Page 106 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2015

DOWNTOWNS eat, drink, play
The ten year Hurricane Katrina recovery has been prosperous for downtown Biloxi, thanks in part to the Main Street Biloxi organization.
“We have moved our farmers market; it used to be at Point Cadet,” said Biloxi Main Street Director Kay Miller-Carter. “I think it’s a great thing having it downtown. We have more restaurants downtown than we did prior to Katrina, including Sal and Mookie’s and Half Shell.”
Biloxi Main Street hosts several events throughout the year including movies on the town green. One of its major events is scheduled for the fall. “We are getting ready for our big Cruisin’ the Coast Block Party in October, and the Heart Walk is coming to Biloxi this year,” Miller-Carter said.
Bringing improvements to downtown
The addition of bike lanes in the downtown area has also been a big improvement with Biloxi Main Street winning the “Best Placemaking Award” from Mississippi Main Street for its Bike Biloxi Initiative.
Biloxi Main Street hopes to implement some additional amenities in the future. “We are working on getting some additional lighting downtown and we want to do some improvements on our alleys and pocket parks. We just helped bring Mary Mahoney Park back in front of the Magnolia Hotel,” Miller-Carter said.
story by Jeff Carter photos courtesy of Biloxi Main Street
One of the major changes in the landscape of downtown Biloxi since Katrina is the recent addition of MGM Park,
home of the Biloxi Shuckers baseball team. The $36-plus million park that seats more than 5,000 opened its doors to the public June 6. “We are very excited that the baseball stadium is downtown,” Miller-Carter said. “It brings another activity to the area and will bring many more people downtown.”
The addition of the new stadium brought immediate results in terms of visitors to downtown Biloxi. “Our restaurants are busy because it’s summertime for tourists. A lot of people assumed there was going to be a parking problem and there is no parking problem whatsoever,” she said. “There’s no traffic problem during the baseball games. Biloxi’s Public Works Department has made some huge improvements by re-striping our streets and adding hundreds of parallel parking places.”
Miller-Cater encouraged people to visit downtown Biloxi and to invest in the area. “We’re here to promote downtown Biloxi,” she said. “But, we are also here to help people who are looking to locate their business downtown.”
106 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • August 2015
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