Historic Jefferson College is now taking applications for vendor booths for the annual Copper Magnolia Festival, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20.

This is the 27th year for the Copper Magnolia Festival, which occurs on the beautiful grounds of the historic site. The event will include crafts, music, delicious food and a children’s area. Vendors will be selling various art, crafts and flea market items. The Henry Turner Jr. and Flavor band will provide a free musical concert from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Adams County Master Gardeners will present a fall garden workshop that will include a plant sale and a seminar on gardening. In the children’s area the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science will offer hands-on activities. In addition there will be a space jump for the children. As usual, the museum, nature trails and gift shop will also be open. There is an opening for a group to do a bake sale and/or a cakewalk.

Research revealed that the college sponsored agricultural fairs in the 1830s and 1840s. These early fairs gave local citizens an opportunity, to display vegetables and fruits, new farm machinery, needlework, quilts and other hand-sewn items. Today’s Copper Magnolia Arts and Crafts Festival and Flea Market continues this early tradition by allowing vendors to display and sell items and crafts of today.

The deadline for registering for the Copper Magnolia Festival is Sept. 16. The fee is $40 for a for-profit business or individual and that fee is waived for charitable organizations such as clubs, church groups, schools, and other civic organizations. Anyone wanting more information should contact Kay McNeil, or Robin Person, P. O. Box 700, Washington, MS. 39190, send e-mail to rperson@mdah.state.ms.us or call 601 442-2901 for more information and registration forms.

The Copper Magnolia Festival, sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, is free and open to the public.

Kay McNeil is a historian at Historic Jefferson College.