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NATCHEZ — A motorcycle parade will be the highlight of a weekend of food, music and fun next weekend on the Natchez Bluff.

The Seeds of Change Resource Foundation’s third-annual Bikers’ Weekend on the Bluff takes place Friday Oct. 1 and Saturday Oct. 2.

“This year we expect over 250 bikers, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we have 300 to 400,” said the non-profit organization’s founder Carolyn Myers, Ph.D.

Myers said this year’s theme is “Leading the Way to Make a Difference,” which is what the organization aims to do with the community’s support.

While there is no cost to join the festivities, attendees can support the foundation’s Help the Homeless Project by offering a donation in the amount of their choice at a donation table that will be set up at the event site in Bluff Park.

The kickoff event starts 2 p.m. Friday, which is a meet and greet with the bikers followed by an after party on the roof at Natchez Manor at 8 p.m.

Saturday, festivities will last all day on the bluff with the motorcycle parade led by the Grand Marshal, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, starting at 3:30 p.m. on Broadway Street.

Myers said the bikers would make their way up Franklin Street all the way to the Forks of the Road then drive down St. Catherine Street back towards the bluff.

There will also be a variety of vendors on the bluff to sell food, clothing, crafts and jewelry, she said. Musical entertainment would be provided by DJ’s and live music performers from Gulfport, Tennessee, Texas and several from the Miss-Lou, including YZ Ealey, George Dixon, Tony Fields and Emmerson Hill.

Due to COVID-19, attendees are asked to be courteous by social distancing and wearing a mask when around others. A COVID-19 vaccination site sponsored by Jefferson Comprehensive Health Clinic will also be at the event site, Myers said.

Myers said Bikers on the Bluff Started in 2019 with the help of her friend and president of a motorcycle club, Chris “Puddleduck” Markham, who pulled some connections he had to make it all possible.

“What inclined me to start doing the bikers’ was in 2019 when the biker groups in Jackson and surrounding areas did a motorcade for two busloads of senior citizens I was carrying to the African American museum in Jackson the Saturday before Easter,” she said. “We had 93 people and they met us at U.S. 84 and Highway 55 Chevron and motorcaded with us all the way to the museum in downtown Jackson. Once we reached the Hinds County line, there were Hinds County Sheriff’s Department (vehicles) and motorcycles waiting on us. They blocked the whole interstate off for us.”

The first year of Bikers’ Weekend on the Bluff was a huge success followed by a smaller event in 2020 because of COVID, Myers said.

“We did well the first year. We were able to put people up in hotels, purchase items for people who were homeless and do other things like buy material for to make repairs on people’s houses,” she said.

Myers said those who are unable to attend on the weekend of Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 can still contribute to the cause by mailing a donation to P.O. Box 714 Natchez, MS, 39121. Checks should be made out to Seeds of Change Resource Foundation.