This outdoor music fest in Kiln, Mississippi offers a stellar line-up, a pristine natural setting, and a rural location that's easily reached from several metro areas. 
- story by LB Kovac

That's changing now, thanks to the Sugar Magnolia Music Festival. Now in its second year, the event seeks to bring everything we’re missing out on to the Mississippi coast – top music acts, delicious food, and a pristine rural setting with the ability to camp on-site, in either tents or RVs with hookups.  

Mike Rosato and his Bay Rat Productions team are behind this festival. And Rosato says that this “brackish mix” of Mississippi and Louisiana culture dubbed “Sugar Mag,” scheduled for November 9-11 at the Hancock County Fairgrounds in Kiln, is sure to get the hearts of all attendees pumping.

But the fun doesn’t stop at the music. “Honestly, events like Sugar Magnolia are more about a total experience rather than a stand-alone concert or festival that is focused on any one band, food or artist. It’s the whole kaleidoscope of sights, sounds and smells and interactions,” Rosato says.

“For those who have never been, there is something very friendly, primal and relaxing about going to a music festival,” says Rosato.

In the vein of festivals like Burning Man and Bonnaroo, about half of the Sugar Mag’s festival attendees camp out for the weekend. “Bring your RV and set it up,” says Rosato.  And if you don’t have an RV, you can always rent one.

Primitive tent camping (with no hook-ups) is included in the ticket prices.  Advance tickets are only $35 for one day and $55 for the weekend.  Advance ticket prices even include tent camping without hookups (there are free shower facilities on-site). RV hookups are available for those who want more luxe accommodations for the weekend.  An advance weekend camping pass with hook-ups - which includes two tickets - is just $140.  Purchase tickets online here).  

“Sharing the weekend with your friends and enjoying the entire experience together… It’s like the best tailgate party of your life but you don’t have to go home if you don’t want to!” says Rosato.

And if you’re in the half that is not the camping type, then you still have plenty of options. There are lots of nearby hotels and home rentals. And home is probably just a short drive away.

“Kiln…is NOT in the middle of nowhere," says Rosato, "But rather in the middle of everywhere! New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola are all far enough to leave your worries back home, but close enough to run back to if you need to.”

​The music will play throughout the day in this weekend community, with special late night shows as well.

“Samantha Fish, Raw Oyster Cult, Russel Batiste and Friends and The Dustbowl Revival are leading an amazingly talented lineup,” said Rosato.

Fish, a Blues protégé, debuted her latest album, Belle of the West¸ in the Number 1 spot on the Billboard Blues Albums charts just last year. That album went on to win the Best Blues Album at last year’s Best of the Beat Awards.

And Los Angeles-based The Dustbowl Revival, with their unique brand of vintage Americana sound, has been generating a lot of buzz. Under the direction of Grammy Award-winning producer Tedd Hutt, their latest self-titled album got them a resounding recommendation from Rolling Stones reviewer Rob Sheffield.

New Orleans jam bands The Iceman Special and The Quickening, as well local R&B group 'Sippiana Soul, are just a few of the other outstanding acts scheduled for the vibrant 3-day weekend. Everyone can find a band to sing to all night.
​

Away from the stage, the Bay Rat Productions team pulled out all of the stops, bringing Southern flair to every aspect of the festival. Big Wil and the Warden will serve up all your Southern fried favorites; an oyster bar will be on hand - in the middle of oyster season, no less; and the festival bars will be stocked with local micro brew beers and specialty drinks spiked with spirits from Louisiana and Mississippi distilleries.

Great music, good food, and friends you haven’t met yet, will all be just a short drive (or a short camp) away come the weekend of November 9/10.  This Southern-stewed music fest offers it all.  

For more information and tickets, go to the Sugar Magnolia Fest website.

Writer and Shoofly Magazine editor Lisa Monti reminisces about her first oyster tasting, the beginning of a lifelong fandom for the delectable bi-valves. 
- story by Lisa Monti

Detractors have trouble with the texture of oysters, or the notion of eating something raw. That must be even more off-putting to landlocked visitors than staring down at a fried soft-shell crab, with its crunchy legs shooting out from both sides of po-boy.
 
Fans of the oyster have no such worries when it comes to plump ones eaten raw or prepared in a well-turned dish. Without getting too Forrest Gump-ish, the versatile oyster can be grilled, charbroiled, scalloped, wrapped in bacon, baked, smoked, stewed, roasted, steamed and cooked into a dressing.

​Oyster cravings get stirred up this time of year by cooler weather and memories of holiday feasts. A line formed in our kitchen when the Christmas oyster patties came out of the oven. Making them was a production, led by my grandmother, that involved a gallon of oysters and green onions run through a hand-cranked grinder intended for meat.

All the ingredients came together to bubble in a big Magnalite pot before being spooned into small flaky shells from the McKenzie’s Bakery on Chef Highway. A piece of art depicting an oyster patty hangs in my kitchen as a reminder of that holiday treat.
 
Of course oysters are available any time of year, and fortunately, you can find them on loads of local menus if not in your own kitchen. (Note to self: it’s frying time again.)
​
 A fried oyster po-boy is always a good option, although sometimes choosing between shrimp and oysters can make for some serious internal conflict. The humble, almost sweet, always reliable shrimp?  Or the oysters, delicate to the mouth, on the rich side (oysters Rockefeller, hello!) with a dash of extravagance. There’s a reason, don’t you suppose, that there are oyster bars and not shrimp or crab bars.

The last oysters that I ate were at C&C Farm to Fork restaurant on Main Street, listed on the menu simply as Gulf Fried Oysters, in a self-explanatory way. They were fried to a perfect crisp and served with delicious sauces, though the oysters were good enough to stand on their own.
 
There’s even a new festival celebrating the briny treats – the St. Clare’s Oyster Fest on October 13th (see details on our Upcoming Events page).  If it’s anything like the church’s annual Seafood Festival, it’s bound to grow into a local tradition. 
 
As a child on the beach trying my first raw oyster, maybe I didn’t appreciate how special that treat was at the time.  But I’m mightily grateful now for all of the fresh seafood in the Gulf. Catch it, cook it, order it and celebrate it. Aren’t we the lucky ones?
 
Below are a few of our Old Town restaurants known for their oysters.

200 North Beach
200 N Beach Blvd
Bay St Louis
(228) 467-9388
Open 7 Days
 
Trapani’s Eatery
116 N Beach Blvd
Bay St Louis
(228) 467-8570
 
C&C Farm to Fork
Creative and sustainable Southern cuisine 
111 Main Street
Bay St. Louis, MS
(228) 344-3295
 
Cuz’s Old Town Oyster Bar & Grill
108 S Beach Blvd
Bay St Louis
(228) 467- 3707
Open 7 Days

The RAW Bar
118 N. Beach Blvd.
Bay St. Louis
Closed Mon/Tues.
 
Silver Slipper Casino’s Oyster Bar
Fresh seafood appetizers and entrees
5000 S Beach Blvd 
Bay St. Louis , MS 39520 
(228) 469-2777 
Open 7 days

St. Clare Church Oyster Festival 
St. Clare Catholic Church 
236 S. Beach Blvd 
Waveland
10:00am to 10:00pm 
Free
Drawdown tickets are on sale now at the church—$50 per ticket. 

Seafood, bands, vendors, a $5,000 drawdown raffle, and more seafood! Welcome the Fall season with tasty oyster dishes and "sides" like gumbo, potato salad, fried shrimp plates and poboys, crab stuffed potatoes, cotton candy, and more! Live local entertainment including the David Mayley Band (1pm-3pm) and Monsters at Large with the Moran Brothers (6pm-9pm).  What a win/win--oysters and a drawdown!  ​

Noted Southern author Rheta Grimsley Johnson joins an annual community party in a German village, where the vineyard harvests are cause for an unusual type of celebration. 

Nobody does it better. Except maybe … little Freinsheim near Mannheim, Germany, in the Southwest region called the Palatinate.

 I recently visited relatives in the town of 4,800 just after grape harvest. Freinsheim is at the center of seven wine-making villages. How’s that for convenient geography? So it’s a big deal when the grapes are picked and the new crop sampled.
​
Let me tell you about the party.

​I don’t speak a lick of German, so it was as if I’d slipped from Stage Left onto an elaborate theater set in a beautiful musical.  I didn’t know my lines but figured out the basic steps and sang and danced my way by following the others. Think Lucy Ricardo slipping into one of Ricky’s nightclub production numbers.

One Saturday afternoon on cue thousands of people wound their way through the endless grape vineyards and walked for miles into the sunset. But this was no sweaty, non-stop marathon in the name of exercise. Oh, no.

​We had only just entered the orchard when appeared the first kiosk selling tall glasses of new wine. The glasses were dimpled, the better to hold them, and the general idea was to throw back refreshment as you made your way forward to the next wine filling station.

A man sat on a stool and played a barely-recognizable “When the Saints Go Marching In” on an old accordion. People bought sandwiches made from a cow whose stripped-clean bones were still spinning on a spit. Neighbor greeted neighbor as if it had been decades since they’d met.

Thus refreshed, we tramped on for another few hundred yards and then did it all again. You could sip or chugalug, didn’t matter. You knew where your next drink was coming from.

Not everyone walked the entire course. Some cheated. A few families set up picnic tables between the vineyard rows and ate and drank at their leisure. Some lounged on cushioned chairs provided, I suppose, by the various wineries.

 Those ugly portable toilets that must be universal were the necessary evil, a scratch on a canvas that could have been painted by Monet. Men, as usual, had the advantage and simply wandered off down the rows to water the crop.
 
I kept walking and drinking, which is a lot easier than you might imagine. The new wine had about a  six percent alcohol content, roughly a beer’s worth. I’ve done the same thing getting to the far end of Ship Island while lugging a cooler.

The most amazing thing was that nobody in the wine-swilling crowd of thousands appeared drunk. There were no fistfights or loud words. The only music was the occasional accordion, yet it seemed as if our lubed conversation was orchestrated.

As the sun got lower and the crowd higher, I kept waiting for the down side of such a frolic, a sick teenager, passed out geriatric or an angry boyfriend. It never came. Now I didn’t stay into the wee hours and the scene might have changed, but somehow I doubt it.

Theirs is an old and grape-fueled civilization.

Almost before I knew it, my group had reached a vineyard hilltop that looked down on the red-roofed medieval village of Freinsheim. We rested. And drank some more.
​
We didn’t so much walk as float home. I kept thinking wistfully of a similar production along the edge of the Mississippi Sound, but I don’t think it would translate.

There's little solid historical information about one of Bay St. Louis's most significant buildings, but its new owner hopes to learn more with the help of long-time locals.
- story by Lisa Monti, photographs by Ellis Anderson

Dangermond plans to share with the public any photos and memorabilia she can track down. “I want to position the hall as an interpretive center,” she said. “My goal is to show how and why it came into existence and its significance to the area."

According to the new 100 Men Hall website:

In 1894, 12 civic-minded African American residents of Bay Saint Louis drew up the bylaws for an organization called the Hundred Members Debating Benevolent Association. The group’s primary purpose was to "assist its members when sick, bury its dead in a respectable manner and knit friendship." From an organizing group sprang an open-air pavilion and then, in 1922, a cornerstone was laid and the existing Hall built. The Hall was dedicated on July 16, 1923.

The Mississippi Blues Trail marker at the entrance recognizes the 100 Men D.B.A. Hall for its significance as a music venue.  B.B. King and Etta James were among the musicians and signers who took to the stage at the hall. Money raised by the performances was used by the organization to help  members of the community get medical treatment and other services.

Saved from demolition by previous owners and guardians Kerry and Jesse Loya, the refurbished hall hosted concerts, weddings, Sunday afternoon Cajun dances and pop-up dinners over the last several years.

In the short time she’s owned the property, Dangermond has held a writer’s workshop and a Baria for Congress fundraising performance by Cedric Burnside. More events are in the works while Dangermond seeks pieces of the hall’s history.
 
“I’ve reached out to some folks to see if they have any old family photos. They might have one of their mom or an aunt standing in front of the hall. Up until Camille, if you were African American, you went to that hall. That’s where events were held. So there must be photos out there.”
​

There’s a sense of urgency to locate any photos and other keepsakes and record memories as the years go by, she said. 
 
“Any memorabilia, even if it’s story, I’m very interested,” she said.
 
To contact Dangermond, email 100menhall@gmail.comor call (415) 336-9543.

During the Second Saturday Artwalk each month in Old Town Bay St. Louis, you'll find cool deals, fresh meals and lots of art and live music!

Be sure to check out "Hot Spots" Magnolia Antiques (200 Main Street) and Trapani's Eatery (116 North Beach Blvd).  And be sure to stop in at Gallery 220 (220 Main St.) to see new work by Julie Nelson and Tommy Lewis. 

- stories by Grace Wilson, photos by Ellis Anderson 

To celebrate their "Hot Spot" status this month, on Second Saturday, Magnolia Antiques will host live music by Hadley Hill from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. with light refreshments. ​

“Grandma had it. Mom threw it out. I bought it back.” This sign hangs in Magnolia Antiques, and of all the treasures for sale, this sign is not. The smiles and laughs it brings to customers is priceless. 
 
Walking through the doors of Magnolia Antiques makes memories come flooding back. It’s truly a world of the past. There are 3,000 square feet of furniture, instruments, trinkets and more – all from another, simpler era.  
​
Glenda and Jack Schornick originally opened Magnolia Antiques on Highway90 at Dunbar Avenue in January 2005. Magnolia Antiques re-opened in Picayune in late 2006, with the owners’ dream of returning to the Bay. In 2008, that dream was realized and Magnolia Antiques opened at 200 Main Street in Old Town. In 2013 Schornick’s daughter, Shay Coss, relocated from California and became part of daily operations.  
 
She now serves as the store manager, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the store and antiques generally – especially mid-century modern pieces. 

Magnolia Antiques is one of the cornerstones of the town, right on the corner of Main and Second streets, and is one of the shops that have made Bay St. Louis known for the some of the best antiques on the Gulf Coast.
 
Locals will remember their spot as Jerome’s Department Store for over 50 years.  “Everyone from the Bay shopped there at one time or another, especially for school uniforms, shoes, jeans, dancewear, and everything Boy Scouts,” said Glenda.
 
It’s still a department store of sorts. There’s the kitchenware department, the linen section, the kid’s toy area, the Depression glass display, the jewelry department and the music booth. There’s specialty items like the vintage cameras, and the quirky knick-knacks spread throughout the aisles of vintage and antique furniture.

Magnolia Antiques also features the late Betty Stechmann’s photography postcards from Bay St. Louis and the surrounding area.  Betty was a lifelong resident of the Bay and very involved in community arts and theater.  She passed away in 2013, but her spirit lives on as Magnolia has the bulk of her remaining stock.
 
The shop also boasts “the largest collection of playable ukuleles on the coast,” according to Jack, who is a bit of a ukulele expert.  With his knowledge and passion for ukuleles, he has stocked the shop with a grand selection, whether you’re looking for your first one or a prized one. The store also features lots of mid-century modern furniture thanks to Coss' keen eye.  It’s a family affair at Magnolia Antiques, which makes for a wide variety of finds stocking the shelves.
 
 “We are the epitome of recycling,” Glenda said. “We have all the things you loved in your grandmother’s, aunt’s and mom’s house, bringing the best of memories right from your heart to your home.” Indeed, there’s something for every interest from every time period.

Trapani’s is a Bay St. Louis staple. Although the beachfront is now known for food and drinks, Tony Trapani has been on Beach Boulevard since 1994.
​
“Our family has been down here a long time,” Trapani said. “My grandfather started a bar across the way called Trapani’s Knock Knock. My uncle took it over and Camille moved it to the highway.” ​

Thirty-five years, later, Hurricane Katrina took Trapani’s on the beach, too, but Trapani never questioned leaving. 

 “I love it here,” he says. “Whenever I go somewhere else, I can’t wait to come back.” Like many, he had to relocate temporarily, but now the restaurant is housed in a hurricane-resistant structure on the lot where the business had previously stood. 
​
Locals cheered the reopening as another sign of rebirth after the storm. Today locals and tourists alike line up for their fresh seafood and fresh innovative dishes.  And recently, Jimmy Buffet named Trapani's as one of his favorite beach bars.  

“It’s all homemade and handmade here,” said Trapani. “You won’t find pre-cooked sauces here.” Some of the house specialties include Trapani’s Spaghetti and Meatballs and the Eggplant Delacroix - both family recipes that Tony brought to the restaurant.

In addition to fresh seafood and traditional Italian fare, Trapani’s is known for Cajun favorites, steaks, and appetizers like fried green tomatoes topped with crabmeat and hollandaise, crab cakes, fried calamari, and homemade onion rings.
​
There’s also a crowd favorite called Shrimp Ecstasy, which is bacon-wrapped shrimp with cream cheese and jalapenos. Asian-inspired dishes are also a hit – wasabi tuna, tuna nachos and poke salad are all fresh favorites. ​

Each day there’s a $10 lunch special and on Thursdays, locals love the oyster special featuring raw or chargrilled oysters for $10 a dozen. Tony said they don’t have a proper happy hour, but every hour is a happy one at Trapani’s. 

The Blue Marlin Bar upstairs is the perfect hideaway to have a cold drink, an appetizer (or a few!), grab a comfy chair and sit down for a nice, relaxing conversation. 

The upstairs is also perfect for hosting your next party. It features a balcony with some of the best views of the Bay and a fireplace for chilly nights. 
​
Trapani’s Eatery is doing everything it can to stand heads and shoulders above the competition. It’s a slice of authentic Bay St. Louis. You never know who will be bellied up to the bar or buried in a booth behind a delicious plate of food. Jimmy Buffett often eats at Trapani’s when he’s in town.

Three artists will share the focus at Gallery 220 Main during the month of October, presenting their latest work at the cooperative art gallery located in Old Town Bay St. Louis, MS. The talent of Armand Douroux, Tommy Lewis and Julie Nelson will be featured during the Second Saturday art walk on Oct. 13 and throughout the month in the front window. Meet the artists and see how each explore their mediums with enthusiasm; Douroux’s photography, Lewis’ wood turning and Nelson’s pottery.
​
Armand Douroux grew up playing among the surrounding bayous and waters of his New Orleans home. His boyhood adventures, full of family and love, created a foundation that has become the basis of his photography. In his “BayouByMe” series, the memories come alive as he captures the colors of a sunset or the cotton-like swelling of clouds. His photos depict images of the Gulf Coast surroundings that has now become Dourouxs’ playground. He now calls the bayous and beaches of Bay St. Louis, MS his home and has imbued into his images the natural beauty of his neighborhood.

Tommy Lewis spent his career as a building contractor, retiring in 2015. That’s when he started turning bowls. Using wood from trees such as Box Elder and Ash, he creates purposeful objects that reveal the natural beauty of wood. Finding the right wood is always a challenge for Lewis, but when he comes across the perfect piece, he reveals nature in all its beauty. His wife talked him into entering some art shows and behold, in the two years he’s been showing, he’s won two second place ribbons, one third place and a coveted “People’s Choice Award”.

The wife Lewis mentions above, is pottery artist Julie Nelson. The couple have been together for 17 years. Nelson asked Lewis to join her and enter a show together. Both were entering in a 3-D category and would be competing against one another. “Once Tommy started turning wood I talked him into entering some of his pieces in shows, thereby pitting us against each other. It has been great fun with a happy competition” says Nelson.

Nelson was introduced to pottery in 1998 when she took throwing lessons from gallery artist, Regan Carney. She began working in clay full time in 2010 and has won several awards for her hand-crafted raku pottery. Recently, she has been exploring hand building, experimenting with new glazes and creating more mixed-media pieces. Nelson’s work is constantly evolving, which makes her pottery so interesting.

Gallery 220 Main invites all to stop by between 4-8pm on Second Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018. There will be refreshments, creative energy and new art. Find us at the corner of 220 Main St. and Tolume St. in Bay St. Louis, MS. Call 228.466-6347 if you need more information. Visit our Facebook @Gallery220.

A local naturalist and zen explorer experiments with ways to consider the world from another living creature's perspective - and discovers a new way of seeing. 
- by James Inabinet, PhD, illustrations by Margaret Inabinet

Mouse-seeing is an innocent way of seeing that begins with an empty mind, a “beginner’s mind,” one open to anything as Zen master Suzuki describes: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”  

To begin mouse-seeing, thinking is suspended through meditation or prayer.  A quieted mind allows the “seer” to become more mindful of what’s happening right now, right here.  With an empty mind one becomes like a hollow bone, ready to be filled with possibility.
 
Several years ago, I ritually began my first journey into mouse-seeing in the goldenrod field.  After sitting in meditation for a while, I dropped down and put my nose close to the ground like a mouse to see the field up close the way she would.  

​I could see thickets of grass and goldenrod stems. With lowered head, I crawled for a while seeking mouse roads below the grass and goldenrod “canopy” and experience being in mouse habitat as I moved mouse-like through the field.
 
After a half hour or so, I became bored and noticed that I had been thinking about home and work.  I meditated and began again.  Soon I stumbled onto what appeared to be a tiny trail.  I slid onto my belly to look closer and discovered a mouse trail, a round hole through grass “trunks.”  Opening back into the grass, the trail disappeared in shadow.  Perhaps a tiny nest was back in there but I would never know. To get close enough to gaze at it would certainly destroy it.  

I turned away and crawled towards the early sun.  It struck me that humans are upright strangers that blithely walk through woods and fields as hawks, seeing from afar, from on high.  We rarely see a mouse or even her signs and yet mice are legion, numbering in the thousands in this place alone.  There on mouse roads they run, doing the doings of mice everyday unnoticed until someone gets down on her belly and looks with mouse eyes.  Only then can mice and their way of being truly begin to exist for us.  
 
As infants, we once possessed unmitigated body-knowing, as innocent as a mouse on her mouse-road – I only have to remember how to do it.  Maybe I can return somehow to an infant’s sense of wonder, alert and curious – like a mouse.  Intimate with her world, she sees clearly only what is right in front of her feeling, smelling nose.
 
I moved closer to the stems of the grasses and goldenrods; I touched them with my face, feeling their roughness.  Nose to the ground, I smelled the dark, damp earth where it was exposed. I listened closely while simultaneously smelling, feeling, looking.  The mouse way is a doing way.  

 Energetically, I moved through the field, stopping only for brief moments. I alternately blurred my vision and then focused.  In blurring, movement can be detected, vital in a mouse world that includes hawk shadows and snakes.  With blurred images, one feels more than sees.  Blurring interdicts thinking.
 
With closed eyes I laid down and focused on feelings.  A surprisingly rough grass stem was touching my face.  I tried to move into that feeling of roughness–without thinking. Moving my face to the side, I felt the mat of dry grass that covered the bare earth, again focusing on feelings. 

Moving forward a few inches I felt a grass stem on my forehead, focusing on feelings even as an image appeared, an image of what that grass might look like.  I continued in this way for about an hour and had moved only about six feet. 
 
At the end of this experiment into mouse-seeing, I knew that particular feelings had arisen in me about the nature of the beings of the field, but I could not clearly recall them.  It occurred to me that by purposefully suspending thinking, these feelings could not easily become thought and/or words.  Something, though, was felt, something known, but I could not say exactly what it was.  

​Even so, my relationship with this place deepened.

A Louisiana artist beloved for her dynamic paintings opens a new Bay St Louis gallery and launches a new children's book. 
- story by Denise Jacobs

“If I see something in a dumpster that I need,” she says, “I will get in the dumpster and dig it out. I have no shame.” ​

Originally from Louisiana and greatly influenced by the musical culture of New Orleans, Curtis has a collection of work that includes the original artwork for three French Quarter Fest posters featuring Pete Fountain, Kermit Ruffins, and Little Freddie King.
​

Also, she was commissioned to create the 20th annual Blues Masters at the Crossroads poster, the Satchmo Summer Fest poster, and two Legendary Blues Cruise official posters.

For as long as she can remember, Curtis has been creating.“My love of art has been lifelong,” she notes. “I remember drawing a duck when I was two years old—a tiny, little picture of a duck. I still remember the smell of graphite and the way the pencil felt in my hand.” 

Curtis earned her first degree in art education and her second in art design. Her father has been her lifelong mentor. “He was an outdoorsman, and as we walked the woods, my father would draw my attention to the outdoor world. He would point to a crow and ask me what color it was. I’d say black, and he would say, ‘Look again when the sun highlights the feathers.’”  ​

With a built-in appreciation of both nature and animals, she enjoys painting animals as much, if not more, than people (making her the perfect sponsor for the Shoofly Magazine's Shelter Stars column).

“Animal faces captivate me,” she says. “Some people say that if you’ve painted one golden retriever, you’ve painted them all, but that’s just not true. If you study animals, you will find that they are all different. The distinction might be as small a thing as a bump on the nose, but it is not insignificant.” 
​
Painting pet portraits is rewarding for the peace they bring to clients whose pets are no longer alive. When Curtis paints the portraits of animals still living, she visits the animals and takes photographs to guide her painting. Then, for the cherry on top, clients are encouraged to bring their pets in for the final stage of the pet portrait, the addition of the pet’s paw prints. 

The artist has made her own imprint on New Orleans, where she taught art in the greater New Orleans area and implemented an art-based curriculum, Artworks, through the New Orleans Museum of Art. In 2004, Curtis went into art full time, opening a gallery on Magazine Street in 2014, which she operated for four years before falling prey to the charms of Bay St. Louis. 

“The move to Bay St. Louis, finding a home at Century Hall, and finding a house for my husband and me took three months,” Curtis says, noting that everything “fell into place for us.” 

“Bay St. Louis is the perfect fit,” she notes. “It’s art friendly, and I’ve always loved it.” Also, the Bay is a perfect middle ground for traveling to Gulf Shores, Alabama, where her husband, children’s writer Perry Guy, runs a kayak rental business, and to New Orleans, where Curtis teaches art lessons to private clients as well as to women housed at the New Orleans Family Justice Center (via her church’s prison ministry).

​It’s a lot to balance, but Curtis says that whatever she’s doing, art is on her mind. ​

“If I’m running errands,” she says, “or doing something mundane, I’m thinking through my layout, my color palette, the potential size of a project.” 

Curtis’ latest project, The Mardi Gras Boat Parade, is a collaboration between herself and Perry Guy, illustrator and writer, respectively. The children’s story reflects Curtis’ childhood love of Beatrix Potter. Guy has written a song by the same name as the book, as well. To order The Mardi Gras Boat Parade online, visit Tami Curtis's website. 

As Curtis looks to her future in the Bay-Waveland area, she would like to begin offering private art lessons here. “When you create something yourself, something with personal meaning,” she says, “you can come home at the end of a hard day, glance at it, and find peace.”  ​

Waveland Alderman Jeremy Burke reports on Hurricane Florence relief efforts, the Halloween Bash on Coleman Avenue and the Waveland budget. 

All the volunteers took leave time from their jobs for this hurricane relief effort. With monetary help from dozens of Hancock County residents, the group was able to serve thousands of meals to people in Vass and Surf City, N.C.  ​

Attention all ghosts and goblins: Waveland invites you to the annual Halloween Bash on Coleman Avenue on Wednesday, October 31, from 5:30–7:00 p.m. There will be tricks, treats, face painting, a haunted house and many other surprises! This is a family-friendly event that children of all ages will enjoy.
 
To make this an even better event, we invite residents and businesses to set up on Coleman Avenue and hand out candy. 
 
If you are interested in setting up a booth or being a part of the event, please contact Raquel LaFontaine at Raquellafontaine@gmail.com(228-493-7246) or call Waveland City Hall at 228-467-4134.

Waveland adopted the fiscal year 2019 budget during September.  Financially, Waveland is on solid ground.  The general fund budget of just over $5.5 million has line items that will allow a boost in public safety. The city budget includes an addition of a patrolman, replacing several aging police vehicles, and positioning Waveland to take on several capital improvement projects. The tax rate of 37.55 mills is the same as last year so local taxpayers will see no Waveland tax increase.  
 
Two reasons for Waveland’s current good financial position is because the city mill value increased to $62,400 and the sales tax revenue is up nearly 3% from the previous year.  It is important for Waveland residents and weekenders to continue choosing to shop in local establishments and not online so Waveland will remain on good financial footing.

A sweeping new narrative explores the Gulf of Mexico, taking readers from  its exotic pre-history to its precarious present. 
- story by Scott Naugle

Davis continues with a foreboding close to the paragraph, “The doomed megafauna struggled for survival against a common implacable predator – humans with spears and shell clubs – and against a changing climate. Lost causes both, as it turned out.”

Between his opening comments on the plate tectonics forming the Gulf of Mexico and the present day, Davis tells a rip-roaring, relevant, concise, beautifully written history of the gulf. He is a polymath covering every aspect from early twentieth-century visits by the painter Winslow Homer and poet Wallace Stevens; Spanish, French, and English exploration; the dawn of commercial fishing; the advent of tourism; and the BP oil spill.
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Jack Davis spent a lifetime preparing to write this monumental work. He recalls his childhood romping on the beaches and marshes along the coast of the Florida panhandle, studying the birds while listening to the melodious rhythm of the surf. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of South Florida and a doctorate from Brandeis University. Davis currently teaches environmental history and sustainability studies at the University of Florida.   

Davis was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea. 

While the research is meticulous and expansive ranging from social history to wildlife and the coastal flora, it is the narrative, the people and story of the gulf, bringing this history to life like a multi-layered novel.  

“Among the most scintillating of sights were fish in schools as long as freight trains, running with the invisible gulf tide” was the scenery encountered by Winslow Homer in 1904, as he traveled with “rod and reel … and paints and brushes” as described by Davis.
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A century later, Joseph Boudreaux, earning a meager living as a commercial fisherman, lamented over the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, erosion caused by commercialization and inland effluents, and the unnatural effects of levees and dams, “that’s when the erosion’s going.” 

Davis explicates, “If you were a fisher, every day was a day not unlike the heron that fished the marsh -  a quest to make the quota for sustenance.” The gulf, over-used and exploited, has exceeded its quota, depleted and polluted. We are modern-day versions of our ancestors with “spears and shell clubs,” employing instead rigs, nets, and chemicals against the gulf.  

The Gulf is the 2018 selection for One Book One Pass, a community reading initiative where everyone reads the same book and has the opportunity to hear the author speak.

​In 2016, the first year for the program, Erik Larson spoke about the best-selling “Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.” Last year, National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward discussed “The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race,” a collection of essays edited by Ward.

For Larson and Ward, the community turnout was both overwhelming and enthusiastic. The Randolph Center in Pass Christian was stacked to standing room capacity to hear each author speak and answer questions about their work.

​The date for this year’s presentation by Jack Davis is Wednesday, October 17th 7:00 PM at the Randolph Center, 315 Clark Avenue in Pass Christian. It promises to be another informative and fascinating evening.          

In this new Shoofly Magazine column, veteran coast musician Pat Murphy writes about the local music scene - and kicks off by introducing the members of the Dave Mayley Band. 

Mayley's also passionate about music and is the namesake and bandleader of the The Dave Mayley Band. The five-piece musical group is creating quite a big splash on the musical scene in Hancock County. Playing "Radio Rock Hits From The 1960s Forward,” the group proclaims itself to be a "true fun loving radio cover band.”  

​David Mayley has been dabbling in music since the age of twelve when he began playing drums in a "real garage band" named Black Granite. Later, in college, Mayley went on to play with Roger Dodger & The Darts, and he founded Kool Breeze in 2005.  Kool Breeze would morph into The Dave Mayley Band of today. 
 
The other member of Kool Breeze was Australian-born lead guitarist Richard Pohl. Pohl, another very talented multi instrumentalist, joined Mayley shortly after Hurricane Katrina and shares vocal duties with the other five members of the band.

Pohl covers  songs from The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and beyond, while David sings rocking numbers like "Taking Care of Business" and "Wild Thing.” David and Richard also play in a Christian Rock ensemble for a weekly Sunday evening service at the Main Street United Methodist Church  (162 Main Street) in Bay St. Louis at 6:30 PM.

Leslie Henderson began playing music as a young child both for her own enjoyment as well as in church, and she is also a multi instrumentalist. She has been playing with Mayley and Pohl for about five years. Currently she is playing bass and sharing vocal duties with the other members of the band.

Leslie's vocals include tunes by John Prine, Chrissie Hynde and Tommy James and The Shondells among others. She previously played in a bluegrass duo with Walt Moskal and continues to play Christian music at the Diamondhead United Methodist Church. She and husband Mark are the principals in Hancock County's successful Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company.
 
Keyboardist David Sallis was raised in Jackson and has lived on the coast for over twenty five years. He is a software engineer at Stennis Space Center. Sallis is another multi instrumentalist playing piano, cello and drums.

David has played keyboards with The Dave Mayley Band for well over a year and sings some of the band's more soulful numbers with his covers of Bill Withers, Dobie Gray and Ray Charles songs.

Rounding out the band is rhythm guitarist and vocalist Kevin Estrade who, although born in Gulfport, has lived in Bay St. Louis his whole life. Kevin holds a degree in theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi and is the branch manager of Keesler Federal Credit Union in Waveland.

​An extremely talented musician, Kevin is on his maiden journey as a professional musician with The Dave Mayley Band. His vocal talents are utilized on songs that run the gamut from Lynyrd Skynyrd  to Van Morrison and Tom Petty.
 
This band's repertoire encompasses straight ahead cover material from the 1960s through the 1990s. It's all middle of the road (MOR) FM radio rock which is always well received by theiraudiences.

The Dave Mayley Band is working a good bit locally, playing mostly private parties, weddings and concerts in the parks. The band also continues to be in rotation with several other musical groups playing in the new Beach Bar venue at The Silver Slipper Casino at Bayou Cadet.

The group is a true fun-loving cover band whose members all get along and complement each other's styles. Collectively, the band seems to aspire to nothing more than enjoying themselves while making music and improving their sound as they continue to play dates. 
 
The members of The Dave Mayley Band all seem to stay so busy with family and business careers that they aspire only to make music whenever they are able. Their personal enjoyment along with that of their audience seems to be their main goal. This band plans on rocking Hancock County and the Mississippi Gulf Coast with their cover tunes for a long time to come.
 
The band has a Facebook page titled The Dave Mayley Band. Check the band out at one of their upcoming Silver Slipper Beach Bar gigs. David Mayley can be contacted at (228) 380-0285.
 

The historic charms of Bay St. Louis provide the perfect backdrop for Halloween events, like the annual Cedar Rest Cemetery Tour.  This year, a growing coven of colorful costumers takes to the streets of Old Town in a Witches Walk for charity. 
- story by Lisa Monti, photos by Ellis Anderson 

Editor's note:  As of October 20, 170 "witches" have registered for the 4th annual Witches Walk through Old Town on Saturday, Oct. 27th!

Registration is closed, but wanna-be witches who didn't register in time can still costume and come down to Old Town independently to be part of the fun - they simply can't take part in the official contests. 

And of course, donations to make this benefit event even more successful are welcome too (look for the green pumpkin at the Mockingbird Café).  

See the full Witches Walk schedule at the bottom of this page!  

On Saturday, Oct. 27, the Fourth Annual Witches Walk will cast a fun spell over Old Town as dazzling witches explore the shops, restaurants and galleries from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 
 
The gathering kicks off at the Mockingbird Café (110 S. Second Street) and meanders in downtown for shopping, eating and socializing. 27 merchants will be participating with specials and refreshments, including Lulu's on Main (126 Main Street) and Bodega/Parrot Head Bar & Grill (111 Court Street).  Registered costumers will get numbers from participating businesses to play Witches Wingo – a holiday themed Bingo game.

 
After lunch, at around 1:30 p.m., the registered witches will meet outside of Lulu’s on Main (126 Main Street) to start their parade to Cuz’s restaurant (108 S. Beach Blvd.), led by the Bay Ratz Marching Battery (see the full expanded schedule at the bottom of this page!) 
 
To cap off the day, there will be a dance around the cauldron at Cuz’s restaurant, where prizes donated by Old Town Merchants will be awarded for best hat, shoes and brooms and the winning Wingo card. 
 
Bay St. Louis resident and costumer extraordinaire, Karen West, is one of the event organizers.  West says it all started when she and a few friends dressed up for a Halloween birthday luncheon in 2012.  Last year, 36 women participated.  

This year, organizers originally hoped to double that number.  But after 75 tickets sold out immediately and people clamored for more, the event was expanded to encompass more Old Town venues.  When registration closed for a second time this year, 170 witches had registered - and organizers had to turn away dozens more.   The $10 registration fee will benefit the Hancock County Food Pantry and the Bay Ratz Marching Battery. Witches will pay for their own libations and food along the way. ​

But wanna-be witches who didn't register in time can still costume and come down to Old Town independently to be part of the fun - they simply can't take part in the official contests. 

And of course, donations to make this benefit event even more successful are welcome too (look for the green pumpkin at the Mockingbird Café).  
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“It’ll be a day of fun and frivolity, for sure!” West declared.

The 24th annual Cedar Rest Cemetery Tour, which traditionally was held on Halloween evening, will take place on Friday, Oct. 26. The 45-minute tours will begin every 10 minutes, starting at 5 p.m. 
 
The historic cemetery is the resting place of many interesting residents, and each year the Hancock County Historical Society members and volunteers portray some of the more notable ones. 

This year, in honor of the 100th anniversary of World War I’s end, eight “ethereal residents” will represent Doughboys and sailors, Buffalo Soldiers, nurses and others who will share their wartime experiences and contributions. Admission is free but donations to the Historical Society are encouraged. 
 
Cedar Rest is located at 200 South Second Street. For more information call 228-467-4090.

Also on Saturday, Oct. 27, McLeod Park Campground will host its annual Halloween event from 5 to 10 p.m. Kids can enjoy a costume contest, various games and trick or treating.
 
McLeod Park Campground is located at 8100 Texas Flat Road in Kiln. for more info, call  228-467-1894 or visit the Facebook page.  

Waveland is hosting its annual Halloween Bash on Coleman Avenue this year on Halloween night, Wednesday, October 31st.  From 5:30 - 7:30, there'll be tricks, treats, face-painting and a haunted house.  Residents and businesses are invited to set up for the evening on Coleman Avenue to pass out candy.   For more information, call the Waveland City Hall at 228-467-4134. 

If style and comfort married, their offspring would be the elegant clothing found in this popular Old Town boutique. 
story and photos by Denise Jacobs

Keenan has a most faithful following for good reason. While shopping for her Old Town BSL store, Keenan keeps in mind her returning customers’ taste in jewelry and color palette. You could say that Keenan carries both the basics and the flair, and her customers provide the style. 
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“Sometimes I add a little persuasion,” Keenan says, “and coax a woman into trying on something outside her comfort zone. It’s really rewarding when that works out and a woman falls in love with a new look.” 

Thanks to Keenan’s extensive line of clothing, shoppers can choose from among the super chic, the subtle boho, classic black and white, and neutral flesh tones without sacrificing their personal style. From old standby brands like Flax and Matchpoint to Cut Loose, April Cornell, and Fridaze, Keenan carries the biggest and best line of Flax, wrinkle-resistant linen, and knits on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  
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Between Keenan’s labels, her fashion knowledge, and her superpower buying skills, it is quite possible to build a strong foundation of timeless pieces that can be paired with almost anything in a woman’s closet. 

“People come into the store from all over the country,” Keenan says. “And they often ask my sales clerks about the store’s buyer.  ‘Who does the buying?’ they ask.  The clerks point toward me, and, of course, I always look like I just fell off the turnip truck. Regardless—I’ve always liked putting things together. When I go to market, I don’t consider the trip a success unless I can come back with one or two pieces that will knock your socks off.” 

Lots of local California Drawstrings customers wanted to get in on the action when they learned about this article. Kat Fitzpatrick, a local visual artist, modeled several jackets purchased from California Drawstrings through the years, each of them perfectly coordinated with a simple linen top and pants, also from California Drawstrings. Fitzpatrick’s jackets fall in the “knock your socks off category.”  Members of a local book club - Club Nouveau - dressed in California Drawstrings attire for their most recent gathering. 

By the time this story runs, new fall linens—a little heavier fabric in darker hues than typically worn in the summer—will have arrived. Shoppers will find a lovely linen tunic dress for sunny days, linen trousers, and linen jackets—all beautifully accessorized with Keenan’s choice of scarves and accessories. Stop by and find your bling - or your bliss! ​