Page 26 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2017

COASTNOTES photo courtesy of Art In The Pass
Art in the Pass
celebrates 20th anniversary April 1 & 2
The annual Art in the Pass will celebrate its 20th anniversary the weekend of April 1 and 2, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day. The event showcases fine arts, crafts, music, food and more in scenic War Memorial Park overlooking the Mississippi Sound in Pass Christian. The park is located between Fleitas and Davis avenues on Scenic Drive.
One hundred artists from 15 states will participate in the juried festival that features a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking and pottery. Admission is free.
Each day of the festival, the Marine Cuisine Pavilion will promote coastal culinary arts with free cooking demonstrations by local and regional chefs using fresh Gulf seafood.
The Celebrate the Gulf Marine Education Festival, hosted by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, will be held concurrently with Art in the Pass on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visit more than 25 exhibits related to the wise use, preservation or conservation of our valuable aquatic and coastal resources; experience crawling through the Turtle Hurdle; and visit a touch tank full of marine creatures, sponsored by the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies.
www.ArtinthePass.com
GULFPORT AUTHOR WINS
Military Writers Society Awards
story by Lynn Lofton
photo courtesy of Thomas E. Simmons
Gulfport author Thomas E. Simmons continues to garner awareness and awards for his books. He was recently honored by the Military Writers Society of America with the 2016 Gold Medal for history for Forgotten Heroes of World War II and the 2015 Gold Medal for Biography for The Man Called Brown Condor, which is now in its second printing.
“My new book, The Last Quinn Standing, is just out,” Simmons said. “This book is the sequel to the novel, By Accident of Birth; both published by TouchPoint Press. The final book in the Quinn Saga Trilogy will be out next year.”
As part of the Mississippi Bicentennial Celebration, Simmons will be the keynote luncheon speaker at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History meeting March 3 at the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center in Gulfport.
He will be at Barnes and Nobel in Cross Roads Shopping Center to sign all four books on March 11 from 2 to 5 p.m.
A Gulfport native, Simmons attended Marion Military Institute, the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Alabama. He has been a commercial boat captain, a pilot and served as an artillery officer in Korea.
www.thomasesimmons.net
26 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • March 2017
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