{"id":21177,"date":"2026-04-26T19:44:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T23:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?post_type=wfsu-news&#038;p=21177"},"modified":"2026-04-26T20:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T00:41:07","slug":"tallahassees-word-of-south-festival-continues-a-tradition-of-literary-and-musical-excellence","status":"publish","type":"wfsu-news","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/tallahassees-word-of-south-festival-continues-a-tradition-of-literary-and-musical-excellence\/","title":{"rendered":"Tallahassee&#8217;s Word of South Festival continues a tradition of literary and musical excellence"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-21177-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/cpa.ds.npr.org\/s390\/audio\/2026\/04\/wos0427full.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cpa.ds.npr.org\/s390\/audio\/2026\/04\/wos0427full.mp3\">https:\/\/cpa.ds.npr.org\/s390\/audio\/2026\/04\/wos0427full.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>Despite some passing rain showers on Saturday, Tallahassee&#8217;s 11th Word of South Festival brought tens of thousands of people to Cascades Park over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Earth, Wind and Fire packed the Adderley Amphitheater Friday night.<\/p>\n<p>Among Saturday&#8217;s offerings was readings of poetry by Appalachian authors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She swats at flies and zips a stream of tobacco juice into a Coke bottle, stares at me&#8230;&#8217;What you gonna be when you grow up? Yourself, or like all the rest of &#8217;em?'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then Funkmeister and Tallahassee hometown hero George Clinton and his band had everyone dancing Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Tallahassee Writers Association Board Member Liz Jameson says she thinks the event was a success.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It makes Tallahassee what Tallahassee is and I think it&#8217;s the best thing in town, the best bargain in town.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Starting in 2015, the Word of South Festival remains a unique blend of musical and literary creativity. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2026 WFSU<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[],"tags":[1137,1135],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tallahassee&#039;s Word of South Festival continues a tradition of literary and musical excellence - 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