week ahead

The Week Ahead in the Sip: July 6–12

Mississippi events July 6–12: blues portraits in Jackson, live music in Starkville, a Coliseum rodeo, and festivals statewide.

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06 Jul 2026 — 3 min read

Photo by Floh Keitgen / Unsplash

The fireworks smoke has cleared and the state does not slow down. This week runs from Delta blues portraits to a Choctaw fair that's older than most of what gets called tradition, with a rodeo and a couple of festivals in between. Here's where we'd point you.

★ Worth building your week around

"The Blues is Still All Right: Mississippi Blues in Portrait and Place" — Jackson, now through August 2. The Arts Center of Mississippi downtown is showing a portrait exhibition on the state's blues legacy, and it's free. The exhibition runs at the Arts Center of Mississippi at 201 E. Pascagoula St. from July 3 through August 2, with free entry. If you see one thing on this list, and you want the thing that connects the deepest to who this state is, make it this. Blues didn't happen to Mississippi. It happened here, from here, by people from here. Go stand in front of the faces.

Choctaw Indian Fair — Philadelphia, July 14–18. Technically it opens just past our window, but you plan for this one now. The Choctaw Indian Fair runs July 14–18 in Philadelphia. It is one of the oldest continuously-held gatherings in the state, hosted by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and it is not a costume — it's a living culture inviting you in. Sort your travel this week so you're not scrambling next.

Music

Crossin Dixon — Starkville, Saturday, July 11. Crossin Dixon plays Rick's Café in Starkville on Saturday, July 11. A Rick's Saturday is its own institution in the college town — worth the drive if you're anywhere near the Golden Triangle.

Soul Food — Jackson, Saturday, July 11. Soul Food performs at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson on Saturday, July 11.

Levitt AMP Downtown Jackson Music Series — Jackson, ongoing. The free downtown series keeps rolling through the summer on the grounds near the Two Mississippi Museums. Check the current week's act — the price (free) is right and the setting is easy.

Family, fair & field

Jackson SERA Rodeo — Jackson, Saturday, July 11. The Jackson SERA Rodeo comes to the Mississippi Coliseum on July 11, featuring bronc riding, steer wrestling, calf roping, barrel racing, bull riding, and a junior barrel racing event for kids. Affordable, whole-family, and about as Mississippi a Saturday night as they come.

A little farther out — start planning

Slugburger Festival — Corinth, July 9–11. The Slugburger Festival runs July 9–11 in Corinth. Yes, it's a real thing, and yes, north Mississippi will tell you it's worth the trip.

Red, White and Blueberry Festival — Ocean Springs, July 11. Ocean Springs hosts the Red, White and Blueberry Festival on July 11, with a rain date noted. Coast folks, this one's yours.

Mississippi Songwriters Festival — Meridian, July 17–18. The Mississippi Songwriters Festival takes place in Meridian on July 17–18. Just past the window, but the kind of thing you buy into early.

Exhibition Event

Two more Jackson shows are worth folding into any downtown trip: "REVISITED: Highlights of the Permanent Collection," which pairs historic works by artists like Andrew Bucci and Marie Hull with recent acquisitions from contemporary Mississippi artists and runs through August 30, and the "Back Home Down South" exhibition at Patton House Gallery, pairing Mississippi-born Chris Meshel and Mississippi-based Brejenn Allen through July 15. Both free.

One thing: if you're hosting something and it's not on our radar, that's our gap, not yours — send it to us and we'll fold it in. This list is only as good as what the community tells us is happening. We dig it, we drive to it, we tell you about it. See you out there.