West Point offers a wide variety of activities for those in the area over the Labor Day weekend. The 13th annual Howlin’ Wolf Memorial Blues Festival takes place on Friday, and the 30th annual Prairie Arts Festival takes place on Saturday.
Friday
The Howlin’ Wolf Festival honors Chester Arthur Burnett, more famously know as Howlin’ Wolf. Willie King, Blind Mississippi Morris & The Black Prairie Blues Kings and The Billy Gibson Band headline the festival. Caleb Childs, a one-man band will open the event at 4 p.m. with The Billy Gibson Band closing the festival. Other acts include Homemade Jamz, Eden Brent and Ben Prestage.
Tickets to the festival, held at the West Point Civic Center, are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Attendees may bring small coolers to the event.
According to Richard Ramsey, program director for the Howlin’ Wolf Festival, Burnett was born in White Station, three miles outside of West Point.
Burnett was discovered by the infamous Ike Turner, who was a recruiter for Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records in Memphis.
Phillips recorded two songs with Wolf, “Moanin’ At Midnight” and “How Many More Years” in 1951.
“Ike Turner was acting as a talent scout for Sam [Phillips] and heard Wolf on his radio show in West Memphis, Ark., and brought him [to record with] Sam Phillips,” Ramsey said.
He said he recalls seeing Phillips at the festival years ago.
“Sam was up, a few years before he passed away, at the festival and told everybody that the Wolf was the most powerful performer that he had ever recorded,” Ramsey said. “It was a big statement coming from Sam Phillips.”
There are reports that Burnett would scare the audience as much as he would entertain them.
“He would crawl out on stage and howl and roll his eyes back,” Ramsey said. “He could be an imposing figure when he was on stage in front of you.”
Ramsey said the extent of Burnett’s influence cannot be overstated.
“He went on to influence the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix,” Ramsey said. “I mean you name it; it doesn’t get any better than that. You can’t deny the history of a man like this that influenced popular music as we know it today. Without the blues, who knows what we would be listening to today?”
Burnett was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1980, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and the West Point Hall of Fame in 1995.
Saturday
The Prairie Arts Festival is held annually on the Saturday before Labor Day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in West Point’s downtown area. The festival will include arts, crafts, a 5K run, a parade, southern-style food, live entertainment and more.
Dynasty Show Choir kicks off the day of entertainment at 10 a.m. on the Acoustic Stage, which is reserved for local artists. Following them, Studio 232 Dancers, Hayden Allen, Red Letter Elegy, Robbie Brown and Steppers will perform.
Also at 10 a.m., Swing Shift opens the Gazebo Stage with Fast Scarlet, Deltaholics and Youth of Eden following.
Along with live music, activities for kids and parents are also featured, said Lisa Klutts, co-chairperson of the Prairie Arts Festival.
“What makes Prairie Arts Festival stand out from other festivals is that we have fine arts and it’s juried,” said Klutts. “They give over $4,000 in cash awards. There are five different categories to judge, each getting a first, second and third place and also a best-in-show award. We have a mixture of everything from fine arts to high-end arts and crafts to antiques to a kid’s section with inflatables, train rides and lots of games for the kids.”
As always, food is a big attraction, she said.
“We have barbeque, shish kabobs, chicken on a stick, funnel cakes, lemonade, snow cones, cotton candy; I’m hungry just thinking about it,” Klutts said.
This year is expected to draw a larger number of people.
“It’s just a well-rounded festival, a community festival with close to 500 vendors,” Klutts said. “It’s just grown. It gets bigger and bigger every year.”
People in West Point are getting excited about this weekend, like Ray Hamilton, manager of Anthony’s Market.
Hamilton said he loves the crowd the festival brings to the town.
“This weekend is one of our busiest of the year. It is our only weekend that we open for lunch and dinner on both Friday and Saturday. I’m usually working, so I can’t get down there as much as I like, but I know everyone has fun.”
Lisa Coch, Tourism Committee member and co-owner of Coon Tattoo with her husband, Robbie, said the festival has a big economic impact on West Point.
“It’s really good for the downtown district,” Coch said. “In the long run it makes a big impact, once they see what’s down here, they’ll come back. We have a lot of unique stores around downtown; we have a little bit of everything.”