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Sponsor Spotlight - June 2015

6/1/2015

Antique Maison Ulman

Ed and Sylvia Young own two of the best-known antique malls on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but they're not resting on their laurels. Last year at the Ulman Street location, they opened the first Tea Room in Hancock County. And starting in June, they'll host monthly Saturday night auctions.
- story and photos by Ellis Anderson

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Nine years ago, Ed and Sylvia Young opened Antique Maison (111 North Second Street) near the intersection of Main Street and Second. The voluminous 7,000 square foot building is stuffed with antiques and collectibles. Featuring 30 plus vendors and over a dozen artists, it quickly became a must-see stop on the coast for antique and art addicts.

Corridors are lined with everything from vintage fishing lures and hand tools to crystal glassware and furniture. They wind back and around in a delightful maze, leaving customers wondering exactly where they entered. Sylvia Young jokes in a take-off on the Gilligan Island’s theme song that “shoppers come in for a three-hour tour and may get lost.”

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In 2014, the Youngs opened a second location a few blocks away on Ulman Avenue (317 Ulman Ave). Not to be outdone, the new space is nearly as large as the first. The Ulman store focuses on home, garden and patio décor, and “shabby chic” furnishings.

Antique Maison Ulman is also home to Bay St. Louis’s first Tea Room. Its vintage china and floral tablecloths set the scene for lunch and tea Wednesday through Saturday, 11am-2pm. The menu includes homemade sandwiches, soups and sweets - and of course, freshly brewed tea. Sip and reminisce about Sunday afternoons at Grandma's house or enjoy a cup of coffee on the beautiful back patio. The tearoom is also available for private parties, bridal showers and other special occasions.

The Ulman avenue location will soon be the home to another Bay St. Louis “first.” Beginning June 6th, auctions will be held in the Quanset hut attached to the main building. This vast protected, yet open-air venue has plenty of room for both merchandise and folks who are looking to purchase or some fun family excitement.

A meeting at the Tea Room

The auctions are being managed by TNT Auctions of Long Beach and the auctioneer is Tammy Brady (license #1435). Tiffany Seager is part owner of TNT and is excited about the new venture.

Seager says the auctions will begin at 6pm the first Saturday of every month (the exception is July, because of the holiday. It'll be held on Second Saturday for July only). The Quanset hut will open at 4pm for preview. Although the Tea Room won’t be open, the Youngs will be offering a limited menu with snacks, sandwiches and beverages. Attendance is free, as is getting a number that will allow you to bid. All ages are welcome, although bidders must be 18 or older. Throughout the evening, drawings will be held for raffle prizes.

Seager says that everything from fine antiques to fun knick-knacks will be offered up during the auction, so the event should appeal to a wide variety of people. Dealers are welcome to consign merchandise to auction off, but must make arrangements to drop off their items at Antique Maison Ulman a week before the auction. After the auction, buyers will have two days to pick up their merchandise.

“Auctions are a wonderful way to meet new people and an opportunity for savvy collectors to pick up great bargains,” Seager says. “It’s also a fun spectator sport for the whole family.”

Across the Bridge - June 2015

6/1/2015

A Place With Spit and Shine

Award-winning writer Rheta Grimsley Johnson looks at tried and true tourist attractions across the country and puts forth an idea that involves a giant shrimp po-boy.
- by Rheta Grimsley Johnson

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A new coast visitors' attraction?

My little house in the Pass looks like it belongs in the mountains, not at the beach. I think that may be why I fell in love with it, first sight, my perverse nature and love of retro.

It is a modified A-frame from the 1970s, built of stone and western cedar, hidden from the road by a multitude of trees, including hickories, not the most common of hardwoods here. It looks a little like the chapel in the woods at Callaway Gardens, Georgia, something I didn’t acknowledge consciously till about the third friend or relative remarked on the resemblance. That chapel was the site of my first wedding, and who wants to live in the past?

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My house doesn’t have stained glass like the chapel, and, so far as I know, there have been no weddings performed here. I’d be willing to bet, however, a few divorces have gone down.

There are so many building styles in our little town that I consider the place an architectural museum, not a bad civic slogan if the Pass needed one, which it doesn’t. Pass Christian, An Architectural Museum and Gem of a Town. Or, Pass Christian, Don’t Pass By Without Buying a House.

The Pass already has one or two slogans – Nature’s Gift to the Gulf Coast and Birthplace of Yachting. I tend to like food-related slogans a little better and wish ours mentioned shrimp or oysters, at least the fish tacos at Hook. If you can get passersby thinking about etouffee or bread pudding, you don’t really need a chamber of commerce.

Build a po-boy, they will come.

Most all towns have mottos these days, a bid for tourism, which has become competitive sport. A lot of the civic slogans have to do with vegetables for some reason. But also common are watermelons, sweet potatoes and, not so much, poke sallet. Water Valley, Miss., used to have a Poke Sallet Festival, but I think they’ve changed that to watermelon. More people eat it.

I guess the best town motto I ever heard about but did not see was in Hooker, Oklahoma, where the welcome sign read “It’s a location, not a vocation.”

I don’t think it’s wise to change up your slogan to fit the times, which always are a changin’. You should stick with your main civic strengths. I think Wilson, Kansas has done a good job of this, advertising its art in the park, beckoning travelers to visit the “World’s Largest Czechoslovakian Egg.”

I saw the egg, not yet painted to perfection, just a big black orb awaiting tourists, to Wilson what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, the Manneken Pis to Brussels.

Update from Roadside America, May 2015: "They have begun painting the egg."

It would fly in the face of our tasteful culture to construct The World’s Biggest Poboy in War Memorial Park, but it would bring in a lot of tourists. Children could climb up the lettuce leaves while their parents take photographs of giant shrimp with their telephones. I dare you to go back and parse that sentence.

It’s probably clear by now why I’ve never been hired to work in tourism. I don’t often agree with movers and shakers about what needs moving and what needs shaking. Memphis, for instance, built a pyramid to stress its Egyptian ties that nobody – nobody! – thinks about. What the city needed was a big Elvis, looming over the Mississippi River, one blue suede foot in Tennessee, the other in Arkansas.

Maybe it’s best I stay at home in my A-frame, modified, counting the squirrels in the hickories. Which reminds me to ask: Why isn’t Pascagoula known as the Home of the Berserk Squirrel?

Talk of the Town - June 2015

6/1/2015

Pirate Day in the Bay

Pull out the eye patches and pick up a parrot - it's time to talk like a pirate again. Event co-chairs John Rosetti and Stephen Crawford explain why it's sailing full speed ahead. Full schedule of events included!
photos by Ellis Anderson

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Organizers of Pirate Day in the Bay are putting out a coast-wide call for buccaneers and swashbuckler wannabes to rendezvous in the historic seaside town of Bay St. Louis on the weekend of June 26th and 27th.

Organized by the non-profit Mystic Krewe of the Seahorse, the weekend is packed with music, historical re-enactments, kids activities and more. Krewe members will be in full pirate costume, and all visitors are encouraged to wear their own buccaneering best swashbuckling on both days of the event.

The public event kicks off Friday evening at 5:00 pm, with a Pub Crawl and Scavenger Hunt throughout Old Town's eateries.

New location! 107 Court Street!

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On Saturday, June 27, the fun extends from land to sea, with a pirate rendezvous in the Bay for boaters and paddle board races north of the Harbor. Vendors, live music and a children's play area will keep landlubbers happy. The evening features a pirate parade meandering through through Old Town, with a fireworks finale.

The Mystic Krewe of the Seahorse plans for this event to become an annual celebration and fundraiser for the volunteer organization. Much of the event and viewing will be free of charge, but to participate in the Pub Crawl or the children's play zone, there is a fee. Full details and the schedule can be found on the website www.PirateDayInTheBay.com.

The citizen group behind Pirate Day in the Bay plans events throughout the year to increase economic development in the downtown area of Bay St. Louis. The Mystic Krewe of the Seahorse derived its name from the USS Seahorse and the Battle of the Bay between the United States Navy and British Navy on December 13, 1814.

“The original pirates came to the Bay to relax and unwind,” says John Rosetti, co-chair of the event. “Centuries later we’re doing the same thing. The whole idea is to generate economic development with an event that’s fun for both visitors and locals."

Steven Crawford, owner of Crawford Realty and Rosetti's co-chair agrees. He also points out a difference between a festival and an event.

“Festivals draw audiences, while events invite participation and interaction,” Crawford says. “And everybody loves a pirate. So it’s geared to be fun for all types and ages of people, across the board.”

Pirate Day had its beginnings last year in connection with the 200th reenactment of the Battle of Bay St. Louis, in 1814. The Mystic Krewe of the Seahorse derived its name from the USS Seahorse which was defending the coast against the British Navy. The tiny ship put up a noble fight, although vastly outnumbered.

When Crawford and Rosetti volunteered to co-chair the 2015 Pirate Day, they traveled to Fort Walton Beach, where the Billy Bowlegs festival attracts tens of thousands annually. They met with the Chamber of Commerce and other Bowlegs organizers and worked out an arrangement to cross market the two events.

“The Billy Bowlegs team have been wonderful and are incredibly excited about the relationship we’ve formed,” says Crawford.

Armed with allies and fresh ideas, Rosetti and Crawford went to work. One of their goals was to create an event that was sustainable and would become part of the community fabric over a long period of time.

Another goal was to engage the entire spectrum of the coast community.

“We want people to feel engaged and included,” says Crawford. “If people are from Harrison county, or Kiln, or anywhere in the region, we want to welcome them with open arms. It’s not an event that only people in certain circles can enjoy. I think that’s why it’s going to be successful.”

“Events like this keep locals loving our city and visitors coming back,” says Rosetti.

“If you think about the time and the effort that people have put in to rebuild this city," says Crawford, "It’s nothing short of a miracle. That’s what makes Bay St. Louis so special. It’s a wonderful – and irreplaceable – jewel.”

Pirate Day in the Bay 2015 Schedule

Thursday Evening
6pm - 8pm: Patron's Party
Krewe Central, 111 Main St., Bay St. Louis
“Party with the Pirates” (Advanced Tickets: $20 – members, $25 – non-members) (Day of: $25 – members, $30 – non-members). Purchase advance tickets here.

Friday Evening
5:30: Pirates arrive at the Harbor, capture the mayor and the city and pirate colors are raised over the Bay St. Louis.

5:30 - 6:30: Live Music, 111 Main

6pm - 9pm: Pirate’s Pub Crawl to 10 bars in Old Town – Look for the Pirate Krewe Flags! (Advanced Tickets: $20 – members | $25 – non-members) (Day of: $25 – members | $30 – non-members). Purchase advance tickets here.

9pm: 111 Main Street
Captain Long Beard’s Pirate’s Proclamation: "Destroy the City” (Captain Long Beard continues the “Pirate’s Pub Crawl” after his proclamation.) Event closes at 10:00 p.m.

Saturday, 10am - 10pm
10:30am - 4pm: Off beach rendezvous for boaters
11am - 1pm: DJ at 111 Main Street
4pm: Pirates arrive at harbor
5pm: Captain Long Beard’s meeting with Laffite Brothers and Royalty from the Krewe of Nereids at Bay Town Inn (208 N. Beach, across from Harbor)
5:30pm: Pirates' Parade from DeMontluzin to Buoy's Bar
6pm: “Captain Long Beard is Captured” and jailed by Mayor and townsfolk. Corner of N. Beach and Main St.
6Pm - 9pm: The reenactment continues with live music, culminating with a proclamation from the mayor.
9pm - 10pm: Fireworks show by Mystic Krewe of the Sea Horse and the Silver Slipper Casino

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Pirate Day in the Bay 2015 Schedule

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