Water Valley prepares for its annual “Crappie Drop”
WATER VALLEY, Miss. (WCBI) – When the clock strikes 12, the giant crappie will drop in Water Valley.
James McCormick, the Crappie’s creator, and others were making final touches to the fish for the New Year’s Eve event.
“We wanted to do it as a wide-open public event not so much a private party but as a city-wide thing. The whole idea is that anybody should feel comfortable coming down to the ‘Crappie Drop,'” said McCormick.
The Crappie pays homage to Fred Bright, who caught the world’s largest white crappie in 1957 in Enid Lake, right outside of Water Valley.
McCormick also designed the Crappie with mechanic fins to symbolize the town’s railroad history.
“It’s a mix between an old locomotive and a fish. This was a huge railroad town. This was the main hub between New Orleans in the south end and Chicago in the north end. All the train scheduling happened here. All of the telegraph wires came here,” said McCormick.
Originally, a small group of friends met in 2017 with a paper mâché crappie, but since then, the event has become city-wide and have gained more popularity.
“We’re trying to build it, add things every year. So, we got the auld lang syne. We got the torch. And yeah, what else do we have? Oh, we’re going to have a merchandise table,” said McCormick.
McCormick is expecting around 300 people to attend the Crappie Drop this year.
