Page 29 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2020

JACKSON COUNTY
FINDS ITS NEW NORMAL
story by Cynthia Dobbs Sutton
photos courtesy of Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce-Main Street-Tourism Bureau
OCEAN SPRINGS
City of Discovery
While we continue our progress to reopen the community and boost the economy, we are nding creative ways to let locals and visitors know what Ocean Springs has
to o er. Life is coming back all over Ocean Springs with the opening of live music, restaurants and bars. The boutiques are welcoming customers to shop for the summertime.
Cynthia
Dobbs Sutton, Executive Director, Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce-Main Street-Tourism Bureau
Festivals are one of the main “attractors” for the area. The pandemic has forced us to change, reschedule or even cancel many of those festive annual events.
The annual Spring Arts Festival, scheduled in March, was sidetracked by the coronavirus. We hope to hold the festival August 1 and 2. The footprint and format may look a little di erent, but our artists and many business owners are ready.
We are looking ahead to the fall, one
of the busiest event seasons for Ocean Springs that encompasses Cruisin’ the Coast in October and Peter Anderson Arts & Crafts Festival presented by Blue Moon
A SCENE WAS RECENTLY SHOT for a video promoting Ocean Springs.
BOUTIQUES reopened in
May o ering fashionable face masks as a part of their stock.
outlets to tell the story of adventures found around town. Our downtown walking map has been updated.
It’s summertime and not only are we preparing for visitors, we also are nding creative projects for all ages. Summer camp organizers are limiting the number of participants and revamping their curriculums, some even going virtual. Beach- goers and playground attendees are asked to physical distance. Little league games are more spread out and swimming pools have limited capacity.
But this is nothing we can’t handle because Ocean Springs is the City of Discovery, and we are discovering new ways to do things.
in November. Vendor applications to the festival are available now at www.peterandersonfestival.com.
We may still be adapting to mask wearing or checking in on the safety protocols being practiced by businesses, restaurants, boutiques and others, but it is apparent visitors want to vacation in our seaside town. Individuals and families are calling our visitor’s center inside the Chamber inquiring about places to stay in town and others who are interested in getting out to shop, eat and play on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We are delighted to see the interest picking back up. We worked hard through the tough times of the pandemic, and continue to work to keep the public informed of what we have to o er.
The Chamber recently produced a new annual town tour guide and have it stocked up at shops, restaurants and area hotels. We also released a new town video on our social media
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