Marks' September Song Festival brings music, vendors to downtown Marks

Les Grande Soeurs and the Quitman County Arts Council keep September Song alive as a free, annual gathering on the last Saturday in September, and in Marks that matters far beyond the stage. The festival pulls people downtown, gives small vendors a place to sell, and turns the county seat into a shared marketplace for music, food, shopping and conversation.

The event traces back to Mary Towner, who became president of the Quitman County Arts Council in the mid-1980s and pushed for more cultural programming in Quitman County. Her vision was broad: dramatic presentations, musicians, plays, poetry readings, storytellers and artists, all folded into one day built around music, vendors and fun for local residents. The first September Song event was held on First Street in Marks and featured choirs from Delta Academy and Marks Middle School, a saxophone solo of “September Song” by Keith White, and performances by Rev. Marvin Myles and Family, Vergia Towner Dishmon, the Bentonia Male Chorus, the Delta Big Four and Otis Clay of Chicago.

As the festival grew, it moved to Third Street to improve visibility for people traveling through the area. That shift helped cement its place as both a cultural showcase and a practical downtown draw. Quitman County still lists September Song among its annual events, and the county’s tourism pages continue to describe it as free and open to everyone. The county also places it alongside other civic celebrations such as Mules & Blues Fest, a sign that the festival remains part of a larger effort to keep music and heritage central to local identity.

The event has clearly endured for years. Mississippi Blues Trail references described an annual September Song Fest in Marks in 2010, another annual edition in 2016 and a 2018 September Song Blues and Gospel Fest that included a 5K run-walk to end Alzheimer’s at the Quitman County Courthouse before the music program. Those references show how the festival has mixed gospel, blues and community activity while keeping its core purpose intact.

That purpose carries real weight in a county this small. Marks had 1,444 residents in the 2020 Census, while Quitman County had 6,176. In a place that compact, a free downtown festival does more than entertain. It strengthens civic pride, gives families a reason to gather on familiar streets and keeps a locally rooted arts tradition visible around landmarks such as the Quitman County Courthouse at 220 Chestnut Street, a 1910-11 building designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1990.