"Stars Over Mississippi" charity event to bring top entertainers to Amory. (Southern Scrapbook).

"Stars Over Mississippi," a bi-annual event aimed at raising funds to help needy Mississippians attend college, will take place October 4 and 5 in Amory. This year's concert will be headlined by the award-winning musical duo Brooks & Dunn and cohosted by Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg and actor Ray Romano, star of the CBS hit comedy Everybody Loves Raymond. Joining this quartet of stars will be The Weakest Link's Anne Robinson, actress Delta Burke, actor and Collins native Gerald McRaney, actress/singer Marilu Henner, and "Stars Over Mississippi" regulars, including actress/model Kathy Ireland, singer and Tupelo native Guy Hovis, Emmy winner Gary Collins, actress and Brandon native Mary Ann Mobley, actor and Prentiss native Gary Grubbs, Emmy winner Debbie Allen, actress/singer Mary Donnelly Haskell, Touched by an Angel's John Dye, and Broadway star and Oxford native Laurie Gayle Stephenson.

"Stars over Mississippi" is the primary fundraising arm of the Mary Kirkpatrick Haskell Scholarship Foundation, which was created to help deserving Mississippi students attend college. Haskell graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee School of Nursing and later, in 1980, re-entered school at the University of Colorado. At the age of fifty-five, she became Mississippi's first school nurse practitioner. Immediately after her death in 1987, her son Sam started searching for a way to celebrate his mother's life. Since one of her top concerns was a lack of money for deserving students to continue their education, Sam decided that a scholarship for students who might otherwise fall through the cracks was a fitting tribute. In 1991, he established the Mary Kirkpatrick Haskell Scholarship Foundation in her honor.

This year's concert is sure to draw a crowd. Tickets are available now: $30 for field searing and $20 for stadium seating. Also as part of the "Stars" weekend, a benefit gala will be held on Friday, October 4, at the Arnory Middle School football field. Other events set for Saturday include a Parade of Stars down Main Street around 10 a.m. and a special presentation in the park in front of City Hall.

For details, see www.starsovermissippi.org or call 888/717-1515.