The growing communities of the inland part of the Magnolia State are combining the best of old and new with legendary Southern hospitality.
Like the rest of America, Mississippi interstates are filling up with brand-name, mostly limited-service hotels, but drive down those off-ramps to the once half-forgotten downtowns and revitalization is everywhere apparent. Old buildings, from opera houses, railroad depots and department stores to long-abandoned historic hotels, have a new lease on life, providing many fresh options for meeting planners.
Jackson, the capital and largest city, is the star of the resurgence show.
Jackson
Founded as a trading post in 1821, Jackson was designed after Thomas Jefferson’s checkerboard layout, with squares for business, residential and green space in mind.
“We’re laid out as a grid so it’s very easy to get around,” says Mara Hartmann, spokesperson for the Jackson CVB. “And we’re undergoing a renaissance, with $1 billion in new downtown investment under way.”
Downtown construction sites sport banners proclaiming, “Jackson, Mississippi—A City with Soul.” It’s the main feature of a campaign launched in 2006.
“With so much construction, there was a need to educate people about what was going on,” Hartman says.
The centerpiece of the new downtown is the Jackson Convention Complex, which is being designed to unite the Arts District on one side with the Farish Street Entertainment District on the other.
Opened in January 2006, the convention complex’s first phase is the Mississippi TelCom Center, a three-story, 74,000-square-foot conference facility. Under construction is the adjacent second phase: the $65 million, 264,000-square-foot Capital City Convention Center, scheduled to open in January 2009.
TelCom Center, Hartmann says, has been very successful. In its first year of operation, it achieved 216 event days, eight percent more than its goal of 200 event days.
Between the convention center and Thalia Mara Hall, the city’s 2,363-seat municipal auditorium, is the new $11 million Mississippi Museum of Art, which is double the size of the museum’s former location a block away.
Damaged by the hurricanes in 2005, the Old Capitol Museum of Mississippi History is undergoing a $14 million restoration and is slated to reopen in January 2009.
Of the metro area’s 5,500 hotel rooms, about 2,000 are located downtown. Meetings hotels within walking distance of TelCom Center include the 303-room Jackson Marriott, which recently completed a $12 million renovation; the 208-room Edison Walthill Hotel, which can handle groups of up to 400 people; and the Old Capitol Inn, which can seat 300 people for banquets.
Current projects include the King Edward Hotel, once the town’s top property. The hotel has been vacant for 40 years and is undergoing a restoration. Scheduled to reopen in 2009, the King Edward will feature 186 guest rooms as well as residences.
Additionally, for a site across from TelCom Center, there are plans to break ground on a $209 million mixed-use development that will include a hotel.
Meanwhile, off-site venues choices abound in Jackson. Options include the new Museum of Art with expanded function space, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, the Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Museum, and the Jackson Zoo, which in 2006 expanded with a new wilderness exhibit and new buildings featuring additional event space.
Located 40 miles northwest of Jackson, Yazoo City is billed as the “Gateway to the Delta.” The historically rich area has museum attractions such as the Oakes African American Cultural Center, the Triangle Cultural Center and the Casey Jones Railroad Museum State Park.
Meridian
East of Jackson, where Interstate 59 from Alabama meets Interstate 20, Meridian is home to a Mississippi State University (MSU) campus, and as the birthplace of the “Father of Country Music,” it also boasts the Jimmie Rodgers Museum.
In September 2006, the city unveiled its new conference facility, the MSU Riley Center, located in the heart of downtown. It boasts a 950-seat theater and 30,000 square feet of conference space with teleconferencing facilities.
Operated by the university, it was created by the restoration of the city’s Grand Opera House and the conversion of an adjacent department store, both built in 1889. In February 2007, the new facility hosted the annual Mississippi Governor’s Tourism Conference.
The center has been quite successful since its debut, according to Suzy Johnson, executive director of the Meridian/Lauderdale County Tourism Bureau.
“We didn’t go after the conference market before,” she says. “We’re getting a wide variety of groups. Companies based here are bringing their regional meetings—business that was previously going elsewhere.”
The city has 1,600 hotel rooms, all within a 10-minute drive of the center, which is close to the town’s historic railway depot. There are no hotels downtown, Johnson says, but there are plans under way to convert a historical building into a hotel.
Last June, the 133-room Hilton Garden Inn Meridian, with 1,760 square feet of meeting space, debuted off Interstate 20. Across the street, a 182-room Drury Inn will open next June. And plans are under way to break ground on a full-service Holiday Inn.
In November, a grand opening was held for the first phase of Meridian Crossroads, featuring stores such as Best Buy, PETCO and Bed, Bath & Beyond, while the development will also soon unveil Meridian’s first Starbucks.
Northwest of Meridian in Choctaw, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians operates Pearl River Resort, boasting more than 1,000 hotel rooms, 40,000 square feet of meeting space and a variety of gaming space.
This month, the tribe will open a 140-room Hilton Garden Inn with 2,400 square feet of meeting space.
Hattiesburg
Stacked with new meetings possibilities, Hattiesburg, situated off Interstate 59 just 70 miles from the Gulf, is home to the University of Southern Mississippi.
“We’re affordable. We have first-class meeting space and have all the amenities,” says Kristie Fairley, marketing and tourism brand manager at Visit Hattiesburg (formerly the Hattiesburg CVB).
The city, she says, has more than 2,500 hotel rooms, more than 100 restaurants, a dozen golf courses, and an orchestra and opera.
By the interstate—a five-minute drive from downtown—is the destination’s primary group venue, the Lake Terrace Convention Center, which is set in a 32-acre park overlooking a lake and offers more than 68,000 square feet of function space.
Another option is the Forrest County Multi Purpose Center, which has a 120,000-square-foot main arena and other meeting and event space.
The university added more meeting facilities in September 2006 with the opening of the Thad Cochran Center, which includes a ballroom accommodating up to 900 people, 10 meeting rooms and a 350-seat theater.
Meanwhile, a $10 million restoration of downtown’s Hattiesburg Depot was completed last April. Built in 1910, the Italian Renaissance-style train station now sports a ballroom hosting up to 400 people.
Fairley says one of Hattiesburg’s top attractions is the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at the Camp Shelby National Guard Base, which can host groups of up to 100.
Hattiesburg offers nine hotels with meeting space.
Three hotels opened in 2007: a 79-room Microtel Inn & Suites, featuring a conference room; a 109-room Candlewood Suites; and a 90-room Hilton Garden Inn, with 1,650 square feet of function space.
In 2006, a Courtyard by Marriott opened; the former Hawthorne Suites became a Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites following an expansion; and the former University Inn was reflagged a La Quinta Inn and Suites. All three have meeting facilities.
Vicksburg/Natchez
On a bluff overlooking the Mississippi off Interstate 20, Vicksburg is defined both by its Civil War history and its four riverside casinos.
Just outside of town, the 1,858-acre Vicksburg National Military Park commemorates the city’s 1863 siege by Union troops.
The 10-year-old Vicksburg Convention Center on the downtown waterfront can host 1,250 for banquets and has more than 50,000 square feet of function space.
“It’s in the middle of everything, with galleries, restaurants, great shopping, and great 24-hour entertainment,” says Bill Serrat, executive director at the Vicksburg CVB. “We get lots of trade shows and regional meetings, with a good mix of upper-tier meetings such as medical groups.”
Vicksburg has more than 1,800 hotel rooms, 20 historic homes and churches, and a handful of museums.
A new Hampton Inn & Suites with meeting space for 90 people opened in 2006, and at press time, a Wingate Inn was set to open before the holidays.
The four waterfront casinos, each with a hotel, are Diamond Jack’s (formerly Isle of Capri), Ameristar, Horizon, and Rainbow. Horizon is next to the convention center, and the others are all within four miles of it.
A fifth gaming property, the 80-room Riverwalk Casino, is slated to open in late 2008.
Ameristar Vicksburg is undergoing a $98 million expansion that includes a 1,000-space parking garage and more casino and retail space. The property is also wrapping up a $12 million renovation of its 149-room hotel.
Farther south along the Mississippi, the river town of Natchez is another charming option for groups, with an historic setting and a variety of new hotel developments.
This spring, the 119-room Country Inn & Suites Natchez will open as the headquarters hotel for the Natchez Convention Center.
A Hampton Inn and a Best Western property will also debut in Natchez this year.
Additionally, the Ramada Inn Hilltop by Emerald Star Casino–Natchez is being rebuilt into a new hotel and casino development, and another casino development along the Mississippi River near downtown is being proposed.
The Natchez Convention Center has more than 30,000 square feet of meeting space, and meetings-ready hotels include the Natchez Eola Hotel and the Isle of Capri Casino and Hotel.
Starkville/Greenwood
Starkville, 50 miles from the Alabama border, is an inviting college town that is home to MSU.
The Starkville CVB works closely with MSU to promote the university’s facilities, which include the 10,000-seat Humphrey Coliseum and two adjoining venues, the Hunter Henry Alumni Center and the Bost Extension Center, which together can accommodate groups of up to 500.
“This is a booming, vibrant town with great shopping and dining areas,” says Arma Salazar, vice president of tourism at the Starkville CVB.
Salazar explains that within about a mile are Main Street and downtown at one end and the campus at the other, with the historic Cotton District in between.
Another major venue is Mississippi Horsepark, its largest indoor space seating 2,500 people theater style.
Starkville has 769 hotel rooms, and the destination’s meetings properties include downtown’s historic, 37-room Hotel Chester, which was restored four years ago and accommodates groups of up to 350, and the 118-room University Inn, which has banquet space for 200.
By next fall, another 300 guest rooms are expected to come into the market in three new properties: a Hilton Garden Inn, a Candlewood Suites and a boutique hotel that is part of a Cotton District mixed-use project called The Belfry.
On the Delta’s eastern edge, 90 minutes west of Starkville, Greenwood is the gateway to the Delta, and the place where the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha rivers meet to form the Yazoo.
“We are ideal for small to medium-size meetings,” says Paige Hunt, executive director at the Greenwood CVB. “We have a variety of venues, lots of things to do, and an adorable downtown.”
Primary group facilities include the Greenwood Civic Center, which can seat 800 for banquets, and the Leflore County Agricenter, which can take larger groups. A Ramada Inn and a Hampton Inn each have meeting space, and the Cottonlandia Museum can host banquets for 100.
A revitalized downtown features The Alluvian, an upscale boutique hotel with 45 rooms, a spa and meeting and banquet space for up to 60.
Built in 1917 and restored in 2003, the AAA Four Diamond property is owned by the area’s largest employer, the Viking Range appliance manufacturer, which is headquartered in restored buildings on downtown’s Cotton Row.
Team building is offered across the street at the Viking Kitchen Center, and Hunt says for spouse programs, a demonstration at the center can be combined with a tour of the Viking plant.
Greenwood is a good base for Delta blues tours and the Mississippi Blues Trail, home to communities such as Indianola, 40 minutes away, where the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center is scheduled to open next September.
For More Info
Greenwood CVB 662.453.9197
www.gcvb.com
Hattiesburg CVB 601.268.3220
www.hattiesburg.org
Jackson CVB 601.960.1891
www.visitjackson.com
Meridian/Lauderdale County Tourism Bureau 601.482.8001
www.visitmeridian.com
Natchez CVB 601.446.6345
www.visitnatchez.com
Starkville CVB 662.323.3322
www.starkville.org
Vicksburg CVB 601.636.9421
www.vicksburgcvb.org
Yazoo County CVB 662.746.1815
www.yazoo.org
