JIFAF returns to Fairgrounds on Sept. 21
Sept. 21 is the day of the 10th edition of the Jackson International Food and Arts Festival.
Dr. Sandra Dee, who helped bring the festival to Jackson along with Eduardo Morales, said the event will be bigger this year and feature different things it hasn’t before.
“The main difference this year is we’re expanding the hours,” Dee said. “So instead of winding things down when we usually do, the festival is scheduled to last from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.”
The expansion is something Dee said festival attendees have requested for a few years, but the need for longer hours was obvious last year – the first year the festival moved from Downtown to the Jackson Fairgrounds.
“We had a good problem during the festival last year,” said Jackson Mayor Scott Conger during a Facebook live broadcast last week. “We had traffic backed up on Highland Avenue, and it took me 20 minutes or so to get out of the Fairgrounds when we were leaving.”
Dee said she wasn’t aware of the traffic back-up until the parade started when Conger told her about it.
“Obviously we don’t like the idea of backing traffic up, but we appreciate people being interested in being a part of our event,” Dee said.
Another big difference this year will be the free concert that’s happening at the end of the day. An Abba tribute band will be on hand performing.
“Abba was based in Sweden, so I felt like if we were going to do something like this, then including a band not from the United States was a good thing to do,” Dee said.
Lion and Dragon is a group from Houston that’s coming that has been an acrobatic group entertaining at various events from government assemblies to Disney World that will also be performing at different times throughout the day.
“They do a lot of acrobatic things jumping off benches and poles and things like that,” Dee said.
This year’s event will also have an expanded children’s area, and The Wow Wagon from The Read Team will be on hand with various international books to promote literacy for children of all nationalities in Jackson.
“When we started this over a decade ago, we just wanted a place to celebrate various heritages that are present here in Jackson,” Dee said. “And Jackson has embraced us with open arms, and we’re so thrilled with how it’s grown.
“We’re looking forward to another fun event this year.”
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
