Saturday at New Albany’s 2016 Literary Fest

New Albany, MS– The closing day of the month-long Literary Fest 2016 in New Albany included a variety of activities, some of which were new to Union County. The Literary Fest centers around New Albany’s Nobel Prize winning native, William Faulkner. The focus of this year’s event was his novel, Light in August. It wasn’t August, but the unseasonable heat of this third day of Fall certainly brought that hot month to mind.

• The morning began pretty early with lots of folks of all ages lining up for the BNA Tallahatchie River Run. There was a 1/2 mile fun run, a 1 mile run for youngsters, and a 5K run for all ages. For complete race results: BNA Tallahatchie River Run 2016
• Mid-morning, the folks from Alabama Art Casting began setting up their traveling foundry in preparation for Fire on the River. Gray iron melting started a little after noon, and pouring followed in a couple of hours. (More about Fire on the River in a later feature.)
• Live music on the Biscuits and Jam stage was provided between 10 AM and 2 PM by Vinnie Chenny, The Cake Walkers and The Blues Doctors. If you are not familiar with bluesman Adam Gussow, make a point to check him out sometime soon.
• Winning one-act plays from the 2015 Faulkner Competition were presented by the Tallahatchie River Players, New Albany’s community theatre group. TRP are, by  the way, now gearing up for their presentation A Christmas Carol. See: Auditions for A Christmas Carol.

Saturday at the 2016 Literary Fest 

(click to enlarge/download photos)

On your mark! at the 5K

5K runners, Tallahatchie River Run

Tallahatchie RIver Run 5 K

BNA 5 K run

BNA 5K movin’ along

BNA One Mile Run

Off to a quick start in the One Mile race

Setting up the foundry

Checking the iron-getting ready to pour

Blues Doctor Adam Gussow, down by the river

The Blues Doctors, Alan Gross and Adam Gussow

TRP presents one-act play