Supervisors discuss use of Fairgrounds

The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors voted to extend the current state of emergency for another 30 days and to keep on track with the Governors recommendations during their Monday meeting.

So far, the county has followed Governor Tate Reeves blanket order and guidelines for the slow opening of certain businesses. Large gatherings are still prohibited and safe social distancing practices should still be used for everyone’s safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin said that he had received information that led him to believe that Gov. Tate Reeves may passed an order on June 1st basically opening things back up to allow events beyond the current limits on gatherings of no more than twenty people.

Lumpkin said the county had received calls about the use of the Fairgrounds facilities. Lumpkin said the Mississippi High School Rodeo Association (MHSRA) had called about hosting their event in Poplarville at the Fairgrounds since they were unable to rent the facility in Hattiesburg due to a shortage of sponsors as a result of COVID-19. Lumpkin stated the MHSRA told him they could have their event the third week of June.

After a discussion of the current situation, the Board agreed to allow practices to held for rodeo related activities at the Fairgrounds facility in Poplarville, but the board will not allow events with spectators to be held at the facility. The Supervisors agreed to wait until May 28 to see if any actions come from Gov. Reeves in regards to events being allowed.

Several events that had been planned have been put on hold, such as the Blueberry Jubilee, which moved their date to the month of October, the Picayune’s Spring Street Festival which will not reschedule the spring festival, but began preparations for the scheduled November festival. The WRJW Senior Citizens’ Fair and Expo has been postponed until further notice.