On June 5, Laurel Express/Main Street celebrated a Ribbon-cutting Ceremony for its new office in downtown Laurel. The ceremony included a string quartet performing on the
sidewalk and tables set up in the street. The newly opened office is
located on 326 Magnolia Street. Jackie Lee serves as Program Manager
for Laurel Express/Main Street.
Rails to Trails magazine features Laurel, Miss. in its Summer 2008 issue. The following is an excerpt from the article:
"In Laurel, Miss., about 90 miles southeast of Jackson, a short section of unused Kansas City Southern tracks is being brought back to shimmering life. The city is retooling the 600-foot rail-trail project as a series of sidewalk connectors flanked by public art.
Randy Meador, an engineer with the local firm Neel-Schaffer, says the plan is to build a pedestrian and cycling corridor linking downtown green spaces.
"'What we're doing is all about connectivity,'" he says. "'There's a series of parks, and then there's a major thoroughfare that separates them from the Laurel train depot.'" Completing this pathway over Teresa Street will bridge the gap and give the town's 30,000 residents open access to the downtown area."
For more information in Laurel's rail-trail project and Ghost Train, contact Randy Meador at 601.649.1840. To learn more about Bike Walk Mississippi, visit www.bikewalkmississippi.org or cal 601.582.2453.
To read more, click here.
On May 29, Biloxi Main Street District and Biloxi Chamber of Commerce hosted the Biloxi Preservation Awards. Individuals, businesses and organizations were honored for helping preserve and protect Biloxi’s history and Culture since Hurricane Katrina.
The awards were presented by Mayor A.J. Holloway at City Hall followed by a ribbon cutting and reception at the newly restored Bond-Grant House.
The Bond-Grant House was built between 1904 and 1909 by William K.M. Dukate for his daughter Vera for a wedding gift 
when she married B.A. Bond. She later married R. Hart Chinn, former Mayor of Biloxi (1933-35, 1951). Vera Dukate Bond Chinn only lived in the house until 1921 when it was purchased by W. J. Grant family.
It belonged to the Grant family until 1964 when the house was sold to First Baptist Church of Biloxi. The house was donated to Biloxi Main Street from the Beau Rivage Casino in January 2006.
It was moved across the street and the restoration process began in March, 2006 and was completed in 2008. The house style is Queen Anne; the character is neoclassical.
The Bond-Grant House is located at 932 Howard Ave. in Biloxi. Photographs depict the before and after phases of the house’s restoration.
Mississippi Main Street Association is hosting the annual Destination Downtown conference October 6-8, 2008 in Bay St. Louis, Miss. The conference will be held at Hollywood Casino.
We will be joined by the Main Street programs from Louisiana and Arkansas. Make plans to attend this conference! You do not want to miss the excellent line-up of speakers and educational sessions, as well as the fun events that will take place along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Click here to go to the Destination Downtown blog.
On June 4th the Chefs of Culinary Corps, a New York based non-profit that designs, organizes and launches outreach experiences for culinary students and professionals from all over the U.S. will return to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for their third visit to the area.
The chefs first came to Ocean Springs last September and participated in the first “Feast of Flavors” hosted by Ocean Springs Fresh Market and the Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce, where they cooked up a dazzling display of the culinary arts with local ingredients gathered from the Fresh Market.
They will be partnering with Slow Food® Gulf Coast and Gulf Hills Hotel and Conference Center in Ocean Springs to present the event “A Taste of the Gulf Coast”. The event will take place on Wednesday June 4th from 5.30pm – 7.00pm at the Gulf Hills Hotel. It will help fund the Slow Food® Gulf Coast cookbook project “Lost and Found Family Recipes of the Gulf Coast”; an attempt to remember and recreate the family recipes that were lost to the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina.
Slow Food USA (the parent organization of Slow Food® Gulf Coast) is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to supporting and celebrating the food traditions of North America. Slow Food USA believes that pleasure and quality in everyday life can be achieved by slowing down, respecting the traditions of the table and celebrating the diversity of the earth's bounty.
“A Taste of the Gulf Coast” will feature ingredients from the LA/MS/AL Gulf Coast Region and the producers who make such food possible. Designed as a cross between a cocktail party and a cooking demonstration, the event will allow ticket holders to taste a variety of local foods such as Sweet Home Farm cheese, Al’s Bread, Dita’s pepper jelly, Terri’s produce, Gloria and Morris’ goat sausage and much, much more. In addition the chefs will be cooking up such delights as herbed crepes with Gulf Coast shrimp and crawfish, smoked Lucedale quail, shitake mushroom and goat cheese tartine, French toast with blueberry compote and sweet potato scones with pecan-honey butter.
Tickets for the event are $25.00 per person and can be obtained from Gulf Hills Hotel and Conference Center, Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce, Ocean Springs Fresh Market and Pass Christian’s Market in the Park, or by calling Diane at 251-633-6944. A cash bar will be provided by Gulf Hills Hotel.
First Lady Laura Bush presented the 2008 Preserve America Presidential Awards in a White House ceremony May 12. The winners are the African Burial Ground Project in New York City, the Corinth and Alcorn County Mississippi Heritage Tourism Initiative, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City and the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program.
Picture: 
Mark Dremel, left, and Howard Dodson receive applause from a White House East Room audience after receiving a 2008 Preserve America Presidential Award for the African Burial Ground Project.
Preserve America News/ May 2008
The 2008 Annual Awards Luncheon was held Friday, May 16 at the Old Capitol Inn in Jackson. A crowd of 140 people from all over Mississippi gathered to celebrate and honor the achievements of the individuals and businesses that have contributed to Main Street programs and their communities.
After a delicious seafood lunch, attendees were delighted to see our surprise guest...Former Executive Director Beverly Meng! Beverly presented the first Charles O. Beasley Awards in honor of "Charlie" who was a longtime supporter of MS Main Street. Charlie's wife, Paula, and children Allison, Carla and Charlie were recognized at the ceremony and are pictured with Director Bob Wilson and 2008 and 2009 Charles O. Beasley Award Winners, Reba Beebe of Picayune and Brian Goff of Hernando.
"Charlie was a dear friend and fiercely loyal to Main Street," Meng said.
Keynote Speaker, Gray Swoope, stressed the importance of Main Street as a cornerstone of the economic development strategy in Mississippi.
"Mississippi is blessed with great communities," Swoope said. "We want to continue to have places people want to live."
Gray said a good motto to live by is "Change lives, change minds" as Mississippi strives to improve outside perceptions about our state by making our communities places people want to live.
Check out more pictures from the 2008 Awards Luncheon, including all Award winners, on the left tab bar.
It is well-known that Mississippi produces some magnificent home-grown things - from great musicians and singers to talented actors and producers as well as renowned athletes, chefs and artists. What Mississippi also has, which is not publicized nearly as much, is interesting and unique gifts and products.
This is what the Mississippi Market Wholesale Show brings to you. Exhibitors from all over the great Magnolia State will be in one place for buyers on June 5-6 at the Mississippi Trademart in downtown Jackson. Since 1996, the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) has presented the show. The idea is to help budding proprietors introduce their products to buyers, and it helps increase business and sales for all partcipating vendors.
Items on display include jewelry, specialty apparel, pottery, decorative accessories, gourmet foods, garden accessories, art, linens, bath care products, aroma therapy products, candles, children's clothes, furniture and more.
Small companies like Hanging by a Thread in Hernando, Fruit of the Earth Basketry in West Point and Magnolia Honey Jelly & Gifts in Woodville will be found at the show. Tell your storeowner friends to plan a day trip to Jackson to buy for their stores and support Mississippi-made products. Deadline for buyers is May 25th. For more information, visit www.mississippimarket.org. Happy Shopping!
Lise Foy, Manager of Greenwood Main Street, shared some exciting news with MMSA.
"I want to let you know that we have been awarded a $6200 grant from MDAH to continue restoration work on the Greyhound Bus Station (Main Street Station)!" Foy said.
The Main Street Station was originally the Greyhound Bus Station, which opened in 1939. Since the program's inception in 1995, Greenwood has made more than $20 million in public and private reinvestment, 25 upscale downtown apartments and brought more than 200 new jobs.
We're excited about this next phase for Greenwood Main Street Station!
(Photos depict 1939 and 2007 image of Greenwood Main Street Station.)
"It has a long history and it's
certainly a part of the heart and soul of this community," said
Charlie Cornelius with the Waveland Community Coalition. The coalition is just one organization pushing to get residents involved in rebuilding the downtown district. It's an effort that now includes the Mississippi Main Street Association. "Main
Street is all about a community working together and taking ownership
of the process together, so we wanted everyone involved from the very
beginning," said Stacey Pair, President of Mississippi Main Street. The association will
help the city finalize plans for Coleman Avenue. It will also open
doors for more funding and a team of expert design professionals who
will preserve the uniqueness of Coleman Avenue. It's something that long-time resident and business owner Kathy Pinn can appreciate. "We're
not the pretty little perfect little town. The buildings are gone, some
of the people are gone and the vision has gotten blurred, but maybe
through the Mississippi Main Street process we can come up again with
our vision of what Coleman Avenue will be," Pinn said. Mayor
Tommy Longo says the city is now waiting on CDBG funds and money from
the Department of Transportation, which could be here as early as this
week. Then it won't be long before the people of Waveland start seeing
a new, yet familiar downtown district. 
WAVELAND
(WLOX) -- One South Mississippi city is getting the help of a statewide
organization in its downtown rebuilding efforts. The city of Waveland
is teaming up with the Mississippi Main Street Association to
rebuild Coleman Avenue. 
"Government
is doing the best that it can. Citizens also have the ability to
leverage themselves into this effort, and this is the vehicle by which
we can do it," Cornelius said.
