For a weekend in Wrightsville, Ga., the catfish will be
king. Former President Jimmy
Carter’s March 24 formal opening of the Catfish INT processing
plant will trigger the
three-day Catfish Festival and Trade Show.

It’s not about straw hats, bare feet and cane poles. Catfish
have brought big business
to this east-central-Georgia community. Catfish INT expects to
process 55,000 pounds of
fish per eight-hour shift. It will take at least 3,000 acres of
water to keep that much
fish coming.

The March 24-26 celebration of fun, fins and fenders will
include an arts-and-crafts
fair, antique farm equipment and antique cars. At the center of
it all is a March 25
catfish trade show that spotlights this growing Georgia
industry.

Trade Show March
25

The trade show will be at the American Legion Fairgrounds on
Highway 15 south of
Wrightsville. Companies from all over the Southeast will
display catfish equipment, feeds
and supplies from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a seminar will focus on getting
started in the catfish
business. University of Georgia scientists Gary Burtle and
George Lewis and others will
discuss all aspects of building ponds and raising catfish.

To learn more about the Catfish Festival and Trade Show,
call Mark Crosby
(912-864-3373) at the Johnson County office of the UGA
Extension Service. Or e-mail him at
pmc@uga.edu.