Featuring the Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show

The 2009 Loblolly Festival takes you back to the days when Laurel was a true sawmill town. The Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show, performing three times that Saturday, Oct. 3 will wow you and your family with their events and competitions, including log rolling, cross cut sawing, chain saw carving and more!
Be sure to check them out at the corner of 5th Avenue and Library Road during the festival. A guide to the full day of festival events will be available in The ReView of Jones County at the festival entrances and as part of the regular weekly edition on Oct. 1.

Name change

By now it has been well publicized that the Main Street Festival has changed its name to the Loblolly Festival. Why Loblolly you might ask?
First, here's the meaning of the word:

lob·lol·ly
1. One of several pines native to the southeastern United States.
2. A low, wet place

The name loblolly has become associated with several varieties of trees, all of which favor wet bottomlands in the Gulf and South Atlantic states.

Before it became the beautiful City of Laurel, this area was a low, wet place. This was the perfect climate and setting to grow one of our greatest resources, the yellow pine timber that helped fund the development of Laurel through its milling. We no longer have the sawmill, but the legacy that it left is certainly worth celebrating at the annual Loblolly Festival in the same site where the old mill once stood-- Downtown.

Food vendors

Update: 220 volt outlets are available but must be requested in advance. These requests may affect your placement at the festival. For more information, email laurelexpress@gmail.com