File PhotoBecky Brown, the event organizer for the Holiday Extravaganza Gift Show, sets up a display of her fashion jewelry at the event last year at Meridian Community College's Tommy E. Dulaney Center on Highway 19N. 

With the holidays just around the corner shoppers will have an opportunity this weekend to get ahead of the Christmas rush.

The fifth annual Holiday Extravaganza Gift Show returns on Saturday and it’s growing with more vendors with unique gift items. It’s being held once again from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Meridian Community College’s Tommy E. Dulaney Center.

Event organizer Becky Brown said the festival will have something for everyone, with more than 100 booths in one location making it convenient for shoppers. She is planning a bigger variety of special gift items to choose from with returning vendors and new vendors.

“We have really grown and are now having to put some booths outside,” Brown said. “We have a lot more merchandise this year, more food vendors to choose, with not only local vendors, but vendors coming from north Mississippi and Alabama. Also, WildWestRaptors will be out and about with dinosaurs Lupa and Aqua for the kids.

Brown said shoppers will have the opportunity to purchase a wide variety of arts and crafts, along with home-made baked goods, jams, and jellies. Booths will include jewelry, boutique clothing and shoes, T-shirts, cookbooks, seasonal wall hangings, metal decor, soaps, vinyl, and monogrammed items, wooden cutouts, candles, Christmas ornaments and more.

“The vendors will have an item to be won as a door prize, and there are a lot of really good prizes,” Brown said. “And for the second year, we will have a place to sit and eat for those needing to take a break from shopping.”

Brown said vendor participation seems to bring people back, and the fact that every year it has grown.

“I think people come out to see what’s out there hoping to find that unique gift for someone,” Brown said. 

For more information, call Brown at 601-480-1776.

Nursing students get tags

Cindy “Renee” Quinn and Jeffery Chancellor of Meridian, nursing students at the Mississippi University for Women, were recently awarded a $5,000 Car Tag stipend by The Mississippi Nurses Foundation (MNF).

Both students will receive a check for $500 for 10 consecutive months to support their nursing education.

To learn more about the Mississippi Nurses Foundation car tag program or how to purchase a nursing car tag, call (601) 898-0850 or visit www.msnursesfoundation.com.

Airman graduates

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Jack L. Taylor graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

Taylor completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills. Airmen who complete basic training also earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Taylor is a 2015 graduate of Southeast Lauderdale High School. He earned an associate degree in 2017 from Meridian Community College.