MISSISSIPPI ROADS
SHOW #2707

Mississippi Roads comes to you from the gulf coast in Jackson County . We are in the town of Ocean Springs for the 28 th annual Peter Anderson Festival. http://www.oceanspringschamber.com/paf.html

For one weekend in November the town of Ocean Springs population increases by tens of thousands of people. Folks converge on the area the first weekend in November for the Peter Anderson Festival. It's named in honor of the late Peter Anderson a Master Potter and founder of Shearwater Pottery.

The event is spread out over two days, Saturday and Sunday.

At each festival they offer a new t-shirt with a unique design. This year the shirt is extra special in two ways. First the print on the shirt is from Walter Anderson who was Peter's brother. Also, for every shirt sold, one dollar will be donated to the recovery and rebuilding of Shearwater Pottery.

And speaking of Shearwater Pottery, in our first story we take a look at the progress the Anderson family has made since Hurricane Katrina slammed into their peaceful compound more than a year ago.

The photograph of Shearwater Pottery founder, Peter Anderson is again hanging on the back wall of the room where the second, and into the third, generation of Andersons create pottery in Ocean Springs. The room has been rebuilt, now, after Katrina. For decades the Andersons worked and played on these idyllic wooded acres next to the gulf where little huts nestled into the surrounding scrub as natural as if they grew there, too. Life lazed along moving no faster than a sleepy, warm sea breeze, and nurtured the dreamlike musings of Peter's brother, Walter Anderson, who joined Shearwater a couple of years after Peter founded it as a decorator of Peter's pottery.

The whole place was set on its end by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. But a year and some several months later, Shearwater is again alive with activity. Jim Anderson, the son of founder Peter, is the master potter, now. He says some of the original Shearwater buildings were saved but only by sheer determination.

http://www.walterandersonmuseum.org/shaping.html

The Peter Anderson Festival is a family friendly event that doesn't forget the little ones. Here at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art kids activities are taking center stage this weekend. They offer everything from face painting to mask making to help nurture the children and get them excited about the creative process at an early age.

And speaking of creative kids, in our next segment we meet some very talented young men who spent a good portion of their childhood here on the gulf coast shooting a little movie that turned out to have a major impact on their lives.

In 1981 Chris Strompolos saw Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time and he wanted nothing more than to become the hero Indiana Jones. Thus, he came up with a unique way to inhabit the character. Chris convinced two of his fellow gulf coast friends, Eric Zala and Jason Lamb, to help him shoot a scene by scene re-creation of the movie. They never imagined that this little endeavor would span more than seven years and play a pivotal part in their lives still to this day.

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An interesting note about the house the boys filmed most of their scenes for the movie is right here in Ocean Springs on the water. It was damaged during Hurricane Katrina but it was one of the only beachfront homes to survive the brutal storm.

At the Peter Anderson Festival you will find some three hundred artists spread out through the downtown area set up under the majestic oak trees that line these quaint little streets. These craftsmen come from around the United States and offer everything from jewelry, sculptors, stained glass, paintings and pottery.

The artists are not only here selling their wares and demonstrating how they create these works of art but they are also competing for juried prizes. There is a $ 1,000 Best of Show given out, a $ 500 Award of Excellence, a $ 500 Sun Herald's Peter Anderson Legacy Award and a $500 Award for the Creative Arts.

There are always new artists being added each year; which always makes for a lively and unique festival each year for the shoppers.

And speaking of creative, in our next story we travel down the beach to Bay St. Louis and meet photographer Ken Murphy who is capturing the heart and soul of Mississippi .

Photographer Ken Murphy is a photographer's photographer. He never shoots on the automatic setting and chooses not to use simple cameras.

His first book MY SOUTH COAST HOME became an instant hit for Ken Murphy. And it is in demand again since Hurricane Katrina erased many of the places in the book. Ken realized he wanted to do another book and what Ken Murphy knows best is home; Mississippi.  So he came back to Bay St. Louis and used that as his home base and traveled the entire state and took pictures of everywhere and everything. There is an old adage about everybody has one good book in them. But not everybody has two. Well, Ken Murphy easily has his second book with all of the richness and diversity of Mississippi . Simply titled, MISSISSIPPI . PHOTOGRAPHS BY KEN MURPHY.

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There is a lot more to the Peter Anderson Festival than Arts and Crafts. They have lots of great food and a stage which offers live music throughout the two day event. But don't forget the downtown area. There are over one hundred shops, restaurants and galleries for you to browse, sample and enjoy not only at the festival but year round. Because as the slogan says, “Ocean Springs, We're back on our feet”.