The 45th annual Irmo Okra Strut will feature the popular Weight Band and The Root Doctors.

Preparations for the Sept. 28-29 free event are underway.

The two-day celebration will offer live entertainment, amusement rides, a parade and more.

Its major sponsor is Lexington Medical Center.

Plans are moving along on schedule, third-year commission chairman Larry Slaughter said.

The Root Doctors will perform Friday night. The Blackwater Rhythm & Blues Band will open.

The Weight Band - with their recently released album “World Gone Mad” - will be on stage Saturday night. Rob Crosby will open.

The commission is ironing out minutiae like renting porta potties, approving caterer contracts, arranging stereo systems and hotel rooms.

A choreographed line dance is being rehearsed.

The festival will feature traditional musicians and performers such as jugglers.

Since the Okra Strut began, its size has increased annually. It was first hosted in the Irmo High School parking lot. Now, Slaughter estimates up to 25,000 people attend.

This year, the state Department of Natural Resources is sending a Heritage Trailer – a self-contained pellet range that offers Wii shooting.

The sponsor-funded Okra Strut is run by a volunteer board of directors.

Although it all started with a radio personality, the late Gene McKay, who made on-air jokes about the ancient Irmese, it ended up being much bigger.

The Okra Strut was born out of a “spoof history” that said the Irmese used to eat only okra.

The Lake Murray-Irmo Women’s club turned the humor into a festival to raise funds to build a library. Then the event took root, explained Slaughter.

Now it’s a part of the community’s tradition, he said.

Fried and pickled okra will be staples at this year’s celebration.

The Okra Man will make his annual appearance in the Saturday morning parade.