In true Southern fashion, the Opp Cultural Arts Council is celebrating the tradition of handing things down and passing them along.

The Wiregrass Museum of Art’s traveling exhibit Handed Down Passed Along will have its debut and open house Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

OCAC Vice President Virginia Dowling said not only will the gallery show the works of local artists Larry Strickland of Florala and Jimmy Vick of Andalusia, but will also be expanded to include other locals to help supplement the exhibit.

Vick has on display some of his hand-painted fishing lures and Strickland is expected to bring a statue for the exhibit.

Dowling said seven or eight local artists are expected to display generations of art from their families that have been “handed down and passed along.”

The exhibits will include everything from paintings to heirloom dresses and handmade furniture.

Dowling said that much has changed since her parents’ days.

“Over the last 100 years, our fathers and mothers saw the first automobiles, airplanes and many other things,” she said. “A lot of these things came from ingenuity.”

Dowling said the inventions of Thomas Edison and John Deere came from necessity, just like many of the pieces that will be on display in the exhibit.

Dowling will display several paintings from her family, an antique quilt, heirloom dresses and a peanut digger made by a family member.

As part of the exhibit Dowling said she has asked everyone to provide a story to go along with the pieces that will be on display.

“We really just want to tell the stories of families,” she said.

Dowling said the exhibit will run through the Oct. 30 Opp Fest celebration.