- <h2>Water Valley: Taking it to Heart</h2>
Water Valley: Taking it to Heart
By the time you read this, the Mississippi Development Authority’s Asset Mapping Team who were here on Tuesday January 10th touring Water Valley will be back in Jackson and working on their report about what they saw here. We have had roughly similar groups like this one coming into town in the past; almost five years ago in July of 2007 a First Impressions group visited. First Impressions is a program started by Mississippi State University where groups of trained, but in this case not professional, observers visit other towns and write a critique of what they see. This First Impressions tour saw much they liked about Water Valley. They loved Turnage Drug Store, liked the way the town fit the valley, and thought Railroad Park was great. They liked the citizens who welcomed them warmly. And so in their report, the First Impressions group had much to praise about Water Valley. But they made a few critical observations, too. They thought the some of the signage in town was “a bit junkie.” Their comment about Duncan Street was “The backsides of the buildings…are a real eyesore.” And they suggested, “The community might consider adding some trees.”
Jessie Gurner, who back in the summer of 2007 was gearing up the WVMSA to officially become a member of Mississippi Main Street, read the First Impressions report carefully. She, like most of us who live here, thought of Duncan Street as the way things just are. But Jessie took the First Impressions critique to heart. She heard of a grant opportunity for small towns by the Appalachian Regional Commission and had the idea that maybe this public–private commercial space that we all use, Duncan Street, could be improved. And so in the fall of 2008 a whole bunch of WVMSA volunteers added signs, cleaned up, painted up, and planted up Duncan Street. The result: it looks better, much better. The effort, called “Better Back Street,” earned for the WVMSA a Mississippi Main Street award for Best Public Improvement Project. But it did not stop there. Fred’s, the major retailer located on Duncan Street, significantly enlarged their building and re-worked the building façade. At the time of the First Impressions visit five of those Main Street buildings that back onto Duncan were vacant. They had zero economic activity in them. Today only one building that touches Duncan Street remains not in use.
The effort on Duncan Street continues. Mechanics Bank recently paved the dirt lot on the corner of Wagner and Duncan, and the large open culvert near that corner has been covered. No kid can fall into it now. And Mechanics also planted trees. Willow oaks. They grow tall and straight and are, perhaps, the best native species to provide that high canopy shade that not only will take the edge off the summer sun but will really make the back street look so much better.
Google “water valley first impression” and the report is the first item that comes up. Even five years later, it is still interesting to see the images and it is worth reading the findings and comments.
As for the coming MDA report, I have seen some of their work for other Mississippi towns, and they tell it like it is. So soon we will read and hear what they have to say about Water Valley. The most important aspect of this report will be the new local economic data that will help current and future Main Street businesses grow and prosper.
By Mickey Howley, Director
Water Valley Main Street
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Carthage Courthouse
Carthage is the geographic center of Mississippi and therefore an ideal location for businesses to grow and expand. |
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