NATCHEZ — The fourth annual Great Big Yam Potatoes Old-Time Music Gathering and Fiddle Contest kicks off at 8 a.m. today at Historic Jefferson College. Enjoy performances by some of Mississippi’s best old-time musicians on the outdoor stage, watch talented fiddlers young and old vying for the prize in the fiddle contest, or join a jam session in the shade of the college’s majestic live oaks.

“We are so happy to have the Big Yam Potatoes Festival back again this year,” Robin Person, director of Historic JeffersonCollege, said. “With the sounds of fiddles, banjos, and dulcimers echoing over the college grounds, it doesn’t take much to imagine being back in the 1840s.”

Old time music string performances begin at 9 a.m. with Johnny and Beth Rawls. At 10 a.m. Reeves Jones plays, followed by Connie and Hal Jeannes at 11 a.m., the Cane Grinders at noon, Pat and Cindy’s Cajun and Old Time Review and Rhythm at 1 p.m., Jack Magee and Sound Wagon at 2 p.m., and Wolf Gap Ramblers at 3 p.m.

The fiddle contest also begins at 9 a.m. Children, ages one to eleven, will compete in the PeeWee division, followed by the Juniors division for ages twelve to seventeen. The adult competition begins at 1:30 p.m. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and is $5 for each category. Cash prizes will be awarded for first and second place in each category. Senior fiddle players wanting to play, but not compete pay a $10 fee for each category.

Arthur Davis of The Old Country Store in Lorman, Miss., whose country cooking was featured in “Southern Living” and on the Food Network, returns this year as food vendor.

The Great Big Yam Potatoes Old-Time Music Gathering and Fiddle Contest is presented by the Mississippi Fiddlers’ Association.

The Mississippi Fiddlers Association was formed in late 2007 to advance interest in rural fiddle music.

Historic Jefferson College is located in Washington, four miles north of Natchez. Jefferson College was the first institution of higher learning in the Mississippi Territory.