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By MAIA BRONFMAN/The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — About 500 gallons of water from the back of the firetruck rained onto Minor Street on Saturday afternoon during the 32nd Minorville Jubilee. Children from the neighborhood ran in and out of the shower, flailing their arms and legs.

“Water is what we do,” said Natchez Fire Chief Robert Arrington as he stood near the truck, watching the joviality.

Farther up the street was food, a DJ and a face painting stand. Laquanda Cooks watched her daughter, Alana Cooks, get a butterfly on one cheek and a unicorn on the other. It was Sa’Myria Gibson’s first time facepainting at the Jubilee, after doing other volunteer work last year.

Natchez Ward 4 Alderwoman Felicia Bridgewater Irving said she and others have been planning for the Jubilee since March of last year.

At the last Jubilee, the group offered school supplies and personal protection equipment, like face masks. This year, nonprofits like AJFC Community Action Agency and the National Council for Negro Women joined to offer information on COVID and voter registration.

The Minorville neighborhood was originally part of the property of Concord Plantation, whose owner’s name was Minor.

The day began at a Gospel Hour, with a devotional from the Rev. Clifton Marvel and remarks from Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, Alderman for Ward 2 Billie Joe Frazier and Irving. Anissa Hampton and H-Funk, a music group from Jackson closed the festivities with a performance in the afternoon.

“It’s about getting the community out, to bond and to move forward,” Irving said.

Minor Street is a beautiful location for the Jubilee, she said, with the newly added sidewalks, curbs and gutters. The most recent big development in Minorville was the church annexation in the 1980s, but Irving said she hopes to change that.

“The overall mission,” Irving said, “is to open an after-school tutorial center and a computer center.”

In the meantime, she’s planning a cycling route from the next Jubilee along a Civil Rights Trail. It will begin on Minor Street at the memorial for Wharlest Jackson, a Civil Rights activist murdered in Natchez by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967.