Hill Country Living
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Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
Here we are in mid-January and I hope everyone enjoyed their Martin Luther King weekend. It’s MLK Day as I write this and I’m reminded of all the big parades I’ve seen on this day.
I grew up in Columbus, Ga., a parade-loving city, and there were always great parades downtown on the third weekend of January. A few times I traveled to Atlanta to see their MLK Day parade and it’s obviously the best one. The person who left one of the greatest American legacies of all time should get as many parades as possible. Of course, he deserved to live his one and only life, first and foremost. You can’t read all the quotes without always knowing what happened to him for saying them.
Speaking of parades, I spent the weekend in Mobile, Alabama and they are gearing up for Mardi Gras. People from Mobile are quick to remind you that Mardi Gras started in Mobile, not New Orleans. So, if you go there and they bring up Mardi Gras, you can really win them over by saying, “I heard that Mardi Gras actually started in Mobile!” This would really make a Mobilian happy. Or is a person from Mobile called a Mobilite?
Either way, Mobile has a terrific monthly “Art Walk.” One Friday night a month the local museum, the handful of galleries and several outside craft vendor booths open up to the public from 6 to 9 p.m. And, let me tell y’all, it was packed! Hundreds of people of all varieties filed in and out of the gallery where I was hanging out. And the crowd wasn’t limited to the galleries, either. People filled the restaurants and bars.
There was a kids’ movie playing on a big screen in the central park area, so there was a whole stroller/young parent population that had their own space where the little kids could safely wreak havoc. And there were bands playing on the street outside a couple of the galleries so there was also a space for the childless people to safely act cool. A food truck or two was set up and the whole deal was all-encompassing. Our Main Street Association Wine Down event gets at this by involving all of the downtown area and businesses. I enjoyed seeing a version of that model work in a place with a larger population.
Changing subjects back to local, the Water Valley High School baseball season is coming up and some of y’all may know I’m partial to this team, not only because they sell the best barbecue all year, but also because they are, arguably, the cutest kids in town! Of course, every single Water Valley kid is cute, but the baseball team really…knocks it out of the park!
The Blue Devils’ first games will be in the form of a pre-season jamboree starting on Saturday, February 11th at the Water Valley High School baseball field behind the high school. I’m looking forward to seeing the team play this year and I know that Water Valley will come out to support them!
