WOODVILLE — A conglomeration of culture will be showcased Saturday in Wilkinson County at the third annual Woodville Deer and Wildlife Festival.

The event is being hosted by the Woodville/Wilkinson County Main Street Association, and will take place around the courthouse square downtown from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The festival includes the Wild Game Cook Off, in which contestants will compete in categories of wild hog, fowl, venison and miscellaneous. The entry fee for a team of one Chef and two Sous-Chefs is $75.

Polly Rosenblatt, manager for the Woodville/Wilkinson County Main Street Association, said another outdoors aspect of the festival that’s been growing is the game-calling and storytelling event.

“This festival is a celebration of our cultural history, and game-calling and storytelling is a big part of our history,” Rosenblatt.

“The first year we had about 50 people in the room, taking turns calling turkey and all sorts of wild animals. It’s an event that’s becoming increasingly popular.”

Rosenblatt said another interesting thing about that event is the wide variety of people that make the trip.

“The odd part is, even though people are solicited into coming, no one knows who will actually show up, but they do,” she said.

“They come from all walks of life, all races and both sexes.”

The Mississippi Wildlife Federation’s Chris McDonald will be at the festival to score trophy-sized deer racks harvested in Wilkinson County for the Magnolia Records Program. Natchez Clay Studio’s Mary Baugh will also be on-hand as the featured clay artist demonstrator.

Additionally, the festival will play host to Brian Fedrick from the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, who will present a snake exhibit and teach audience members about native Wilkinson County snakes.

Other events include wooden bowl crafting, pine needle basket weaving and chainsaw artistry. A large number of children’s activities will be featured, including Natchez Clay’s Clay Art for Kids, a youth archery exercise, a youth art contest, animal face painting and pumpkin decorating.

“One of the missions of the Main Street Association is to engage our local citizens in the idea that Woodville is a good place to grow up,” Rosenblatt said.

“If they an walk downtown and have a positive experience at least once or twice a year, we hope it instills the value of art and community, and gives them community pride.”

For more information about the event, visit www.deerandwildlifefestival.com or call 601-888-3998.