CLEVELAND — Through support from the National Park Service and the Mississippi Development Authority, the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area (MDNHA) has awarded a total of $231,000 to 14 organizations for this fall’s festival/event grants and cultural heritage grants.
“We are excited to support our fall 2025 grant cycle projects,” said Stephanie Patton, MDNHA Board Chair. “Supporting these festivals and projects helps stimulate community-based cultural heritage tourism across the Mississippi Delta and promotes local pride of place and economic activity.”
Five organizations were awarded fall 2025 Festivals and Events’ grants supported by the MDNHA, at $5,000 each:
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The Delta Fresh Foods Initiative in Bolivar County, received funding for their Fields and Flavor Heritage Festival, held on Saturday, November 15.
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The GRAMMY Museum’s Cleveland Music Foundation received funding for their Rock’n Blues Family Day: Celebrating Elvis and B.B. King, which will be held on Saturday, November 15.
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The Greater Greenville Development Foundation received funding for their Delta Hot Tamale Festival, held on October 16-18.
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The Quitman County Government received funding for their annual Mules & Blues Festival, held on Saturday, October 4.
- The Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau received funding for their Historic Art Festival, held on September 26-28.
Nine organizations were awarded fall 2025 Cultural Heritage grants, which focus on initiatives that preserve, perpetuate, and celebrate the Mississippi Delta's rich and complex heritage:
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The B.B. King Museum & Delta Interpretive Center received $25,000 to support B.B.’s Bridge Building Ambassadors Youth Leadership Program, which engages Sunflower County high school students in leadership development, Mississippi Delta history and culture, and community service through training experiences and internship opportunities.
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City Lore received $25,000 to support The Bill Ferris Field Notes Podcast, a new series that brings Dr. Bill Ferris’s extensive archive to life by exploring Mississippi’s cultural history and its influence on contemporary Blues artists for audiences in Mississippi and beyond.
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Cleveland Music Foundation, Inc., received $24,372 to support Crossroads School of American Music: Delta Sessions 101, continuing high-quality music education for 4th–12th grade students while expanding offerings with beginner, intermediate, and new adult sessions running January through early spring.
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The Delta Blues Museum received $20,389 to produce a traveling exhibit and companion website highlighting the history and impact of Rooster Blues Records, including public programming and educational activities in partnership with founder Jim O’Neal.
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Dream Innovations received $25,000 to develop Delta Portal: Voices, Vision, and Virtual Legacies, an interactive digital heritage exhibit in Yazoo City that preserves and shares Mississippi Delta residents’ stories through immersive technology, oral history, and community-driven media.
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Friends of Lexington Preservation received $25,000 to support the Lundy House Restoration Project, advancing critical roof, window, and door repairs to preserve one of Lexington’s oldest historic structures and establish it as a cultural anchor for Holmes County.
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The Mississippi Delta Nature and Learning Center received $11,245 to create the Mississippi Delta Heritage Garden, a culturally inclusive garden cultivated by youth interns and volunteers that highlights the food traditions and histories of the region’s diverse communities through educational plantings and signage.
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Mississippi Heritage Trust received $25,000 to conduct a comprehensive historic resources survey of approximately 644 buildings in Belzoni, as a first step toward a future National Register nomination, engaging students as interns and offering community workshops on architectural history, preservation, and historic tax credits.
- Washington County’s Economic Alliance, Delta Compass, received $25,000 to support the preservation and adaptive reuse of the historic Nelson Street Shotgun in Greenville, restoring a 1941 example of Black craftsmanship as a community meeting space and interpretive site within a broader African American heritage corridor.
The MDNHA includes 18 counties that contain land located in the alluvial floodplain of the Mississippi Delta: Bolivar, Carroll, Coahoma, DeSoto, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Panola, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica, Warren, Washington, and Yazoo. The MDNHA was designated by U.S. Congress in 2009 and is governed by a board of directors representing agencies and organizations defined in the congressional legislation.
For more information about the MDNHA, contact Dr. Christy Riddle, MDNHA Interim Executive Director, atcriddle@deltastate.edu, or visit the website at: www.msdeltaheritage.com.
