Late word from Batesville Main Street and Mayor Jerry Autrey is that as many as 300 classic vehicles will fill the downtown Square Saturday with Batesville’s second annual “Showoff on the Square.”

The weather should be perfect from start to finish and for a perfect start for your day, come by the Batesville Intermediate School cafeteria for breakfast with the Exchange Club.

The club’s fall pancake breakfast is the main fund raiser for its ongoing project to prevent child abuse. Your purchase of pancake breakfast tickets underwrites child abuse prevention and contributions to other worthy local causes.

That’s not to slight the Batesville Shrine Club which will also begin selling food at their building on the Square at 7 a.m. (and throughout the day). Proceeds from their sales will support free treatment of children at their world renowned hospitals.

The nutritionist’s advice, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” takes on real import Saturday when breakfast is really the most important meal of the day for reasons far beyond bodily nutrition.
Then you’ll be ready to take the tour — a sumptuous feast of automotive eye candy under sparkling sunshine and blue sky.

Over 125 trophies will be awarded in more than 40 classes plus specialty trophies, prizes for participants, live entertainment, free goodie bags, O’Reilly’s monster truck and more. The Batesville Jr. Auxiliary will operate a kids corner at City Hall, broadening the Show Off’s appeal as an event for the entire family as will the arts and crafts section, also on College Street.

The sponsors ­— Heafner Motors, Hallmark Ford, O’Reilly’s, Zaxby’s and Mississippi Delta Street Rods with coordination through Batesville Main Street and the city — have provided an event that not only brings people from the community together for a fun event, it brings out-of-town visitors here as well.

That’s what festivals are for, and by building on the success of the inaugural Show Off last October, the sponsors have given the city a signature event that will be fondly remembered afterward and looked forward to as October, 2012 rolls around.

Thanks for that.

And don’t forget to start your day with a good breakfast.