Event organizer, Martha Whitney Butler is an artist and floral designer who owns the French Potager in Bay St. Louis.  Butler has been creating small quirky installations in her Main Street shop since she opened three years ago and they’ve become a draw for locals and regular customers, who often stop in just to see her latest creation. 
 
Butler, who also serves as president of The Arts, Hancock County and is a popular columnist with the Fourth Ward Cleaver webzine, has been planning a larger, outdoor floral installation for more than a year.  In October, a group of florists in Detroit made national news by transforming an abandoned building into a“flower house.” Butler was inspired to invite other coast artists and floral designers to work with her on a collaborative project here on the coast to bring in the new year. 
 
According to Butler, the exhibit will be a “jungle of flora and fauna.”  The installation will cover the outside wall of a building on the corner of Main and Second Street, “grow” across an iron patio fence bordering the sidewalk and move through the doors of the historic cottage that is home to Smith and Lens Gallery.  The gallery walls - and even the ceilings - will be included with the installation. 

There's a suggested five dollar donation to view the part of the installation that's in the gallery.  Funds collected will be split between the artists to help cover the costs of the materials.  Several show related items will also be for sale in the gallery, with proceeds going toward project expenses.
 
Butler’s a bit cagey about exactly what the installation will look like.  She wants it to be “a surprise,” and says that it’s evolving.  She did describe a “bird’s nest throne” however. 
 
She says “the point of the project is to emphasize the transitory beauty of life and nature and encourage people to appreciate small moments of joy as time moves on.” 

Smaller installations by Butler in the French Potager

​Old Town merchants and Mayor Les Fillingame turn out in full force to tape a spot for WGNO (New Orleans) "News With A Twist." The show will be featuring the Bay as a fun place to visit and aired the week of October 7th.  Watch one of the short video spots below!

On Saturday, September 12, 2015 Chris Cochran of S&L Office Supplies in Waveland presented a check to CASA of Hancock County’s Executive Director, Cynthia Chauvin. This check was made possible through a recycling project that Cochran started in early 2015 entitled Carts4kids.

S&L Office Supplies collects used toner cartridges from businesses and individuals in the community. If a business agrees to donate used cartridges he will have one of his employees pick up the materials. Cochran also uses his business as a drop off location for individuals and smaller businesses. Once bundled, these used products are shipped off and either refilled and/or repurposed back into the community. 

Cochran created Carts4kids as a way to encourage recycling within his business and to give back to community organizations who do amazing work. “CASA volunteers advocate for abused and neglected children," CASA’s ED Cynthia Chauvin said.  "As a local nonprofit, we are always looking for ways to get the community involved in our cause. Carts4kids allows people to learn more about CASA and to help raise funds by recycling." In addition to the $1032 check that was presented to CASA, S&L Office Supplies also donated a black and white copier/scanner to the organization.
                 
If you are interested donating used toner cartridges please visit the carts4kids.com website or contact S&L Office Supplies at 228.467.0002.  If you would like to know more about CASA please call 228.344.0419.  

George's Girls, 108 S. Beach, in the French Settlement Building, have nearly doubled the size of their store this month.  In addition to their luxury bedding and sleepwear, they're also carrying fashion, loungewear and accessories.  

​“Purveyors of Fine Linens” is the shop’s tag-line, yet co-owner Laura Lucore points out that they carry all types of products to “make your home luxurious and to pamper yourself.” 

October is American Archives month! To celebrate, the Hancock County Library in Bay St. Louis, in cooperation with the Hancock County Historical Society, is hosting Back in Time, a day of archival discovery and participation on October 10 at the library in Bay St. Louis. Help us make history more accessible to everyone, and learn more about the importance of preserving, cataloging, and caring for the things that are important to you.
 

• Anthony J. Scafidi Photography Exhibit: Identify people, places, and events in historical photos from the Hancock County Historical Society’s Anthony J. Scafidi collection. Dozens of mid-century portrait, group, home and business photos from the Bay St. Louis photographer on display in the library and on Facebook online. Tag anyone you recognize!
• Transcribe vintage postcards: Get to know pen pals of the 1940s, 50s and 60s by transcribing the messages on historic postcards. We’re digitizing these postcards and posting them in the Mississippi Digital Library so everyone can enjoy.
• Scanner demos: Bring a family photo or document and see a demo of our fast new scanner. Maybe it’s time to preserve your past, safe from storms and other hazards.
• Be a citizen scientist or archivist: Make amazing discoveries with these online projects.  You can do a lot of things computers can’t!
  • Zooniverse: Contribute to real research by studying images, historical records, or diaries.
  • Old Weather: Help develop climate projections by transcribing weather observations from ships’ logs.
  • National Archives:  Tag, transcribe, add subtitles to videos, or upload your own
  • Smithsonian Transcription Center: Unlock the past by transcribing historical letters and documents.
  • Distributed Proofreaders: Ease the conversion of Public Domain books into eBooks by proofreading scanned texts.

If Smith & Lens Gallery owners/artists Ann Madden and Sandy Maggio have anything to do with it, Dolly Parton will be celebrating her next birthday in Old Town Bay St. Louis.  The country-western icon was born in January, so Madden, Maggio and other Old Town merchants are planning a themed Second Saturday on January 9th. 

The event will feature a Dolly Parton look-alike contest and organizers hope to have a host of other happenings like hay rides, clogging and square dancing, country food, live music and a Dolly-themed art show.  The theory is that Dolly will hear about it and want to come check out the Bay in person!  

Stay tuned for more details by checking out the Old Town Merchants website or checking out the Dolly Should page on Facebook!  

Rosato says that the announcement hasn’t been made in papers or on radio yet.  He wanted to give locals a chance to buy “Early Bird” tickets online for as little as $25.

While the festival will run from Friday through Sunday, Saturday will be the only ticketed day.   Admission on Friday and Sunday will be free.

Rosato explained the unique set-up.  “Saturday, we have the big guns bands scheduled, like Gregg Allman, Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, Mel Waiters, Frank Foster and Brandon Niederauer.”

“On Friday and Sunday, we’ll have light music out there for atmosphere, a fun kids’ area and an art market.  It’ll be more about showcasing the Bay-Waveland area on those days.”

Bay Harborfest has scheduled ten bands already and there are more acts being finalized.  The main stage will be located on the beach for 2015, north of the harbor.

“People say they can’t believe it, and rightly so, it’s unbelievable,” says Rosato.

“I am determined to create a regionally significant and unique event and utilize our setting – the iconic beach, the harbor and the bridge.  Nobody’s going to be able to touch it.”

The Bay Harborfest Website

In late April, the Bay worked it's charm on St. Louis-based radio commentator, writer and videographer Bill Clevlen. 

Clevlen's website, Bill On The Road, is filled with articles, podcasts and videos from his trips around the country to "discover the people and places making America great." 
Apparently, he fell hard for BSL.  The article is titled,"Bay St. Louis, MS:  Beyond Katrina, Beyond Hospitality."  In his opening paragraphs, he eloquently states what we who live here know so well and never take for granted:

I hadn’t been out of the 39520 zip code for more than half an hour before I started to miss the friendly faces, great stories and hugs and handshakes from the people of Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi.

The small beach town of less than 10,000 residents sits along the states western coast.  While the south is generally known for its “hospitality” – the people of Bay Saint Louis seem to go above and beyond just the typical southern smiles and charm.

This was one of the more interesting trips I’ve done as I really had no idea what I’d be doing or who I’d be visiting with before I arrived.   Over the course of three days I found one thing in common with every person I interviewed or talked to – people are the reason Bay Saint Louis is such a special place.

Read the entire piece here and then share with friend, family and associates.  They'll want to read more of Bill's articles while they're there!

To date, the main feather in the Bay’s Hollywood hat is the 1966 move,  “This Property Is Condemned,” directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, Natalie Wood and Charles Bronson. 

But that's probably going to change.  And soon. 

On April 27th, two Old Town establishments were tapped as stand-ins for locations in the Bahamas as the movie crew of “Isolation,” filmed in Bay St. Louis.

Both the Mockingbird Café and the Sycamore House restaurant hosted cast and crew for the action feature, slated for release in November.   The movie stars  Dominic Purcell, Luke Mably, Tricia Helfer and Marie Avgeropoulos and is directed by Shane Dax Taylor.

"Isolation" began shooting in the Bahamas last December, with additional scenes being shot recently at Cat Island. The movie’s unit production manager, Jase Payne, lives in Gulfport.  He says the producers fell in love with the authenticity of Bay St. Louis and decided to shoot some of the scenes here.

According to Payne, Bay St. Louis is a natural star and is sure to host more movie crews in the near future.  He knows of two other major features that will be using Mississippi coast locations before the year is out.

“Producers call this the Mississippi coast ‘a hidden gem,’” says Payne.  They’d like to keep it a secret, but it’s getting discovered all the same.”

Also, read the Sea Coast Echo's May 1st story about a Luke Perry movie shooting in Kiln.

It's been nearly a decade since Hurricane Katrina destroyed the home of Pye Parson and forced her family to relocate from the coast to Birmingham.  While she always dreamed of rebuilding in Waveland, it seemed unaffordable until she stumbled onto the concepts touted in the hit television show "Tiny House Nation."

Using plans designed by her brother-in-law, Bruce Lanier (Standard Creative, in Birmingham), Pye began building a new sort of dream house.  The whole process was followed by the "Tiny House Nation" crews and is the subject of an hour-long episode of show on FYI network - "The 576 sq. ft. Mississippi Memory Home."

Pye's house is also showcased as the Cleaver "Home of the Month." Read Pye's story and take a visual tour of the house in this month's At Home in the Bay column!

In April, the website "The Culture Trip" named Bay St. Louis as one of the "Top Ten Most Beautiful Cities in Mississippi."

Located on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, a few miles from the border with Louisiana, Bay St. Louis is an idyllic seaside town brimming with rich history, beautiful sights and a lively cultural scene just begging to be explored.

Read the rest here and see who else made the cut.

Bay St. Louis in the National Spotlight - again! 

Bay St. Louis was one of the stars of the Weather Channel's "Wake Up With Al" show on October 3rd, thanks to Robert Firpo-Cappiello, editor-in-chief of Budget Travel. Two Old Town businesses (Gallery 220 and the Bay Town Inn) were tapped for attention, as well as the Little Theatre. 

The piece was titled "12 Beautiful Beachtown Bargains for 2014." We keep good company - Hilton Head and Key West also made the list.  And as a wonderful lagniappe, so did our Bay-Waveland sister city of Port Townsend, Washington!

In 2013,  in Budget Travel's annual contest, Bay St. Louis was chosen as one of the top three Coolest Small Towns in the country -  and we ranked above other Southern contenders by a long shot.  

Watch the spot below!

Crab Fest the Talk of Texas

Thanks to BSL Public Works Director Buddy Zimmerman, the Cleaver learned about this well-written feature by Pam LeBlanc that appeared in the San Antonio Statesman.  Posted September 20th, the article begins like this:

Crab Festival, beaches lure tourists to Bay St. Louis

Under trees behind Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church, tables of determined people wrestle bright red crabs, working hard to extract every last bit of sweet meat from the freshly boiled crustaceans.

It’s Crab Festival time in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Before this three-day festival ends, visitors will down more than 6,000 pounds of crabs from Lake Pontchartrain and 13,000 pounds of shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico. They’ll stick around to hear the rippling notes of live zydeco, blues and country music, then climb onto carnival rides, including one called the Ring of Fire, which slings its occupants around a circular track and dangles them upside down long enough to make them wonder if eating all that seafood was such a good idea.

Click here to read the full article!

Major Change-up in First Block of Main

From the blog, Lisa Monti's Notebook:

The new owners of the brick facade building at 111 Main St. will enhance the retail space on one side, open a coastal bistro on the other and rebrand the new development as The Shops at Magnolia Alley. Also in the plans is construction of exclusive apartments behind the building.

The Parrish family, who took over ownership last week, chose the name in honor of the Magnolia State Lumber Supply business that occupied the building from 1937 to the 1980s. The Phillips family created four retail spaces as part of the building’s post-Katrina makeover in 2008.
Read the rest of the story here!

For frequent updates on news around town, we recommend a subscription to Lisa Monti's Notebook.  A seasoned business reporter and editor, Lisa currently writes for several regional publications, including Mississippi Business Journal and the Cleaver.

Phil William's BBQ- New Place, Same Eats -
thank goodness!

The new location of Williams Pit BBQ celebrated with a ribbon-cutting on Friday afternoon, October 17th.  All the BSL faves are still on the menu, locals were relieved to find, including smoked chicken, sausage and those awesome, unforgettable ribs.   During the festivities, patriarch and chef Phil "Smooth" Williams performed with one the "Boys of the Book Club Band."  If you missed it the first time around, check out Phil William's profile in the  Cleaver's March 2013 "Good Neighbor" column.
Williams Pit BBQ
516 Old Spanish Trail
Bay St. Louis
228-671-9436

Rickey's is Back on Track at "Off the Tracks"

        The coast went into major mourning with Rickey's Restaurant closed its Hwy 90 location earlier this year, but now there's cause for celebration as the legendary chef moves back into the heart of Old Town in the Depot District.  
        The little historic cottage across from the duck pond was originally the home of Kingston's Barber Shop and was renovated Pre-K by artists Nancy and Harrison Minor.  Now owned by local businessman Kevin Jordan, until recently, the building was the home of Sloppy Dogs. 
        A covered patio being built to make room for more outside dining and a make-over is taking place inside.  Rickey said he plans to open sometime in November.  The menu that offer favorites like pot roast, etouffees and other specialties that  are sure to keep the customers coming. 
    Locals can walk or bike to a dinner at Rickey's then take a loop around the duck pond and the depot grounds afterward  - before heading to the beach to watch the moon come up.  Welcome back, Rickey!