Page 71 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2022

Festival Season
OCEAN SPRINGS EVENTS
ARTWALK
September 3
Downtown
CRUISIN’ THE COAST
October 6, 7, 8 Downtown cruisinthecoast.com
PETER ANDERSON ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL presented by
Blue Moon
November 5 & 6
Downtown peterandersonfestival.com
ANNUAL TREE LIGHTING
December 1
Grounds of Mary C.
HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE
December 2 &3
Downtown, Uptown, All Around Town
of events and festivals.
“Many years ago, a small group of
business owners adopted the principles
of the Main Street program and began implementing these ideas in Ocean Springs,” says Fred Moran, owner of Moran Realty. “We encouraged retail and restaurants and other businesses to locate in the downtown area. With the property owners and the city’s assistance, we began the process of making Ocean Springs a beautiful place to live, work, and play.”
Slowly, a hardware store transformed into a colorful art gallery. Farmers & Merchants Bank turned into an overnight stay celebrating the creativity of a famous artist, Earnest Hemingway. A five and dime transformed into a vintage home store. A fill-in station turned into a dress shop and many more transformations took place over time.
The downtown restaurant district grew like never before. On a whim, the Main Street team took a proactive approach and created a campaign titled “Heating Up to 100” some years back. Together with its partners and city friends, the number of restaurants grew from 65 to now more than 100.
Ocean Springs Main Street encourages economic development through revitalization efforts, historic preservation, programs, and events to bring about sustainable growth for its small business culture and creativity within.
Each main street town still breaths a story daily, with a staple donut shop with a special recipe, a pottery shop rich in
life serving five generations of active artists and three generations of potters,
to painted downtown streets that pave a creative walk from building to building. A main street community is about a sense of place. The people that make it what it is, the events that create a quality of life and help generate sustainability and a heritage that keeps giving.
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net
August 2022 | 71