The annual festival to celebrate Theodore Roosevelt’s great black bear hunt in the Mississippi Delta more than 100 years ago is back for the ninth year.

The event will take place Oct. 24 in Rolling Fork.

“We consider ourselves the birthplace of the teddy bear,” said the festival’s coordinator, Meg Cooper. “This year’s theme is Just Another Day in Bearadise.

Cooper expects more than 6,000 people to attend the festival, held at the Courthouse Square. It will feature live entertainment and other activities.

“Each year, we get better vendors and bigger crowds,” Cooper said.

Kicking off the festival, at 8 a.m., will be the annual 5K run/walk. New this year is the children’s mile fun run. Participants must meet at the gazebo.

Other events include a Youth Wildlife Olympics, which will be on the east lawn of the Sharkey-Issaquena County Library, a prehistoric Indian mound driving tour led by archaeologist Sam Brooks of the U.S. Forest Service and story time at the library. Live music at the main stage will be by a different entertainer in blues to classic rock each hour.

Returning for a second year are historian Case Hicks of Denver as Roosevelt and Mississippi chain saw woodcarver Dayton Scoggins, who will carve a 12-foot bear from a cypress log donated by Anderson-Tully.

“They are both works of art,” said Cooper.

Also, vendors will be on site to sell homemade items.

This year, the wildlife angle of the festival comes from its sponsor, the Bear Education and Restoration Group, or BEAR.

It, along with other nonprofit wildlife organizations, such as the Mississippi Wildlife Federation and the Theodore Roosevelt Refuge Complex, will man information booths. A fireworks show will close the festival.

Admission is free, but a $3 donation is appreciated. “It’s a first-class festival for our small town,” Cooper said.

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Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com

If you go

The Great Delta Bear Affair is Oct. 24 at Courthouse Square in Rolling Fork. The event is free, but a $3 donation is requested.

Events

• 8 a.m. — 5K run/walk; $15; meet at the gazebo.

• 8:30 a.m. — Youth Wildlife Olympics; east lawn of the Sharkey-Issaquena County Library, 116 E. China St.

• 9 a.m. — Children’s fun run; $15; meet at the gazebo.

• 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. — Indian mound driving tour; USDA building off of U.S. 61.

• Stories at the library — 10:30 a.m., Doris Jones; 11:30 a.m., “Snake Man” Terry Vandeventer; 1:30 p.m., black bear research.

Entertainment

• 9 a.m. — Sharkey-Issaquena Mass Choir, gospel

• 10 a.m. — Meredith Virden and Bryan Ledford, variety

• 11 a.m. — Local Temptations, motown

• 11:45 a.m. — Eden Brent, blues

• 1 p.m. — King Edward and the Blues Band, blues

• 2 p.m. — Shadz of Grey, variety

• 3 p.m. — Elvis impersonator Tim Johnson

• 4 p.m. — Eupora, variety

• 5 p.m. — Tea & Sympathy, blues and old rock

• 6 p.m. — Grayhounds, classic rock and blues