These 7 Mississippi Towns Have The Most Unique Festivals

Mississippi sits in the Deep South and deeply south of normal. Diverse cultures blend in this state, creating singular celebrations that you cannot find in the north — or in most other places, for that matter. Mississippi's small, rural communities are even more prone to putting their weirdness on display. Learn where you can find festivals for tamales, catfish, Kermit the Frog, shrimp boats, and music mixed with crawdads in mystifying Mississippi. Here are seven Mississippi towns with the most unique festivals.

Corinth

Each July, the northeastern city of Corinth celebrates slugburgers. Before you click out in disgust, know that slugs have nothing to do with slugburgers. Local lore holds that, in 1917, resident John Weeks began making burgers with cost-cutting ingredients like potato flakes and flour. He sold them for a nickel, also known as a "slug" in old school parlance. Eventually soybean grits replaced the flakes and flour, creating a burger that will "slug" you in the stomach. Thousands of people happily slug their own stomachs for the Corinth Slugburger Festival, which, in addition to burger slinging (or slugging), features live music, a car show, and even a Slug Idol competition. Its 38th edition is set for July 10 to July 12, 2025. As a regional delicacy, slugburgers are not festival-specific. If you visit Corinth outside of July, you can sample slugs at the Slugburger Cafe or else slide down the "Slugburger Trail" to other northeastern slug-hubs like Latham’s Hamburger Inn in New Albany. There, it is more appetizingly called a doughburger.

Belzoni

You have probably heard of catfish, maybe even eaten catfish, and perhaps you have caught catfish. But have you ever celebrated catfish with a whole day of catfish-themed activities? Residents of Belzoni, Mississippi, do just that on the first Saturday of each April for the World Catfish Festival. Although it might sound like a novelty, Belzonians have every reason to celebrate catfish, whose farms fuel their economy. As such, Belzoni is nicknamed the "Farm-Raised Catfish Capital of the World." Its 48th World Catfish Festival ran on April 5, 2025, and featured catfish meals, catfish crafts, a catfish-eating contest, and the Miss Catfish Pageant.

Clarksdale

As a Mississippi Delta city where cotton was tinged by blues, Clarksdale has a number of unique musical/cultural festivals. Tops among them, the Juke Joint Festival, runs in April and honors the informal music venues that catered to Jim Crow-era African Americans. Clarksdale keeps that history alive with over 100 artists playing modern day juke joints like Red's, Pete's Grill, and the Ground Zero Blues Club. Another Clarksdale jamboree, which is even older than the Juke Joint Festival, is the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival. Its 37th edition is set for August 8 to 10, 2025. More quirky Clarksdale celebrations are the Hambone Festival and the Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival, both of which happen in October.

Leland

Jim Henson grew up in Leland, Mississippi. For those who do not know, Jim Henson created the Muppets, which means he is responsible for much of our childhoods. Among his many characters are Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Bert and Ernie, Gonzo, Oscar the Grouch, Miss Piggy, and, of course, Kermit the Frog, who was supposedly named after Henson's friend from Leland. The city thus hosts the Birthplace of Kermit The Frog: An Exhibit of Jim Henson's Delta Boyhood and used to host the Leland Frog Fest until it morphed into the Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Festival. Though it now casts a wider net, this May fest still features a lily pad brunch, creek leap, Kermit hop contest, and lots of Kermit flair.

Tupelo

While Leland honors the King of Fraggle Rock, Tupelo honors the King of Rock. Elvis Presley was born in this small Mississippi city, which annually hosts the Tupelo Elvis Festival on the first full weekend of June. Activities range from the Running with the King 5K at Veterans Park to the Ride Like the King Car Show at Cadence Bank Arena to the Pure Elvis Concert at The Lyric Theatre to the Tupelo Elvis Festival After Party at the Silver Moon Club. Other events, like the Tupelo Youth Elvis Tribute Artist Competition, are held at the Elvis Presley Birthplace & Museum, where you can pay your respects to The King year-round.

Greenville

Greenville is one of the spiciest places in America. We mean that literally. In 2012, Mayor Chuck Jordan declared Greenville the "Hot Tamale Capital of the World," a title that was trademarked the following year. Nowadays, the Delta Hot Tamale Festival keeps tamales hot in Greenville. It runs on the third weekend of each October and involves food trucks, live music, a parade, a hot tamale cooking contest, and a hot tamale eating contest. Like with the aforementioned slugburger, hot tamales have a "trail" in Mississippi. Thus, before or after the festival, you can follow the trail to compare tamales at Doe’s Eat Place in Greenville, Airport Grocery in Cleveland, Abe's Bar-B-Q in Clarksdale, and all the hotspots in between.

Biloxi

As a Gulf Coast getaway, Biloxi is quirky on land and on sea. On land, it hosts Cruisin' The Coast, which gathers cars and car enthusiasts from across the U.S. for "America's Largest Block Party." Music and crawfish enthusiasts gather six months earlier for the Crawfish Music Festival, which runs in April and pairs artists like Puddle of Mudd and Bret Michaels with spicy boiled crustaceans. A different kind of crustacean is celebrated on Biloxi's waters for the Blessing of the Fleet & Shrimp Festival. Set to have its 96th edition in July 2025, this event marks the start of shrimping season with a literal blessing of the boats by a Catholic priest. Said boats are also decorated for cash prizes while a festival breaks out to further honor the fleet with food, music, arts and crafts, and a Shrimp King and Queen coronation.

Corinth, Belzoni, Clarksdale, Leland, Tupelo, Greenville, and Biloxi are the queens of Mississippi quirkiness. They not only have unique histories and attractions, but they annually host unique celebrations that derive from their histories and attractions. You can therefore attend an Elvis jamboree in the birthplace of Elvis, a hot tamale festival in the hot tamale capital of the world, and a shrimp boat blessing at the gateway of shrimp fishing.