Mississippi Roads comes to you from Hancock County and Mississippi’s West Coast. We are in Old Town Bay St. Louis to celebrate the second Saturday of the month.
Second Saturday began back in 1994 when some of the local art gallery owners got together to try and increase their business during the winter months. They decided to extend their shop hours until eight in the evening every second Saturday of the month and offer wine and cheese to entice customers. Well, the free food and drink also attracted the artists; thus the event began to grow in popularity and three years later all the downtown businesses joined in the festivities. And the event is still thriving today drawing crowds into the thousands.
That just goes to show that whenever a group of friends follows through with an idea you never know how great the results might be. In our next story, we introduce you to two friends who are doing some amazing things when it comes to plants.
When it comes to growing plants, Felder Rushing and Dr. Dirt are like two peas in a pod. Although both Mississippi gardeners came from very different backgrounds, Felder, a Horticultural Professor, and Dr. Dirt, a natural gardener. Both realized they have one very important thing in common, a shared passion for gardening. It is also through gardening that a wonderful friendship soon blossomed. That friendship has grown to include co-hosting the popular state wide M . P. B. radio program The Gestalt Gardener. Through the show, their combined knowledge helps listeners understand more about the technical and practical aspects of gardening and in the words of Felder and Dr. Dirt
“ It’s just what friends do, try to help one another create a better world through gardening.”
When you’re done shopping downtown at the Second Saturday event drop in at the Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis for some entertainment. Whether it is golf, gaming or music; you will find it all right here at the Magic. Headline acts like The Neville Brothers, Tracy Bird, Brooks and Dunn and Smokey Robinson regularly grace the stage here. They also have an exclusive contract with legendary New Orleans jazz man Pete Fountain. He can be heard each week in the showroom performing Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8:00 pm.
And speaking of great entertainment, in our next story we take you behind the scenes of Krasnaya the new production show at the Beau Rivage.
Krasnaya , Russian for beautiful, is centered around dance with
amazing acts of athleticism entwined to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. The 85 minute production features 42 Russian performers that were all hand-picked by vice president of entertainment at Beau Rivage, Terry Burden. We go backstage and discover what it takes to put on a show of this magnitude and find out how the cast has adjusted to life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The Second Saturday event has continued to change and evolve over the years. Today all the shops and galleries offer some type of special event like: wine and food tasting, featured artists and various demonstrations. The event has even been extended from March through December and it now encompasses a three block area along Main St. that is sometimes opened to pedestrians only.
AND SPEAKING OF CHANGE, LIVING IS PARAGRAPHED BY CHANGES. NEW BABIES, NEW JOB , RETIREMENT. AND ONE OF THE MOST DRASTIC CHANGES IS THE BREAKING UP OF HOUSE KEEPING. WALT GRAYSON HAS A BITTERSWEET STORY ABOUT AN ESTATE SALE AT THE FORMER HOME OF A FRIEND OF HIS IN THIS EDITION OF “WALT’S WAY.”
Woodrow “Woodie” Assaf a McComb native, began his career
at Vicksburg radio station WQBC in the 1940's before moving to WJDX radio in Jackson. In 1953, he joined WLBT TV-3 in Jackson as their weatherman, the first day the station went on the air. At his retirement in 2001, he had been weatherman at the same TV station longer than any other TV weatherman in the nation, almost 48 years. In 1999, Clarion Ledger readers voted Assaf the most popular TV personality of the millennium
in Mississippi.
The daughters of Woodie and Ruby Assaf are selling their parents’ estate in order to keep the couple together in their assisted living home.
WE WISH WOODIE AS MUCH SATISFACTION IN RETIREMENT AS HE EVER HAD IN ALL THOSE YEARS AS OUR WEATHERMAN.
A great way to wrap up your trip to Second Saturday is to soak up the live music which can be heard all along Main Street in Old Town Bay St. Louis.
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