For twenty-plus years, the monthly Artwalk has been a community mainstay for fun and fellowship.  In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, ten years ago, the artwalk became a healing event as well.
- story by Ellis Anderson, photographs by Ellis Anderson, Joe Tomasovsky and courtesy Vicki Niolet

Early that summer, a crew from the popular Mississippi Public Broadcasting show, Mississippi Roads, traveled to the coast and shot footage for a segment about Second Saturdays.

A few months later, Katrina’s unprecedented surge had torn the beach road into rugged slabs of asphalt. Most of the buildings facing the coastline had been crushed or stood as gutted hulks.  The majority of the town’s residents were homeless or trying to cope with houses that had been flooded, in many cases to the roofline. 

Yet, less than two weeks after the storm, a small group of artists, shop-owners and residents gathered on the rubble at the intersection of Beach and Main to observe the September Second Saturday.   Their intent was to keep the chain of events – and the community’s spirit - unbroken, even amid the ruin.  

By the second Saturday in October, gallery owners Jenise McCardell and her husband Mark Currier welcomed crowds of survivors and volunteers to Gallery 220, one of the few intact commercial buildings in Old Town.  The overwhelmingly positive response encouraged the couple to host a Second Saturday event each week for the next several months.  The gatherings became an important source of positive energy for flagging survivors.

Artist and co-owner of Bay Emporium, Vicki Niolet, is one of the original organizers of the Old Town event.  She was also one of the plucky few who gathered at the foot of Main Street in the aftermath of Katrina to carry on the tradition.  A passing stranger snapped a photo of the group.  Everyone is smiling, even though the ruins of a building form the backdrop.

Niolet says the camera didn’t catch everything. 

“I still remember my mama sitting on the curb with her head in her hands.  Those were tough, tough days for us all.”

The tough times seem to have passed.  A decade later, the Second Saturday Artwalks now attract larger crowds than the pre-Katrina events.   Old Town merchants and restaurants report brisk business.   Most of them credit the event to helping reestablish a loyal and diverse customer base. 

City leaders also point to Second Saturday as playing a critical role in rebuilding the community’s national reputation as a vital, creative place to visit and to live.   The trickle-down is apparent in the new harbor, where slip rental rate has far outstripped early projections.  Real estate values in the historic district rank at the top statewide. 

Vicki Niolet says that over the past twenty-plus years, the artwalk has evolved into an organic part of life in the town.

“Second Saturday is not just an event held for the community anymore.  It is the community.  It’s part of the fabric of Bay St. Louis.” 

Each month, two businesses take the limelight during Second Saturday.  The August “Hot Spots” are Social Chair (201 Main Street) and Identity Vintage (131 Main Street). 

Bay St. Louis resident and author, David Reynolds, shares an excerpt from Katrina Ten Years After, a new book edited by Mark Klinedinst, Emeritus Professor of Economics, USM.
- by David Reynolds

In the August 2015 issue of Country Roads, writer Jyl Benson takes a fresh look at "new" Bay St. Louis.  The article features Nikki Moon, owner of the Bay Town Inn.

The Mississippi Gulf Seafood Trail is currently (8/1) in second place in a national contest affiliated with USA Today.   The Trail includes several Bay-Waveland restaurants including The Mockingbird Cafe, 200 North Beach, Cuz's Seafood and the Diamondhead Country Club.

The Readers' Choice contest allows easy online voting (without registration).  Voters may cast a ballot once a day.  Click on this link to go directly to the page to vote for Mississippi.

The Mississippi Seafood Trail is up against national heavy-hitters, like Alabama's BBQ Trail, the Wisconsin Cheese Tour and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Read the full article here!

- by Ana Balka

Mississippi’s Bureau of Creative Economy & Culture has asked BSL's Martha Whitney Butler to serve on an advisory panel for Mississippi’s Creative Economy Program.

Since Governor Phil Bryant’s “Year of the Creative Economy” was announced in 2014, members of the Bureau of Creative Economy & Culture have been working to build a program that supports creative endeavors throughout the state. With the formation of the Mississippi Creative Economy Advisory Panel, the Bureau intends to develop programs that foster the relationship of the creative sector to economic development and better living in Mississippi.

Butler moved to Bay St. Louis in 2009, after accepting a job at the Alice Moseley Folk Art Museum. She opened The French Potager in 2012, an antique/collectibles show and floral design studio located at 213 Main Street in Old Town.  Her floral art projects range from fashion accessories to dramatic floral installations.  She also creates sculpture and collage from found objects, often on commission. She writes a popular monthly column on antiques and collectibles for the Cleaver, "Vintage Vignette."

Butler serves on the board of The Arts, Hancock County, is a major organizer for The Arts’ annual “ArtsAlive” and "Tarts and Tramps” events, and is a recent graduate of the Hancock Leadership program. She also runs the Big Sleazy Speakeasy, an invite-only dinner club, and founded the Raw Oyster Marching Club, a dance performance group.

The breadth of Butler's commitment to her own and other artists’ work, to her business, and to spearheading creative events in Bay St. Louis is an ideal illustration of the Mississippi Creative Economy Program’s mission. An informational statement points out that while independent artists and non-profit entities have clear roles in the creative economy, for-profit businesses factor in the equation as well, as part of a community-wide “value chain” that includes services and products relating to “design, development, production, distribution, marketing, sales, and equipment."

“I was driving around last month getting ready for Frida Fest,” Martha says, “and realized it was a perfect example of the creative economy at work. I was going to Froogel's, stopping at the hardware store, going places to buy things we need to have a good time. At the French Potager, I sold all kinds of Frida-themed items for the event."

"Frida Fest attracted people from as far away as Dallas, while locals came out in droves.  There’s sales tax from those exchanges, and revenue coming in. Everyone is making money, and we’re all putting that money back into the local economy. That’s the creative economy.”

The Mississippi Gulf Coast was well represented at the 2015 National Senior Games held in Minnesota recently. John Impson, a Waveland resident, and Inez Kelleher MD, from Biloxi, competed in the 50, 100 and 200 meter sprints. Impson and Kelleher began sprint training  together last year and chronicle their training on their web site. 

Impson, who competed in the men’s 75-79 age group, ran in the 50 meter preliminaries, qualified for the finals and finished in 7th place with a time of 8.52 seconds, just nine-tenths of a second behind the first place runner. In the 100 meter, Impson ran in the first of five heats along side the national record holder, which he admitted was intimidating at first, but ultimately found challenging.  Again, Impson qualified to go on to the finals, where he placed 8th overall.

The 200 meter proved to be his best event. Impson not only qualified to go to the finals, he went on to place 5th  overall in a photo finish. His wife, Gwen, was filming the race and remarked proudly “You should have seen the grin on John’s face as he edged out his nearest opponents. I am so proud of him!”

Kelleher, who competed in the women’s  60-64 age group, made it to the finals in the 100m, 200m and 50m races. She took a close 2nd place in both the 100m and 200m finals, earning a silver medal for each. In the 50 meter she finished in 4th place overall. She gained another silver medal in the relay event.

A Celebration of Athletes was held at the St. Paul Saints Stadium. Impson was chosen to be the  Mississippi state flag bearer as he, Kelleher and other Mississippi athletes  marched onto the field with thousands of other senior competitors. The event ended with music,  entertainment and the passing of the NSG flag to a representative of the 2017 National Senior Games host city, Birmingham, AL.

A new online forum for local candidates in Hancock County, Mississippi may be the first of its kind in the state, said volunteers who created the website. 

According to ServeHancock.com, the community project aims to help voters “make decisions based on information instead of advertising.” 

In addition to offering lists of candidates, district maps, and voter information, the mobile-friendly website features an online forum.  Twenty-eight local candidates running for office in the Gulf Coast county were given a free opportunity to reach voters through the site.

The forum consists of two parts.  Part One gave candidates a chance to introduce themselves.  Part Two offered forum participants an opportunity to answer a list of questions.  Part Two responses were posted on July 21st.

Serve Hancock was created by volunteers associated with The Fourth Ward Cleaver, including Ana Balka, Karen West, Larry Jaubert, and in the conceptual phase LiLi Stahler and Donald Murphy.  Read more here! 

This month, Daisy Mae (our columnist and registered seizure-alert dog) gets the scoop on a fantastic new facility in the works for pets and animals traveling internationally.
- by Daisy Mae Delray