{"id":165169,"date":"2026-08-25T08:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=165169"},"modified":"2026-08-24T17:54:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:54:04","slug":"g-o-a-t-picnic-celebrates-76-years-of-music-heritage-and-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/g-o-a-t-picnic-celebrates-76-years-of-music-heritage-and-community\/","title":{"rendered":"G.O.A.T. Picnic Celebrates 76 Years of Music, Heritage, and Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For 76 years, the <strong>G.O.A.T. Picnic<\/strong> has been more than a festival\u2014it has been a celebration of family, culture, and one of Mississippi&#8217;s most treasured musical traditions. Held every August in <strong>Coldwater, Mississippi<\/strong>, the event continues the legacy of the late <strong>Otha Turner<\/strong>, the legendary fife master whose annual Labor Day picnics helped preserve one of Mississippi&#8217;s oldest living musical traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today that legacy lives on through Turner&#8217;s granddaughter, <strong>Sharde Thomas-Mallory<\/strong>, and her husband, <strong>Chris Mallory<\/strong>, leaders of the <a href=\"https:\/\/risingstarsfifeanddrumband.godaddysites.com\/\"><strong>Rising Stars Fife &amp; Drum Band<\/strong><\/a>. Together, they have brought this centuries-old tradition across the country and abroad, inspiring a new generation to embrace Mississippi&#8217;s rich cultural heritage. The Rising Stars recently introduced <strong>Mississippi&#8217;s fife and drum tradition <\/strong>to an even wider audience through their appearance in the Academy Award-winning film <strong><em>Sinners<\/em><\/strong>, showcasing a musical tradition that remains deeply rooted in North Mississippi while continuing to reach new audiences worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZV2Yox0Ymlc?si=xawIn9lR8-76uizy&amp;start=70\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year\u2019s G.O.A.T. Picnic features an exciting lineup of live entertainment, highlighted by legendary Grammy Award-winning blues icon <strong>Bobby Rush<\/strong> and the Rising Stars Fife &amp; Drum Band. Along with the music, guests can enjoy unique offerings like the crowd-favorite BBQ Goat Nachos, one of many traditions that make the G.O.A.T. Picnic a one-of-a-kind experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/goatpicnic.com\/\"><strong>76th Annual G.O.A.T. Picnic<\/strong><\/a> has earned national recognition by being selected for <a href=\"https:\/\/festival.si.edu\/2026\/of-the-people\"><strong>Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals<\/strong><\/a>,<strong> <\/strong>a nationwide initiative celebrating America&#8217;s cultural traditions and expanding the <a href=\"https:\/\/festival.si.edu\/schedule?trumbaEmbed=eventid%3D199114083%26seotitle%3DGOAT-Picnic%26view%3Devent%26-childview%3D\"><strong>Smithsonian Folklife Festival<\/strong><\/a> during the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary. The partnership recognizes the G.O.A.T. Picnic as an important cultural event dedicated to preserving the music, history, and traditions of North Mississippi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The G.O.A.T. Picnic is more than an annual event; it is a living testament to the power of community and music heritage. As Otha Turner&#8217;s legacy continues through the Rising Stars and the next generation of musicians, the festival remains a place where Mississippi&#8217;s past is celebrated, its present is honored, and its future is preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>76th Annual G.O.A.T. Picnic <\/strong>takes place <strong>August 28\u201329<\/strong>,<strong> <\/strong>at <strong>8647 Highway 51 South <\/strong>in<strong> Coldwater<\/strong>. Admission is free. For more information and event updates, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/goatpicnic\/\"><strong>G.O.A.T. Picnic Facebook page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rtreIRSLnoU?si=aVtlz7CIwbTpipKo\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"25\" height=\"16\" class=\"wp-image-14544\" style=\"width: 25px;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg?resize=25%2C16\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For 76 years, the G.O.A.T. Picnic has been more than a festival\u2014it has been a celebration of family,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":165276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[321,19,52],"tags":[3755,6134,35633,5,35635,4005,21782,35634],"class_list":["post-165169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-localfestivals","category-local-news","category-music-shows","tag-bobby-rush","tag-coldwater","tag-g-o-a-t-picnic","tag-mississippi","tag-of-the-people-the-smithsonian-festival-of-festivals","tag-otha-turner","tag-rising-stars-fife-and-drum-band","tag-smithsonian-folklife-festival"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GOAT-ad-bands-2026-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C2246&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165169"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165277,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165169\/revisions\/165277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}