Street Talk

It is football time again and the season is well underway. Our Blue Devils are off to a solid start. And this coming weekend is homecoming. The Downtown Pep Rally for the Homecoming Game is this Thursday Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in Railroad Park. The pep rallies are a great way for everyone in town to come out and show your support for the team.  Support for the players and coaches who have been sweating it out for the last months getting ready for the games.
There have been a few new businesses that have come to Main Street in the last few months. The one that has been driving me crazy lately is D and D’s BBQ. If you are walking on Main Street smells coming from the barbecue just tantalize you. And the situation is compounded. If the wind blows from the east, the aromas from El Charrito drift over Main Street. And now if the wind blows from the West, D and D’s has the street covered in sizzling smells.
There is new business expansion that smells good, but you have to go inside to enjoy it. Defining Moments at 205 N. Main has a new line of clothes and accessories and are expanding the business. Their opening of this expansion is this Thursday evening from 5 to 8. Shelly and Leigh have been working hard to get this ready and it has been a big investment for them. This will be both an asset to Main Street in general and shopping options here in town. Check it out before or after the pep rally.
There is an anniversary of note for Main Street. Both The Velvet Glove and Magnolia Home Furnishings are in their 10th year of being downtown businesses. Now you might say that is interesting but Mechanics Bank is 120 and Turnage Drugs 107 years old. But think how many businesses have come and gone in those years. Many don’t make even their 10th year anniversary. Why? Because it is very hard work to be in retail in a small town. Real hard. You have heard this before, but those businesses do more for Water Valley than any shop in Oxford or Tupelo or Memphis will ever do. The folks who work in all the Main Street businesses are your neighbors and they put back into the community just like you do. Let’s keep them in business and going strong.
The Art Crawl is coming up Saturday Sept. 29. The artists count is pushing 40 now. All three galleries will be open. Lots of new work to see. The Crawl is from 5:30 to 9 p.m.—with a closing fashion show at 9 p.m. and then an after-party at the Lodge. Chances are you won’t be able to see it all. And that’s the point in a way, that Water Valley has a concentration—I won’t say Art Town—but a concentration of creative folks. Put the Crawl on your calendar. As Mary Lou Williams recently said, “You’d be an idiot to miss this event.”