Beckham, The Festival And A Busy Week
Danica Hart entertained and inspired at the 2026 Yalo-Ribbon Festival in Oakland last weekend to an appreciative audience. One attendee remarked on Danica’s warm embrace of Oakland by saying, “It’s like she grew up here!”
Oakland News
By Linda Aldy
Our 5th Yalo-Ribbon Festival was just wonderful. The weather, the sounds of kids having fun, and the voices of singers, and the pleasant hum of community members and visitors greeting one another made it such a special day. It reminded me of my favorite song, “It’s a Wonderful World,” and particularly the verse that includes, “I see friends shaking hands, saying ‘How do you do?’ They’re really saying I love you.” The people of Oakland really do love each other, and we are blessed by that.
There are so many people to thank when an entire community works to pull together something like our Festival. There are out-front people and behind-the-scenes people. There are workers and there are sponsors and volunteers and vendors. We are grateful to all who helped and all who attended.
We are very proud that we were able to bring in a big voice like Danica Hart, and we hope you enjoyed her! We love that we had an over-60 singing group to prove that age is just a number, and you can keep on having fun and sharing your love of music no matter your age! We hope the Stayin Alive Singers inspired and entertained!
I had a lot of fun with my six-year-old great-nephew Beckham Smith on Friday as he and I ran some errands getting ready for the festival. Beckham was here visiting from DeFuniak Springs, Fl.. He did some reading at the Oakland Public Library, some math when he helped me get all the numbers ready for the traditional cake walk, and some life-skill lessons when he helped me mail some letters and then went to the bank to get some petty cash for the cake walk ticket sales. That amazing young man dashed around to my driver’s side door each time to open the door for me! I made sure to tell everyone in his family about it because that seems to be pretty rare these days.
After making sure we had everything ready for the Festival, Beckham and his grandmother (my sister Martha) and I went over to see my mom, Margaret Ross, at Tallahatchie General. She continues to do amazingly well at her physical therapy work. She has enjoyed getting reconnected to many people she has known over the years who are also there right now. She is looking forward to getting released in the next little bit, but she may miss those good cooks there and being served her meals and all the socializing and activities. It seems they really know how to hire for attitude and caring and skills there. They should be winning awards if they are not!
On our way back to Oakland, we had to make a stop for Beckham to meet Scissors, the award-winning pig, and pose for a picture.
Beckham Smith, six-years-old, was visiting his great-grandmother Margaret Ross recently and stopped to meet Scissors, a famous award-winning pig who had his own house in the early 1900s near Charleston.
Speaking of awards, I mentioned last week that the Enid Depot was named Mississippi’s Most Iconic Restaurant in April by Business Insider. Sisters Janet, Martha, and I, along with Beckham, decided we had better go up there and check it out again! Plus, the bridge is now open, so it’s easier than ever. We had some mighty good food and plenty of it. We all had to-go boxes and enjoyed our food the next day as well!
I am really excited to be headed to Michigan with one of my college friends to visit the famous Tulip Festival in Holland, Mich. Sister Carol will be entertaining us, and my son Josh and wife Rosy and baby Huckleberry, along with my two grand-dogs, are coming up from Chicago. It is even colder there than it has been here during this cold snap. I’ve packed a puff jacket and a good scarf and hope it will be enough!
One of our projects for our America250 Mississippi grant is to do a memory walk in honor of those who died during military service. If you have any friends or relatives and would like for them to be remembered, please send us their name and branch of service. Contact LaTonya Sayles or Cassaundra Pipkin with the Oakland Area Lions Club for more information or to share the name of the person you would like remembered. Text Cassaundra at 662-360-5689 or email LaTonya at Oaklandarealionsclub@gmail.com.
Let me know if you have news to include. Contact me via email at oaklandareachamber@gmail.com or text or leave a message at 601-853-3942.
