Mayor says best ever; OPD reports moderate arrests

The 27th annual Double Decker Arts Festival has won many awards over the years as being one of Mississippi’s best festivals and this year’s event was no different.

The two-day event kicked off Friday night with live music from Grace Bowers, Conner Smith and Flatland Cavalry. The free concert drew thousands to the Square for the evening.

On Saturday, the all-day event started at 10 a.m. on the Square with about 140 art vendors and dozens of food vendors lining the roads. The children’s area was bustling by 10:30 a.m. and various bands played on the stage on North Lamar throughout the day.

However, before things kicked off on the Square on Saturday, 2,333 folks took part in the annual Double Decker Spring 5K, 10K and Family Fun runs in the early morning hours.

Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill called it the “most successful Double Decker in history” in a social media post after the event. “Thank you to all of the city of Oxford departments that make it happen. It is a huge team effort and it makes me so proud every year to watch our departments all come together to serve our community. Oxford, Mississippi, is still celebrating what we do best — music, food and art.”

The Saturday night concert drew an even bigger crowd to the Square, with folks gathering on North Lamar from the Stage back to the courthouse. Kicking the night off was Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, who went on before headliner, Brittany Howard.

Visit Oxford has announced there would be a special surprise at 8:15 p.m., in between Ingram and Howard’s performances. The surprise was to be a large drone show; however, after about 30 minutes, the event was canceled for “reasons beyond our control,” Visit Oxford announced on its social media pages. 

Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutchen said while the weekend was a busy one, it was a “great weekend.”

“We saw large crowds and had beautiful weather,” McCutchen said Monday. “It was the perfect weekend to have Oxford on display. All of our city employees worked hard to provide a safe, clean and fun experience.”

According to OPD’s weekend crime report, officers made 28 arrests, with seven DUIs and nine for public drunkenness from Friday through Sunday.