Page 104 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2016

creative spirit around every corner
STORY BY CYNTHIA DOBBS SUTTON
It’s easy to see the creative spirit in Ocean Springs; it’s around every corner and flows through the community from special events to art galleries to businesses.
The city’s festivals help focus attention on creativity and bring thousands of visitors to town. The festival season kicks off with Art Walk on Labor Day weekend. In October the welcome mat is rolled out for masses of classic car enthusiasts with Cruisin’ the Coast — the country’s largest block party. Business owners find creative ways to offer these visitors outstanding shopping.
The biggest festival in Mississippi takes
place the first weekend of November with the two-day creative extravaganza that is the Peter Anderson Arts and Crafts Festival presented by Blue Moon. It brings more than 100,000 visitors to Ocean Springs who enjoy the shops, restaurants and galleries along with the juried festival vendors.
There are also harvest and Halloween displays in the downtown area followed by a wonderful Christmas season of activities for all ages before Spring rolls around with the Spring Arts Festival.
Throughout the year there are changing art exhibits at the Walter Anderson Museum
of Art, the Pink Rooster Gallery, the Art House, the Mary C. O’Keefe Art Center and at other local shops.
Everywhere you look in Ocean Springs there’s inspiration, from the statue of two children riding on a tricycle in front of Miner’s Toy Store to the artwork hung inside the downtown Hancock Bank building to the murals at the foot of the Ocean Springs-Biloxi bridge.
People in the community also use their creative side to inspire. Corey
CREATIVE SPIRIT FLOWS THROUGH THE COMMUNITY FROM SPECIAL EVENTS TO ART GALLERIES TO BUSINESS
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