The Blue Front Cafe Anniversary Party

There may be no better time to experience the Blue Front Cafe than during its annual Anniversary Party, when Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, musicians, regulars, blues travelers and friends of the cafe gather in Bentonia to celebrate another year in the life of one of Mississippi's most remarkable surviving juke joints.

Held each September, generally around the fourth Friday and Saturday of the month, the Anniversary Party celebrates the opening of the Blue Front by Carey and Mary Holmes in 1948. Unlike the much larger Bentonia Blues Festival held in June, this late-September gathering tends to feel less like a destination festival and more like a birthday party for the cafe itself.

If you are coming from elsewhere in Mississippi, Bentonia is roughly 30 miles northwest of Jackson. Travelers attending previous Anniversary celebrations have also reported staying in Yazoo City, making either Yazoo City or Jackson a practical overnight base when accommodations in Bentonia itself are limited.