The townsend blues festival is back in Columbus

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Barbeque, funnel cakes, and live music is what festival-goers saw when they showed up at Townsend Park on Saturday, July 3, 2021.

“It’s just something so people can relax let their hair down and just have fun for one day just come in peace you know just have a unity this is just about unity this is for everybody,” said the festival president Wendy Blunt.

Blunt and Co-Founder Jeff Smith decided to cancel last year’s event due to the covid-19 pandemic. Now, citizens are ready to getting back to what they love.

“We sat down and weighed the options on whether to do it or not all the things that we looked at said it’s time for us to get back to a sense of normalcy and this allows us to start that process,” said Smith.

Columbus’ DJ Lovebone invited blue artists like Lacee and Wendell B to perform crowd favorites.

“We became a partnership now he not only provides us with not only our music but a portion of our advertisement as well as being here on sight that day on sight as a support group that brings people into the area,” said Smith.

There was a special honoree the committee remembered, late Co-Founder Gene Taylor. Coordinators organized a scholarship fund in his remembrance.

“We’re doing this in honor of him this is something he and supervisor Smith had done over the years this is our first year without him being here so this year we’re going to be doing a memorial service for him,” said Blunt.

Citizens celebrated the unity of the community.

“People come home for the fourth of July it’s like a big reunion a big vacation for a lot of people everything is going to co-inside and tie in together,” said blues artist Falisa Janaye.

The Blues Fest kicked off at 11 a.m. and ran until 10 p.m.