Legends Apr/May 2018

WIN A 3-NIGHT STAY ON THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE BEACHES! SEE INSIDE!

Celebrating a Legacy

APRIL / MAY 2018

The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience Opens!

Jean's Restaurant

Meridian's Iconic Eatery

The Power of Music M I S S I S S I P P I ’ S A W A R D - W I N N I N G C O N S U M E R T R AV E L P U B L I C AT I O N W W W. R E A D L E G E N D S . C O M

Destination

Mississippi

Where will your next road trip take you?

Whatever your next road trip destination may be, we have you covered. From ballet to blues to galleries, our highways, byways and back roads can take you there. And MDOT travel resources makes the trip smooth and easy. From traffic alerts and road conditions, to weather forecasts and more, MDOT gives you the travel information you need for your next adventure. You can access it all from our mobile app, your computer or by calling 511. Find out more at MDOTtraffic.com.

Join us for the MAEEX Grand Opening!

On Tuesday, April 28, the Meridian Arts + Entertainment Experience will open its doors to share Mississippi artists with the world.

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It made Muddy wail+ Kermit talk+ Faulkner write.

What will it do for you?

Mississippi gives rise to more than our fair share of legends.

See what inspired them and spark the legend within you.

Opening April 28, 2018 Meridian, Mississippi msarts.org 2•

APRIL | MAY 2018

VISIT THE MAEEX,

then come home to Meridian Hilton Garden Inn

U.S. Hwy. 11 and 80 – Meridian • 601.485.3506 www.hgimeridian.com

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PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT ��������������������Marianne Todd VP OF MARKETING AND SALES ����������������������������Chris Banks LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER ��������������������Shayne Garrett WEBSITE DESIGNER ������������������Kevin Chertkow

Contact LEGENDS 601-604-2963

in a 2-bedroom unit at any ResortQuest property between Panama City Beach and Perdido Key, FLorida Valued at $1500

Editorial/Advertising - 601-604-2963 | Editor@ReadLegends.com Contributing writers: Meghan Holmes, Riley Manning, Sean Murphy, and Julian Rankin

register to win at readlegends.com

Contributing photographers: Elijah Baylis and Melanie Thortis LEGENDS welcomes your calendar submissions.

Calendar submissions for consideration in LEGENDS’ print calendar may be sent to Editor@ReadLegends.com.

CONTENTS APRI | MARCH 2018

MUSIC Copyright 2018. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or reprinted without express permission from the publisher. The opinions and views expressed by our contributors, writers and editors are their own. Various views from other professionals may also be expressed. Neither LEGENDS nor Blue South Publishing Corporation is endorsing or guaranteeing the products or quality of services expressed in advertisements. All advertisers assume liability for all content (including text representation and illustration) of advertisements printed and assume responsibility for any resulting claims against LEGENDS or its affiliates. Materials, photographs and written pieces to be considered for inclusion in LEGENDS may be sent to P.O. Box 3663, Meridian, MS 39303. Unsolicited materials will not be returned. Blue South Publishing Corporation provides thousands of free copies in its coverage area to tourism offices, welcome centers, hotels, restaurants, theaters, museums, galleries, coffee shops, casinos and institutions of higher learning. If your business, agency or industry would like to be considered as a LEGENDS distribution point, please contact us at Editor@ReadLegends.com.

For more information, write to Editor@ReadLegends.com.

20 Dexter Allen

The Power of Music

CULTURE 14 Monmouth Plantation The Grand Dame of Natchez

24 COVER STORY: Celebrating a Legacy

Building the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience

40 Heaven on the Gulf

Tops'l Beach and Racquet Resort

More information may be found at

www.ReadLegends.com

CULINARY 10 Meridian's Iconic Eatery Jean's Restaurant

WIN A 3-NIGHT STAY ON THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE BEACHES! SEE INSIDE!

Celebrating a Legacy

APRIL / MAY 2018

The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience Opens!

Jean's Restaurant

Meridian's Iconic Eatery

The Power of Music M I S S I S S I P P I ’ S A W A R D - W I N N I N G C O N S U M E R T R AV E L P U B L I C AT I O N W W W. R E A D L E G E N D S . C O M

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APRIL | MAY 2018

ABOUT OUR COVER The long-awaiting Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience will open its doors with a gala on April 27 and will open its doors to the public on April 28. The Experience brings to life Mississippi music, culinary, literary, performing, and visual artists. (Photo courtesy LPK Architects, Meridian, Mississippi).

34 Brewing in the Big Easy

EVENTS 47 What's Shakin' in the Cradle Calendar of Events

ACCENT LIGHTING SECURITY LIGHTING LANDSCAPE LIGHTING PERIMETER LIGHTING

GARRETT OUTDOOR LIGHTING A division of C.W. Garrett Electric

Serving outdoor lighting needs within 150 miles of Meridian, Mississippi, we are passionate about outdoor lighting and providing solutions for each customer, whether residential or commercial. Using only the highest quality of fixtures and equipment on the market, we will help you design and install a lighting system that will optimize the beauty of your property and improve safety and security after nightfall.

(601) 482-5963 to schedule a consultation READLEGENDS.COM •

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Mix, Match & Color

Design your own cuff in a few seconds

STEP 1

select your cuff and your leather band

2212 8th Street Meridian, MS 39301 6•

APRIL | MAY 2018

STEP 2

hook the reversible leeather band

STEP 3

switch the color in a few seconds

STEP 4

change with the other leather band

601.693.6071 labichejewelers

2018 Spring/Summer

Performing Arts Series

Jefferson Starship

Saturday, April 14 | 7:30 p.m.

Jefferson Starship, with its roots in the 1960s, remains so culturally relevant that the current Netflix Wet Hot American Summer series uses Starship’s 1979 hit “Jane” as its theme song. Multi-instrumentalist (and “Jane” co-writer) David Freiberg goes back to the band’s earliest days. Cathy Richardson’s piercing vocals have earned the approval of retired lead singer Grace Slick. Expect to hear all your favorites, from “We Built This City” and “Find Your Way Back” to “White Rabbit” and “Volunteers” from Starship’s first incarnation as Jefferson Airplane. Also, thanks especially to fiery lead guitarist Jude Gold, expect a band that really rocks.

For Fans of: Jefferson Airplane, Heart, Journey

Direct from Moscow, Russia

Moscow Festival Ballet Swan Lake Thursday, April 19 | 7:30 p.m.

A Meridian favorite returns, bringing Old World elegance to the MSU Riley Center stage with Tchaikovsky’s romantic tour de force Swan Lake. Sergei Radchenko, longtime dancer with the famed Bolshoi Ballet, founded the Moscow Festival Ballet in 1989. He brought together stars from across his country to stage fresh productions of timeless classics.

The company loves to tour, sharing the beauty and grace of Russian ballet. The Moscow Festival Ballet specializes in such beloved masterpieces as Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty, both of which it has performed at the Riley Center, and of course Swan Lake. Come experience some of the world’s greatest artists at the peak of their powers.

For Fans of: Bolshoi Ballet, Russian dance, classical music MSU Riley Center Box Office | 2200 Fifth Street | Meridian, MS 39301 601.696.2200 | www.msurileycenter.com

RileyCenter

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Family & Couples Counseling Cooking & Nutrition Classes Adolescent and Adult Issues Mindfulness & Retreats Health & Lifestyle Coaching Massage & Yoga Medication Management Art Therapy

Relax&Recover

7921 Poplar Springs Drive • Meridian, MS 39305 • 601.482.5353 • www.tamellc.net

Quality Goods, Mississippi Made 2120 B Front Street | Meridian, MS 39301 601-207-5072 8•

APRIL | MAY 2018

www.crookedletter.shop

www.bcbsms.com Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, A Mutual Insurance Company is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ® Registered Marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an Association of Independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans.

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OPPOSITE: Jamie Johnson holds a photograph of Jean Bullock, longtime owner of Jean's Restaurant in Meridian. Located across from the new Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience, Johnson has retained most of Jean's original recipes, including this chocolate pie and their popular meat and threes.

STORY FROM MERIDIAN, MISS.

Meridian's Iconic Eatery

Jean's Restaurant

By MEGHAN HOLMES Photography by MARIANNE TODD

Mississippi meat and threes have long been considered home to some of the South’s best cuisine. One of the state’s oldest is Jean’s Restaurant in downtown Meridian. Opened in 1975, the popular breakfast and lunch spot serves traditional Southern food in a casual atmosphere that hasn’t changed much since Jean Bullock opened the Front Street restaurant more than 40 years ago.

“Ms. Jean was a real sweetheart and a character,” says current owner Jamie Johnson. Jamie grew up in Jean’s; his mother, Diane Trammell, was a waitress there from 1992-2006 before purchasing the property from Bullock when she reached retirement age. When Trammell passed in January 2017, he took over the restaurant.

“Ms. Jean was the first person you saw when you came in, and you couldn’t miss her. She had big hair, crazy dresses, and she was always dripping with costume jewelry,” Johnson says. “She had a big, burgundy Cadillac, and every day she pulled it up right out front, and Leo would go out and park it for her.”

Leo Rogers, long time cook at Jean’s, also remembers Bullock fondly. He started in the kitchen doing dishes in his early 20s around 30 years ago. “When I started out there were some older ladies here in the kitchen, and the recipes came from them,” Rogers says. “As far as we knew they made them up, and eventually they taught me.

The pork chops and the steak are two of my favorite things, and they’ve stayed the same. I changed the dressing in the turkey-and-dressing just a bit. It’s a little bit of old and new.”

Rogers isn’t the restaurant’s only longtime employee. Cook Louise Blanks started at Jean’s in 1981. “My auntie cooked here, and she got me the job. I was the salad girl at first, and then I started making the cornbread. That’s how we made our way up to becoming cooks, and now I cook like how she taught me.”

As a boy, Jamie spent his summers working at Jean’s during middle and high school, watching Ms. Jean oversee the dining room and kitchen. “When she came through the door in the mornings she would say good morning to every customer and then walk into the kitchen and just start yelling. She would pour on the perfume, and you could smell it from the door,” he says, laughing.

Jean’s wasn’t always on Front Street. The original location occupied the former Rayner Drug Store building, which later became a tattoo parlor. “And as far as I know they still have our old original hood in the back of the building. They would turn it on and smoke cigarettes back there,” Johnson says. “But we’ve been at this location for as long as I can remember.”

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LEFT: Sen. Sally Doty (R-Brookhaven), who is running for a U.S. congressional seat, paid a visit to Jean's in March while on the campaign trail. The restaurant is widely known for attracting politicians, who stop in for breakfast and a meet and greet with customers. ABOVE: Part of Jean’s charm is the decor, largely unchanged for decades.

Part of Jean’s charm is the decor, largely unchanged for decades.

Vinyl green bar stools extend from near the entrance to the kitchen, abutting an old, low, bar with mismatched coffee cups stacked behind it. Most of the pictures on the wall are of regulars who have since passed away. One is an old man whom Jamie remembers from childhood, who rode his bicycle to Jean’s everyday and brought his own cup for coffee. Another is a semi-famous college athlete. In the middle, there’s an old wooden cross. Collages of staff photos from the '80s and '90s decorate the wall behind the cash register, next to a picture of Ms. Jean with hair that matches the bright, white strand of large pearls around her neck.

There’s a second dining room to the right with a hodgepodge of items surrounding a round table. There’s a two-pot electric burner for coffee, a sign that says ‘no whining’ and a coat rack. “That stuff belongs to the customers. They call themselves the Round Table Coffee Club. There used to be a lot more of it back here but over time some of them have passed away and people have removed it,” Johnson says.

The club’s history is older than Jean’s – dating to 1950, and at one point numbered more than two dozen people (mostly men).

They met at Jean’s five days a week, discussing politics and current events with opinions representing both sides of the aisle. “This place has always been a big political hot spot,” Jamie says, gesturing to a picture of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran taped to the wall behind the round table. “Every year the candidates for governor and other offices always come in here and in Weidmann’s."

Breakfast is traditional Southern fare – grits, biscuits, eggs, and bacon. Lunch features plate lunches that change daily, with popular favorites including salmon croquettes, fried pork chops, smothered hamburger steak, and fried catfish. Each entree comes with vegetable options including yams, lima beans, collard greens, and fried okra. The restaurant also offers a variety of sandwiches

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including a burger, BLT, and club sandwich.

Jean’s is also known for desserts. The pie recipes have been passed down from a past employee to Johnson’s mother, who later passed the recipe down to Jamie. “I don’t make the pies now,” he says. “Our newest employee has that job, and all the other recipes are in the cooks’ heads, which is one reason I have to make sure I’m nice to them.”

The area surrounding Jean’s is in the midst of substantial development, with the MAEEX (Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience) museum set to open in April and the Mississippi Children’s Museum set to begin construction soon. Other new businesses are due to open along Front Street, including a bakery cafe, The MIX (near the Max), set to open this fall, and renovated warehouses that will become a shopping district. In the meantime, long-term construction has made it harder to get to Jean’s (and other Front Street shops), one of the many reasons nearby business owners are excited to see the projects completed.

Johnson also has planned upgrades to Jean’s, mostly slight cosmetic changes including repainting the walls and removing the carpet from the back dining room. “These pictures by the round table will go back up as soon as we’re done painting,” Johnson says.

“We don’t want to change the atmosphere too much.”

Johnson looks forward to continuing the traditions that Ms. Jean established and that his mother further cemented. “Sometimes at night I’m sitting at home with my wife and I’m like, we own Jean’s Restaurant,” Johnson says. “This is crazy. I can barely believe it. It’s an institution and an iconic piece of Meridian’s history.” L

Want to go?

Located at 2114 Front Street, Jean's is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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STORY FROM NATCHEZ, MISS.

Monmouth Plantation

The Grand Dame of Natchez

By MEGHAN HOLMES Photography by MARIANNE TODD

S

New Jersey. The original iteration looks much different from how itting serenely at the top of a hill, and encompassing 26 acres Monmouth stands today. Hankinson built the home with red brick of manicured grounds and wooded areas, Monmouth Historic and in the Federalist Style. Later, the home’s Inn and Gardens feels somewhat second owner, famed Mexican-American removed from downtown Natchez, though War veteran and eventual Mississippi the historic home is less than two miles from Governor John Quitman, updated the the Mississippi River and the city’s historic home to a Greek revival style. He and his bluff.

The estate features two ponds stocked wife Eliza purchased the property following with fish, croquet courts, birding, walking Hankinson’s death in 1824 and after adding trails, fine and casual dining, and a striking white square columns, painted over complimentary breakfast for guests who the original brick, scoring white plaster to stay in one of 30 rooms – in the main house give Monmouth the appearance it maintains Guests who stay in one of Monmouth's 30 rooms recieve a and in several cottages located around the today. complimentary full Southern cooked breakfast. grounds – each partially hidden from one Quitman came to Natchez via Ohio another behind azalea, sweet olive, cypress, and oak trees. and met his wife after a year in the South, eventually signing one Natchez postmaster John Hankinson constructed the home of the first prenuptial agreements in Mississippi to earn her hand in 1818, naming it after Monmouth County, where he grew up in in marriage. The couple had between 12-15 children, though only

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The estate features two ponds stocked with fish, croquet courts, birding, walking trails, fine and casual dining, and 30 rooms – in the main house and in several cottages located around the grounds – each partially hidden from one another behind azalea, sweet olive, cypress, and oak trees.

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A wisteria draped pergola invites visitors. It's centered amidst well-manicured gardens.

Visitors relax among the azaleas and jasmine in full bloom. Statues, mostly of angels, dot the landscape and provide tranquility for guests strolling the grounds.

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six reached adulthood and many died in infancy. They also had at least 50 slaves, some of whom lived above the kitchen, a red brick outbuilding that now serves as Monmouth’s gift shop with rooms for guests above in slaves’ former quarters.

“Both Eliza and John Quitman passed within a year of one another in the late 1850s, leaving the property to three of their daughters and their husbands, whom the women sent off to war when the South seceded,” says Laura Kracek, tour guide at Monmouth. When Natchez surrendered to the union in 1862, many of Monmouth’s slaves ran away or joined the Union army. Some returned after the war demanding back wages, which the Quitman daughters paid. They also sold off land and possessions to former slaves to supplement their former income. Like many antebellum elites, they lost much of their wealth during the war, and the family’s descendants eventually sold the property to a widower named Annie Gwin in 1924. Some of Monmouth’s slaves’ descendants continued to live nearby on parcels of the home’s original 32 acres, now closer to the current 26.

“Annie and her daughters operated the home as a dairy farm and as a boarding house, which is how they kept it open,” says Kracek.

“She eventually married the man around the corner at another antebellum home, Arlington. She left the property to her daughters, and at this point Monmouth had developed a sort of reputation for being owned by women. First Eliza, then the Quitman daughters, then Annie and her daughters.”

Around the Depression era, the home began to fall into disrepair.

Vagrants and animals moved in, and decades passed as desperate temporary occupants pried marble fireplaces from the walls and tried to remove anything of value from the home. In 1978, a visiting couple from California toured the property and fell in love despite years of neglect. They also loved Natchez, and the views of the river from the bluffs.

“Ronald and Lani Riches purchased the property and painstakingly restored it,” says Kracek. “They hired an archaeologist to perform a dig and discover where the original outbuildings stood and they later rebuilt them. The cottage alongside our ponds stands where the original schoolhouse was constructed.”

The restoration process also revealed artifacts original to Monmouth around the home and grounds. “They found one of the marble fireplaces in the woods near the edge of the property line, damaged but largely intact,” says Kracek. “They also found a blanket believed to belong to the Quitman children with a log cabin design popular during the era, which is now framed upstairs.” The home’s marble fireplace has been returned to the parlor where it stood originally.

“When the Riches reached retirement age, they returned to California, and the home passed to Nancy and Warren Reuther,”

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says Kracek. “They’ve continued to elevate the property, but also maintain the historical elements that make Monmouth special.”

Nancy spends a considerable amount of time at Monmouth, something she wasn’t anticipating before purchasing the property.

“We are from New Orleans, and you know we have The Grand and several other Mississippi properties, and I just imagined I’d continue doing things from there. But, you really have to be here with a home like this. It’s always a work in progress with a building this old and these grounds.”

Nancy purchases period art and antebellum antiques to supplement the original materials as well as the significant restoration work done by the Riches. Items original to the home include wedding portraits of Eliza and John, Eliza’s antebellum china, silver dinner goblets, crystal chandeliers and several personal items of John Quitman’s including his traveling bar, wooden desk, and king size canopy bed. It’s where he died, and also where guests sleep who stay in the Quitman suite, above John’s study.

John’s desk and bar sit in the Quitman study, where guests at Monmouth enjoy complimentary hors d'oeuvres from 5-7 each day adjacent to the Quitman lounge, which offers a full bar as well as casual and fine dining options.

Guests (and visitors to the estate), looking to dine inside the main house opt for Restaurant 1818, which does require reservations.

Parties larger than eight can sit inside the original dining room, where Eliza’s china is on display as well as antebellum clocks and

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Monmouth encompasses 26 acres of manicured grounds and wooded areas.

A guest relaxes near a wooden bridge overlooking a pond where turtles and ducks make their way through cypress knees and tangled roots.

other fine antiques. The menu is a mixture of New American cuisine with French Creole inspiration.

Appetizers include fried green tomatoes with lump crab and remoulade and a mushroom toast with toasted baguette, local mushrooms, and a creamy madeira sauce. There is also gumbo, duck, seasonal Gulf fish, and a tender filet with a dark, mushroom pan jus. Bread pudding and a bourbon pecan pie with chocolate ganache round out the menu.

In the morning, guests get the pleasure of Ms. Mary’s breakfast.

She has cooked at Monmouth for 30 years. “When we bought the home from the Riches, everything changed over at midnight, and we kept the entire staff,” says Nancy.

“It’s part of what makes it so authentic here. Roosevelt (server and bartender) has also been here for almost 30 years. Everyone who visits loves them.”

Between Monmouth’s garden rooms, where guests eat breakfast, and the main house, manicured herb and rose gardens surround paths that weave around the grounds. There are stones with moss between the cracks, and a wooden bridge overlooking water where turtles and ducks make their way through cypress knees and tangled roots.

Out front, giant cypresses planted hundreds of years ago frame the house, draped with Spanish moss and fronting blooming gardenias.

“This is the perfect time of year to visit, with the gardenias and the wisteria blooming,” says Nancy.

“It’s gorgeous, and on top of that Natchez is the most romantic city on the Mississippi.” L

MISSISSIPPI 1 8 1 7

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LAND OF PLENTY, PAIN, AND PROMISE T H E A N N I E L AU R I E S WA I M H E A R I N M E M O R I A L E X H I B I T I O N S E R I E S

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STORY FROM JACKSON, MISS.

DEXTER ALLEN

The Power of Music

By RILEY MANNING Photography by MELANIE THORTIS

T

“Out here in Mississippi, gospel and blues are brother and sister.

The same people in the blues joint on Saturday night are the same people in church on Sunday.”

– Dexter Allen

he first night Dexter Allen took the stage at Frank Jones Corner in Jackson, Mississippi, co-owner Daniel Dillon made sure to pay special attention. Like most authentic blues joints, F. Jones is a small juke with close quarters that stays open late and keeps it loud.

“His stage presence was consuming. He’s the genuine article, no joke,” Dillon said. “His performance is like a play—three hour-long sets with 20-minute breaks in between. Each ‘act’ crescendos more and more, so at 4 in the morning, people aren’t ready to leave.”

The love was mutual. Dillon’s father, Sherman Lee Dillon of Sherman Lee Dillon and the Mississippi Sound, became pals with Allen during a gig in Canada. Dillon Sr. turned Allen on to F. Jones.

“F. Jones is the last real thing on the block,” Allen said. “It’s authentic. You do what you feel, then you feed off the crowd and the crowd feeds off you. That’s how the Subway Lounge was.”

Opened in 2009, F. Jones is a new cornerstone for a community steeped in all kinds of history.

The Summers Hotel, just down the road, was a segregation-era hotel built in 1944. In the mid 1960s, the hotel opened the famed Subway Lounge in its basement. It quickly became a favorite among artists like James Brown and Nat “King” Cole. Farish Street, where F. Jones sits, at one time was the largest economically independent black community in Mississippi, the “black mecca of Mississippi,” as it was called. After the Subway was demolished in 2004, F. Jones filled the music void.

Most places in Jackson close at 2 a.m., but F. Jones stays open until 4 a.m., which means anyone in Jackson who’s still partying at 2 funnels into F. Jones.

“The Jackson music scene has always been a very diverse music scene and a very competitive music scene,” Allen said. “Crowds here are around great music all the time. To rock them, you really got to bring it. If you can rock a crowd in Jackson, Mississippi, you can rock READLEGENDS.COM •

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LEFT: Like most authentic blues joints, F. Jones is a small juke with close quarters that stays open late and keeps it loud.

ABOVE: Sherman Lee Dillon and the Mississippi Sound became pals with Allen during a gig in Canada. Dillon Sr. turned Allen on to F. Jones Corner.

one anywhere in the world.”

Allen would know. Born in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, Allen grew up playing bass for his father’s gospel quartet. He transitioned to blues music, not a far stretch, and became the guitarist for Grammywinning blues legend Bobby Rush. Allen traveled with Rush and the Bobby Rush Experience for half a decade before branching off into a solo career. Allen has released six albums and has a seventh on the way.

“Out here in Mississippi, gospel and blues are brother and sister. The same people in the blues joint on Saturday night are the same people in church on Sunday,” Allen said.

Like Rush, Allen said he only performs at one level—full out. However, he credits his gospel background for teaching him how to work the crowd. He credits his Mississippi upbringing for his natural songwriting ability.

“God blessed this part of America with the ability to create,” Allen said. “People here take a little bit and make a lot out of it, and they pass it down, like your grandmother passing on the recipe for plum jelly or something. It ain’t in no book. There ain’t no recipe. If you’re around good music all the time, you’re gonna be making good music.”

F. Jones is a good fit for Allen. On the books, he and his band play there about once per quarter. Other times, he might pop in and play a set between tour dates. If he’s just hanging out having a drink at F. Jones and the act for the night can’t make it, he calls the band.

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He and Dillon are practically family—Dillon takes his kids over to Allen's land to go fishing. In January of 2017, Dillon and Allen started F. Jones’ Thursday Night Blues and Music Challenge, which is essentially karaoke with a live band. Though it’s not always Allen’s band playing, the event still goes down every week.

“My agent doesn’t care for me playing down there because it doesn’t bring as much money as the other places. But F. Jones ain’t about the money. It ain’t about big cards and lights and all that type of stuff,” Allen said.

“F. Jones is about the thrill. It’s about cutting loose.”

Dillon said F. Jones’ authenticity is undergirded by something bigger, by a vision for Mississippi characterized by equality and good times. He sees it almost every night, after 2 in the morning, folks from every walk of life come down to the only spot in town that’s still jumping.

“Every night I see folks come together and revel in good music and good food together,” Dillon said. That motivates me. My business partner and I feel like nobody else could do the job we do at Frank Jones. We stay focused on providing a common ground for people.”

Allen agrees.

“The truth is, nobody likes being unequal, even the ones who have the upper hand. It’s a burden either way,” Allen said. “That’s the power of music, of the blues. You get to shrug all that off and be yourself and just have fun with people. There’s no place that facilitates that better than F. Jones Corner.” L

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At the center of the Experience is a two-story rotunda that showcases The MAEEX Hall of Fame in 360-degree interactive glory. RIGHT: Crews in March began working a 24/7 schedule to complete the building as rendered in the depiction at far right.

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STORY FROM MERIDIAN, MISS.

Celebrating a Legacy Building the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience There’s something in the water that fueled Muddy Waters. Something incomprehensible about the past that kept Faulkner up at night. Something spiritual that inspired Leontyne Price. Something mad that molded George Ohr. Something kind that guided Jim Henson. That something is place, enigmatic and arduous and triumphant. From the front porch to the church sanctuary to the kitchen. That place is Mississippi, and its story is told in Meridian at the freshly minted Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience, better known as The MAEEX, set for its grand opening on April 28, 2018.

By JULIAN RANKIN Photographs by MARIANNE TODD

O

ver the past two years, construction has been on overdrive downtown in The Queen City. Business owners remark of the ever-present buzz emanating from the corner of Front Street and 22nd Avenue as The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience – all 60,000 square-feet of it – rises from the earth. The buzz reverberates across the state, too. The MAEEX has been a long time coming, bringing with it exciting new ways for the world to revel in and appreciate Mississippi excellence.

Even at press time, the construction crews are committed to a 24/7 schedule, and design teams work relentlessly on exhibits as the clock ticks toward the April 27 opening gala event.

Fred Cannon, member of The MAEEX Board of Directors and CEO of Creative and Dreams Music Network, has been a part

of the project for more than two decades. After a globetrotting career in the music industry with BMI, he returned home in the mid-1990s with a passion to put Mississippi squarely in the spotlight. “Because Mississippi,” says Cannon, “really is the center of culture in America.”

Even before they broke ground at its current location, Cannon helped conceive of The MAEEX Walk of Fame, which has been etching its way along the sidewalk from the nearby MSU Riley Center since 2009, when Jimmie Rodgers’ star inaugurated the path.

Rodgers’ star has since been joined by those of Morgan Freeman, Robert Johnson, Marty Stuart, Sela Ward, Eudora Welty, Richard Wright, and many others, with more to come.

Like Cannon, Philadelphia, Mississippi, native Marty Gamblin left the state to promote the international importance of READLEGENDS.COM •

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When complete, the grand staircase will offer views of the rotunda and outdoor amphitheater (top). The outdoor venue includes a balcony with rooftop seating for watching concerts below.

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Southern and American music. Like Cannon, Gamblin returned, and has been a part of The MAEEX movement since the early days.

He has served in various leadership positions over the years, and is now the Director of The MAEEX Hall of Fame. “We can’t honor everybody,” Gamblin recognizes. “There’s so darn many.” What excites him most is that The MAEEX will introduce audiences to enduring stories while inviting them to continue the discovery at other museums, heritage sites, and trail markers across Mississippi.

The MAEEX is an experience that revolves around largerthan-life personalities who, through immersive and personal exhibits, become accessible and human. The MAEEX entrusted LPK Architects and Canizaro Cawthon Davis to design the building, and Gallagher & Associates to engineer the evocative and interactive spaces in the museum. The Gallagher team has worked on The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, the Grammy Museum Mississippi, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, The National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C., the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, and many others. They’ve seen it all.

But this project was different, says Gallagher & Associates Principal and Executive Director Sybelle Jones. The MAEEX needed “a totally different approach that no other museum has taken.”

The Mississippi story could not be told only chronologically or geographically, the team quickly found. In order to engage visitors with the essence of Mississippi – that “something in the water” – the layers would have to be peeled back.

“Our thesis became about the individual life experiences and the influences that shaped the artist,” Jones says. It wasn’t enough to marvel at the finished product – the Elvis or B.B. King record, the Eudora Welty stories and photographs. There were more central questions that got to the root of Mississippi’s flowering genius. What was that artistic process? What lens did these artists see life through?

Would our world be the same without them?

These are complex questions. The job of the design team was to make them approachable for the general public; to distill knotted narratives into memorable thread. They’ve done this through thematic galleries that include The Land, The Community, The Home, The People, and The Global Community. At the center of it all is a two-story rotunda that showcases The MAEEX Hall of Fame in 360-degree interactive glory.

Deft use of RFID chips (a technology that allows the user to trigger a tailored storytelling experience) and projection mapping bring stories to life. In the Chef ’s Kitchen, part of The Home section, recipes from celebrated chefs are projection-plated before your eyes.

In the adjacent Author’s Library, visitors can immerse themselves in the creative process of writers like John Grisham, his desk lit with a landscape of reference materials, his fingers typing away on the

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TOP LEFT: The job of the design team was to make them approachable for the general public; to distill knotted narratives into memorable thread. They’ve done this through thematic galleries that include The Land, The Community, The Home, The People, and The Global Community. TOP RIGHT: The MAEEX will celebrate the achievements of musicians and literary, culinary and visual artists like George Ohr, the Mad Potter of Biloxi.

typewriter, as the passage auditorily unfolds.

The boat interactive in The Land gallery is a favorite of Stacey Wilson, Curator of Exhibitions at The MAEEX. Here, visitors can virtually travel down several Mississippi waterways. “Being from southern Louisiana, I love the rivers and the trees and the sense of peace the landscape provides,” Wilson says. ”As you sit and watch the landscape go by, the scene transforms into a painting by a Mississippi painter.”

In The Church, The MAEEX celebrates the role of Sunday worship and gospel choirs in the careers of luminary musicians.

Uplifting scenes envelope visitors. A recreated juke joint resides in The Community galleries, near a row of schoolhouse lockers where one learns about and meets Mississippi icons before fame, when they were but young dreamers.

Ever wanted to paint like coastal modernist Dusti Bonge?

Spin a whimsical pot like George Ohr? Make ceramics like Lee McCarty? In The People section, visitors can do just that, through a series of motion-sensing interactives that recognize hand movements and display the results, as if by magic, on a system of forward-facing screens. Also in The People galleries, an interactive map that allows users to customize and email themselves a statewide itinerary for future travels.

A final gallery, The Global Community, celebrates the far-reaching impact of Mississippi creativity. It ripples outward in music, literature, food, and art that has touched down and taken root across oceans and borders. While The MAEEX is keen

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to reinforce this boundless resonance, it also recognizes the needs of the local community. The first floor of the museum is equipped with broadcast recording and art studios that will be made available to Mississippi makers who want to further their own practice. An outdoor amphitheater and green space provides an added resource to the public; it will host performances throughout the year. Other scheduled events include lectures, panel discussions, and programs for young and old, like Mini Maestros, a weekly offering for toddlers and caregivers that feeds inquisitive minds with crafts, stories, music, and dramatic play.

Throughout the museum, original artifacts are integrated alongside innovative technologies. Art historian and consultant Tony Lewis has been tasked with securing the hundreds of objects that will be displayed in nearly four dozen jewel-box cases at various places, like punctuation marks to the visitor’s journey. The collection includes artworks, like a Tammy McGrew quilt and a Richmond Barthé sculpture. An Oprah Winfrey-signed yearbook owned by one her fellow grads at East Nashville High School shows the icon of the cusp of her meteoric rise (Fun fact: classmates voted the yearbook’s owner “most likely to succeed”; Oprah won “most popular.”)

“Most of the things we’re going to have are relatively intimate,” says Lewis. “Each object is carefully selected.”

Visitors will find paintbrushes used by Ocean Springs artist Walter Anderson, Sela Ward’s Golden Globe and Emmy, and Britney Spears’ jacket from her first tour – size double-zero, of course. The MAEEX has also secured original Jim Henson puppets, Mahna

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Mahna and the Snowths, the orange-shaggy-haired-shades-wearing character and his pink mouth-agape backup singers who catapulted into the milieu on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969.

Add in one of B.B. King’s original Lucille guitars, Jerry Lee Lewis’ shoes, and a custom-made replica of Elvis Presley’s “Aloha Suit” created by original designers Bill Belew and Gene Doucette, and you have one of the most esoteric and rare collections of Mississippiana on earth. And nearly all of the objects in their possession at any given time will be on view to the public.

“This idea that museums are vaults has really been challenged for many, many years,” says Lewis, who has worked in prestigious museums across the country. “The best of all possible models is one that boasts respect for the object itself – the historical artifact – but makes it something meaningful for the audience member, something they can truly relate to.”

Visual artists like William Dunlap and Andrew Cary Young have created work specifically for these spaces. Young, a wizard in glass, has fashioned a 9-foot-tall by 6-foot-wide narrative window installed inside The Church. Along with his team at Pearl River Glass Studio in Jackson, Young has crafted the awe-inspiring stained glass to encapsulate the imagery and symbolism of Mississippi life.

The window will be illuminated by a LED screen programmed to change hour-by-hour through a cycle of various light temperatures, mimicking the arc of the sun.

Visual elements in the window weave together history and legacy: an antebellum column on the left side nodding to the

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neoclassical architecture of plantation homes; an arch across the top that transitions into the branches of an ageless tree, with layered arboreal connotations of the biblical tree of life, the strength of families, and the anchored roots of diverse traditions; the river, winding from top to bottom, which itself contains a deep-blues guitar; a trio of crosses solidifying the role of Christianity in Mississippi life; the Star of David paying homage to the Jewish communities that have long helped to forge cultural and civil rights progress here; a central image of a red-winged blackbird, ascending.

“It’s going to reach people on a lot of different levels,” says Young. “Stained glass doesn’t get a lot of recognition for the ability it has to communicate with people. I’m really thrilled that [it] is going to be shown in such a prominent way.”

Also embedded in the window is a churning hurricane. It has the spiral of a nautilus. The shape of the black hole. It speaks to the nature of story itself. Minute as well as cosmic. Through specific personal experience, universal meaning. It’s a symbol which has come to signify the coexisting fragility and redemptive strength of Mississippi.

The MAEEX has faced major hurdles in the two decades since the original seed was sown. It was perhaps bleakest after Hurricane Katrina, when thousands of Mississippians had lost everything. In those terms, a new high-tech cultural cathedral didn’t seem nearly as necessary for life. Supporters of The MAEEX were patient and steadfast. And while cultural institutions may not be able to restore the beams and foundations of homes lost to disaster, The MAEEX has put a roof over the stories that make life in Mississippi

LEFT TO RIGHT: The MAEEX celebrates the worldwide impact of artist such as B.B. King and Faith Hill. The boat interactive in The Land gallery allows visitors to virtually travel down several Mississippi waterways.

so rich.

The group of devoted supporters are too many to name, but include current and past boards of directors, staff, and members of the community. Among them are past Board Chairman and current Vice-Chair Paul Ott, past Board Vice Chairman and former Executive Director Marty Gamblin, current Board Chairman Tommy Dulaney, and board members like Fred Cannon, Ann Alexander, Duffee Williams, and Joe Norwood, to name but a few. Advisory boards and committees have offered insight, expertise, and encouragement.

Policy developments, including a 2001 Senate Bill establishing state support, and a local food and beverage tax passed in 2016, were critical in getting The MAEEX across the finish line. Manny and Melanie Mitchell donated downtown real estate, formerly the Meridian Hotel and Montana’s restaurant, to keep The MAEEX at the epicenter of downtown.

“It’s hard to single anybody out,” says Marty Gamblin. “It certainly has been a team effort.” That includes the small business owners who have seen their parking spaces affected by the construction. “It’s all going to come back to be a reward … The investment of giving up some of those things,” assures Gamblin. “Nobody’s going to feel like they made a bad investment in this project.”

For a museum dedicated to place, it’s downtown location is important. It won’t be alone in the ongoing downtown revival, says Charles Frazier, owner of Weidmann’s Restaurant, which has been open for more than 140 years and boasts a reputation as the oldest restaurant in Mississippi. “It’s a bigger picture of what’s going on in

downtown Meridian,” he says.

The history interpreted inside The MAEEX works in tandem with a city that is mindful of architectural authenticity. From the 1800s grand opera house that is now the MSU Riley Center to the iconic Threefoot Building that will soon become a full-service Mariott hotel, Meridian is on the rise. “We have to embrace the past with an eye to the future,” adds Frazier.

Across from The MAEEX on front street, Q-Tip the Barber of Quality Cuts has the Rev. William Griffin in the chair. “I think it’s going to bring a lot of excitement and a lot of entertainment,” says Griffin, pastor at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Meridian.

The barber shop bustles, one of the places where the traditions of conversation and storytelling remain strong. Q-Tip looks forward to sitting out on the sidewalk – which he calls “the front porch” – to watch the passersby.

“Porches are a very important item in American and Southern history,” says Cannon, recounting a conversation he had once with President Bill Clinton. “Southerners used to sit on the porch and entertain themselves before television and radio by storytelling. And you had to be a damn good storyteller to hold everybody’s interest…

[The porch is] where good ideas came from.”

With the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience in Meridian, the state has a good idea on its hands. A front porch for the masses, with all the storytelling to captivate and inspire modern audiences. L READLEGENDS.COM •

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STORY FROM NEW ORLEANS, LA.

Brewing in the Big Easy

By SEAN MURPHY Photography by ELIJAH BAYLIS

T

o locals, Tchoupitoulus Street in New Orleans’ riverfront industrial district, from about the convention center and following the meandering Mighty Muddy, is known as the sliver on the river — a small swath of land that remained amazingly unscathed during 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.

That sliver on the river also is home to some of the best beer being brewed in a city who’s beer history can be summed up by Jack’s Brewery in the French Quarter, Dixie Beer and the myriad French Quarter vendors hocking cheap Big Ass Beers in plastic cups.

For a city that carried the moniker “We’re a drinking town with a football problem,” the craft beer craze, like the Saints success, has taken time to germinate. In the super competitive world of craft brewing in America — in 2016, there were more than 5,000 breweries in the United States. Today, according to the latest statistics from the Brewers Association trade group — New Orleans brewers are raising the bar.

There are 13 active breweries in the Big Easy, but venture down to that sliver on the river to take in three of the best

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around, featuring an insatiable craze in the craft beer world — the Northeast or New England IPA. Centuries ago, brewers in Northern Europe brewed beer for far away colonies. India became one of those popular destinations for European beer as it sat under colonial British control. As legend has it, the long journey on ships from Europe to India played havoc on the product, leaving a great deal of it lost to spoilage.

To keep the beer preserved for longer amounts of time would take adding hops in great quantity. The resulting beer was an ale that could stand the longer journeys. The IPA, as many claim, had been born.

By adding so many hops for preservation, though, the beers were made stronger with higher alcohol contents and harsh bittering characteristics. American brewers in the first craft beer revolution — in the late 1980s and early '90s — brewed these hoptastically strong and bitter — very bitter. Yet people continued to gravitate to those beers. Brewers got more bold, playing around with traditional IPAs.

We saw a rise of Black IPAs, which had the color and roastiness

There are 13 active breweries in the Big Easy, but venture down to Tchoupitoulus Street in New Orleans’ riverfront industrial district to take in three of the best around, Courtyard Brewing, New Orleans Brewing Company, and Urban South.

of a stout with the hop bittering of an IPA. Then brewers started changing when the hops were added, limiting the number of bittering hops and instead loading a beer toward the end with aroma and f lavor hops. The shorter the hop has in the boil, the less bittering properties those hops will impart.

The people went wild with these newer, pungent IPAs that were easy on the palate with intense f lavors and aromas. Out of those beers, we find ourselves where we are now with the era of the New England IPA. The name pays homage to the bread basket of those dank, unfiltered, hazy — many say “juicy” — IPAs most notably brewed in the Northeast. Brewery names have become like a siren call for hop heads — Trillium, Tree House, The Alchemist, Bissell Brothers and Hill Farmstead. Just say the name and visions of juice dance in the eyes.

The craze has made it to Louisiana, and on that tiny sliver on the river, brewers there are churning out classic NE IPAs and joining in a statewide trend that is turning the Pelican State into NE IPA South.

When in New Orleans and wanting to experience the true NE IPA phenomenon, the first stop must be Courtyard Brewing.

Courtyard is special in many respects, but mostly because the only place one can enjoy a Courtyard beer is at Courtyard Brewery. The nano brewery is rumored to be expanding soon, but even the most knowledgeable of New Orleans beer aficionados can’t squeeze any inside information as to the future.

The brewery is small, tucked behind a sliding fence off Erata Street in the shadow of the Crescent City Connector. Chairs and large spools for tables greet customers. Inside, the room is dark with Christmas lights and loud, local music.

Don’t ask what is best on the menu, because it changes often due to the small amount brewed in each batch. The ever-changing menu board is hand written with colored chalk showing on-site offerings in yellow, and visitor taps (really good ones), in blue and red. But to get a true taste of an NE IPA, get a local offering.

Look for hops in beers such as Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy, El Dorado and Vic Secret, beers created with the dankest hops used in a NE IPA. READLEGENDS.COM •

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Of course, you could always grab a 32-ounce growler for the road, although making a decision on which beer to take home is the most challenging question of the day.

Travel west — or is it north? (New Orleans by the river is so confusing) — to Urban South for your second stop on the NOLA dank tour.

Urban South is vastly larger — in brewery space and production — than the 3-year-old Courtyard and features a retooled dank IPA known as Holy Roller. The menus lists it as Holy Roller 2.0, as the recipe underwent reconstruction this past summer, producing one of the best NE IPAs available.

Urban South takes chances with its IPAs, its most recent one being brewed with the piny resinous Simcoe hops with real spruce tips added to it. They also in 2017 unveiled a milkshake-style IPA made with pineapple and strawberry.

Urban South also releases annually two special IPAs — Modillian in the spring and Finial in the fall. Both are highly

Courtyard is special in many respects, but mostly because the only place one can enjoy a Courtyard beer is at Courtyard Brewery.

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APRIL | MAY 2018

acclaimed and worthy of a special trip for release days.

Another mile up the road sits the city’s most recognizable craft brewery — NOLA, which stands for New Orleans Lagers and Ales. The brewery is the largest on the sliver and features a two-story tap room with outdoor deck and a large ball room ILGRIMAGE inside.

OURS NOLA’s Hoppywrite Infringement is their foray into the world of NE IPAs, but they made a name for themselves in the hop universe with their Hopitoulas IPA, playing off the name of the street on which they are located.

New England certainly has had a head start on the advent and increased popularity of the NE IPA, but Louisiana is quickly stamping itself as the next great frontier for a beer style that sees no signs of fading away.

So, what are you waiting for? The breweries are calling. ors for more than years

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OPPOSITE: Views to the east of Tops'l include Coffeen Nature Preserve and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, and to the south is the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Panhandle’s famous emerald green water and sparkling white sand. The resort offers a tranquil and luxurious experience with equal opportunity for recreation and family entertainment.

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STORY FROM DESTIN, FLA.

TOPS'L Beach and Racquet Resort

By MEGHAN HOLMES Photography by MARIANNE TODD

J

ust east of Destin, Florida, hidden from overcrowded condos and public beach accesses, TOPS’L Beach and Racquet Resort encompasses an expansive 52 acres of Miramar Beach. Oaks and pines obscure views of the property from the highway, with Coffeen Nature Preserve and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park bordering the resort to the east. To the south is the Gulf of Mexico, and the Florida Panhandle’s famous emerald green water and sparkling white sand. The resort offers a tranquil and luxurious experience with equal opportunity for recreation and family entertainment.

TOPS’L is known for tennis, with rubico clay courts available to all guests along with access to tennis professionals. There are endless additional amenities, including a recently renovated fitness facility, massage therapy, racquetball, basketball, shuff leboard, putt putt golf, two on-site restaurants, and beachfront access. “Tennis fans come because of our ranking as a

top 50 tennis destination,” says Tanya Rauch, northwest Florida marketing manager with ResortQuest. “Other guests enjoy nearby championship golf, luxurious spas, top notch shopping, and arts and entertainment. There’s something for everyone.”

TOPS’L’s construction began in the 1990s, next to the remainder of Four Mile Village, now largely prohibited from further development following land use restrictions, to conserve and protect the natural resources in the area. In addition to these restrictions additional acreage adjacent to Four Mile Village became Topsail Hill State Park, preserving hundreds of acres of wildlife near the resort. The dunes and trees within these acres comprise a significant part of TOPS’L’s views.

From the preserve, great blue herons, egrets, and pelicans f ly along the coastline. Live oaks, myrtle oaks, and magnolias grow amidst gently rising and falling dunes while white-tailed deer, raccoon, fox, possum, bobcat, armadillos, alligator, and bear READLEGENDS.COM •

41

roam the preserve and the property surrounding it. Topsail State Park is also home to the endangered Choctawhatchee dune mouse and gopher tortoise.

“I come for the birds,” says birding enthusiast Martin Schamp, who visits TOPS’L yearly. “Anhingas, cormorants, and pelicans form nests along the shoreline, and you also see a lot of wetlands birds, some of the larger species include herons and egrets, as well as the white ibis.”

Coffeen preserve has a noteworthy history – the land once hosted missile tests during W WII. The military selected the area because of its proximity to Eglin Air Force base, and because the dunes were high. Today, ramps leading to areas where missiles were shot towards the Gulf deteriorate along with three bunkers used during the 1940s. A couple, Susan and Bruce Palidini, live on the property and offer educational tours, with reservations required in advance.

Nearby businesses also offer boat tours for birders as well as fishermen. (The area was originally settled because of the wealth of fish in nearby Destin Harbor). Other charter services offer sailing and snorkeling, as well as pontoon boats, jet skis, canoes, and kayaks available for rent.

The resort itself includes a variety of lodging options for guests and owners. TOPS’L Tides and Beach Manor offer twoand three-bedroom units with Gulf front and coastline views.

There’s also The Summit, with two- and three-bedroom units overlooking Coffeen Nature Preserve. Additional properties within the resort include Sierra Dunes, Captiva, and Tennis Village, with two- and three-bedroom units.

“The variety of lodging options means that we have something for every budget,” Rauch says. “And there’s also a complimentary shuttle that runs the entirety of the resort, making it easy to navigate regardless of which property guests choose.”

Tennis courts and a 2,500 square-foot fitness area occupy the center of the resort. The gym is large, and f loor-to-ceiling windows along the south-facing wall overlook rows of courts and greenery. For those not interested in personal training, group classes are available daily. The TOPS’L club is also home to the resort’s gift shop, as well as racquetball courts, and an indoor/ outdoor pool. It extends from the inside of the building under a plastic f lap into the open air outside, allowing unimpeded swimming between the two areas, a favorite activity for every kid in the pool.

LEFT: The resort includes a variety of lodging options for guests and owners.

TOPS’L Tides and Beach Manor offer two- and three-bedroom units with Gulf front and coastline views. TOPS’L is known for tennis, with rubico clay courts available to all guests along with access to tennis professionals.

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APRIL | MAY 2018

Recent renovations to TOPS’L’s Club Fitness Floor include the Life Fitness Integrity PowerMill Climber, six Life Fitness Treadmills, four Cybex Arc Elliptical Trainers, two Integrity Upright Stationary Bicycles, and three Integrity Recumbent Stationary Bicycles. Every cardio machine is equipped with personal audio system and video.

“To us ‘TOPS’L Life’ means that our pristine beaches, pools, massage therapy, restaurants, and the newly renovated fitness facility and tennis courts are on par with amenities expected of a world-class resort,” says general manager Mike Speicher.

The resort also offers both casual and fine dining on site.

Blue Dunes Grille sits conveniently beachside near The Tides, and highlights seafood on a casual menu with peel and eat shrimp, smoked snapper dip, and a market fish sandwich among other options. There are also plenty of traditional American entrees, like burgers and wings. West of the Clubhouse, Club Tiki also offers casual dining. Popular options include a pecan crusted chicken salad, Ahi tuna BLT, and a portobello mushroom wrap with fresh greens and a roasted garlic aioli. There is also an expansive cocktail menu featuring several varieties of mules as well as sangria and mojitos.

Near the entrance to the resort, The Ocean Club provides more upscale alternatives. The privately owned restaurant serves dinner nightly and features a new American menu with a focus on local ingredients. There’s also a pond out back with large turtles and fish that add to the ambiance. Young diners take table bread outside to feed the fish while adults can dine on red snapper, grouper, and other fresh catches from the nearby Gulf.

“The resort has so many amenities that are included in your membership or guest amenities package,” says Rauch. “It’s known as a family tennis destination, and with no tennis court fees, people play without worrying about expenses. We also have junior clinics and scheduled kids activities on the pool deck during the summer, so there’s so much to do.”

While guests and owners find plenty to occupy their time at TOPS’L, nearby outlet malls, boutique shopping, art galleries, and gastropubs offer endless additional opportunities for entertainment. The resort offers something for everyone, whether guests are looking for complete relaxation, intense tennis training, or something in between. L

Make plansto visit Vicksburg this Spring!

March-April Spring Pilgrimage April 6-7, 13-15, 20-21 Gold in the Hills April 20-21 RiverFest Music and Arts Festival April 21 Bluz Cruz Canoe and Kayak Race

AMERICAN HISTORY Mississippi Music Southern Charm

Scan this QR to visit our mobile site and get your keys to Vicksburg.

Want to go?

Rental inquiries can be made through www. wyndhamvacationrental.com For more information on buying a property in TOPS’L call ResortQuest Real Estate 1-800-837-5120 or visit resortquestRE.com/NWFL

/VisitVicksburg

VisitVicksburg.com READLEGENDS.COM •

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303 N Farish St. Jackson, Mississippi

Kitchen open till 4am with superb drinks and great music! • www.fjonescorner.com

3505 8th Street • Meridian, MS 601.483.4868

HUNTING AND FISHING OUTFITTERS 46 •

APRIL | MAY 2018

Serving Meridian and it’s neighbors since 1972.

WHAT’S SHAKIN’ IN THE CRADLE? Greenville, Miss.

Apr 27-29 ... Belmont, Bluegrass, & BBQ Festival at Belmont Plantation. Featuring music from Broken String Band, Cary Hudson, The Carbon Brothers, Alan Sibley & The Magnolia Ramblers, Redeemed, and more! Tickets are $10 for Friday and Sunday and $25 for Saturday, or get a 3 day pass for $40. For more information, call (901) 652-1390 or visit belmontplantation1857.com.

Holly Springs, Miss.

Apr 20-22 ... 80th Annual Tour of Historic homes sponsored by the Holly Springs Garden Club. Take a walk back in time through 5 antebellum homes, 3 historic churches, and 3 museums. Tickets start at $10. For more information, call (901) 230-3575 or visit hollyspringsmsgardenclub.com.

Lafayette, La. Apr 22 ... Earth Day Celebration at Vermilionville Performance Center. Bring the kids and enjoy a paddle in Vermilionville's Petit Bayou, recycled art displays, along with various craft and activity stations. You can grab a bite to eat in the restaurant, La Cuisine de Maman, and relax with a free yoga class. Event is free to the public. For more information, call (337) 233-4077 or visit bayouvermiliondistrict.org.

Leland, Miss.

Apr 21 ... Leland 27th Annual Crawfish and Blues Fest.

Featuring beer, crawfish & bbq plates, a kids corner, craft beer tasting, and live music! Event is free to the public. Craft beer tasting is $25. Make sure to bring one or two canned goods for Lelands F.E.E.D. Pantry. For more information, call (662) 686-2687 or visit lelandchamber.com.

Meridian, Miss.

Apr 27 ... An Evening at The MAEEX Grand Opening Gala.

The black tie festivities include cocktails, hors’doevres, and dancing under the stars to the music of Compozitionz.

Open bar. Tickets are $200. Gala runs from 7:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. For more information call, (601) 581-1550 or visit www. msarts.org.

Morgan City, La. Apr 5-15 ... Songs on the Bayou Songwriters Festival.

An 10-day event of music, culture, and entertainment featuring Sunset Pickin’ Parties, a Fais-Do-Do, workshops, Swamp Tours, and multiple songwriter shows all across Morgan City. Ticket prices vary. For more information, visit songsonthebayou.com.

Vicksburg, Miss.

May 4-5 ... Red Carpet Classic Annual Auto Show at Blackburn Motor Co. The Auto Show will feature a drive-in movie at dark on Friday and an auto show on Saturday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Pre-registration cost is $20 and $25 the day of the show. For more information, call (601) 529-9611 or (601) 573-2122.

Yazoo City, Miss.

May 5 ... The 2018 Jerry Clower Festival in downtown Yazoo City. Event is free to the public. For more information, call (662) 746-7676 or visit visityazoo.org.

MISSISSIPPI OPERA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI PRESENT

TURANDOT PUCCINI’S LAST AND LARGEST OPERA

Jay Dean, conductor Octavio Cardenas, Stage Director

April 24, 2018 at 7:30 p.m., Mannoni Performing Arts Center Auditorium in Hattiesburg, Mississippi TICKETS southernmisstickets.com 601.266.5418 800.844.8425 and

MISSISSIPPI OPERA April 28, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, Mississippi TICKETS msopera.org 601.960.2300 After 30 years of bringing the world to Mississippi, conductor Jay Dean concludes his leadership of the venerable Symphony Orchestra and Southern Opera and Musical Theatre Company with the largest opera production in the history of Mississippi.

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NOW OPEN:

PAMPERED BODIES FIT

Now enjoy unlimited yoga, ballet bar and circuit classes.

Download the Pampered Bodies App for a complete schedule of classes in our newly renovated space!

PAMPERED BODIES DAY SPA & SALON • 2303 13TH STREET • MERIDIAN, MS • 601.482.4463

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We’re rollin’ on the river all right.

Join us for a fabulous lineup of festivals plus museums that tell the fascinating stories of our floods, blues, Native Americans, wildlife, literary genius and everyone’s favorite frog.

27th Annual Crawfish Festival & Brews & Blues April 21st • Leland lelandchamber.com Crawfish, entertainment and craft beer

8th Annual Sam Chatmon Blues Festival September 21st - 22nd • Hollandale FB: /SamChatmonBlues Bikes, barbecue, and the blues in the home of Sam Chatmon

1st Annual Belmont, 6th Annual Mighty Bluegrass & BBQ Festival Mississippi Music Festival April 27th - 29th • Greenville October 11th - 13th belmontplantation1857.com/festival mightymsmusic.com Americana Music & Finger-Lickin’-Good Food 41st Annual Delta Blues & Heritage Festival September 15th • Greenville deltabluesms.org

Held on the banks of the Mississippi River in Warfield Point Park and features the 19th Annual Highway 61 Blues Stage

7th Annual Delta Hot Tamale Fest October 18th - 20th • Greenville FB: /DeltaHotTamaleFestival

Celebrates local and regional artists, musicians, and tamale makers as well as some of the South’s most influential chefs and writers

8th Annual Jim Henson Frog Fest & Chili Cookoff October 27th • Leland lelandchamber.com

Features professional story-tellers, magicians, live music, Delta cuisine and live puppet performances

Oldest-running blues festival in the country

www.visitgreenville.org • (800) 467.3582

Convention & Visitors Bureau