Jail Bills, Concert Dreams and a Renaissance Fair

A single unpaid bill can turn into a full-blown test of how local government works, and that’s exactly what’s happening between the City of Columbus and Lowndes County. We walk through the jail fee standoff step by step: the original per-inmate agreement, the Mississippi Attorney General opinion that undercuts it, and the city’s claim that it “overpaid” and should be able to withhold new payments as credit. 

To lighten things up, we shift to the Columbus amphitheater, a new construction timeline that points toward a real opening next spring, and what hiring a professional promoter could mean for booking concerts and building a downtown Columbus live music destination. We also react to an alleged offering plate theft at a local church, using it as a springboard for church security basics and how to make a clearer 911 call under stress. 

Plus, special guest Wesley Stewart joins us to explain why Festival of the Fae is exploding in popularity and what to expect at the two-day Renaissance festival.

Transcript

Cold Open And Weekly Rundown

SPEAKER_00 0:01

I don't know what has come up with today to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

I'm not asking you to hide anything. No, put it out there. Let the people see it.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

I've never not worked in a hospital working department.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

You can't argue with anybody when they're putting facts in your face. Zach, that's a hard question. I have no answer for it. From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch. This is Between the Headlines.

The City And County Jail Rift

SPEAKER_03 0:29

This week on Between the Headlines, the City of Columbus is declining to pay its bill from the Lowndes County Detention Center. We talk about why and what that might mean. Also, here we are, T plus 128 days since the completion of the amphitheater. But by next March it might be for real's done. Lots of exciting things to talk about there. And thou shalt not steal, we are taught, but um one man forgot his Sunday school lesson, created a disturbance in a local church, stealing from the offering plate he did, allegedly. And special guest Wesley Stewart, Festival of the Fae. That's an exciting topic. We'll talk about that and other things, but first. Retirement looks different for everyone, so your plan should be built around you. For over 40 years, Financial Concepts has helped people create retirement strategies that fit their lives. Our team in Columbus takes the time to understand your goals and build a plan that works for you. Wherever you are in your journey, we're ready to help. We plan retirement. Financial Concepts is a registered investment advisor. This episode of Between the Headlines is brought to you by Bank First, a bank headquartered right here in Columbus, Mississippi. That means your banking decisions aren't made hundreds of miles away by someone who doesn't know you. They're made here locally by bankers who know your name and care about the community. At Bank First, we're more than bankers. We're your neighbors. Whether we're cheering in the stands, catching up at a local pancake breakfast, or celebrating milestones across our community, we're part of the moments that matter most. Stop by your local Bank First branch or visit bankfirstfsfs.com to learn more. Bank First is a member FDIC and Equal Housing lender, Bank NMLS 454063. You are listening to Between the Headlines. Welcome to Catfish Alley Studio. Our host today is Seller of Uncertified Tomatoes and Managing Editor of the Dispatch, Mr. Zach Plair. And my name is David Chisholm. Well, Zach, here we are again in the studio talking about a disagreement between the city and the county. What else is new? Yeah, what else is new? Sometimes these disagreements are more feisty than others. This one here is interesting because of the subject matter. It has to do with inmates. That is to say, the City of Columbus is believed by the county to owe quite a bit of money that they're not willing to pay because of an opinion issued by the State Attorney General that kind of makes a pre-arranged agreement moot in point. Let's break this down little by little. So originally there was an agreement between the city and the county.

SPEAKER_05 3:19

Signed on the dotted line.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Signed on the dotted line. I voted in favor, they did, and it was enacted.

SPEAKER_05 3:26

I I can explain the mechanics of the agreement uh very quickly. Yes. Uh so the agreement that they had that they signed in 2022, I believe it was, it graduated what they would pay per inmate per day for the county to house inmates that the city arrested while they were city inmates. Now that is a different subject of when they would become county inmates. There's some disagreement there too that the law doesn't really very clearly define. But they were starting with 30, then they went up to 35, and they had gotten up to forty-five dollars a day per inmate.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

So the city it was at that time liable for that amount, which really and truly represented about sixty, seventy percent, maybe even less of what it actually cost when you consider you know security and all that it requires.

SPEAKER_05 4:24

I think uh seventy-nine dollars a day is what Eddie Hawkins, Sheriff Eddie Hawkins, told me it costs to uh house an inmate. Uh that's the total cost with everything.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

So really the city was supplementing the cost of their inmates more so than paying the whole bill.

The Attorney General Changes The Rules

The Overpayment Credit Argument

SPEAKER_05 4:38

Correct, correct. And you have to take into account that city residents are also county taxpayers. So there you you have to take into account that city residents are paying county taxes that are already going toward that. So, you know, to hold the city responsible for paying that entire amount would be a little like. Yeah, it'd be a little like taxing the uh city residents twice, which ends up being what the city is doing in this case. But um So fair enough. Right. So uh$45 a day was what the agreement was. The AG's office looked at that agreement and said, Yeah, that's fine. So they signed off on the agreement between the city and the county. And then they came back three years later and said you can't the you cannot charge more than$25 a day unless the uh inmates have been in there more than 30 days, then you can charge$32.71. But so it nullified as far as the city was concerned, the agreement between the county and the city, and that we're we're following statute. One would assume that they were paying$25 a day then. Okay, well, if you if you won't pay the contract rate, you'll pay the statutory rate, right? Well, here comes some advice within city hall, among city administration. They're not paying anything. Why aren't they paying anything? Because they went back and they said, well, you know, over the time that we were paying more than the statutory amount The business owners listening are shaking their head like right now being you know. We overpaid to the tune of something like$165,000. So we're gonna get we're gonna get our overpayment back. We're reclaiming our overpayment by just simply not paying the bill.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

We've got credit because we paid more than we were supposed to.

SPEAKER_05 6:34

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

We agreed we were gonna pay that amount.

SPEAKER_05 6:37

Right. And the county is uh calling Baldurdash, sent them a demand letter. They need two hundred and uh uh sixty-three thousand dollars for unpaid jail bills since last March. Interestingly enough, the city council finds out about this and says, What the hell are you talking about? We're not paying our jail bill. They never voted not to pay the jail bill. Jim Brigham didn't post those invoices onto the claims docket. There's some disagreement on what invoices the city actually received, how they received them, and when they received them, but they knew they owed the money and they didn't pay the money, even though they taxed their residents for the line items in the budget to pay for the jail uh service, yeah. And then they didn't spend that money, so they taxed them, said, just kidding, and then the county may have to raise taxes next time to make up for the difference.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

That's not gonna go over well, so nobody likes to be nobody likes to pay twice. No, they don't like that at all. So So yeah, basically the city is saying uh we've got credit and we're gonna withhold the check until either a judge tells us we need to do otherwise, or our credit is uh rendered paid in full by um just by virtue of the passage of time and the number of inmates that pass through the sills of the Lowndes County Detention Center.

County Leverage And Services At Risk

SPEAKER_05 8:11

Well well now, and here again, uh the the city council, I don't think, is on board with that. The supervisors and the council want to have a meeting. They're gonna have a joint public meeting at some point, and I think they're gonna hash this out, and I think that the city will ultimately pay their bill. But they're gonna do they're gonna do it over and above the uh advice of the city attorney. They're gonna do it over and above the actions of the CFO and the objections of the mayor, and and who who have collectively and unilaterally made this decision because it was never voted on by the council, and they're pissed, and I can understand why. This whole thing has kind of reminded me of something that pops up every once in a while, and it's something that I think um uh the city might need to be careful of and remember, and and and I'm gonna hear about I'm gonna hear about this later for saying it. I asked Tripp during our interview when does when do the gloves come off? And he said, I'm gonna keep my gloves on a long time. But there are a whole lot of services, a whole lot of things that the county and city do have agreements on that the county provides. If the county was to pull out of those or kick the city out of those, the city would be up a creek. Um I'm not gonna give the direct quote, but you may remember former Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders uh had something to say the last time this popped up, and it had to do with not getting into certain types of uh contest with the county because the county uh had quantity and duration on the city, if you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:02

Well and and and it he wasn't wrong.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

It's true, but I think you and I both hope it just simply does not come to that because I don't I don't know where you are on this, but I'm I'm generally always in favor of the city and the county getting along. However, when it comes to money, and you're talking about this one here, my intuition is they're gonna wait on somebody in the judiciary to tell them to write the checks.

SPEAKER_05 10:28

Maybe and if it takes a long time to do it, you want to know what the county can do? You want you want to know some of the things that the county can do?

SPEAKER_03 10:36

They have the option of not housing inmates for that's one thing that they can do.

SPEAKER_05 10:41

They can tell them figure it out. Which uh I was uh I was chat GPT in this this morning. The estimate on building a new uh building a municipal jail for 50 inmates, which is uh they average 40 at the at the county jail. So you get a 50-bed jail up, building that thing is gonna cost$25,$30 million.

SPEAKER_03 11:03

It's gonna take some time.

SPEAKER_05 11:05

It's gonna take some time and you're gonna have to staff it and feed those guys. So that's a that's a that's a money pit when you've already got a jail, and all you gotta do is pay your bill. There's other things that they can do too. Tripp mentioned a few of them in the story where they're talking about getting out of this mowing contract that they have for Highway 45 uh uh rights away. Recycling bins, the get out of that contract. He he even mentioned uh getting out of the airport contract as a possibility to recoup some of the money that they think they're losing now. But who collects city ad valorum property taxes?

SPEAKER_03 11:41

Who collects the county collects that do they have taxes? The state collects the sales tax portions.

SPEAKER_05 11:46

Does the county have to collect city sales tax? No, the county does not have to do that. The city contracts with the county to collect city property tax. The county can get out of that contract, tell them to collect their own taxes, which is another office, a few more people. You're talking about what, four or five hundred thousand dollars maybe for them to start a tax office from scratch again? If we are going to collect your taxes, what if we go well we double the cost? What what if we make it not worth your while to continue that contract with us? What if we recoup our money that way? And there's nobody can say to them, Well, we don't owe you that. Well, for a service like that, you owe them what the county charges, or you do it yourself.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

That's a lot of leverage right there. It is a lot of leverage. That's a high degree of unhealthy codependency, quite honest. So, Zach, you're not telling me necessarily that the city and the county's going to get in a fight over the you're not hoping for that.

SPEAKER_05 12:52

I'm certainly not. And and I think that the council and uh the Board of Supervisors, I think, are are uh d very much trying to avoid that. Uh in any case. I don't think that the city administration wants to get in a fight with them either, but I mean there's some real there's some very real things to argue about here. And, you know, so up until that meeting, at the meeting they say, okay, yeah, we'll pay that jail bill, we'll we'll hash these things out reasonably, we're willing to go in with you and and petition a court to get an answer on um the jail fees moving forward, um, etc. etc. I think that that's something that that will be amicable and can remain amicable. But if the council goes in there and says, Yeah, kick rocks county, we're not paying you anything that we don't think we owe you, and we don't think we owe you anything. The county has options to get their money back, and I believe that that's when those options or when some of those options are going to be pursued.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Yeah, so basically, the uh emotions aside, the county holds the Trump card and things are mostly a matter of business. Yes. But uh we talked about a jail potentially opening if it came down to the ugly ugly. Uh would that be a hard opening or a soft opening when they got ready to put people in that jail?

SPEAKER_04 14:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:14

Be open by the end of the year. By the by December 30th? Something like that.

SPEAKER_05 14:20

Okay. So they would build the they would build the cells, but they wouldn't let anybody go in them. That's right. They would build up until they got the gate built.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

And hopefully they would build it high up in elevation.

SPEAKER_05 14:32

Yeah.

Amphitheater Build Timeline To March

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Otherwise, it could be some type of New Testament story going on right there. All right, in case you haven't caught on, we're talking about the amphitheater now, which um the city has now entered into contract with Burks Mordecai. Is that correct? And it is a 300-day construction agreement, which would have the amphitheater opening like for real in March of next year. I would have it finished.

SPEAKER_05 14:58

By uh by then. Uh now when they would open it would depend on now they've got to they've got to find a promoter, somebody who can uh the and they're probably the next step is they're gonna accept proposals from uh uh promoters and operators of boutique amphitheaters to see who they want to get to do that, and then they'll be responsible for finding vendors and booking shows and et cetera.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

So that's what Jason Spears was like, okay, good, it's gonna be done, but like can we use it and stuff? Yeah. I mean, I'm wondering if if we can't legitimately plan for stuff knowing that it's gonna be done and ready. I mean, do we well do we have to wait for the last brick to be paved? Oh no, for the last placard.

SPEAKER_05 15:46

All you gotta wait on to plan stuff is for is to hire the firm that's gonna be doing that. And that's that's gonna be the next step is getting those people in place to where they can start that process and then this thing can start rolling out. That's my understanding anyway.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

Aaron Powell So if they say we're gonna put the the grand placard right there on March 30th of next year, it's not unreasonable to say that we can go ahead and have a concert plan for May or something.

SPEAKER_05 16:15

I wouldn't think so, but I I mean I I wouldn't think that would be out of the way if everything goes um according to plan, but you know, best laid plans and whatever, that thing hasn't had a show yet. But dude, like I I I'm not gonna talk about the naysayers. We talked about the naysayers last time. I'm not a naysayer. I am so excited about this because man, I'm I love going to concerts. And I had to go to Tuscaloosa and Birmingham and Atlanta and Tupelo and all of this. It's gonna be so awesome to go right there for for for concerts. And one of the things that the naysayers always say, who's we're gonna get to come to Columbus and who's gonna want to go see them? Well, there's plenty of people that'll come to an amphitheater like that, and I've got some ideas, and I brought them with me, Dave. You want to hear my ideas?

SPEAKER_03 17:04

You've got them written down. I've got them written down.

SPEAKER_05 17:06

Uh and Kevin Stafford, I know that you're not the promoter, but I know that you're on you and Francis Glenn and some others are on the uh uh stakeholder committee. I know y'all have got the ear of the people who are gonna be planning shows. I know you'll continue to have those people. So pass this along. Let them know. This is my list for the first season.

Dream Concert Lineup Brainstorm

SPEAKER_03 17:29

All right, here we go.

SPEAKER_05 17:31

All right, and and listen, it's not gonna I I these are gonna be theoretically realistic. It's not gonna have Taylor Swift on it. Yeah, people within reach. Right, right, right. It's not gonna have Taylor Swift on it, although when she does get into her AARP era, maybe, you know, in 20 years, she'll come along.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Interesting.

SPEAKER_05 17:48

Check this out Third Eye Blind.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

Okay. Remember third eye blind? Third eye blind.

SPEAKER_05 17:53

Third eye blind. You don't know third eye blind?

SPEAKER_03 17:56

Listen, you're gonna be.

SPEAKER_05 17:57

Semi-charmed life? We're the same age, David. You don't know third eye blind?

SPEAKER_03 18:01

You don't know how culturally inept I was. Okay, well let's find out. Lit going. Have you heard of Lit? Uh Lit. I remember talking about Lit, and I remember they telling us not to listen to Lit in Sunday school.

SPEAKER_05 18:13

The Lit's uh Place in the Sun. The first album with the sticker on it, with the with the Tipper Gore sticker on it that my mother allowed me to buy.

SPEAKER_03 18:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 18:24

Yep. Cisco.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Cisco.

SPEAKER_05 18:28

Cisco.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

They're the ones that sell the uh They Cisco's a dude. He he did the he did the I was thinking about potato salad. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_05 18:36

He did the he did the song of the summer in 2000. I won't say the name, but you know it. Little something for everybody, Lone Star.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

All right, now we're good.

SPEAKER_05 18:45

Okay, all right, so we get in this country, and I know Lone Star will come. Hell, Lone Star played in Warren, Arkansas, where I'm from. They played the Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival like 10 years ago or something. They'll come here and people know them.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

Let me ask you this. I got three more. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05 19:00

I got three more.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

He's he's especially animated today. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 19:03

Hender. Have you heard of Hender?

SPEAKER_03 19:05

Hender.

SPEAKER_05 19:06

It's a rock group. They've got great songs. People know them. I'm gonna send you a Spotify playlist, uh, David, when it's over with. You'll catch up on our generation of music.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Please do.

SPEAKER_05 19:17

Mystical? Bumping me against the wall.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

Oh, that's some VH1 memories right there.

SPEAKER_05 19:24

There you go. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:25

And uh Joe. These are people that would probably come. I mean And people would go see them. They would. I mean Kevin, that's my list. Well, what we're looking at is either up and coming. Most of those are uh past their prime. Hey, listen, you don't have to say that. I've already mentioned a few of mine. I I did a short list here. Six Penth, none the richer, um Collective Soul. Yeah. I think I think Blues Traveler would not.

SPEAKER_05 19:55

I mean, that would be a good one. I'm not going to that.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

You wouldn't go to that.

SPEAKER_05 19:58

Oh, blues traveler is not my thing.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

Um what about um American Idol winner Trent Harmon? Bring him back to town. You know, he's from Amory. Yep, he is. You know, that'd be an idea. I just I'm glad we would be hiring a propet a professional promoter because I um I I'll just be honest at Stephen Curtis Chapman and Mac Powell came to a local church, one of the larger churches, and nobody was there. And I was horrified and it was embarrassing, and I just hope that we do a good job in our promotion when we bring these um decent headliner artists into town.

SPEAKER_04 20:36

Yeah.

Offering Plate Theft At Church

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Yep. Okay. A good time will be had by all. So, Zach, when when I was young, I remember listening to Jeff Foxworthy, and one of his big jokes was if you make change in the offering plate, you might be a redneck. Well, here in the Friendly City we had one guy that not only made change, but he tried to make off. Yeah. Allegedly the whole dead gum uh plate, and uh I guess he caused a domestic disturbance because it wasn't uh well we'll get into public disturbance because there's um there were some words put on the record by Chief Daughter. So we're talking about um what's the name of the church? It's on short main.

SPEAKER_05 21:23

Yes, Canaan Baptist Canyon, I believe.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

And um the interesting part of the story to me is the perpetrator was taken out into the parking lot by a retired law enforcement deacon at the church.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 21:41

Yeah. So yeah, this is rich.

SPEAKER_05 21:43

This guy comes in, causes a disturbance. He starts walking around the church during the offertory, and he walks up to the plate, grabs a fistful of money, tries to make off with it. And um I don't know who the retired police officer is, but like m I I'm wondering if Fred Shelton goes to that. Church and he tackled the guy. I don't know. I need to ask him the next time I see him. But whoever it was, it was somebody who used to be in law enforcement, retired, uh apprehended him at the back door. Him and another deacon take him out to the parking light. Police respond very quickly. Uh they get this guy arrested. Um strong arm robbery is a charge. He's strong arm robbery.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

Uh and that that's not armed robbery, that just means you forcefully did something to take something and then try to get away.

SPEAKER_05 22:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

And it's a felony.

Mental Health Claims And Soft Targets

SPEAKER_05 22:30

That's correct. He's in the on he's in the jail on$5,000 bond right now. But um couple of things that uh Daltrey said in the story, one of them was kind of wild, the other one I thought was pretty profound. Uh the wild one. Um unfortunately, we have a lot of people around here who have mental issues, but then we also have some uh some who don't have mental issues and act like they have mental issues.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

I don't think that's wild at all. I mean, he's actually spot on because if you're stealing money out of the offering plate, we already know you're crazy.

unknown 23:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

We already know you've got problems. But you might just be desperate. I I get that, but the thing is you gotta have a loose wire to cross that edge, I think. Well, I guess what I'm saying to you is a lot of people when they commit a crime, they're gonna in some way or fashion make an excuse, and the excuse might be, oh well, I'm I'm just I'm just mentally down. I I've got a I've got a sickness with the case. Crashing out. I'm just crashing out. Just crashing out. Um what if that guy, that man that went on the shooting spree in um Cedar Bluff, what if he claims insanity?

SPEAKER_05 23:47

I'm sure he will.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

I'm sure and and so so there you go. I think the the whole mental health deal, uh it it's an important thing to talk about, but as far as that being an excuse to exonerate yourself from a crime, Chief J Chief Daughtery's right. It's um he can't be claiming that.

Practical Church Safety And Training

SPEAKER_05 24:04

But I mean uh d one thing and what he was saying when he was talking about that is there are a lot of these folks walking around looking for soft targets. Churches are soft targets. And um not this one. Except for Canaan. Don't go to Canaan if you want to do this. The thing that he said, he was talking about he was talking about uh, you know, uh people go to churches to get help, and then those church people can sometimes be preyed upon because of that, and this is obviously one of those cases where a church was a soft target. One thing that uh Chief Daughtry um uh suggested or or is said that he is planning to launch is uh uh some sort of training with churches um to get to kind of prepare for these types of things. And I think that that's a good idea. I mean, done right. I don't I don't think that this is the the type of thing that you say uh that you're gonna like teach the 87-year-old deaconess how to do jujitsu. I don't think you have the officer going in there and say, You guys are the army of the Lord, you say, prove it.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

I don't think that you've got that thing, but uh there's a lot of Republicans in the churches I know about. And I don't think jiu-jitsu is gonna be the the the primary option, but anyway.

Better 911 Calls And Safer Giving

SPEAKER_05 25:23

You can very easily have a few officers trained on what to on how to teach this, and you can very easily get church if churches reach out to them, they go there, and you think about the things that um you wouldn't think of in a moment if you're not prepared for it, if you've never gotten the information. Just you know, very uh very simple things like how to keep yourself safe, how to get away from situations that you don't want to be in, how to diffuse situations before they before they escalate to something violent or unsafe. Teach the public about those things. But here's something that I was thinking of this morning that could be part of that training that I think would be very valuable. When you call 911, how to talk to that 911 dispatcher. What do you need to tell them? How do you need to tell it to them? What questions do you need to be prepared to answer? Just a very simple okay, if you're the one who calls 911, stay calm, give information in this order, give them this information first, they're gonna ask you these questions typically, be prepared to ask answer these questions quickly and accurately, and then our officers or the ambulance or whomever is gonna be better prepared or best prepared to help you when they get there. The response is gonna be quick and it's gonna be more effective if you make the 911 call this way.

SPEAKER_03 26:43

But I can't help but wonder if um this church might potentially change their mode of collecting their offering. You know, I I I say that because you know you've got some churches that have a big coffer out in the vestibule area. I've been in churches where they have these baskets on poles and it's a deep well basket. Oh stick your hand and then you might lose a finger or something, but they'll actually stick it out there in front of people. It's a kind of fun to watch, actually.

SPEAKER_05 27:14

Well, um a lot of the a lot of the uh uh woo-woo churches have gone to the QR code, but it doesn't it doesn't have the same effect as an usher looking at you at the end of the aisle and handing you the plate and then looking at you like you're gonna put something in there, right?

SPEAKER_04 27:30

Right.

SPEAKER_05 27:30

So the so the pressure is, I guess, off a little bit from that, but uh QR code is safer because you can't have a a vagrant run in and steal that out of the plate.

Festival Of The Fae Arrives

SPEAKER_03 27:39

Well, and I and I've seen uh videos of the offering plates that have the credit card slot on the side of it. Oh, really? But I I think that might have been AI though. Not really sure. Pay interest on your offering. And at this time, we are pleased to have in the studio Mr. Wesley Stewart, who runs Festival of the Fae, and they are having their spring renaissance celebration, May 16 and 17th. Glad to have you in here, sir. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

It's exciting to be here with y'all.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Dude, this is this is like exciting to me, but also unfamiliar to me.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

It's unfamiliar for a lot of folks in this area. So I'm glad I could bring y'all something uh something new to the area.

SPEAKER_05 28:21

Well, now is this the is this the first time that y'all have done two days?

SPEAKER_02 28:24

Yeah. Our last year's events, uh, which we ended up having three of unexpectedly, were all single-day events. They were kind of a litmus test for the area, see how they did, see how well we were received. Uh and we resounding success. Everyone loved it. And at our October event, we estimated in excess of 20,000 guests over eight hours. So after that level of success, we have to go to two-day events to kind of spread the crowd.

SPEAKER_03 28:56

Yes, sir. Where is this located?

SPEAKER_02 28:58

At 43 Luxelin Drive.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

Now that that's off of Black Creek Road in the middle of a field?

SPEAKER_02 29:04

Yes. It's where the Lux.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

I've been out there. I can't imagine there being some big to-do out there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

If uh if you're familiar with the rivers, it's where uh Luxapalila and Black Creek meet. It's actually a pretty well-known piece of property for the folks that are locals. Uh I moved out here in 2024 and I bought the old coal property, and they used to hold church retreats and family reunions out there. So I've got a 31, 32-acre peninsula between two rivers, and the whole front stretch of my property is is growing into the Renaissance Fair.

SPEAKER_03 29:39

So you have this big party in your backyard, is what I just heard. Front yard. But yes. Dude.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:45

Well, now I I went out to the uh uh October event.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

You did? I did. So you got to see the level of crowd that we had.

SPEAKER_05 29:52

So yeah, I saw saw the crowd, saw the uh different I th I was there for the uh one of the wrestling demonstrations, and I saw some of the other things that y'all were doing then. How did y'all get into this particular genre of event?

Why Wesley Built A Renaissance Fair

SPEAKER_02 30:04

So I've always loved going to Renaissance fairs, Comic-Cons, everything like that. At my core, I'm a big nerd. And I love any excuse to dress up, have fun, especially with my kids. Halloween is a dying art form, and there's just not enough opportunities to dress up, be silly, and make some memories. So when I moved out here, I quickly realized that to do that, I was gonna have to drive four, five, six hours to go to one of these things. And my traveling days are behind me. I don't like to stay in a car that long. Uh so decided to do it myself. I started making some contacts, got uh put in touch with some people who were very unique and niche artists and vendors who really didn't have a foothold in a lot of the markets that were already existing. So our first event last year was it was basically a street market on my property in costume. And people loved it.

SPEAKER_05 31:00

And that's but people are dressed up like everything from fairies to Henry VIII.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Absolutely. Uh you go to some of the larger Renaissance fairs, and they can be a little elitist with period accurate and lore correct. And that's not us. We are a high fantasy comic-con. So dress up as your favorite fantasy creature. Uh come in a Star Trek costume and pretend like you're exploring a foreign world. All right. Just come and have a good time.

SPEAKER_03 31:25

So if my old English is off at this place, it doesn't particularly matter.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

No, not at all. As long as you were smiling and having a good time, that's all anyone cares about. It's just an excuse to have fun.

SPEAKER_05 31:38

So so I mean, what kind of events are y'all gonna have? How are y'all feeling these two days?

Acts, Contests, LARP, And Axe Throwing

SPEAKER_02 31:42

So we have been putting in the work on that. We have fire dancers, multiple music acts, multiple dance acts, we've got costume contests. I'm hosting an axe throwing competition on Sunday where the prize is a custom engraved and etched uh Viking axe. Uh we've got falconry demonstrations, we have bubble fairies, we have bug fairies, we have story times, we have so much the the stage is going to be occupied basically from open to close on both days. Uh to the point that we even have some performers who are having to resort or just wanted to go the route of Troubadour style, where they're just gonna wander the faggrounds playing their loot. Oh, that is awesome. So you get to just walk up, toss a coin to your Witcher because they're they're they're doing it for love of the game. Um we've got blacksmithing demons demonstrations, uh, we've got professional grade LARPers, which is live action role play, that are going to have their own separate arena where you can put on um uh foam armor, get a giant foam weapon, and just go in there and play whack-a-night. Um the wrestling uh exhib uh exhibitions have expanded uh to storylines that they're trying to build and things like that. No, it is everyone who's gotten involved uh in this has fallen in love with it. And it is it's it's growing. We're we're at this point, I couldn't stop if I wanted to. People love it too much. All right.

SPEAKER_05 33:27

I mean, have you been surprised by the overwhelming positive reaction to what you're doing and the and the participation building so quickly?

Local Stigma And Surprise Success

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Personally, I wasn't uh I'm I've lived all over. I've background in the military, been been all over the states, all over the world. I wasn't personally surprised, but I have noticed that a lot of local people have been surprised with how well we've been received. There's a I guess you could say there's a lot of stigma with, you know, breaking away from the norm and being a little alternative and, you know, being a witchy-woo-woo girl, all right, who likes gems and crystals and sage. A lot of people, when I started to conceptualize this last year, were like, oh, you're not gonna be well received at all. And you know, there's always a few trolls on the internet, but we've had almost no naysayers, all right. Um and whereas I wasn't surprised, a lot of local people were. They're like, wait, this is taking off here? I never expected this. So we've got a lot of like nerds uh and coming out of the woodwork going, I never thought I would have this in my hometown. All right, and I love it. I'm like, well, in this day and age, everyone's a nerd. Who doesn't like Lord of the Rings? Who doesn't like their superheroes? All right, so yeah, you don't have to travel anymore. It's it's a homegrown, Columbus-owned Renaissance fair, and we're not going anywhere. We do have multiple nonprofit organizations who participate in this event with us. Um so if you're gonna come out, please show your support to them. Um, some real close friends of mine have been helping me since my first event. Um uh Crossroads, great bunch of guys. All right. Um, but yeah, there's going to be multiple nonprofits on site. Uh, and I would love if people coming out would give them all of their love and support.

unknown 35:31

All right.

SPEAKER_05 35:32

Now, who are you gonna be?

SPEAKER_02 35:33

So I play a character at the events, uh Jarl Vidar Feyhammer. And if you've ever seen me in costume, you know exactly why I have that name. I carry a giant hammer um that only the worthy can lift. All right. Um and we've got so many character actors that are gonna be walking around. We've got uh an entire uh adventure quest set up. It's seek and find. You get to um there's there's a prize that you build as you go through the Fay Grounds, and we've got character actors that are going to be doing guided tours of that. Um and yeah, when I say that people have have fully committed to this, like I've got I've got volunteers who have told me their five-year plan for development and growth of their character. All right.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

That's awesome. So now, do you have to dress up? It says that costumes are encouraged, but are they required?

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Aaron Ross Powell No, not at all. Uh as a matter of fact, I sometimes wish I didn't have to dress up because that leather can get to be a lot in the Mississippi heat.

SPEAKER_05 36:37

So Well, and you get to feeling unworthy with that hammer after a while, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 36:41

Yeah, yeah. The hands and the traps end up hurting. Uh but no, no, come as you are or come as who you want to be. All right. Uh they say dress for the job you want. So I'm sure I'm gonna see a Batman out there. All right.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

I'm gonna come in the Jim Carrey rhinoceros.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

You know, uh actually uh I'm not sure how serious you are, but that rhinoceros is up for sale on eBay.

SPEAKER_03 37:04

Dude. I'll have to check on that.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

Yeah. So a little uh little plug-in there for you. I'm not sure who's selling that, but I I saw it on my Facebook that someone's actually selling the original rhinoceros from that movie.

Logistics, Tickets, And Spreading The Word

SPEAKER_03 37:18

I'll be checking that out after the break for sure. Our special guest today has been Mr. Wesley Stewart. That is Festival of the Fae, Spring Renaissance Festival, starts Saturday, May 16th at 11 a.m. and goes throughout the weekend. Thanks for telling us about this. I've got one more question before I let you go. I mean, this has kind of slipped my radar, and I just I'll be honest, I wasn't aware of this until today. And you know, for something that has that that that large number of people attending, I mean, how do you do like security and logistics and uh have you dug the outhouses yet and and and all that kind of thing?

SPEAKER_02 37:56

So uh no outhouses. We're actually sponsored by Knights Environmental. They they provide us with with some porta potties. Pansies. Um not everyone's for roughing it, all right. Um but a lot of people that I've met haven't heard uh about us yet, and frankly, that's because we've been operating on a shoestring budget. Um last year it was a free-to-attend event um and I keep my my vendor fees very low, and I do that because I'm trying to promote other small business owners. I'm not I'm not doing this to get rich. I'm retired military. Um but because of that, I haven't been able to to afford things like commercial spaces or a billboard and stuff like that. Uh and this is actually the first uh event where we're charging full admission price of of ten dollars, you know, uh for 13 and up, 12 and under is free. But hopefully after this event we can get some more commercial spaces, get a radio spot, maybe a local billboard, something like that. Um, because every time we host one of these, I'll end up walking around in the weeks after in a shirt, and they're like, I didn't hear about it until it was over when I saw my friend posting on Facebook. When are you doing your next one? And it it it always happens. I'm trying to get the word out to everybody, and that's why I'm so appreciative to folks like y'all who are who are giving me a platform to do that to spread the word.

SPEAKER_05 39:15

Well, David, are you ready to get your ears on and your wings? Are you going as uh you go as Legolas from Lord of the Rings?

SPEAKER_03 39:22

I don't know about that. Maybe a a Zelda or a Dragon Quest character, or maybe just a swamp rat, clean off the kayak.

SPEAKER_05 39:30

Yeah, you wouldn't have to dress up at all. You just come as you are.

SPEAKER_03 39:33

Exactly. I could just come in and you know, it uh that would be quite authentic, truth be told.

SPEAKER_05 39:39

Well, I'm boring and and very vanilla, so I'll probably be there, but I won't be dressed up. I don't have any cool things like that.

Quick Local Updates And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_03 39:44

I'm not sure I believe that. Well, Zach, three things I need to know.

SPEAKER_05 39:50

Number one, Baptist Urgent Care on Highway 45 permanently closed this week due to, quote, declining community demand for walk-in urgent care services. The clinic had operated for 13 years, the last three under the Baptist banner. Number two, Lowndes County's assessed valuation is expected to approach one point six billion next year. That's billion with a B. According to tax assessor Greg Andrews, that's a roughly thirty percent increase from what it is right now. That'll bring in more than four million dollars in new taxes to the county next year. Number three Don't miss the 8th of May celebration beginning at 6 p.m. Friday at Sandfield Cemetery. Commemorating Emancipation Day in Columbus, MSMS students will portray black locals as well as others from the past who have helped shape the community's history.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

Reach out to us, tips at cdispatch.com. You can also follow me on Facebook or X at D Chisholm Double Zero and leave a public comment. Keeping it real here in Catfish Alley Studio and Historic Downtown Columbus, your host has been Zach Player, and I am David Chisholm. Y'all stay friendly out there.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

I'm just a simple old country boy, but um, I think that makes sense. I've stepped out and I've said what I had to say.

SPEAKER_03 41:12

You've been listening to Between the Headlines with Zach and David. That's what old people do.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

That is.