A rose to organizers of the Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival, held over the weekend in Columbus.
Centerpieces of the festival this year included a Mississippi Blues Trail marker unveiled at the site of the Queen City Hotel, whose legendary guests included Bobby Blue Bland, B.B. King, Fats Domino, Duke Ellington and Little Richard.
Also new this year was a parade led by the fabulous Jackson State University”s Sonic Boom of the South, which winded its way from Catfish Alley downtown to the festival.
The festival allows the entire city to remember the legacy of the Seventh Avenue area and its importance to the historic fabric of Columbus.
A rose to organizers of the Fall Tour of Historic Homes, held from Friday through today. The tour this year featured rides on the Convention and Visitors Bureau”s double-decker bus, and tours of historic homes including the Amzi Love Home, Stephen D. Lee Home, Rosewood Manor, Waverley Mansion, Temple Heights and others.
If you didn”t partake of tours Friday and Saturday, there”s still an opportunity — the Jackie O” House, Shadowlawn and Summer Time Cottage will be open for tours today from 2-5 p.m. These historic homes are worth seeing and revisiting. For more information, visit the Convention and Visitors Bureau website at ww.columbus-ms.info.
A rose to Main Street Columbus and the volunteers who have decorated downtown in fall themes. Back are the hay bales, pumpkins other fall trimmings we have come to expect this time of year — the decorations are another heralding of the changing seasons, and something unique about Columbus we enjoy seeing each year.
A rose to the Columbus Police Department for securing a $518,000 federal COPS grant, designed to keep three officers on the street for three years.
Any help during tough budgetary times is welcome. This grant was competitive — every department that applied didn”t get it. And, among Mississippi cities, Columbus received the largest grant amount.
A rose to the Columbus School District, and specifically to Franklin Elementary Health Sciences and Wellness Magnet School, for landing a high-profile partnership with the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Giving Franklin”s students exposure to students and faculty of UMMC can only reap dividends for the school well into the future, and hopefully expose students to career avenues they may not have dreamed of before.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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