Once again the Miss-Lou is getting ready to welcome the “Bluebirds’s” to town.

This will be our fifth annual Bayou Bluebird Rally. It is an awesome event held at the Vidalia RV Park, and this year it’s all happening Feb. 24 through March 3.

The event is hosted this year by Mark and Lori Rabalais of Alexandria, La., and Jerry and Natalie Lyles from Natchez.

The Bluebird theme this year is “Bluebirds on the Mississippi.”

To help kick off this event Mayor Buz Craft of Vidalia and Mayor Darryl Grennell of Natchez have graciously agreed to help welcome the bluebird families in making them feel at home here in the Miss-Lou.

We are expecting 30 or more Bluebird coaches to participate in the Bayou Bluebird Rally.

Bluebird Wonderlodge is a high-end brand of class A recreational motorhome vehicles. For many years the Bluebird was in a separate class of motorhomes alongside brands like Prevost and Newell.

In 1963, Bluebird designed the prototype for the Blue Bird Transit Home, based on the Blue Bird All American school bus.

Built in For Valley, Georgia, the Blue Bird Transit Home was manufactured by subsidiary Cardinal Manufacturing.

In a tour to market the vehicle, Blue Bird showed off the prototype to potential dealers and buyers at a number of campgrounds and RV parks throughout the United States.

The transit home received little attention until a 1965 article featuring the vehicle was published in House Beautiful magazine; soon after, the company secured five orders for the $12,000 vehicles.

For 1998, a new generation of Wanderlodge debuted; all versions were produced entirely by Blue Bird. Side by side, the most visible change was the much larger windshield.

Wanderlodges were produced with slide-outs as an option to increase interior space while parked. In 2002, all Wanderlodges were produced with slides.

Bluebird coaches are known to be the safest and offer the highest quality and best value in the industry. Boasting on an all steel frame and amenities that rival other high-end coaches. In 2009, Bluebird manufactured its last coach.

You might ask why is all this information being shared with you, well you are in for a treat, the public is invited to come out on Saturday, March 2, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and have the opportunity to tour the Bluebirds and see the grand wonder they offer. It’s all free.

So if you are out and about during this time and you just happen to pass a Bluebird on the road honk your horn and give a friendly wave and welcome them to our small town community.

Natalie Lyles is a Bluebird owner and an organizer of the Bayou Bluebird Rally.