My meanderings last December took me through tiny Belzoni, Mississippi, a small town with a fishy history. It took me several minutes of driving around town to figure out what it was. 

This was my first clue.

What’s that all about?  I poked around further and found this sign:

And then things fell together: It’s all about catfish.  Or rather it used to be. 

Back in 1976 Belzoni was named the Farm-Raised Catfish Capital of the World.  A full 60 per cent of all U.S. farm-raised catfish came from  within a 65-mile radius of Belzoni, and there were some 40,000 acres of growing ponds in Humphreys County.

It did not last, however.  Just after the turn of the century cheaper foreign competition started making inroads and the U.S. catfish farming industry began a steady decline.  Though pond acreage has plummeted, Mississippi is still the leading catfish producer in the country.

And in Belzoni, the World Catfish Festival is still a huge event every April. And these fiberglass catfish statues, installed as an art project in the early 2000s, appear to be kept clean and polished.  The Catfish Museum, however, seems to have seen better days.