of course we want our tent to be full of activities that are healthy and engaging to children."
JA's first activity will be The Organwise Guys, a healthy eating-themed puppet show performed by the Lincoln County Extension Office's Natasha Haynes. That presentation will be followed by the auxiliary's EARS Committee, which works to help children learn to read. The EARS Committee will present full-costumed figures of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, who will be available for photos and autographs.
Beginning at 11 a.m., gymnasts and cheerleaders associated with Brookhaven's Gym of Dreams will display their limber skills. After a lunch break, Miss Mississippi's Outstanding Teen Laura Lee Lewis will be on hand to speak about her platform, H.E.R.O - Honor Excel Reach Overcome, a mentoring program designed to help elementary and middle school children make good choices.
After Lewis, the high-flying skills of Master Steve Kincade of the Academy of Korean Martial Arts will be on display, and a drug awareness program presented by the Brookhaven Police Department is scheduled to close out JA's programs.
The JA's programs are also being held for free.
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