A group in Sumrall is working to make the Lamar County town a festival stop during the year with seasonal celebrations and special events.
The Sumrall Development Foundation has been sponsoring the annual Christmas parade and a prayer breakfast for the past 10 years after it was organized. Dr. Stephen Beam was one of the original members of the group.
“It was started about 10 years ago by some interested citizens,” he said. “It was my wife, Dawn, and I, Hank and Melinda Wright and a few others that started it.”
Beam added that the prayer breakfast has been special. “In that particular program, we give two scholarships to high school students and we name a Citizen of the Year. Two years ago, the Citizen of the Year was Alvin Beasley.”
Beasley, a longtime Sumrall firefighter to whom the fire station is dedicated, was killed last year by a hit-and-run driver just outside of town.
Other recent additions by the Sumrall Development Foundation have been two murals near City Hall and work with the program on Veterans’ Day.
The Sumrall group’s funds are supervised by the Greater Pinebelt Foundation. Celebrations are in the works, beginning with the first Spring Festival on April 21 in downtown Sumrall.
At the Beam Park and Longleaf Trace, activities and food are planned, beginning at noon. Bluegrass music starts at 4 p.m. with highlighted singers Jess Dickinson, Coleman Stuart and Bill Rodgers, among others. At 6 p.m., Sam Newman and Mississippi Moonlight will entertain with country music.
The Sumrall Cinema takes over at 8 p.m. with the movie “Sing.”
The Sumrall Development Foundation’s plans for other celebrations continues later in the year. One July 12-14, the Sumrall Community Theater will take to the stage for its first production, “Smoke on the Mountain,” Beam said.
“We have some people who have been involved in stage productions,” he said, “and we want to see if we can get enough interest. William Carey (University) staged this play about two years ago. It includes hymns and some of the older songs that will be entertaining.”
Members of the Community Theater board are Beam as president, Sumrall High School Choral Activities Director Jeffrey Coulter as vice president and Laura Beasley as secretary.
“There has been some talk of doing another production at Founders Day Oct. 6,” Beam said. “So, we are considering that, along with a Fall Festival.”
Beam said he wants Sumrall to become a town known for its festivals.
“We want to make Sumrall a destination, not a place to drive through,” he said.
