 
Vendors wanted for Pascagoula’s First Live Oak Arts Festival
Dear Vendor,
It is with great anticipation that the City of Pascagoula and Live Oak Arts Festival, Inc. bring a springtime festival to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
This first-time festival will be held Saturday, April 17, 2010 in Downtown Pascagoula. It will feature a full day of festivities including fine art, food, four musical stages for live entertainment, a give-a-way of 300 Live Oaks, children’s activities and much more.
As you know the success of a festival such as this requires quality vendors and performers. Our Planning Committee has seen your work and is very impressed! We hope you will join us in making this a must attend festival by becoming a vendor in our
inaugural year.
Enclosed is our Live Oak Arts Festival vendor/food application. If you have any questions please contact Jennifer Flanagan or Rebecca Davis Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Their contact information is below.
We hope to see you at the First Annual Live Oak Arts Festival!
Sincerely,
Rebecca Davis and Jennifer Flanagan
Planning Committee Members
(228) 938-6604, (228) 938-2352
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Downtown Main Street groups in Tupelo, Gulfport look to ‘create a sense of place’
TUPELO - Tupelo isn't the only city that wants to beautify and revitalize its downtown.
According to Sam Agnew of the Mississippi Main Street Association, groups throughout the state are looking for ways to turn their downtowns into
destinations for shoppers, diners and tourists.
"As they take the measures," he said, "people want to be there, businesses want to be there, building owners fix up their buildings and it creates a
sense of place that is unlike anywhere else in the community."
The strategies vary, said Agnew, who is based in Tupelo. Some projects focus on sidewalk beautification while others add "traffic-calming measures."
But they are steering away from the urban renewal strategies used in the 1960s and 1970s, when downtown streets were either closed to auto traffic or turned into one-way roads.
Tupelo's plans
The Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association, in partnership with the Community Development Foundation, is proceeding with a long-term plan to
make Main Street more pedestrian- and bike- friendly and yet maintain traffic flow.
The preliminary master plan includes synchronizing traffic lights and restriping Main Street to a three-lane road from Green Street to Front
Street. Also included are sidewalk planters, decorative street lights, a park on Front Street and amenities for cyclists and pedestrians.
Agnew said Tupelo's project is complicated because the downtown area has the busy U.S. Highway 6 running through it. He compared it to the situation in Gulfport, the state's second largest city, where U.S. 49 runs through downtown.
Lisa Bradley, executive director of Gulfport Main Street Association, said the highway, also known as 25th Avenue, used to be a planted boulevard.
"It got dwindled down to make room for parking and traffic," she said.
The road was converted to four lanes, plus right-turn-only lanes.
Hurricane Katrina "really busted things up" in the waterfront downtown, Bradley said.
When it came time to fix the damage, Bradley said the city wanted to create a "walkable and beautiful downtown."
Gulfport is in the process of the conversion, which is funded by $7.5 million of federal funds designated for hurricane rebuilding.
The street, Bradley said, is changing to four auto lanes with partial left-turn lanes. It also will have a grassy planted median, palm trees, new
curbs and new sidewalks.
"It will look very similar to how it looked 50 years ago," she said.
'Change is painful'
The process has created good and bad experiences that others, including Tupelo, can learn from.
The business-oriented downtown used to be empty at night, Bradley said. Since the revamping started, a nightlife has developed and bars and
restaurants have opened.
But the work has been disruptive for downtown merchants.
"Change is painful," she said. "No one is happy with construction."
She said it helped that the plan was developed through a series of public meetings. The meetings and the constant communication, she said, have been an essential part of the success of the project.
"Make sure your merchants are aware of the interruption," she said. "They've got to know that it's going to hurt, and they have to buy into the end
product. It's progress but it's not always pleasant while it's going on."
In Tupelo, the Downtown Main Street Association, is working with the Mississippi Department of Transportation to secure federal funding.
If the group gets the funding, it will focus on sidewalk beautification first, said Debbie Brangenberg, executive director of DTMSA. Resurfacing and
restriping Main Street will be timed to coincide with the rerouting of Highway 6 in two to three years.
"Over the next year and a half, we will gather more information and be testing the signalization before anything permanent is adopted," Brangenberg
said. "It's sort of like moving into a new house. You arrange the furniture and you just have to live with it for while to see if it works."
by Carlie Kollath/NEMS Daily Journal
Tupelo remembers Elvis’ Birthday with 6-foot Steel Guitars
TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI – On Friday, January 8, 2009, Elvis Presley would have turned 75 years old. The Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association was proud and honored to participate in a host of events beginning on Thursday, January 7th to celebrate the birthday of their native son, Elvis Presley.
Elvis purchased his first guitar at Tupelo Hardware when he was 11 years old. On Thursday, January 7th at 4pm, the first 6-foot replica of Elvis’ first guitar was installed outdoors at Tupelo Hardware on Main Street in honor of his 75th Birthday Anniversary. Everyone was invited to gather at Tupelo Hardware as the first of 14 public art guitars is unveiled.
These six-foot steel guitars are placed around downtown Tupelo as part of a public art project initiated by Kit Stafford, an art teacher at Thomas Street Elementary. Each school within the Tupelo Public School District painted a guitar that sits on a base resembling the Tupelo TVA sign at Crosstown. The guitars were designed and built by Nettleton-based Digital Impressions.
This public art project was made possible through a $14,000 grant from the Elaine Dundy and Roy Turner Endowment Fund which was established last year to provide financial support to area charitable organizations. Elaine Dundy, author of the acclaimed “Elvis and Gladys” bequeathed $600,000 to establish the Endowment. Royalties from all of her books that are in print will contribute to the fund utilizing the interest annually to fund projects.
“We could not have hand-picked a better project as the initial recipient of the endowment,” said Roy Turner. “Gladys loved all the arts and wanted to ensure that children would continue to be involved and exposed to the arts across all platforms. This project encompasses art, music and other genres and Gladys would be very proud to see these public art guitars displayed on the streets of Tupelo.”
Elvis fans were treated with performances by two Ultimate Tribute Artist Contest Winners and the EAS band as Comcast presents the 75th Elvis Birthday Extravaganza Thursday evening at the historic downtown Lyric.
Brandon Bennett, from Ponchatoula, Louisiana, is the 2008 Ultimate Tribute Artist Contest Winner. Not only does he look like Elvis, but his entertaining ability only reinforces the illusion. Brandon’s shows include performances from the 50’s, 60’s and the 70’s.
Bill Cherry, from Collinsville, Illinois, is the reigning champion, winner of the 2009 Ultimate Tribute Artist Contest Competition, taking first place in Memphis, Tennessee in August of last year. Bill has been performing Elvis since 1989 and has always been a fan of Elvis. He grew up listening to his music, watching his movies and singing along with him on records. Bill feels that as a tribute artist, he can help keep Elvis' memory alive. Bill's favorite song is "If I Can Dream."
For more information about the public art project, call the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association at 662.841.6598.
Miller spouts Retail Predictions for 2010
If November national sales figures are any indication, retail sales and consumer confidence may be higher for Mississippians in 2010.
Retail sales climbed 1.3 percent last month, more than double the 0.6 percent median estimate, a Commerce Department report showed in mid-December. Overall, retail sales have risen 1.9 percent nationally in the past 12 months, which is the first year-over-year gain since August 2008.
Now the regional director of program services for Main Street Mississippi Association, Jan Miller worked in retail for 14 years as both a buyer and department store manager in Columbus.
She remains confident about Mississippi retail in 2010.
“I’m so optimistic about retail sales, but cautiously optimistic,” said Miller. “Downtowns in Mississippi are surviving, some thriving, but stores are being very conservative in stocking inventories.
“The first quarter of 2010 will be really ‘lean and mean’ for retail stores after the holiday season.”
Miller, a Mississippi University for Women graduate with a degree in marketing, says larger retail outlets such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart also are keeping inventories low, with some offering limits in purchases.
“If you want it, you better buy it,” she said. “Most of the ‘big-box’ stores limit customers to four per store, or two per store, on particular items.”
Miller is encouraged by reports from downtown associations around the state with regard to how small retail stores and shops are faring. Mississippi shoppers are in the holiday mood and are spending their money, but most importantly, they’re staying close to home, she says.
“People are buying quality and not so much quantity,” she said. “Most of the merchants we’ve spoken to say shoppers are buying items that are useful, such as kitchen gadgets, gourmet items and jewelry. We’re finding that people are putting their money into investment purchases and shopping more in their hometowns.”
The Commerce Department reports that American households, whose spending makes up 70 percent of the economy, are weathering the worst unemployment slump since World War II.
Excluding automobiles, gasoline and building materials – the retail group the government uses to calculate gross domestic product figures for consumer spending – sales climbed 0.5 percent in the nation.
Advertising to increase sales and spur more retail traffic in Mississippi downtowns is on the rise in some unconventional ways and will continue to be a trend in 2010, says Miller.
“Many of our Mississippi Main Street merchants are pooling resources and advertising their downtowns,” she said. “There’s also been a real surge in utilizing Facebook and other social media by local retail.”
Restaurants represent a large segment of retail sales in Mississippi, according to Miller, and are a good measuring stick for determining the health of the economy.
“People love to eat out in our state and restaurants, if they offer quality food and service, are holding their own,” she said. “We’re seeing many local restaurants offer dining specials such as two-for-one to get people in the door.
“But (dining establishments) must offer quality – if they don’t, they’re shutting their doors because while folks are willing to spend money at restaurants, they want quality for their bucks.”
Miller cites the city of Eupora as an example of why she is optimistic about a turnaround for Mississippi retailers in 2010.
“Last fall, there were three store openings in that small community,” she said. “It’s hard to tell those people that the economy is bad.”
By Nash Nunnery
Staff writer
Mississippi Business Journal
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The Reserve Restaurant
The Mississippi Municipal League has selected Laurel for its “Most Livable Community” Award three times in the past decade. |
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