NATCHEZ &045;&045; A 13-page article in the magazine &uot;Taste of the South&uot; has organizers of the annual Great River Food Festival excited.

The festival will be Aug. 5 and 6, and will feature a kick-off &uot;Taste of the River&uot; on Friday evening; and, on Saturday, a progressive luncheon in the garden district, the popular &uot;Great Chefs in Great Houses&uot; in the evening and during the day other events, cooking contests and demonstrations at the Main Street Marketplace.

With a story, recipes and many color photographs about the festival in the recently released magazine, the spread is advertising money could not buy, said Laura Godfrey, executive director of the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce and one of the founders of the event.

&uot;We were thrilled and amazed,&uot; Godfrey said after seeing the article. &uot;Our event appeals to local folks, but it brings people from all over the place to Natchez.&uot;

Godfrey expects good results from the article in the magazine’s summer edition. &uot;It’s a relatively new magazine, touching a new market. Our phones should start ringing.&uot;

Regina Charboneau, also a food festival founder, said articles such as the recent one are the results of continued work on events such as the food festival.

&uot;We’re creating plans, and we’re sticking with them. The food festival is a good example,&uot; Charboneau said.

Out-of-town participation already accounts for a large number of ticket-holders to the festival.

Godfrey said 75 percent of the tickets sold for the garden district luncheon were to out-of-towners.

Organizers continue to add new events, both to draw more in-town participation and to appeal to more out-of-town visitors, she said.

One new event this year will be a mixology class sponsored by the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans. &uot;And Regina is expanding the biscuit cookoff to include a contest for children,&uot; Godfrey said.

Some changes in schedule also will help to keep people involved who are not able to get tickets to the great chefs dinners. &uot;We’ve moved the Bowie’s Tavern time for that reason, starting later,&uot; she said.

&uot;Brews on the Bluff&uot; at Bowie’s on Main Street will be 5 p.m., with Soulshine Pizza, Abita beer and bocce ball. Last year the event began earlier in the day.

Charboneau said she continues to be excited about the food festival. &uot;This is the fifth year. It’s a good inside event in a low-tourism month. And Walter Tipton (city tourism director) has been able to show us the difference the food festival has made (on the economy) each year.&uot;