Johnny Cash Honoured At Flower Festival

The late great Johnny Cash is set to receive a ceremonial pardoning during a festival honouring the ‘Man in Black’ by the residents of Starkville following his arrest there more than 40 years ago.

The ‘Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival’ will take place between November 2/4 with some events taking place on the Mississippi State University campus.

Robbie Ward, a research writer at MSU, began talking about the festival and a pardon for Cash two years ago and eventually attained 500 signatures on a petition. Ward said: “A lot of people would laugh at me and act like I was kind of crazy.”

Cash was arrested on the night of May 11 1965 in Starkville and several takes of the evenings events have transpired over the years.

The country singer recounts in his autobiography that he was arrested following a party on the state campus walking from his hotel to a grocery store, while another said he was arrested for picking flowers from somebody’s garden.

On Ward’s official site for the pardon he added: “The pardon doesn’t suggest anyone condoned Cash’s behaviour. It symbolically recognizes Cash as an imperfect human who made mistakes but gained insight and wisdom by learning from his indiscretions.”