Burnsville, a small town of roughly 600 people on the Tombigbee Waterway in northern Mississippi, will swell with crowds of more than 1,000 this weekend when it hosts its annual Burnsville Waterway Festival.
The festival began in the 1990s centered around a large boat ramp on Yellow Creek, Burnsville Mayor Laurie Lawson said. Lawson’s father, former Burnsville Mayor Bobby Johnson, oversaw the festival in its early days. Johnson served as mayor for 20 years until 2005, and Lawson remembers attending the festival when she was younger at a time when it was a Saturday-only event.
Today the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce manages the Burnsville Waterway Festival, which has become a two-day event and expanded beyond its original scope, moving from the boat ramp to a site just behind Burnsville City Hall.
“Bringing in over 1,000 people a year makes this a huge show for a small town like ours,” Lawson told the Mississippi Free Press. “We can do it thanks to so many volunteers from outside the city limits coming in to help us all throughout the year. For my part I go around promoting the show and Burnsville to as many businesses as I can and convincing them to invest in us here.”
This year’s Burnsville Waterway Festival takes place on Friday, Sept. 25, and Saturday, Sept. 26.
‘Quality Help, Quality Livestock and Quality Contestants’
The Burnsville Waterway Festival kicks off at 8 p.m. on Friday with the Buckin’ on the ‘Bigbee Rodeo, which has been part of the festival since 2022. Rafter M. Rodeo, which is part of the International Professional Rodeo Association, hosts the event. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m.
Springfield, Tennessee, native and four-time world champion bull rider Dennis Morris founded Rafter M. Rodeo in 1994. Morris, who spent 20 years competing in riding tournaments across the United States, said he already had the name of his rodeo in mind when he was a teenager.
“I remember I was sitting at home watching the national rodeo championship finals on television when Donnie Gray, the world champion bull rider at the time, came out and rode a bull that was considered the world champion of bucking bulls,” Morris said. “That bull belonged to a man named Dale Hall, who owned the Rafter H. Rodeo company. I decided then and there that when I got to a point where I could run a rodeo of my own, I was going to call it the Rafter M. Rodeo.”
Buckin’ on the ‘Bigbee takes place in a hay field behind the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce building, where volunteers set up their own makeshift arena with bleachers every year. The rodeo will feature barrel racing, bull riding, team roping, deer wrestling, bareback riding, calf roping, breakaway roping and more, as well as a rodeo queen pageant and an appearance from the Mississippi Highway Patrol’s mounted unit.
“Our rodeo not only has world champion riders but also world champion announcers, world showcase clowns and the best animals you’ll find anywhere,” Morris said. “When you have quality help, quality livestock and quality contestants you know that means you’re going to have a great show.”
The rodeo takes place on both Friday, Sept. 25 and Saturday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $5 for students and free for children ages 4 and under.
‘Our Biggest Weekend Around’
After the opening night of the Buckin’ on the ‘Bigbee rodeo, the main part of the Burnsville Waterway Festival begins on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 10 a.m. The festival will include a 5k morning run and plenty of activities for children such as a petting zoo, games, jump houses, a miniature train ride and a NERF shooting gallery. There will also be a craft fair with at least 75 vendors selling baked goods, clothing, pottery, jewelry, soaps, lotions and more.
The Mid-America Old Time Automobile Association will host a car show during the festival featuring at least 50 retro vehicles. The Wacky Dogs Food Truck, an Iuka, Mississippi, business that specializes in Korean corndogs, will be at the festival along with other food trucks and vendors selling barbecue, chili cheesesteaks, funnel cakes, snowcones, ice cream, dirty sodas, homemade lemonade and more. There will also be bingo games throughout the day.
Live music performances will include the Dwight Watkins Band, The Lisa Lambert Band, The Lovelace Family, The Bridge Church band and the Burnsville elementary-school and junior high-school choirs.
Festival organizer and Burnsville Chamber of Commerce member Caley Bodey, who has attended the festival every year since finishing college, praised the festival for all the attention it brings to her community.
“The Tombigbee Waterway where this all started is a huge part of our town, and this is a great way to present it to visitors from all over,” Bodey said. “It’s our biggest weekend around here. My girls and I love coming out here to see everyone and to support all our neighbors who come out to make food.”
For more information, visit the Burnsville Waterway Festival’s Facebook page.
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