Patti Dozier
WHIGHAM — Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup weather usually arrives in two varieties: Sunny and cold or rainy and cold. The weather for Saturday’s 50th annual Roundup was different: The rain passed through, and the weather was downright muggy — and muddy.
Members of the Whigham Community Club, Roundup sponsors, were busy throughout the day making the parking lot road more passable and spreading hay over thick mud where thousands of people walked among food booths, entertainment and arts and crafts.
Barry Strickland, a Roundup official and Community Club member, said the Saturday crowd was off about one-third because of the weather.
A little after noon, a long line of Roundup enthusiasts waited to pay the $2 admittance fee as a mixture of aromas from food booths wafted through the damp air.
“Forever Young,” a musical group, performed under a large white tent as John Fisher of Bainbridge and a member of the Decatur Group Sons of the Confederacy, demonstrated a firearm used during the War Between the States.
“It never touched my shoulder. It did not kick at all,” said Dustin Moore, 12, of Bainbridge, after firing the musket.
Jules Catarzi, of Andalusia, Ala., was looking for customers at his Frog Bog, a carnival-like entertainment booth.
Catarzi is a regular at the Opp, Ala., rattlesnake roundup. “It’s a lot bigger than the one here. ... It goes on for three days,” Catarzi explained.
Aware of the criticism rattlesnake roundups are receiving, Catarzi said, “They’re not killing them for the fun of it.”
“I’m from Alabama, and if we see a snake, we kill it on our property. We have three grandchildren,” he added.
Not far way, Brady Stokes, 9, of Lakeland, was about to dine on alligator meat. It really does taste like chicken, he said.
When asked if he had eaten rattlesnake meat, Stokes said, “I ain’t into really boney stuff.”
Hudson Holley, 12, a Bainbridge resident, took his first-ever bite of fried ‘gator meat. “I’m going to try it with some catsup,” he explained.
In the snake ring, Ken Darnell of Bioactive Inc. extracted venom from snake after snake. He sells the venom to pharmaceutical companies that make anti-venin used to treat rattlesnake bites.
Strickland said about 60 serpents were turned in Saturday morning. Many more were expected before the day was through.
